The Barton Community College volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit on the road Monday evening inside the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena defeating Pratt Community College in five sets 25-15, 25-27, 17-25, 25-11 and 15-8.
Snapping a two-game skid, the Cougars improve to 3-5 in the conference play and 14-5 on the season while the Beavers continue to search for their first conference win falling to 0-9 in league play and 4-14 overall.
Barton will conclude its two-match road trip Wednesday at Dodge City Community College with opening serve slated for 6:30 p.m.
Tasiah Nunnery posted her ninth double-double of the season and third straight leading the team with 20 kills to go along with 17 digs. Jada Davis posted a new season high 19 kills behind 35 swings for an attack of .486. Darby Smith had a season-high 11 kills with .310 hitting on 29 attacks.
Iris Oosterbaan setup 57 of the Cougars 71 kills while Hanna Miller led the defensive backline with 38 digs.
A trio of Beaver attacking errors was all the Cougars needed jumping out to a 9-3 lead behind a 6-0 stretch. Stringing together a trio of 3-0 runs on three separate occasions extended Barton's lead to as big of 21-9 as the Cougars would coast for an opening 10-point victory.
Sloppy play out of the gates in the second negotiated all Barton momentum as the Beavers would open with a 6-0 start while maintaining a 17-12 lead at the midway point. Jaden Boden sparked energy into the Barton lineup with an attack while two Beaver attacking errors followed trimmed the deficit to 17-15. Ensuing an attacking error, the Cougars countered back with the next five as a pair of Nunnery and Davis kills pinned behind a Boden service ace furnished Barton its' first lead in the set, 20-19. Winning four of the next seven points and serving for set point on four separate occasions, Pratt fought back with four of their own to take a 25-24 lead before a Molly Norris kill fought off the Beavers set point opportunity but two straight by Pratt concluded the comeback including the set clinching service ace.
Earning their first set victory over Barton since 2017, the Beavers carried the momentum into the third set, jumping out to a 6-0 lead before stringing another four straight doubling up the Cougars at 13-3. Barton chipped back clawing within 16-10 with five straight fueled by a pair of attacking errors and kills by Smith, Boden and Norris. The Cougars final push came trailing 19-12 as a Nunnery and Davis kill, Miller service ace and Beaver service error sliced the margin to four, 20-16 before the Beavers closed the set to go up 2-1 winning five of the final six points.
Looking to avoid its' first loss to the Beavers since 2017, Barton regrouped for the fourth receiving balanced production on the attack, grabbing a 5-1 lead early while stringing a four point and eventual six point close to the set forcing a fifth and decisive match.
Jumping out to a 5-3 lead, the Cougars rattled off two straight on back-to-back Davis kills while stretching it to 5-0 following a Nunnery service ace and rise and shine mixed in out of Pratt's first called timeout for a 10-3 lead. Pratt would close within 11-6 before Smith and Tatum logged back-to-back kills stretched the lead to 13-6 with Barton and Pratt swapping the final four points to earn the comeback victory.