The Barton Community College volleyball team enjoyed its second straight revenge match victory as the Cougars traveled three hours Wednesday night to take down No. 19 Colby Community College in four sets 25-22, 21-25, 25-18, and 25-11. The victory snapped a nine match losing streak against the Trojans improving Barton to 13-11 on the season and further solidifying their fifth place in the standings at 5-6. Having moved up one spot in the latest national poll, Colby drops into a second place tie in the Jayhawk at 8-2 and 18-4 on the season with its previous three losses coming to ranked opponents. Barton will have to wait a week for its next match but will need the preparation time as the Cougars' next opponent will be second place and nationally receiving votes Hutchinson Community College on October 11 at the Sports Arena.
"Great match by our players tonight," said Head Coach Brandon Stephenson. "They fought hard from start to finish. They bought into what we wanted and what we've been practicing the last couple of days. We'll need that same buy-in and working on different areas the next week to get ready for Hutchinson."
Laine Conceicao once again led the Cougars with a .343 attack, recording her fourth straight and sixth of the last seven matches with double digit kills hammering down seventeen of the team's fifty-five kills.
Monique Oliveira also had a strong attack game with twelve kills on a .265 attack as the team finished at .215 including a .267 match clinching fourth set.
Just missing double digit kills, Kate Deterding finished with nine but also recorded nineteen digs to along with four service aces for the Lindsborg freshman first collegiate double-double. Kelsie Antcliff also had another solid night putting down eight kills for the second time in the last three matches.
Setters Carolina Goncalves and Kaila Harris had similar nights in each posting a double-double in a combined forty-eight assist and twenty-six dig night as Goncalves put up thirty with fifteen digs while Harris had eighteen and eleven. Having set her collegiate high on Monday, freshman Ilona Boniface eclipsed the mark with twenty-eight digs in leading the back line.
Freshman Kailey Harris had two solo blocks for the second straight match and assisting on two others while Averie Warehime's three assisted blocks marked the second straight match of doing so for the Colorado sophomore.
The Cougars balanced first set attack helped get the squad off to a good start at 11-5. Following a three point Colby spurt, Barton responded with four straight in a six of the next eight points to match their largest lead of seven at 17-10. The Trojans would later cut the deficit to one with a 4-0 run but Barton held off the surge scoring three of the last four in the victory.
The second set was all Colby early outscoring the Cougars 7-1 to grab a 9-4 lead. The Trojans increased the gap to nine before Conceicao and Oliveira, who combined for nine kills in the set, led a comeback to draw within 19-17 but Colby held off the rally taking four of the next five to eventually tie the match with the four point win.
With the Trojans losing a key player mid-way through the second set, Conceicao and Oliveira went back to work combining for four kills getting Barton out to a 12-5 lead. Trading the next four points, a 4-0 run cut into Barton's lead but Conceicao and Antcliff's attacks pushed the lead back out to six. The Cougars then rode three of Deterding's five set kills down the stretch to put Colby in the 2-1 match hole.
A Conceicao kill followed by an Oliveira solo block and kill broke an early 3-all tie in leading a 4-0 run setting the tone for the victory. A pair of Trojan points cut the lead to two but an Oliveira service ace and two Antcliff kills led a seven point stretch assuming full command before doubling up the Trojans' output the rest of the way in clinching the match.