Lady Pirates Edged By Cougars In Four-Setter
September 26, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - The Independence Lady Pirates battled it out with the Barton Cougars with a much-improved attitude showing in competition Wednesday night. The battle was one for the ages but saw a heartbreaker occur as Independence went past the point limit in the fourth set only to come up short.
In the first set, the Lady Pirates came out up 2-0 after a block from Destiny Thomas before a 2-0 run tied the match. Natasha Colon and Shelymar Diaz contributed on a 8-5 run pushing the lead to 10-7.
A 4-1 run by Barton had the score at 11-10 but a 3-0 run pushed the lead back to four before the Lady Pirates put together a combination of attacks and blocks as part of a 14-8 run with kills from Thomas, Colon, Patricia Seller and Jessi Lewman taking the first set 25-18.
The second set began with a kill by Thomas, but Barton answered with a kill of their own. Back and forth the teams went but a 7-4 run had the Cougars ahead 8-5. Independence fought hard leading up to at timeout as part of a 4-3 Barton run now trailing 12-8.
The Lady Pirates got a huge kill from Thomas, but a 7-2 run had the Cougars up 17-10. The Lady Pirates fought hard with kills from Briana Prescott, Thomas and Seller and despite outscoring the opponent 9-8 fell in the set 19-25 as the match was now tied at 1-1.
In the third set, the teams battled back and forth and on several kills from Thomas and Diaz had Independence up 6-4 before a barrage of service errors along with blocks by Seller and Lewman compiled a Barton run of 14-12 had the set close with the Lady Pirates down by a score of 18-16.
The Lady Pirates were consistently competitive, but a 3-1 run had the Cougars leading 21-17. A 4-3 run was the downfall of the Lady Pirates as they dropped the set 20-25 and now trailed 1-2 in the match.
The fourth set began with a 4-3 run for Independence after thunderous strikes from Thomas, but a 5-3 run had Barton leading 8-7. A run of 4-2 after several kills from Thomas had the Lady Pirates leading 11-9 and an even run of 7-7 had the Lady Pirates leading 18-16 after kills and blocks by Thomas and Seller.
Independence jumped ahead after an even run of 4-4, leading 22-20 after another kill and block from Seller and ace from Anachariz Cruz but miscommunications caused trouble as the Cougars answered back on a 9-5 run and Independence dropped the set 27-29 ending the match.
Independence is now at a record of 5-12 and 2-6 in conference play with the next match against the Colby Trojans at home October 3rd at 6:30 pm.