Cougars close out home court with Region VI first round sweep; advances to Sunday's semifinals #GoBarton

Playing their final home match of the 2019 campaign, the Barton Community College volleyball team extended their season Wednesday night with a sweep of Independence Community College 25-14, 25-20, and 25-13 in first round action of the Region VI Tournament.

The sixth straight win puts Barton into the semifinals of the Region VI playoffs, improving to 24-11 having won 10-of-the-last-11 matches while ending sixth seeded Independence's season at 11-21.

Next up for the third seeded Cougars is a Sunday trip to Liberal, Kansas, against the Wednesday victor of seventh seeded Garden City and second seeded Colby. Match times for the final four to be announced on Thursday.

Scoring the match's first six points, the Cougars pounced to a 12-4 lead in attacking at a .429 clip with eighteen kills on thirty-five swings while defensively never allowing Independence any closer than seven points.

Barton appeared to be blowing out the Pirates in the second frame, scoring nine unanswered for a 9-2 advantage. Independence's trio of points including outscoring the Cougars 6-2 put the Pirates back into the set trailing by three at 11-8. Barton held off any big charge but the Pirates hung around, chipping away at the lead until finally closing to within one at 20-19. The Cougars countered with three straight to push the gap back out, closing the set taking two-of-three in assuming match command.

Independence began the third with a slim 3-1 advantage, but another big Barton run of six straight and 9-of-10 quickly ballooned the margin to 10-4. A pair of Pirate points were answered by a five point Barton stretch to all deflate any wind left in the visitors' sail. The Cougars later would string four points together for a twelve point gap, trading points the rest of the way in registering the night's largest set win.

The Cougars' .330 attack on the night was ignited by fifteen kills and .483 hitting percentage by Rayanne de Oliveira with Migle Mazurkeviciute providing the 1-2 punch behind eleven kills for a .409 percentage. Each collected ten digs to also record a double-double performance in their final home match, Oliveira's second straight and third on the year while Mazurkeviciute posted her 15th.

Agnieska Paskevic keyed the offence on thirty-nine assists with eight digs while backline protector Karina de Oliveira collecting twenty-eight digs.

Program Record Book Current Standings
Migle Mazurkeviciute:
   13th Career Kills
   15th Single Season Digs
   6th Career Digs
Karina de Oliveira:
   2nd Single Season Digs
   2nd Career Digs
Rayanne de Oliveira:
   18th Career Kills
   15th Single Season Solo Blocks
   14th Career Solo Blocks
   8th Career Assisted Blocks
   7th Career Total Blocks
Agnieska Paskevic:
   13th Single Season Assists
   12th Career Assists
   12th Single Season Digs
   16th Career Digs