The Barton Community College Volleyball team enjoyed a slice of revenge pie Monday evening at the Barton Gym with a short night of identical 25-15 set victories in sweeping Pratt Community College. Having sent just a freshman squad to Pratt early in September and returning home after being swept in three close sets, the complete squad dominated the net throughout the evening to go along with a season high attack percentage for a revengeful thumping of the Beavers. The victory gives Barton a two match lead for the fifth spot in the standings at 4-6 and 12-11 overall while Pratt drops to 2-7 and 6-19 on the year. Next up for the Cougars will be a Wednesday trip to Colby Community College for a 6:30 p.m. first serve against the second place 8-1 Trojans who have won eight of their last ten to pop into the national rankings at No. 20 with an 18-3 record.
"It was a good team win tonight," said Head Coach Brandon Stephenson. "I think we showed tonight when everyone is on the same page and get contributions throughout the lineup we can play very well. We'll need that kind of effort and contribution as we continue to work on things in preparation of taking on a very solid Colby team Wednesday."
With six players having four or more kills, the Cougars' attacked for a season high .268 as Laine Alves Conceicao put down ten of the team's forty kills. The freshman from Brazil reached double digit kills for the third straight and fifth of the last six matches hitting .208 during that span. Kailey Harris' seven kills and Averie Warehime's four gave the regular middle rotation eleven kills as the duo also posted a combined five assisted blocks with Harris' two solo blocks taking team high honors.
The Cougars gained early separation with a five point spurt to grab a 10-6 lead. Taking advantage of multiple Pratt ball handling errors, the Cougars later strung together another five point run assuming full command at 17-10 going on to wrap up the set on the double block of Warehime and Kelsie Antcliff.
The second set was a microcosm of the first, with Barton rattling off four straight to gain separation for a 10-6 lead. The Beavers battled back to cut it within two midway through the frame before a Harris and Antcliff wall sparked a 6-0 run with Conceicao's solo block mixed in exploding the Barton lead out to 22-14. Pratt managed the next point but the Cougars finished out the final three with Barton outscoring the Beavers 9-1 down the stretch.
Another early four point stretch behind a trio of Kate Deterding kills built the Cougars to an early 8-5 lead in the final set. The Beavers would later draw to within two before Caylee Irving's kill off the bench and two Conceicao attacks led a four point run to stretch the lead out to six. The Beavers countered with four of their to cut the gap to two before Ariana Taylor took control of the net getting two assisted blocks and a kill leading a 6-0 run to break it open 20-12. Following a trio of Beaver points, Beth Schulte's kill led the close out as Barton rattled off the final five for the third straight 25-15 set victory.
Sophomores Monique Oliveira and Antcliff each struck for four kills while Deterding's five kills and Taylor's two were each additional bright spots from the freshman class.
Carolina Goncalves quarterbacked the attack with twenty-two assists while 6-2 rotation setting mate Kaila Harris put up thirteen. France freshman Ilona Boniface donned the Libero jersey manning the back third for a career high seventeen digs.