The Barton Community College volleyball team faced one of their toughest squads Friday evening, falling on the road in four sets to fourteenth ranked in Division II Cloud County Community College 25-15, 18-25, 25-19, and 25-17.

The loss drops the Cougars to 7-4 on the season, while the T-Birds remain unbeaten moving onto 10-0. Barton will look to regroup before hosting their home opener and Jayhawk Conference opener Wednesday evening at 6:30 p.m. against Dodge City Community.

After a sluggish opening set, the Cougars would respond rather strongly midway through the second rattling off five straight points gaining a slight 15-10 edge. Things would get interesting as the T-Birds trimmed the lead to two, 20-18. Barton would fight off the adversity in the closing stages scoring the final five points knotting the match up.

In a crucial third set, things would turn on Barton midway as Cloud gained all momentum during a 9-1 run taking control of the match for good.

The Cougars looked to be on their way of forcing a fifth and final set, jumping outfront 15-11 sparked by a 9-2 run that forced the T-Birds to burn a quick timeout. Out of the timeout, things turned south as Cloud spoiled the chances outscoring Barton 14-3 down the stretch.