Storied run derailed for Barton Volleyball in National Semifinals, Cougars fall to No. 2 Miami Dade in four sets; Plays for 3rd place Saturday #GoBarton
Storied run derailed for Barton Volleyball in National Semifinals, Cougars fall to No. 2 Miami Dade in four sets; Plays for 3rd place Saturday.
The storied season's run for the 6th seeded Barton Community College volleyball team was derailed Friday night in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division I Tournament on a four set loss to 2nd seeded Miami Dade College (21-25, 25-16, 25-16, 25-17)
The Cougars took the opening frame extending its consecutive set victories to 24 straight but the Sharks cleaned up its attack in overpowering Barton the rest of the way.
Additionally having its 10-match win streak snapped, Barton falls to 33-3 and looks to recover in playing for 3rd place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday against familiar foe 13th seeded Colby Community College (28-5). The match can be viewed via subscription to ESPN+ with the direct link found at BartonSports.com.
Miami Dade improves to 25-2 advancing to Saturday's 7:00 p.m. title match against fellow Region 8 member and two-time defending champion Florida Southwestern as the Buccaneers defeated Colby in straight sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-19) in the simultaneously played other semifinal.
For Barton and Colby, it will be the fourth season's meeting between the teams as the two split the regular season matches before the Cougars captured the Region 6/Plains District title in straight sets.
On Friday evening the Cougar defense help force 11 Miami Dade attack errors in a .085 percentage frame but the Sharks flexed back in the second with 20 kills and a .552 efficiency to even up the match.
From there it continued to be all Sharks, hitting .423 in the third and .295 in the fourth with a combined 28 kills and just four errors taking the final two sets. Finishing at .285 for the match, the Sharks' offensive efficiency was the best allowed by the Cougars all season.
Barton's middles and outside hitter Phoebe Reyes carried the Cougars offensively for most of the match, Reyes leading with 13 kills while Aubrey Olander accounted for 11 kills and Anna Wierzbicki contributed with 9 kills. The trio's 33 kills of the team's 43 total combined for a .289 efficient attack as the squad finished at just .167.
Trying to counter the Sharks' 64 kills on a .285 efficiency, Barton had just four blocks with Olander and Reyes accounting for two each. Naya Danenberg led the backline with 23 digs, Kassidy Nixon added 17 digs with two blocks, and Mina Kaneko recording 8 digs and served up two of the squad's five aces.
Elena Stankovic put up 22 assists and 6 digs with Maurin Reyes recording 17 assists with 3 digs as each also contributed an ace.
Four Sharks recorded double-digit kills in producing 56 of the team's 64 for a .296 combined attack being led by Juliana Laguado Raigosa's 16 kills and 12 digs for the double-double effort. Angelica Rordigues recorded 15 kills, Katielle Altagracia Alonzon Vargas added 13 with Luyeisy Marquez contributing 12 kills.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION:
Official NJCAA Championship website: njcaa.org/championships/sports/wvball/div1/index
RECAP
The two slugged it out through most of the first set, Miami Dade owing a 12-10 lead with Barton owning a pair of two point advantages until Olander and Nixon teamed up for a block giving the Cougars the set's largest lead to that point at 18-15.
Following Miami Dade's first timeout of the frame, the Sharks responded with three straight for the final tie at 18 as a service error, attack error, and Olander attack pushed Barton's advantage back out to three.
The Cougars' lone service error of the set halted the run but another Olander kill followed by P. Reyes' 5th kill of the set gave the Cougars a 23-19 lead. Miami Dade's final timeout did little to salvage the frame as the teams traded points the rest of the way with Wierzbicki's third kill of the opener sealing the victory.
Eleven attack errors and a pair of service errors haunted the Sharks in the first set, responding with an overwhelming unleashing of 20 kills on the 55% efficiency in building out a 10-6 early lead. On the flip side the Cougars hit a match high .345 in the frame but couldn't string multiple points together but twice in facing a 20-12 deficit.
The Cougars tried to fight back with two straight but a service error halted the momentum before the Sharks would eventually tie the match taking the last three points of the set.
Three Barton errors helped contribute to a 4-0 deficit to begin the third with another pair of miscues continuing the rough start down 8-3. A pair of Shark errors started to turn the tide but Miami Dade regrouped to fire three straight kills to double up the Cougars 12-6.
A Barton timeout did wonders at the moment, Olander and P. Reyes kills followed by Stankovic's lone ace drew Barton back to within three.
Five traded points later, Wierzbicki's kill and M. Reyes' lone ace closed the gap to 15-13 but again the Sharks flexed with five straight kills and added a block within a 7-0 run to blow open the set.
Backs against the wall, Barton could do little to slow down the Sharks' momentum in the final frame in rattling off four straight to build an early 7-2 advantage. A trio of Barton points from Wierzbicki, Mya Thompson, and Nixon closed the gap to two at 7-5 and again at 8-6 but it would be as close as the Cougars would come.
Mid-set Miami Dade pushed the gap to 16-9 after four straight in appearing to run away with the frame until Sara Zuluaga Nohava came off the bench to give Barton a spark with a block and later a kill closing the margin to 17-14.
The Sharks responded to the wake-up by going on an 7-1 stretch including six straight to gain set point, Thompson's kill and Danenberg's service ace the delayers before the final dagger hit the court.