Varsity volleyball took a definitive sweep last night against the Glenn Grizzlies, 26-24, 25-19, and 25-22. Senior Outside Hitter, Kaitlyn Hutchins, had a memorable night as she slashed 17 kills to earn her 1,000th career kill milestone. Hutchins added 4 aces, 6 digs, and 2 blocks to her game.
Feeding our offensive were Madison Bingham and Natalia Partida, with 16 and 15 assists, respectively. Bingham also kept the backline alive, leading in digs with 16, followed by Keileigh Krueger with 14.
For more detailed highlights of last night's match, read the Temple Daily Telegram article by Tim Waits--
Kaitlyn Hutchins knew her 1,000th career kill would come eventually. She just didn’t realize, or was even aware, it would occur at a critical moment Tuesday night in Lake Belton’s 26-24, 25-19, 25-22 sweep of Leander Glenn at Bronco Gym.
As it turned out, Hutchins started the night needing 16 kills to reach that coveted milestone. The 16th gave the Lady Broncos match point with a 24-19 lead in the final set to finish an improvised point following a tough dig from libero Keileigh Krueger and a set from Madi Bingham, with Hutchins ultimately putting away the ball in typical power-packed fashion.
Although she didn’t know it was No. 1,000, a speedy younger student circled the gym with a sign to make the crowd at large aware of the moment.
“I didn’t think I had gotten it,” said the senior outside hitter, who is committed to play for Northern Colorado next year. “I saw the sign going by and then I knew. I just knew I wanted to hit this one hard for the team. I was just focused on playing the game. I knew I was getting close, and I knew they were going to set me.”
The Lady Broncos needed kill No. 1,001 to finish the match as the Lady Grizzlies (9-7) fought off three straight match points before Hutchins easily put down a Glenn overpass to end it.
The victory snapped a three-match losing streak for Lake Belton (10-6) at the end of last weekend’s Pflugerville tournament.
“We knew we were losing to some really good opponents,” Lake Belton head coach Allison Waits said of last weekend’s action at the Pflugerville tournament. “But it’s still hard to lose, and we wanted to take care of this one against a good team.”
The teams played twice last year in long, close matches that they split. This one began to look much the same, with 11 ties in the opening set.
Lake’s Natalia Partida broke one of those ties with a sneaky tip followed by a Krueger ace, but the Lady Grizzlies batted away a set point to pull even at 24-all. Hutchins put the Lady Broncos back ahead with a kill, and Ava Wood ended the set with an ace.
Lake got off to a strong start in the second and went ahead 11-3, with aces from Bingham, Kruz Smith, Wood and Partida along the way.
Glenn climbed within 18-14, but the Lady Broncos didn’t relinquish successive points the rest of the way and got kills from Hutchins, Morgan Kokulski, Abbi Jones and Wood.
Lake Belton, which will spend the weekend at the Round Rock ISD tournament, was aided by 13 digs from Krueger and five kills apiece by Kukulski, Bingham and Wood.
But it was Hutchins’ night to bask in the light of her accomplishment, with most of the season still ahead.
‘I’m so excited,” she said. “It’s such a big thing after all the hard work I’ve put in.”
