The first time the teams met it was a five set thriller. Monday night at the Barton Gym was a total different story as the Barton Community College volleyball team dominated three sets of "Dig Pink" night action to defeat Butler Community College 25-16, 25-17, and 25-17.
The season sweep and fifth straight series win helps solidify Barton's sole possession of third place in the Jayhawk West at 9-3 and 19-11 overall while Butler's six match win streak ends in sliding out of the fourth spot and into the fifth at 8-7 and 16-10 on the year.
Match two of Barton's three-match home stretch is Wednesday in a 6:30 p.m. first serve against second place Colby Community College (12-1, 21-4) with Monday's match against current fourth place Hutchinson Community College closing out the stretch. The Cougars remain in the driver's seat of a top four spot of hosting first round Region VI action as another victory in one of the four remaining matches assures Barton a Tuesday, October 29, home match.
Migle Mazurkeviciute led Barton's .268 attack with eleven kills from twenty-six swings for a .385 hitting percentage and added fourteen digs for the sophomore's thirteenth double-double of the year. Three Cougars put down seven kills each on the night, Rayanne de Oliveira and Eduarda Souza with Victoria O'Keefe just missing a double-double in adding nine digs. Agnieska Paskevic had four kills, to go along with thirty-six assists, while Karina de Oliveira again led the backline with twenty-eight digs including a number of highlight saves.
Barton gained separation in the first set stringing a pair of three point stretches, building on a 9-7 lead and later in the set pushing the advantage out to 17-10 in taking command. Trading points and holding Butler at-bay on a five point margin, four straight gave Barton a 24-15 advantage in winning the set.
A 4-0 Barton run broke the second set's seventh tie coming at 8-all as suddenly the Cougars created a gap on the scoreboard. Maintaining the margin until late in the frame, a trio of points broke it open for a 22-15 lead with another three-pack of points closing out the final score to an eight point margin.
The pink jersey clad Cougars looked to induce some black and blue in the final frame, grabbing the first four points before a 5-0 run ballooned the early lead to 9-1. Back came the Grizzlies with five straight, answered by four on the home side of the scoreboard to rebuild a semi-comfortable seven point 13-6 edge. Butler would later cut it to five but Barton held the Grizzlies at arms length to eventually close out the match winning four-of-the-last five points improving the Cougars' commanding series lead to 64-5.