The Barton Community College volleyball team was knocked from the unbeaten Tuesday evening in Liberal as the 15th ranked Saints of Seward County Community College prevailed in straight sets 25-13, 27-25, and 25-21.
Dropping to 11-1 on the season, Barton next heads to Cloud County Community College on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. first serve. Seward County improves to 3-0 in league and 10-2 on the year.
The Cougars finished at just a .200 attack but the Saints were even worse in the defensive battle at .183. The Saints led the battle at the net with nine blocks to the Cougars' four while having the edge at the service line with eight to two service aces.
Buse Kocakaya led the Cougars with 9 kills with Jada Davis connecting on 8 kills behind a team high .467 attack. Darby Smith, who came off the bench late in the second set to give the Cougars a spark, finished with 6 kills on 8 attacks. Iris Oosterbaan put up 20 assists with Hanna Miller leading the backline with 14 digs.
Barton grabbed its only lead of the set on the match's initial point coming on a service error with the Saints taking the next five points. Following a Davis block and Molly Norris kill, the Cougars would slice the deficit to three but it was as close as the opening set would be the rest of the way. The Saints methodically pulled away behind a pair of three-point stretches, outscoring the Cougars 14-5 for a 20-8 lead. A pair of Kocakaya aces helped slice the deficit to nine before the Saints took five of the last seven points in wrapping up the set.
The Cougars again grabbed the first point to begin the second set, fell behind early then rallied with four straight to tie it at nine. The Saints answered with two straight then later added another trio of points forcing Barton's first timeout of the match trailing 14-10. Making a valiant comeback, Barton climbed back in it with five straight and despite Seward County using both their timeouts, the Cougars continued to roll getting help off the bench from a Smith kill then a Davis' attack putting the visitors up 23-22. A service error gave away the next point but Smith's attack gave the Cougars set point and with multiple chances to even the match, an eventual net violation and subsequent point gave Seward County the edge. Smith again came through on an attack to even the score but the Saints claimed the final pair of tallies in taking the 2-0 match lead.
Unlike the previous two sets, the third was tight early and stayed that way through ten ties until a late Seward County surge. Barton had trailed by four at one point before clawing back to tie it at nine but could never regain the lead as the teams would eventually be gridlocked for the final time ten points later at nineteen. Seward County surged ahead with three straight, was interrupted by a Kocakaya kill, before scoring three of the last four points to clinch the match.