Making a short trip to northeast Nebraska, the Barton Community College volleyball team picked up three victories in less than twenty-four hours.
Thursday evening the Cougars took the first two sets over host Northeast Community College, dropped the third but reignited the engine to pull away in the fourth to win 25-18, 25-13, 16-25, and 25-20.
Returning to the court on Friday for a 12:00 p.m. match, the Cougars were a little sluggish in splitting the first two sets 25-23 and 21-25 but took care of Central Community College with convincing 25-15 and 25-14 set scores in wrapping up the match. Following a brief rest, Barton took on its stiffest test of the three matches in Division II No. 8 ranked Kirkwood Community College, jumping out on top 26-24 and 25-18, dropping the third 20-25, before powering up on a .400 attack percentage to cap the day on a 25-16 score.
Now 7-0, the Cougars return to Nebraska for the McCook Tournament next weekend beginning with a Friday 9:00 a.m. match against Western Wyoming Community College. Barton will then play Ranger College at 1:00 p.m. before concluding the trip on Saturday after a 1:00 p.m. match versus Laramie County Community College.
Despite a .209 offensive attack in the three matches, the Cougars got it done on the defensive side of the net with 30 blocks and served up 20 aces.
Buse Kocakaya was the top performer on Thursday against the hosts with 16 kills on a .389 attack while accounting for four walls of denial. Despite playing just seven of the twelve sets and sitting out the second match, Molly Norris ended the three-match tied with Kocakaya for team high honors with 13 blocks. Putting down 9 kills and throwing up 5 blocks in the opener, Jada Davis shined in the second match to lead the Cougars with 12 kills on a .400 attack to finish the stretch with 24 total kills on a .380 attack.
Tasiah Nunnery led the team total with 33 kills in the trio of matches, adding 48 digs in posting three double-double efforts. The defensive coverage brought Nunnery's total to 870 in her career, moving into the 5th all-time spot surpassing Kiara Rivera's 854 total (2012-13) and the 855 accumulated my Mykela Reidl (2013-14).
Hanna Miller also continued her career total accumulation, leading the team with 87 total digs to close within twenty of Cristin Haines' 1361 total achieved from the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
On Thursday, Iris Oosterbaan recorded her first collegiate double-double in putting up 45 assists and a career high 11 digs. Running the 5-1 offense for the first two matches, the Cougars switched to a 6-2 in Friday's finale with Mya Maxwell putting up 17 assists with Oosterbaan recording 16.
Jadyn Brown, who finished with 18 kills, led the Cougars from the service line with seven aces in eleven sets.
Record Book Watch
Hanna Miller:
2nd in career digs with 1341, 20 shy of Cristin Haines' 1361 total from the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Tasiah Nunnery:
5th in career digs with 870, 144 shy of Mylena Testoni's 1014 total from the 2020 and 2021 seasons.