CASPER, Wyo. – The Jayhawk West and Region VI champion Hutchinson Community College volleyball team got its first look at the Casper Events Center Wednesday morning during their workout session for the 2014 NJCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament.
The 15th-seeded Blue Dragons will meet the second seed and defending national champion Blinn College Buccaneers at 11 a.m. Thursday (noon Hutchinson time) in the opening round.
The Blue Dragons are making their eighth appearance at the NJCAA national tournament, all since 2004. This is Hutchinson's third-straight appearance at nationals.
Hutchinson brings a 27-12 records into Thursday's opening-round matchup. The Blue Dragons have won three-straight Region VI and three-consecutive conference championships. Blinn is 36-1, whose only loss is to No. 4 Tyler Junior College in late September.
All Blue Dragons matches in Casper will be videostreamed by NJCAA.tv. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will provide an audio-only broadcast 15 minutes before each match.
MAPPING THE BLUE DRAGON TOURNAMENT PATH
Along with Blinn, No. 7 Western Nebraska and No. 10 Arizona Western are in Hutchinson's quarter-bracket of the NJCAA Tournament.
The Hutchinson-Blinn winner will play the Western Nebraska-Arizona Western winner in the quarterfinals at 5:30 Thursday (6:30 p.m. Hutchinson time).
The two opening-round losers will play in the elimination bracket at 10 a.m. (11 a.m. Hutchinson time) on Friday. A victory in that match means a 4:30 p.m. match (5:30 p.m. Hutchinson time) on Friday for a chance to play in Saturday's ninth-place match.
If Hutchinson wins its first-round match, the Blue Dragons would be assured of placing no worse than eighth and would play on Saturday regardless of Friday's outcome. If HCC wins its first-round and quarterfinal matches on Thursday, HCC would play in a 6:30 p.m. MT match on Friday. If they win the first match and drop the quarterfinal, the Blue Dragons would play at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
BLUE DRAGON SEASON RECAP
The 2014 Blue Dragons went undefeated in the Jayhawk West championship going 16-0, winning 48 of 53 sets in conference play. The Blue Dragons were 11-12 against non-conference opponents and 2-7 against nationally ranked competition.
Hutchinson was unranked to start the season and was ranked as high as No. 18 in the NJCAA poll before falling out after a 1-3 weekend at the Missouri State University-West Plains Invitational in early October.
For the season, the Blue Dragons averages 11.86 kills per set and hit .220 as a team. The Blue Dragons were the top blocking team in the Jayhawk West this season at 2.82 blocks per set. HCC also averaged 13.66 digs and 1.48 service aces per set.
The Blue Dragons have been led all season by middles Nicole Kinser and Petra Silic.
The Jayhawk West Most Valuable player, Kinser led the Jayhawk West in hitting percentage at .376 and was second in kills at 3.39 kills per set.
Silic, the conference's Freshman of the Year, is hitting .267 with 1.81 blocks per set.
Silic and Kinser are the Nos. 1 and 2 blockers in the Jayhawk West at 1.45 and 1.02 blocks per set.
From the outside, freshman Jai Chapman and sophomore Lauren Darby were both all-conference players. Darby, an honorable mention selection, is third in hitting at 2.29 kills per set and a 1.73 hitting percentage. Chapman, a second-team all-conference selection, hits .131 and averages 2.09 kills per set.
First-team All-Jayhawk West selection Aubrey Wilson averages 1.66 kills while hitting .232. She is third on the team in blocks at 0.87. She also averages 1.57 digs and 4.72 set assists.
Freshman setter Tarynn Stueder averages 5.93 assists. Freshman libero McKenzie Steele averages a team-high 4.14 digs per set.
SCOUTING BLINN COLLEGE
The defending national champions have won 21 matches in a row since being swept by Tyler on Sept. 13.
Blinn is fourth in the nation in kills at 13.56 kills per set. The Bucccaneers are fifth in the NJCAA in hitting percentage at .301. Blinn also averages 2.15 blocks, 2.08 aces and 13.87 digs per set.
Four different Blinn players average better than two kills per set, led by freshman middle blocker Tawnee Luafalemana, who is hitting 2.85 kills per set hitting a blistering .411. Sophomore outside hitter Trinity Alualu is at 2.79 kills per set hitting .274. Sophomore right-side hitter Rebecca Reeve hits at .267 kills per set, hitting .291. Freshman middle Abolante Onipeda hit .396 and averages 2.22 kills per set.
Luafalemana is Blinn's leading blocker at 1.13 blocks per set. Sophomore libero Alyssa Lamont has a team-high 3.64 digs per set.
HCC'S NATIONAL TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Hutchinson will be making its eighth appearance in the NJCAA Division I Volleyball Tournament. The Blue Dragons are making their third-straight appearance at nationals.
Overall, Hutchinson has an 11-15 record in the NJCAA Tournament.
HCC made its first tournament appearance in 2004. Entering the tournament 40-0 as the No. 2 seed, the Blue Dragons lost to Indian Hills in quarterfinals before rallying to win the next two matches to finish fifth, the best tournament finish in tournament history.
The Blue Dragons also placed seventh in 2005, eighth in 2006, 10th in 2008 and ninth in 2009.
In Patrick Hall's first two trips to nationals, HCC went 1-2 in 2012 and 0-2 last season. Hutchinson's 2012 victory was the first Region VI team to win at the national tournament since HCC's ninth-place victory over San Jacinto in 2009.
Of all of Hutchinson's wins at the national tournament, its 2006 opening-round match against defending championship Miami-Dade might be the most memorable.
In a 5-12 matchup, the 12th-seeded Blue Dragons raced out to a 2-0 match lead on the Sharks, only to see Miami-Dade wins sets 3 and 4 and have a match point in hand in the fifth. The Blue Dragons fought that point off and leading 17-16 in the fifth, freshman middle Ludmilla Amaral stuffs Miami-Dade All-American Paola Ampudea to close out the biggest victory in Blue Dragon volleyball history.
BLUE DRAGON RECORD BOOK WATCH
Nicole Kinser:
6th in career kills with 693
5th in career attack percentage at .364
6th in career total blocks with 240
10th in career blocks per set at 0.91
5th in season kills at 474
6th in season kills per set at 3.39
6th in season attack percentage at .376
Petra Silic:
3rd in season blocks with 180
Tied for 2nd in season blocks per set at 1.45
2nd in freshman blocks with 180
1st in season blocks per set at 1.45
Jai Chapman:
10th in freshman season blocks with 280
Tarynn Stueder:
9th in freshman set assists with 818
9th in freshman set assists per set with 5.93
McKenzie Steele:
2nd in freshman digs with 567
3rd in freshman digs per set at 4.14
(HCC Sports Information)
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