The 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team's hope of reaching the Region VI/Plains District Championship for the first time in three years came to a devastating halt Saturday evening inside the Barton Gym as 4th seeded Butler Community College won four sets (25-22, 18-25, 25-20, and 25-21).
Rebounding from the opening set loss to take the second frame, the seized momentum and energized home faithful came to a screeching halt in the third. Going up 3-2 to begin the third frame, an injury stoppage drained the Gym and squad of enthusiasm as Barton lost a key member of its starting lineup. The Cougars battled through with two straight points but Butler's 5-0 run within an 8-1 stretch proved pivotal in going on to win the set. Down 2-1 in the match the Cougars continued to adjust through the lineup change and recover from a dismal 6-0 Butler start to the fourth, tying it up at 18 before being outscored 7-3 down the stretch for a possible ending to the 2023 season.
Sitting at 25-6 on the year, the Cougars have the agonizing wait until Thursday for a possible at-large bid into the NJCAA Division I National Tournament while Butler will also have the wait as the Grizzlies dropped to 20-13 after falling 3-1 to Colby Community College in Sunday's Championship match.
Phoebe Reyes and Mya Thompson led the squad with 13 kills each, Thompson joining Akeir Scales' 6 kills for a team leading .364 attack efficiency.
Naya Danenberg, who at the time was having a great .350 attack proficiency in the contest, left the match to injury following her 8th kill of night giving Barton the early third set lead.
Kassidy Nixon finished with 7 kills, leading the backline defense with 15 digs as Clara Lindstrom was close behind at 13.
On the front line, Anna Wierzbicki recorded three solo in her five total blocks, Scales adding four, with Thompson and P. Reyes accounting for three each.
The Cougars concluded the evening with a .161 attack, Elena Stankovic with 24 assists while Maurin Reyes finished with 18.
Series Notes:
- The teams split the season series, Butler winning the last two – both on Barton's home floor
- Barton leads the series 24-7 in Great Bend
- Barton leads the overall series 67-11