Greyhounds struggle to put Comets away

By Scott Nuzum

Herald-Tribune

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Paula Okrutna had 15 kills for Fort Scott Community College Friday night, leading the Greyhounds to a 25-21, 25-17, 25-15 sweep of visiting Cottey College at Arnold Arena.

The 'Hounds (24-10), who will finish their season today, struggled to find consistency while the Comets (5-21) were unable to find a consistent second option on offense to go with Lindsey Aldridge. Fort Scott was able to find second and third options on offense in this match as sophomore Heather Greer had 10 kills. Freshman Ashley Bell, who joined the team late in the pre-season and is just beginning to hit her stride, added nine kills. The 'Hounds held a 10-6 lead in the first set. But Cottey capitalized on Fort Scott errors and took a 14-11 lead. Okrutna slammed a free ball at the net to spark a 7-0 run that gave her team the lead for good. The Comets got within 22-21 but Okrutna gave serve back to FSCC, which got kills from Thamara Silva and Greer to end the set. Both teams struggled to get on a run in the second set. At one point, the teams traded points on 7 consecutive serves before Cottey finally string together three in a row to get within 18-14. Bell's kill made it 24-17 and a Cottey error finished the set. The only real runs of the match came at the start of the third set when Fort Scott jumped out to a 10-2 lead. But Cottey fought back and got within 21-15.

Bell gave serve back to Fort Scott, which served out the match. Taylyn Schwartz dished 37 assists for Fort Scott. Aldridge led Cottey with 10 kills but no other Comet had more than four. Taylor McCue had 9 assists.

The Greyhounds finish their season this morning with a match against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M at 11 a.m. Cottey begins district tourney play on Nov. 4-5 in St. Louis.