Redemption Saturday resulted in 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team's sweep over Dodge City Community College (25-23, 25-14, and 25-14).
Victors of eight straight since taking a September 6th three-set loss at Dodge City, Barton maintains a two-game lead in the league race at 9-1 and 19-3 on the season while the Conquistadors suffer their fifth straight loss falling to 3-7 in conference and 12-13 overall.
Next on the slate is a pair of road matches beginning Wednesday at Seward County Community College for a 6:30 p.m. first serve followed by a Saturday trip to Cloud County Community College.
While the offense distributed the wealth to a .287 attack efficiency, the defense was equally impressive with 13 blocks to help limit Dodge City to a negative .019 attack.
Phoebe Reyes followed her 16 kill performance in the season's first meeting, leading the Cougars again on Saturday with 13 kills on a .375 attack for her 18th match of double-digit kills.
Kassidy Nixon's .545 efficiency with 6 kills and Anna Wierzbicki's .462 with 7 kills, along with Naya Danenberg's 5 kills kept the Conquistador defense unsettled as Elena Stankovic and Maurin Reyes moved the ball to the tune of 17 and 14 assists respectively.
At the net, Wierzbicki followed her KJCCC Offensive Player of the Week performances with another solid all-around game in matching her collegiate best walls of denial for the second straight match with 9 blocks giving her 23 in a three-match, 10-set stretch. Nixon and Danenberg also set collegiate best efforts with five and four blocks respectively while Akeir Scales added three against her former team.
Barton's back line was also solid in squelching the Dodge City attack, Clara Lindstrom and Nixon collecting 11 digs with Stankovic recording 10 digs for her 5th double-double of the year.
The afternoon started with Dodge City having the hot hand and the Cougars having a slow start as the Conquistadors scored five of the first six points to build an eventual 8-3 lead.
A service error followed by a pair of attack errors swung the momentum to the Cougars, tacking on kills by Danenberg and P. Reyes for the first tie of the set coming at 8-all. Another Dodge City attack error put Barton in front for the first time as twelve more ties would ensue with the final coming at 23-all.
Barton hit for .296 in the opener with Dodge City's errors adding up, eleven in the set including the final two turning the victory over to the home team at 25-23.
The teams again came out and played relatively point for point to begin the second frame until Nixon's pair of attacks and Mya Thompson's kill led a four-point spurt in grabbing a 9-4 lead.
Trading service errors, Barton tacked on another four-pack of points, Nixon with a pair in being joined by P. Reyes and Scales to build out a 14-5 advantage.
Dodge City would cut the gap to seven at 18-11 but Wierzbicki's center attack halted the Conquistadors' 3-0 run momentum as the Cougars rode out the set for the 11-point victory.
Scoring the first six points of the clinching set, Barton strung another six straight to demoralize the Dodge City morale with a 12-1 deficit. The Cougars continued the pressure keeping the lead from dipping below seven points, including coming at 21-14 as Wierzbicki helped close out the match accounting for three straight points before Thompson's 4th kill of the afternoon concluded the sweep.
Series Notes:
- Barton's win snapped Dodge City's three match win streak
- Barton has won 13 of the last 14 meetings at the Barton Gym to lead 28-3 on their home floor
- Barton leads the overall series 79-8