Lady Pirates Win In Dramatic Fashion On Sophomore Night
October 19, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - The final moment had come at ICC Field House as the Independence Lady Pirates hosted the Pratt Beavers in the final home match for sophomores, Kylie Shanahan, Alessia Laghi, Kiersten Vincent and Briana Prescott. The Lady Pirates started slow in the match dropping the first two sets but battled back to win in the fifth set.
"It felt great to get the win tonight for our sophomores," coach Daniela Pena said. "Our scoring was supported by our serves as part of being aggressive to get the opponent out of the game."
"We started play with everything that we had, and our girls did an amazing job. Their energy was up when we needed it the most and the players all rallied together to keep fighting and come out with a win."
In the first set, the Lady Pirates drew first blood with a kill by Kiersten Vincent and struck again as Alessia Laghi set up Natasha Colon for a kill giving them a 2-0 lead. Pratt answered with two straight points to tie it, but Destiny Thomas killed the ball for a 3-2 lead.
The Beavers went on a run of 3-0 before a kill by Colon cut the score to 5-4. Independence tied the match with a combo block by Patricia Seller and Jessi Lewman. A kill by Seller made up for an error tying the set at 6-6 and miscommunication gave the Lady Pirates a 7-6 lead before a kill tied it again.
An error was answered with a block from Briana Prescott to tie things at 8-8 but a net ball gave the Beavers the 9-8 advantage. Seller attacked to tie the set at 9-9 and points from both sides kept it tied before a kill gave Pratt an 11-10 lead.
Thomas delivered a kill tying it at 11-11, but the Beavers answered with a kill and block to go up 13-11. A 3-0 run stretched the lead to 16-11, but a 2-0 run had Independence within three. A 3-0 run from Pratt had the score at 19-13 and a kill pushed the lead to 20-13 for the Beavers.
The Pirates interrupted a 2-0 Pratt run as Kylie Shanahan set up Seller for a kill making it 22-14. A 2-0 run capped by a kill from Lewman cut the Beavers' lead to six, but a block pushed the lead to 23-16. A net ball made it 23-17 and a block cut the lead to five but a 2-0 run from Pratt ended the set with the Lady Pirates falling 18-25.
The second set began with a combo block from Thomas and Seller but a 3-0 run had Pratt in the lead before Seller attacked putting the Pirates within one. A 2-1 run capped by a kill from Thomas tied it at 4-4. Pratt scored on an error but a kill by Colon had the set tied again. Colon answered after an error to tie the set at 6-6 but a hit out of bounds gave the Beavers another lead.
Lewman delivered a kill to tie it again but a 2-0 run saw Pratt lead 9-7. Colon cut the lead to 9-8 and the teams exchanged blows bringing the lead to 11-9 before Seller cut the lead back to one. A run of 3-0 made the score 14-10 and a service error put Independence within three.
"I just have wanted to give the best that I can all season for every single day," said Seller. "I am really looking forward to the next two weeks, because we're going to give it our all for the rest of the season."
"The atmosphere tonight was so amazing and we all continued to play as hard as we could to get the win."
A hit too far made it 14-12, but two consecutive points had the lead at four before a net ball made it a 16-13 lead for the Beavers. A hit out of bounds and a net ball had Independence within one and an ace by Colon tied it at 16-16 before Prescott delivered a shot to give the Lady Pirates the lead at 17-16.
A service error tied it again and the teams exchanged blows tying at 18-18 before a kill and consecutive errors pushed Pratt up 21-18. Back and forth the teams went but a 4-3 Pratt run saw Independence drop the set 21-25.
In the third set, Independence began on a 3-0 run before a run of 2-0 cut the lead to one. Consecutive service errors had the Lady Pirates up 5-2 and kills on both sides pushed the lead to 6-3, but a Pratt kill, and an error had Independence lead to one.
A 5-1 run pushed the lead to 10-7 for Pratt, but a service error and a block by Thomas had the Lady Pirates within one. An ace from Shanahan followed by an error had Independence ahead 11-10, but another error tied it up again.
Prescott and Seller kept Independence in it with kills as part of a 4-4 even run to tie it at 15-15 and consecutive aces from Seller gave Independence a 17-15 advantage. Colon delivered a kill pushing the lead to 18-15, but a kill cut the lead to two.
Seller answered an out of bounds call with a kill to push it to 19-17, but a kill from Pratt cut the lead down to one. The teams exchanged blows making it a 20-19 lead for the Lady Pirates before Prescott blocked an attack to make it 21-19.
A kill cut the lead back to one and a block by Thomas pushed the lead to 22-20 followed by a net ball to make it a three-point advantage for Independence. The Lady Pirates ended the set on a 2-0 run after an ace from Anachariz Cruz and a kill by Thomas winning 25-20 and now trailing 1-2.
The fourth set began with a ball in the net giving Independence the early lead, but Pratt responded to tie it up. A kill by Prescott gave Independence a 2-1 advantage but Pratt tied it again. The Lady Pirates went on a 2-0 run for a 4-2 lead, but the Beavers answered tying the set at 4-4.
Pratt delivered a kill for the 5-4 lead and a net ball tied it up again, but the Answer was there twice as the Beavers went up 7-5 and then 8-5 after an error. A hit out of bounds pushed the lead to four but Colon delivered a kill cutting the score to 9-6.
An error cut the lead to two and an ace followed by a kill from Seller tied the set at 9-9. Another ace from Seller put Independence up by one and another gave the Lady Pirates an 11-9 lead. A service error cut the lead to one, but Colon answered making it a 12-10 lead for Independence.
A kill by Thomas pushed the lead to 13-10 and a block by Hannia Rios followed by an ace from Shanahan made it 15-10. Another ace from Shanahan made it 16-10 and Thomas kept the heat going with back to back kills for the 18-10 advantage.
A block by Pratt cut the lead to seven and an ace made it 18-12, but Thomas attacked again pushing the lead to 19-12. A combo block by Thomas and Prescott made it 20-12 and the teams exchanged blows making it a 21-14 lead for Independence.
A hit out brought the lead down to six, but an out of bounds hit made it 22-15. The Lady Pirates won the set 25-19 despite being outscored 4-3 after a service error to tie the match at 2-2.
In the fifth set, Pratt got on the board first after a hit out of bounds, but a kill by Colon tied it up. The teams exchanged errors to tie it at 2-2 and it was again tied at 3-3 after a kill from Seller.
"I'm very happy in the way our efforts paid off tonight," said Colon. "We have been preparing so hard all season long and it finally came together tonight. We are going to work very hard the next two weeks and do our best for the program."
"Being a part of this team has helped me become a much better player than I was before, and I believe that we can finish the season strong."
A combo block by Prescott and Lewman followed by a hit out of bounds gave Independence a 5-3 advantage. Another kill by Seller and Prescott pushed the lead to 7-3 and a kill by Colon gave Independence a five-point advantage at the break.
A net ball made it 9-3 for the Lady Pirates and a block by Lewman pushed the lead to 10-3. A 3-3 even run made it 13-6 but The Lady Pirates finished off the Pratt Beavers on a 2-0 run after a net ball to take the set 15-6 and the match 3-2.
Independence (8-16, 5-8) travels to Liberal Monday to take on the eighth-ranked Seward County Saints with first serve at 6:30 pm.