Barton Volleyball into national quarterfinals, Cougars sweep Navarro in opener #GoBarton

The 6th seeded Barton Community College volleyball team opened its 24th NJCAA Division I Tournament appearance with a straight set sweep over 11th seeded Navarro College (25-19, 27-25, 25-12) this morning in Clarksville, Tennessee.

Chalking up their sixth straight sweep improving to 32-2 on the season, Barton advances to Thursday's 4:00 p.m. quarterfinal round against 14th seeded Indian Hills Community College (26-9). Navarro's second straight-set loss to the Cougars this season drops into the 10:00 a.m. consolation match with a 21-12 record.

Competing simultaneously to the Cougars in kickstarting the tournament, IHCC also picked up a first-round sweep by taking down 3rd seeded New Mexico Military Institute (25-22, 25-22, 25-23) in snapping the Broncos' 25-match win streak. NMMI slides to 31-3 and will meet Navarro in the elimination contest.

The result of Thursday's Barton-IHCC match sends the victor to the Friday 7:00 p.m. semifinal with the loser to the Friday 4:00 p.m. side of the bracket in a best quest for a 5th placing.

Barton and IHCC will meet up for the second time this season, the Cougars coming out on top 3-1 at the Sheila Worley Tournament back on September 14 in Sterling, Colorado. Indian Hills took the first set 25-22 with Barton flipping the tide in the second by the same tally before wrapping up the match on 25-19 and 25-12 scores.

On Wednesday the Cougars defense put up 8 blocks against Navarro's .096 attack percentage while the offense heated up each set to finish at .278 efficiency.

The Cougars were led by the identical 11-kill, 3-block performances each from Phoebe Reyes and Anna Wierzbicki with Wierzbicki matching her season best kill total while leading the squad on a .588 attack percentage.

Skippers of the 6-2 ship combined for 44 assists, 2 service aces, and 14 digs, Elena Stankovic leading the first wave with 18 assists as Maurin Reyes piled up 21 assists with 8 coming on Mya Thompson kills.

Barton overall served up 7 aces, Naya Danenberg recorded three for the second time against Navarro with Kassidy Nixon chalking up two. Each additionally posted 5 court punishers and a wall of denial, Danenberg adding 7 digs on the backline with Nixon keeping 9 attacks off the floor. Freshman libero Mina Kaneko led the squad's 43 digs with 10.

In addition to Wierzbicki's play in the middle of the net, freshman Aubrey Olander also had a solid morning of a .364 attack for 4 kills and a team leading 5 blocks including the lone solo wall of denial.

RECAP
An opening block by Olander and Nixon scored the first points of the day as Barton would get off to a good 4-1 start to later string four straight in opening up a 10-3 lead.

Four consecutive Cougar attack errors swung the momentum with another attack error and giving up an ace drawing Navarro to within 11-9.

Sparked by a trio of P. Reyes kills, Barton surged out to another big lead on five straight only to have Navarro fire back with five of their own closing the gap back to two at 16-14.

P. Reyes and Danenberg kills halted the Bulldogs' momentum then after trading points, Wierzbicki's inadvertent header proved lucky in pushing Barton's lead to 22-17. Wierzbicki would then help the Cougars close out the opener with two kills for the match lead.

Back and forth the teams slugged it out in the second, Navarro holding the advantage throughout until three straight created a 16-12 lead.

The gap increased to five at 21-16 and again at 23-18 but the Cougars refused to lose in finally stringing multiple points together for the first time since tying it at 10-all.

Thompson and Wierzbicki's teamed up block sparked a pivotal stretch, Wiezbicki following Navarro's timeout with a vicious attack and Danenberg serving up an ace prompting another Bulldog timeout as Barton closed to within 23-22.

A Navarro attack error tied it up, but the Bulldogs answered back in gaining consecutive set points. No stranger to late set comebacks, Barton again pulled a Cougar out of the hat continuing its roaring back with two straight capped by P. Reyes' kill.

Gaining its two set lead, Barton kept rolling with the momentum taking the first three points of the final frame to later string four straight to match its opening set's 10-3 advantage.

Another four straight coming mid-set all but buried the Bulldogs at 19-8 as Barton kept the hammer down in cruising to the thirteen point match clincher.

Barton's Upcoming Schedule:
Thursday – 4:00 p.m. vs #14 Indian Hills
Friday: versus winner/loser of #2 Miami Dade/#10 Missouri State-West Plains
- *If win, 7:00 p.m. in Semifinals
- *If lose, 4:00 p.m. in Consolation bracket

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION:
Official NJCAA Championship website: njcaa.org/championships/sports/wvball/div1/index

The entirety of the 2024 NJCAA DI Volleyball Championship will be broadcast live on the NJCAA Network (njcaa.org/network) and will be available to view on-demand at the conclusion of each contest.

The NJCAA Network is available through a variety of pay-per-view pricing options:
- Day Pass - $12
- Tournament Pass - $25
- All-Access Pass (all 2024-25 NJCAA Championship Events) - $100 *Note: All-Access Pass does not include any events that are on ESPNU or ESPN+