The 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team held off an upset bid Saturday evening in Concordia with a fifth set thriller over Cloud County Community College (25-12, 25-16, 16-25, 23-25, 20-18).
Barton's 10th straight victory improves the first place Cougars to 11-1 and 21-3 on the season while dropping Cloud County to 5-7 in the KJCCC and 19-11 on the year.
Playing the last two matches on the road, the Cougars will now embark on a three-match homestead beginning on Monday hosting the junior varsity squad from Kansas Wesleyan University followed by Wednesday's contest versus Pratt Community College and Saturday's match versus Butler Community College. First serve for each match slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Barton Gym with free admission.
Phoebe Reyes' 20 digs led three Cougars in double-digit kills, reaching double-digits for the 16th time of the year.
Kassidy Nixon recorded her 6th double-double night, putting down a career high 15 kills on a .314 attack and collecting 15 digs. Mya Thompson reached double-digit kills for the second straight match and third of the last four, chalking up 11 court punishers while Akeir Scales posted a new collegiate best 7 kills on a .267 attack.
Naya Danenberg's career high 21 digs led the Cougars' season high 89 total digs while her 6 service aces were also a new collegiate best, also leading to the squad's new season high of 14 aces and the second straight match the team chalked up ten or more aces. Clara Lindstrom served up her new collegiate best 4 points from the service and prowled the backline for 20 digs.
The offense began the evening with a .267 and .286 attack in the opening two frames but dropped off to under .030 in the next pair of sets before regrouping for a .200 in the final set to finish the night at .146.
Elena Stankovic put up a collegiate high 34 assists while adding 12 digs to record her 6th double-double of the year with Maurin Reyes' recording 21 assists and 9 digs.
The Cougars recorded just three blocks on the night, its lowest total in five matches, led by Anna Wierzbicki and Thompson's accounting for two assisted each.
Game Notes:
- Season high 14 aces, second straight match of over 10
- Season high 89 digs
- Cloud County – 2nd most blocks against Barton this year
Series Notes:
- Barton's season sweep avenges Cloud County's sweep last season
- Barton leads the series in Concordia 17-8
- Barton leads the overall series 73-15