Cougar Volleyball wins home opener in thrilling five-setter

The Barton Community College Volleyball team defeated Hesston College in five sets Saturday at the Barton Gym 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 27-29, and 15-10. The victory was the first of the season for first-year head coach Phil Shoemaker and the Cougars as Barton improves to 1-5 on the season while Hesston drops to 1-4.   The Cougars' next match will be this Wednesday as the Saints from Seward County Community College come to the Barton Gym for a 6:30 p.m. Jayhawk West match.  Gate admission is free.

Barton trailed 8-3 early in the first set but battled back to tie it at twelve. The teams would tie five more times with the Cougars seemingly taking charge after the 20-all tie to rattle off three straight points. With the Cougars hitting a paltry .057 hitting percentage, the Larks countered with their own run by scoring the next five points to win 25-23.

The Cougars controlled the second set, racing to a 4-1 advantage and never letting the Larks get any closer the three points the rest of the set.  Sophomores McKenzie Piland and Mackenzie Orchard led a much improved attack by putting down six and four kills respectively in helping Barton close with a 5-2 run to win 25-19.

With the momentum turned toward the Cougars, the Larks were the more focused to start the third set jumping out to a 7-1 lead. Barton chipped away at the Hesston lead with both a three and four point run to tie it at 10.  It was then the turn of the Larks, scoring six of the next eight points before the Cougars countered with their own 7-1 run to take the lead at 19-18.  Led by Piland's seven kills, Barton broke a 20-all tie with its second consecutive strong finish to a set scoring five of the last six points to win 25-21.

Much like the first and third set, Hesston led early in the fourth set with the Cougars chipping away at the lead.  Tied at seventeen and again at twenty-three, Hesston fought off a Barton match point but with Barton already fighting off three Hesston set point attempt, the Larks finally evened the match at 2 a piece with the 29-27 victory.

Hesston lead 5-3 and again at 8-7 as the two teams switched sides and thus the momentum of the match.  Three consecutive kills by sophomore Jori Mote gave the Cougars the lead they would never relinquish outscoring the Larks 8-2 to capture Barton's first victory of the season with the 15-10 win.  Piland, who had six kills and .556 kill percentage in the set, joined Mote's four kills as Barton attacked a match high .391 percentage.

McKenzie Piland led the Cougars with 27 kills with a .379 kill percentage.  Mackenzie Orchard had 18 kills with Jori Mote adding 13 to go along with her 3 service aces.  Lakyn Rowden had 52 assists, 13 digs, and five service aces while Kiara Rivera 28 digs.