The 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team crossed off another big step on the conference schedule Wednesday night in Liberal earning its 9th straight win by defeating Seward County Community College in straight sets 25-20, 25-17, and 25-18.
The Cougars' victory not only earned their first regular season sweep over the Saints since 2011, but snapped a thirteen regular season match losing stretch at The Greenhouse.
Atop the conference standings by two matches with five to play, Barton improves to 10-1 and 20-3 overall while Seward County's second straight loss drops the Saints to 4-8 in league and 12-13 on the season.
Barton will hit the road again for its next contest coming Saturday in a 6:30 p.m. first serve at Cloud County Community College before hosting a trio of matches beginning on Monday with a 6:30 p.m. non-conference contest hosting Kansas Wesleyan University.
Phoebe Reyes reached double-digit kills for the 15th time of the year, racking up ten through the first two sets in finishing with a team high 13 kills on a .417 attack efficiency in twenty-four swings.
Mya Thompson knocked down half of her 10 total kills in the first set with fellow freshman Naya Danenberg getting five of her 9 total in the final frame on a team second best .300 efficiency. Danenberg also added a collegiate high four service aces as the Cougars pinned 11 points on the Saints' serve receive.
Overall the Cougars' attack finished at .229 marking the third straight match over the .200 level as the Cougars' lead the conference with a season .224 efficiency and 13.27 kills per set. Elena Stankovic's 20 assists led the first wave of the 6-2 with Maurin Reyes putting up 14 as both also added a service ace.
Clara Lindstrom's 14 digs led the backline defense while Anna Wierzbicki led the Cougars' six block night with a solo denial and four assisted, to go along with, 5 kills from the offensive end.
P. Reyes' two kills and Jada Coleman's first of two service aces in the match helped Barton grab the evening's first four points as the Cougars would never trail in the opener.
With the lead trimmed back to 6-5, Thompson's pair of kills and Danenberg's three aces including two in a row sparked a 6-0 spurt widening the lead. The Saints fired back out of a timeout with four straight leading to a 9-2 stretch in tying it at 14.
The set was tied again at 16 for the final time with Seward County service errors at both occurrences kept the Cougars in front.
Wierzbicki and P. Reyes' attacks pushed the last tiebreak to a three-point margin, with consecutive Danenberg kills ensuing after a Barton serve error widening the gap as Thompson would eventually close out the set on her fifth kill in the opener.
Seward County grabbed their first lead of the night at 2-1 in the second set and another lead at 4-3 before the Cougars went on a 6-1 stretch led by two kills and an assisted block by Thompson and a pair of Kassidy Nixon court punishers building a 10-5 lead.
Later still leading at 12-9, P. Reyes matched Thompson's earlier effort in leading a 6-0 run in doubling up the Saints. Seward County chipped away at the deficit in closing to within five only to be answered by consecutive Wierzbicki middle attacks shutting down the momentum as Barton would cruise on through the set for the eight point win.
Having played a five set thriller back on September 11 in Great Bend, Barton was in no mood to extend the match at The Greenhouse in scoring the first three points of the frame on the way to a 13-3 lead.
Danenberg accounted for five of the points from the spike line with Lindstrom and M. Reyes adding service aces.
However despite the hot Barton start, Seward County began its climb in drawing to within 16-12, shaving off four immediate points from the deficit before controlling a 5-1 stretch.
Nixon's kill and Stankovic's sneak attack from the setter position stemmed the tide with P. Reyes' swing and Lindstrom's second service ace helping Barton win the race to twenty at 20-13.
The Saints grabbed four of the next five points slicing the gap back to four but Thompson's attack sparked the Cougars' own 4-1 stretch in sealing the big road conference victory.
Series Notes:
- Barton's first regular season sweep since 2011
- Barton snapped a three-match losing streak at The Greenhouse
- Barton's last win at The Greenhouse was in 2021 at the Region VI Championship
- Omitting the Region VI Championship victory, Barton had lost 13 straight at The Greenhouse
- Barton leads the overall series 61-46
- Seward County leads the series at The Greenhouse 20-17