For the second consecutive season the Barton Community College volleyball team's year came to an end in the Region VI semifinals as the Cougars' opportunities fell short Sunday 3-1 to 20th ranked Colby Community College 23-25, 24-26, 26-24, and 18-25 at The Greenhouse in Liberal, KS.
The loss concludes Barton's campaign at 24-12, snapping a six match win streak as the Cougars had won 10-of-the-last-11 to reach the final four teams of the region. Colby's run ended in the ensuing championship match to conclude the season at 24-7 after being swept by 3rd ranked and host Seward County Community College.
Having split the regular season pair of matchups, Sunday's action was nothing short of two equally matched teams with timely execution providing the difference maker of the four set grind.
Mackenzie Pease gave Barton their first lead of the opening set at 17-16 on a center attack in the midst of a 7-0 run as the Cougars battled back from a six point early deficit. Another point increased the margin to a pair but Colby countered with a trio to regain the edge. Tied at 19 and again at 20, the Trojans surged out in front taking four of the next five to set up the frame clincher. The Cougars starved off two set points, including getting the aide of Colby's seventh service error, but the Trojans held off the charge for the 25-23 win.
Second set action saw the Cougars jump out early on a 7-0 run as a pair of assisted blocks by Eduarda Souza and Rayanne de Oliveira controlled the net. A five point spurt put the Trojans back into the frame knotting it up at eight. A three-point Barton surge was answered by a 7-of-8 stretch for the Trojans with the Cougars also responding with three straight to even the score at fifteen. A 10-3 Barton advantage for an 22-18 score seemed to put the Cougars in position to even the match but a six-pack of Colby tallies put the second seeded squad in front 24-22. A Migle Mazurkeviciute kill and a Colby ball handling error tied it again at 24-all but the Cougars returned the favor with consecutive errors to trail the match by two on the wrong end of the 26-24 score.
Another back-n-forth early battle began the third set until a Mazurkeviciute kill help spark a trio of points for a 15-11 lead. Following a Colby timeout, Barton took 5-of-the-next-6 points for a 19-12 lead before receiving errors and the Trojans' defensive adjustments led to a six point stretch closing the gap to one. Barton held off the charge despite the Trojans tying it up at 22 and again at 24 to cut the match deficit in half by closing out the final set winning points.
Tied for the seventh time in the fourth and final frame at 7-all, a five point spurt gave Colby the separation they needed to put the Cougars on their heels. Following a Barton timeout, a service error did little to derail the Trojans' momentum in taking the next three points expanding the lead out to 15-7. The Cougars were unable to string together multiple points other than twice the rest of the way, including gaining momentum slicing the deficit to four before a pivotal call halted the surge with Colby closing out the match later taking the final four of five points.
Barton's attack went south in the fourth set at just .029 while the Trojans heated up to .433 for a match overall .234 while the Cougars were left at .132 with twenty-seven errors to just seventeen committed by Colby.
Seven sophomores played their final match as a Cougar with Oliveira and Mazurkeviciute reaching double-digit kills for the 50th combined time of the season in recording thirteen kills each to move up both the single season and career program charts. Oliveira also moved up the chart in blocks, adding five to her total with eight digs to just miss a double-double while Mazurkeviciute recorded thirteen digs to post her 16th of the year.
Leading the Barton 5-1 offense all season, Agnieska Paskevic also moved up the assist and dig chart behind Sunday's 40 assists in recording her 19th double-double of the season collecting nineteen digs.
Ranking second in Barton history of single and career achievements, Karina de Oliveira protected the Cougars' back line for the final time, collecting 29 digs in solidifying her standing on the chart.
Freshman Victoria O'Keefe just missed her 6th double-double of the year with nine kills to go along with fourteen digs while Souza's four kills were matched with four blocks. Pease wrapped up her Barton career with three kills and two blocks.
Program Record Book Impact
Migle Mazurkeviciute:
Kills: 13th Career
Digs: 14th Single Season, 6th Career
Rayanne de Oliveira:
Kills: 17th Single Season, 18th Career
Solo Blocks: 14th Single Season, 14th Career
Assisted Blocks: 6th Career
Total Blocks: 6th Career
Karina de Oliveira:
Digs: 2nd Single Season, 2nd Career
Agnieska Paskevic:
Assists: 11th Single Season, 11th Career
Digs: 11th Single Season, 14th Career