The Barton Community College volleyball team stepped out of conference play this weekend with split results competing in the Cardinal Classic hosted by Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Missouri.
Barton is now 16-10 on the season, returning to conference play on Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. first serve at nationally receiving votes Butler Community College.
The Cougars opened up play on Friday taking on 3rd ranked Indian Hills Community College, dropping the first set 25-10 but bouncing back to even the match with a 25-23 win. The Indians flexed in the third 25-7 as the Cougars hit for negative percentage for the second time in the match before falling short in the fourth 25-17.
Molly Norris led the net play with six kills on a .400 attack and two blocks, Beatriz Rissi put up three walls of rejection, and Clara Lindstrom patrolling the back line with 18 digs. Mya Maxwell and Bennie Horsch shared setting duties in the 6-2 offense putting up 13 and 7 assists respectively. Ella Rumford, who had a career most 28 attacks in the match, also set a personal best defensively with 7 digs.
Getting about a five hour break, Barton returned to the court and produced a .282 attack in a resounding sweep over St. Louis Community College 25-14, 25-9, and 26-24.
Norris again led with 8 kills on a .500 attack and 3 blocks, including one of the team's three solo blocks as Jada Davis and setter Iris Oosterbaan had the other. Darby Smith and Tasiah Nunnery each had 7 kills as Jaden Boden struck for a .667 attack with 6 kills on 9 attempts. Oosterbaan led the 5-1 attack with 26 assists and added 7 digs while Lindstrom and Nunnery led the team with 15 digs each.
Scheduled for consecutive matches on Saturday, the Cougars had leads mid-sets in its first match against the 20th ranked hosts but the Cardinals prevailed in four by 25-17, 25-21, 23-25, and 25-19 scores.
Barton played well enough for the victory with a .191 attack but costly errors doomed the Cougars down the stretch. Smith matched her career high with 11 kills, being joined in team honors by Norris' 11 kills by hitting for .435 with two blocks while also just missing her second collegiate double-double with 9 digs. Like Smith, Horsch also recorded a career high in kills, recording 4 on a .167 attack in 12 swings. Oosterbaan and Maxwell shared setter duties in the tune of 23 and 15 assists respectively as Lindstrom led the defensive backline with 25 digs with Rissi and Boden leading the net crew in putting up five and four blockades respectively.
Returning to the court 30 minutes later, the Cougars put together its season's second best attack of .315 to dispatch Vincennes University in five sets. Barton outscored the Trailblazers 6-1 down the stretch for a 25-19 win but Vincennes flipped the script in the second fighting off four set points with a 6-0 closeout to win 26-24 then rattled off the final three points in taking a a 2-1 match lead on a 25-22 victory. With their backs to the wall, Barton closed out the fourth like they did in the first, winning six of the last seven for a 25-17 victory forcing a decisive set. The Cougars broke a 6-all tie with three straight, not allowing the Trailblazers any closer than two before sticking a bow on the weekend with the final four points of the 15-9 victory.
Nunnery's .444 attack producing 16 kills led the Cougars, adding 12 digs for her 10th double-double of the season while moving into the program's 13th all-time position of the category. Buse Kocakaya made the most of her three sets of action with 7 kills on a .429 attack with Boden hitting for .714 chalking up 5 kills. Norris continued her strong weekend play with 13 kills on a .250 attack and assisted on 4 blocks as Rissi led the team's fourteen assisted block party with 5 and Lindstrom led the back half with a career high 26 digs. The Cougars utilized all three setters in the match, Oosterbaan leading with 20, Horsch with 19, and Maxwell with 16.
Record Book Watch
Hanna Miller: (DNP this weekend)
- 1st in career digs with 1,623
- 18th in service aces with 93, 2 shy of Alik Cardoso da Sa's 95 total from 2006-2007 seasons
Tasiah Nunnery:
- 4th in career digs with 1056, 161 shy of Karina de Oliveira's 1217 from the 2018-2019 season
- 13th in career kills with 750, surpassed Migle Mazurkeviciute's 741 from the 2018-2019 seasons; 8 shy of Kara Robeson's 758 total from 2006-2007 seasons
- 14th in service aces with 100, 2 shy of Juliana da Barros's 104 from 2010-2011 seasons.