The Barton Community College volleyball team held off a Blue Dragon rally Tuesday night at the Hutchinson Sports Arena as the Cougars beat Hutchinson Community College 3-1 (25-18, 25-15, 22-25, and 29-27).
Barton improves to 6-1 on the early season with the conference opening victory while Hutchinson falls to 1-2 in league play and 3-3 overall. Next up for the Cougars is a weekend trip to McCook, Nebraska, for the McCook Classic with first match coming at high noon Friday against Central Community College-Columbus. Barton will then take on Eastern Wyoming College at 6:00 p.m. before wrapping up the Classic on Saturday with a noon bout against the hosts McCook Community College and a 4:00 p.m. match against Trinidad State Junior College. The Cougars will have a short turnaround for its home opener in welcoming Pratt Community College to the Barton Gym on Monday, February 8.
Barton took the first five points to get the night started before Hutchinson began to warm-up closing to within 7-6. Barton held off Hutchinson through numerous ties, not allowing the Blue Dragons to take the lead. Late in the set, Barton finally pulled away scoring eight straight points in closing the 25-18 victory on a 9-1 run.
Hutchinson took the early edge in the second frame jumping out to a 4-2 edge, leading for the last time at 5-4. The Cougars strung five straight to open up a four point lead with the next two points going to the home team but it was as close as Hutchinson would come the rest of the set. Barton took the next three and six of seven in the stretch widening the gap to 16-8 before taking the margin to ten on three straight. The teams battled back and forth the remaining of the set as Barton took the two set match lead on the 25-15 victory.
A 13-9 third set lead appeared to have the Cougars heading home on a short night's rest but the Blue Dragons had other plans. After a .455 and .300 attack percentage in the first two sets, Barton began to cool down in what would be just a .236 percentage for the set allowing Hutchinson to get back into the set. Taking the next three points to draw within one, following an Addison Crites kill, Hutchinson seized the lead with another trio of points. Barton tied it back up at 15 but the Blue Dragons took five of the next six points in creating a four-point margin. The Cougars made up the difference scoring six of the next eight to knot things up at 22 but Hutchinson secured the remaining three to win 25-22 to force a fourth set.
The Cougars steadied Hutchinson's momentum in the fourth, creating some separation with four straight for a 13-9 lead. Barton held off a couple of charges until 15-all when Hutchinson took five of the next six to lead 20-16. Exchanging the next four points, Hutchinson appeared to be on the brink of forcing a deciding set leading 22-18 until the Cougars came roaring back. Jo Laforce's kill and assisted block with Crites ignited a 6-0 Barton run prompting Hutchinson to burn its final timeout with the set tied at 22. Following a Hutchinson point on a middle kill, Laforce and Mylena Testoni gave Barton match point at 24-23. The Blue Dragons starved off three match points but never took the lead again as Barton put the match away on a Maria Santos kill and Testoni's kill off the block.
Testoni, the reigning two-time KJCCC Player of the Week, led Barton's offensive attack with a .405 percentage, recording sixteen kills while collecting twenty-two digs for her second double-double of the year. Laforce and Santos also had a big night with thirteen and eleven kills respectively aiding in Barton's overall .305 attack percentage.
The 6-2 offense guided by Isabella Guedes and Alyssa Herter each posted double-double nights with Guedes posting a 26-assist and 14-kill night while Herter put up 25-assists and a 17-kill performance.
Hanna Miller led the backline of defense with twenty-nine digs with Tasiah Nunnery adding twenty-six on the Cougars' 130 dig effort.