Barton's Reyes and Besecker earn AVCA post-season honors #GoBarton

Leading the 7th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team to a 33-4 record and a 4th place NJCAA Division I National Tournament finish, Phoebe Reyes and Head Coach Megan Besecker have received post-season honors distributed by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

Reyes repeats landing on the AVCA list by moving up to the 2nd team of selections after a 3rd team distinction from her freshman campaign as Besecker receives the Division I Midwest Region Coach of the Year.

The duo not only helped lead Barton back to the national tournament for the 24th time in program history, but captured consecutive KJCCC titles for the first time since 1998 in compiling a 28-4 league record and a 58-10 overall mark in the two seasons.

In just her second season as a collegiate head coach, Besecker's guidance of the Cougar program earned additional AVCA honors announced earlier in the season as one of two junior college recipients of the 2024 Thirty Under 30 award recognizing the top thirty coaches across all levels around the country under the age of 30.

For Reyes the AVCA award adds another post-season honor to her decorated Barton career consisting of the 2023 KJCCC/Region 6 Freshman of the Year, a two-time KJCCC/Region 6 Most Valuable Player, a 2024 All-Tournament selection at nationals, and a two-time NJCAA All-America selection.

This past season the native of San Francisco de Macorís, Dominican Republic, played just three rotations of the Cougars' 6-2 offensive scheme but still ranked fourth in the KJCCC at 3.51 kills per set on a .271 attack percentage helping the squad overall to a league leading .259 efficiency.

As the Cougars swept 28 of their 37 matches during the season, Reyes' 114 sets played produced 3.23 kills per set on a .272 efficiency, reaching double-digit kills in nineteen contests posting a season high .450 efficient night at then No. 6 Colby and a pair of 18-kill performances, the first at Butler with two dates later at home against Colby.

Down the stretch in Barton's seven match post-season run, Reyes upped her game with five double-digit kills performances in averaging 3.30 kills per set while defensively averaging .74 blocks per set behind 17 blocks in the 23 frames played.

Concluding her career on a .264 efficiency on 1721 swings, Reyes recorded 700 total kills in ranking 15th on the Barton all-time list.