Seward Volleyball Upends No. 9 Colby at The Greenhouse, Hands Trojans 1st Conference Loss

LIBERAL, Kan. – The Seward volleyball squad secured a huge upset victory on Wednesday evening at The Greenhouse, handing the ninth ranked Colby Trojans their first conference loss of the season in a 3-1 (17-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-18) win.

The Saints (8-14, 5-6) are the first Jayhawk Conference team this season to hand the first place Trojans (19-5, 11-1) a loss.

It marks the Saints highest ranked win dating back to the spring 2021 season when they defeated No. 8 ranked Northeastern Junior College. It also marks Seward's first win over a top-10 ranked team since 2022 when they knocked off No. 10 ranked Polk.

The Saints fell in set one but reeled off three straight set wins, rallying behind a hyped Saints crowd.

Seward got out to a 3-0 lead in set one but Colby responded to knot things up at 3-3. The teams traded leads but Colby got out to an 18-13 advantage and raced to the 25-17 set one win.

An attack error from the Trojans saw Seward get out to a 5-2 lead in set two. The Saints led until Colby made it 7-7. An Ana Nikolic service ace put the Saints ahead 13-9 and a Mariana Silva kill saw the Trojans call timeout trailing 14-9. Seward built a 17-11 lead but Colby fought back to tie things at 19-19 and later took a 22-20 lead. The Saints stayed steady trailing 24-23 for set point. A Colby net violation tied things at 24-24 but the Trojans answered again to make it a 25-24 lead. A Silva kill, a Mina Milivojevic ace and an impressive one handed block from Annalisa Volpatti gave the Saints the set, 27-25, and saw the momentum swing.

Colby came out hot in set three building a lead as big as six at 11-5. A 5-0 Saints run cut into the lead and forced a Trojan timeout. Seward won the middle stretch of the set and was the first team to 20, making it 20-16 off a kill from Milivojevic. Colby pulled within one at 22-21 forcing Saints head coach Jelena Cohadarevic to call timeout. Seward got as close as set point at 24-21 before Colby called another timeout and pulled within one at 24-23. A Colby attack error into the net saw Seward snag a 2-1 match lead winning the set 25-23.

Both teams were evenly matched early in set four getting out to a 6-6 tie. The set continued to be a battle. With Seward leading 16-15, a Colby player suffered a lower leg injury that sent the two teams into around a 30-minute delay. Seward came out of the delay hot, outscoring Colby 8-3 as Silva slammed home four kills, Volpatti added two blocks, Maja Kobielska sent one over and a Colby ball sailed long to gove the Saints the victory.

A full box score will be posted when available.

Hear from sophomore Mariana Silva and head coach Jelena Cohadarevic following the Saints 3-1 win over ninth ranked Colby#GoodToBeGreen pic.twitter.com/zHVfTd7vsq

— Seward County Saints (@SewardSaints) October 16, 2025

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