Outright title secured, 19th ranked Barton volleyball utilizes balanced effort to sweep Hutchinson in regular season finale #GoBarton

The 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team clinched sole possession of the KJCCC title Saturday evening in a sweep over Hutchinson Community College 25-23, 25-22, and 25-21.

Having already clinched a share, the Cougars bounced back from consecutive five-set losses by rallying from five down to the Blue Dragons behind a 7-0 run closing out the first set before controlling a majority of the ensuing frames in completing the season sweep.

The Cougars conclude the regular season at 13-3 in the KJCCC and 24-5 overall while Hutchinson, who has a match on Monday at Butler, slips to 10-5 and 23-14 on the season.

Barton's first conference title since 2011, now shifts its focus towards hosting the Plains District Tournament beginning Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. versus Seward County Community College. Semifinal action tentatively set for 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on Saturday followed by Sunday's 2:00 p.m. Championship match.

Phoebe Reyes led the Cougars with 12 kills on a .526 attack, one of six Cougars having five or more kills. Mya Thompson had 9 kills on a .318 efficiency with three blocks, Anna Wierzbicki with 7 kills on a .385 attack with five blocks, and Naya Danenberg, Kassidy Nixon, and Akeir Scales with 5 kills each.

The Cougars hit for .254 overall as the two-headed setter system of Elena Stankovic and Maurin Reyes moved the ball around leading to 14 assists each with Reyes picking up her team leading 9th double-double by adding 10 digs.

Clara Lindstrom led the backline with 13 digs, just missing her second double-double of the sophomore's season in finish with nine assists, to go along with, three of the Cougars' nine service aces.

Honoring the sophomore class prior to first serve, Barton continued the good feelings into the opener rattling off four straight for an early 5-2 lead. The Cougars grew the advantage to four twice, the second coming after Nixon's first kill of the night at 14-10. Hutchinson fired back with three straight before tying it up at 15 but a service error and Wierzbicki and Thompson's block pushed the home team's lead out to 17-15. The Blue Dragons re-surged the effort with a four point swing, tacking on three more out of a Barton timeout to lead by five. Trading points and still down five at 23-18, Wierzbicki and Thompson kills followed by Wierzbicki's second ace of the set forced the Blue Dragons second timeout out. Coming out the break Thompson and Nixon kills tied it up for the fourth time with another Nixon attack and Hutchinson attack error completing the 7-0 run in stealing the opener.

An early three straight with another pair of points on either side of a quick Hutchinson timeout saw the Cougars jump out to a 7-2 lead with Danenberg leading the way with a pair of kills. Barton held the margin until an 11-7 lead quickly diminished with Hutchinson scoring five of the next seven in trimming the margin to one. Spreading the point credits between five players plus a Wierzbicki/Danenberg blockade, Barton pushed the gap to 20-13 and seemed to be rolling through the frame. Hutchinson fired back with a pair of points twice to eventually string three straight in starving off set point at 24-22. Following a Barton timeout to curb the tide, P. Reyes nailed down the clincher in accounting for the Cougars last two points of the frame.

Hutchinson was quick to pull the timeout trigger again in the third following Barton's five straight from Scales and P. Reyes kills and the duo's teaming up for an assisted block. The Blue Dragons won the next three to close with 5-4 only to have a pair of P. Reyes kills and Lindstrom ace pushing the gap back out to four. Still maintaining the advantage but clinging to a two point lead at 19-17, Wierzbicki accounted for three straight with a Hutchinson ball-handling error ballooning the gap to five at 23-17. Hutchinson closed to within three but trading points was not what the Blue Dragons needed from there as a Wierzbicki/Thompson blockade and Thompson kill capped the evening setting up victory court-storming celebrating the outright league title.

Series Notes:
- Barton sweeps the season series
- Barton leads the series 22-8 in Great Bend
- Barton leads the overall series 70-35