Scoring droughts doom Cougars, Barton Volleyball loses in four at Seward County

After taking the first set at the Greenhouse in Liberal, the Barton Community College volleyball team offense went dormant for the remaining match allowing Seward County Community College to roll through the next three winning the Jayhawk match 22-25, 25-16, 25-17, and 25-14.  The loss dropped Barton to 9-6 sitting comfortably in the fourth spot in the conference and 22-9 on the season while Seward County stays atop the standings at 13-2 and 22-9.  Barton will conclude its three match road stretch on Friday as the Cougars play their regular season finale at Garden City Community College in a 6:30 p.m. first serve.  

The teams traded points in the early going before a 3-0 run highlighted by a Leah Fisher service ace and Olivia Naccarato kill to the back corner prompted a Saints timeout with the Cougars leading 15-12.  Aside from a combination of points, neither team could string together a run until Monique Oliveira's dink kill led a Cougar two point run grabbing set point at 24-20.  The Saints scored the next two but a hitting error would end it as Barton took the opener 25-22.

A Saints' service error ended a 5-0 run out of the gate to begin the second set with the Cougars tacking on three more drawing within 5-4 in prompting a Seward County timeout.   Three kills from Oliveira kept Barton going toe-to-toe with the Saints and following a long rally ending on the double team block from Carolina Goncalves and Naccarato, the set would be tied for the final time coming at eleven apiece.  After another incredibly long rally with bodies from each team covering every inch of the playing surface, Averie Warehime's middle kill over the top of the block would be the closest Barton would be the remaining of the set coming at 14-13.  As things started to unravel for the Cougars, Seward controlled the rest of the set winning 11-of-the-last-14 points including the final six in a 25-16 win to even the match.

Goncalves spread the Cougar attack to begin the third with kills by Gouveia, Kelsie Antcliff, Warehime, Naccarato, and Oliveira dotting the stat sheet but three service errors kept the Saints in it as it was deadlocked at six early on.   Getting tied for the ninth time of the set, a 5-0 Saints run including a Barton timeout sandwiched within gave Seward County the edge at 14-10.  It was a sign of the times for the Cougars as Barton could only string together a pair of points one more time in losing 25-17 and falling on the short side of the 2-1 match score. 

The Saints used another big stretch of points seizing early fourth set command going on a 5-0 run and then after a Barton two point stretch, score the next four building an 11-5 lead.  Barton clawed its way back scoring 5-of-next-6 drawing within 12-10 but coming out of the Seward County timeout, the Saints responded with the next four and 6-of-7 of the next points prompting the Cougars to use their last timeout in an 18-11 hole.  Trading points, the Saints would put the match away taking the remaining seven points holding the Cougars to three capturing the match with a 25-14 victory.