It was pink night at the Greenhouse as the Lady Saints tamed the Barton cougars by a score of 3-1. Both teams wore their pink jerseys in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

In the first set, the Lady Saints fell victim to sloppy play. They fell behind 12-15 early due to calls for illegal hits as well as making several mental errors that cost them valuable points. This kept them unable to shift the momentum back into their favor and unable to score consecutive points. The Lady Cougar took the first set 22-25.

Martiza Mesa, right side hitter from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, said, “We weren’t nervous. We just gave them a lot of free points. That was the difference between us and them.”

During the second set, the Lady Saints seemed to come out of their shell as they played with an intensity that was not seen in the first set. The Lady Saints took a quick five point lead but the Lady Cougars came back with five straight points to tie the set at 5-5. It was a back and forth until the Lady Saints pulled out to a 15-14 lead. Then with three straight kills by Maritza Mesa put them up by four. The Lady Saints would on a seven point run to take the set 25-16.

The third set was tight in the beginning. No team would lead by more than two points until the Lady Saints went on a six point run to make the score 15-9. They eventually ended the set with a score of 25-17 as the Lady Saints had found their rhythm. The cougars were dominated at the net by front row trio Maritza Mesa, Belissa Guidotti and Kaysie Paxon.

The Lady Saints continued their control of the net into the fourth set. The Lady Saints got out to an 11-5 lead and didn’t give it up the rest of the way. The Lady cougars got as close as 12-10, but immediately the Lady Saints pulled away on a six point run. They came out with a win 25-14.

It was a great performance by the Lady Saints. Once they got into rhythm, they were tough to stop. They were able to control the net on both offense and defense and made the most out of every point.

“We played great as a team today. Everyone made points, everyone was ready to get the ball, everybody was ready to serve and everyone played defense,” said Mesa.

Last year the Lady Saints came in within one game of the conference title. As of now, the Lady Saints are now tied for the lead in the Jayhawk Conference.  

“It’s great. It’s something that we’ve been working on and it’s a goal we had last year,” said Coach Thias B. Allen.

The Lady Saints are currently on a 6 game win streak. They hope to continue that streak as they play against Colby Community College on Saturday Oct. 29 in the Greenhouse.