Lady Pirates' Season Ends In KJCCC Conference Tourney
October 31, 2018
COLBY, Kan. - The Independence Lady Pirates hit the road Wednesday for the first round of the KJCCC Conference Tournament as the 7-seed facing the 2-seed #15 Colby Trojans. At first, the Lady Pirates looked to just be going away in set number one. Independence battled and fought hard the rest of the match but dropped the contest in straight sets to close out the season.
In the first set, the Lady Pirates got off to a rough start as kills and errors got Colby out to a run of 6-0 before a service error got Independence on the board. The Trojans reacted with a kill that was answered by Briana Prescott with one of her own cutting the lead to five, but three consecutive kills and a net ball pushed the score to 11-2 for the Trojans.
The errors continued to roll in as Colby was now ahead 16-2 before a service error. Independence had had no answer as the Trojans outscored the Lady Pirates 9-2, dropping the set 5-25.
The second set began with a run of 3-1 for Colby, but a kill by Prescott cut the lead to one. Independence answered a 4-0 run with a kill by Natasha Colon cut the lead to three.
The Lady Pirates ended a 2-0 run with a kill by Jessi Lewman, but another miscue made the score 9-5. Independence went on a 3-0 run after kills by Lewman, Destiny Thomas and Shelymar Diaz to cut the lead to one, but a ball in the net and a kill made the score 11-8 for the Trojans.
A run of 2-0 pushed the Colby lead to five but with a kill from Thomas, the Lady Pirates were back within four. A 3-0 run by the Trojans made score 16-9 and a hit out of bounds cut the lead to six, but a block out of bounds and a hit out of bounds made the score 18-10.
A service error cut the lead to seven, but a 2-1 run made the score 20-12. Independence battled back with kills by Colon and Diaz, while also capitalizing on errors, but was outscore 6-5, falling 16-25.
In the third set, a double touch gave the Lady Pirates the early lead, but Colby answered with a quick kill before a kill by Thomas and Kiersten Vincent gave Independence a 3-1 advantage. The Trojans fired back to tie things at 3-3.
The teams exchanged blows, but a run of 2-0 had Colby up 6-4 before a hit out of bounds brought the Lady Pirates within one. The Lady Pirates ended a 2-0 run with a kill by Lewman cutting the Trojans' lead to three, but a kill made the score 10-6 just before a kill by Colon.
Independence answered a 4-0 run with a block by Thomas and a kill by Vincent cutting the score to 13-9 and a net ball had the lead down to three. Another net ball made the score 13-11 and a kill by Vincent had the Lady Pirates within one, but a service error pushed the score to 14-12.
Miscommunication brought Independence back within one, but back to back kill had the score at 16-13 before a kill by Thomas. A 2-0 run had the Lady Pirates trailing 18-14 before a hit out of bounds by the Trojans but a kill made the score 19-15.
An out of bounds hit cut the lead to three, but a kill and error had the score at 21-16. Independence was outscored 3-0 to end the match falling 16-25. The Lady Pirates' season ends finishing 2018 with a record of 8-21 overall and 5-12 in conference play.