The Dodge City Community College Conquistador volleyball team ran into the buzzsaw that is the Hutchinson Blue Dragons Tuesday at home, dropping the match in three sets.
Dodge falls to a 4-6 Jayhawk West record, while Hutchinson stays unblemished in league play at 10-0.
The Conqs, though ousted quickly and neatly by the well-oiled Blue Dragon machine, played some of their sharpest volleyball all season.
"The girls played hard. They played well," DCCC coach Shaun Pohlman said of his squad. "Hutch is just a great team. They're always bringing their A game."
Defensively, the Conqs got to balls they hadn't gotten to in previous matches, but the onslaught of hitting from Hutch's Karolina Marins, Barbara Mafra and Molly Bergkamp was just too much to handle.
In little over an hour, Hutch took the match 25-20, 25-18, 25-19. Janelle Burnett led the Conqs with 11 kills, while Robin Somogyi added seven kills of her own and 1.5 blocks.
"The fact is, our blocking is weak," Pohlman said. "We got a hand on some balls, but they deflected out of bounds or went way off somewhere we couldn't return it."
Length and height were two advantages the Blue Dragons took over the Conqs en route to victory. Hits that went for points against clubs like Garden City and Barton County were stuffed back onto the Conqs' side Tuesday by the rangy Dragon front line.
"They're not ranked 17th in the nation for nothing," Pohlman said of Hutch's dominance. "They're really tough with their depth and range, and there's really no blame anywhere on our side for this one."
However, had Dodge City played the way it did in last week's home match against Barton County (another three-set loss), Pohlman said his players might not be in the position they are now — having to look over their shoulders as their hold on the fourth seed in the Jayhawk West tournament loosens with every loss.
If Barton County (12-23) can beat Colby (13-27) in Great Bend today, both Barton and Dodge would have league records of 4-6. Dodge still has regular season matches to play against Seward County (who has beaten Dodge four times this season) and Colby, while Barton still has Hutch and Seward left on the regular season schedule.
The Conqs will play in Colby Wednesday, Oct. 29, against the Trojans before taking on the Seward Saints at home Nov. 1.
"Those are going to be huge matches for us," Pohlman said.
DODGE CITY —
