Behind a raucous home crowd, the Barton Community College volleyball team defeated Cloud County Community College in straight sets Wednesday night 25-9, 25-20, and 25-18. It was the sixth straight victory for the Cougars in improving to 13-18 on the season while ending Cloud County's at 12-14. Barton will have over a week to prepare for the Region VI Final Four held in Hutchinson, Kansas on November 10. The fourth seeded Cougars will take on the top seed in the tournament and host Hutchinson Community College in a 12:00 p.m. match at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Barton came out on fire with five straight to force Cloud County to utilize a timeout trailing 5-1. The timeout had little affect on the Cougars as Barton outscored the T-birds 10-5 forcing Cloud County's second timeout trailing 15-6. Barton closed out the set on a 9-2 run to easily win the set 25-9.
Playing such a high emotional first set, Barton was out of sync in the second set getting into a 7-3 hole. Coming out of a Barton timeout, the Cougars turned momentum and inched closer drawing to within 10-8. Cloud County also saw the momentum turn trying to slow down the Cougars with a timeout, but Barton seized the lead at 18-17 and force the T-birds to call their second timeout. Barton then closed out the set on a 7-3 run to go up two sets to zero with the 25-20 win.
The T-birds battled early in the third but burned through both of their timeouts as the Cougars opened up a workmanlike 15-9 lead. Keeping poised and focused the rest of the way, Barton went on to win 25-18 and advance to the region final four.
Mackenzie Orchard's .385 attack percentage and Jori Mote led a balance Cougar attack with ten kills each while McKenzie Piland was close behind at nine. Jenna Reid continues to improve through her freshman season getting four kills on a .571 attack percentage.
Kiara Rivera led the Cougars defensively with fourteen while Piland finished with ten. Casey Friesen put up twenty-four assists as the Cougars hit .313 on the night.
The Cougars first match of the region final four will come against a Hutchinson Blue Dragon who swept both meetings this season. Hutchinson was the big benefactor of last week's Barton win at Colby Community College, as the Cougars victory gave the Blue Dragons the top seed and opportunity to host the final four.