A point here or a point there were only what-ifs Monday night at the Colby Community Building as the Barton Community College volleyball team returned home on the downside of a sweep at co-conference leader Colby Community College 25-21, 25-21, and 25-23.
The result drops Barton to 2-2 in the Jayhawk West and 9-6 overall while Colby remains tied for the top spot at 6-0 improving to 13-1 on the year.
Next up for the Cougars is a trip to El Dorado as Barton concludes a stretch of facing the top three teams of the West in a 6:30 p.m. first serve at seven match win streaker Butler Community College (4-3, 9-5).
Barton began each of the three sets on the positive side of the scoreboard, jumping out to early four point leads before Colby would get going in drawing the frames tied around the six point mark.
Getting a kill from Mackenzie Pease midway through the opening set, Barton took its largest lead of five at 16-11. The Trojans rallied for five straight earning the tie before the early hot arm of Migle Mazurkeviciute put down three of her team leading ten kills keeping Barton out in front by one. Colby rattled off two straight to regain the lead, and following trading the next four points, the Trojans put away the final four in outscoring Barton 14-5 down the stretch to grab the match lead.
Colby erased the early second set deficit to tally eight of the next ten points to lead at 9-6. Consecutive kills later by Rayanne de Oliveira and Mazurkeviciute capped an 8-3 stretch to put Barton ahead by two at 14-12. The teams traded mini spurts throughout the mid-part of the frame before eventually being tied for the final time at the 19-all point. Getting a heads-up dink kill by setter Kyndal Bacon, the Trojans rattled off the next three points in grabbing separation before capturing the set scoring six of the frame's eight points.
Seeing its early third set lead evaporated, Barton recovered to expand the margin back out getting a kill from freshman Victoria O'Keefe to make it 11-7. Back came the Trojans as a "pass to no one" fell to the floor putting Colby up 14-13. The lead remained at one at 18-17 before Oliveira threw down three of her ten kills on the night including a big swing on a Colby overhit for a 21-18 Barton advantage. Two straight by Colby closed the gap before another Oliveira kill pushed it back to two but a costly hit out-of-bounds gave the home team a critical point. Another Colby tally tied it up at 22 before a long rally ending on a Trojan double contact gave Barton its final lead of the match. Unable to capitalize, the Cougars' fortune ran out with Colby putting the final three points on the board securing the sweep.
The Cougars hit for a .150 attack with Mazurkeviciute's ten kills and .266 percentage leading the team as the sophomore tallied eleven digs posting her seventh double-double of the year. Agnieska Paskevic recorded twenty-six assists on the night while Karina de Oliveira led the back line with twenty digs.