Barton Volleyball outlasts Seward County in 5-set thriller, snapping five match skid to Saints #GoBarton

The Barton Community College volleyball team earned a thrilling five-set victory over Seward County Community College on Monday night inside the Barton Gym (24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 15-13).

Snapping a five-game skid in the series, the victory moves the Cougars to 2-1 in the KJCCC and 12-3 overall while the loss drops Seward County to 2-2 in league play and 10-7 on the season.

Barton will conclude its' brief two-match homestand Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. hosting Cloud County Community College before hitting the road for a pair beginning Saturday with a trip to Pratt Community College.

Phoebe Reyes hit .278 for the match with a new career high 21 kills on 54 attacks. The freshman also had two solo and one assisted block.

Patrolling the middle of the net, Anna Wierzbicki recorded a career high 11 kills on 22 swings posting a second-best attack of .273 while denying two solo attacks and aiding on one block.

Freshman Mya Thompson was second on the team in kills with a career best 15 kills on 40 attempts for a .225 attack.

Maurin Reyes posted her fourth double-double of the season as the freshman recorded a new career high in assists with 35, averaging seven per set while adding 10 digs. Elena Stankovic helped out on 24 kills averaging 4.8 assists per set.

Making her season debut, Jada Coleman led the backline for the Cougars with 22 digs while Kassidy Nixon posted her fourth double-double finishing with a team second most 18 digs and 12 kills on 45 swings.

Set 1 - A solo block by Wierzbicki and double assisted block teaming up with Nixon capped a pair of 3-0 Cougar runs gifting Barton the early 11-6 lead. Mending four separate 2-0 runs midway through the set and holding a four to five-point advantage, the momentum quickly faded from the Cougars with the final two-straight points coming at 22-18 off a Nixon kill and assisted double block teamed up with Akeir Scales forcing Seward to burn their final timeout. Out of the timeout the Saints would rattle five straight giving Seward their first lead of 23-22 before three of the next five would be won by the Saints stealing the opening set 26-24.

Set 2 – Trading the opening eight points, two straight kills by Wierzbicki and Nixon sparked a 5-1 run gifting Barton an early 9-5 advantage. Remaining in attack mode with 20 of the 25 points coming off kills in the second set, P. Reyes strung the third of her eight second set kills fueling a 5-0 run stretching the Cougar lead to its' largest of eight, 17-9. Much like the opening set the Saints would make a late rally attempt scoring eight of the next 11 drawing within three, 20-17 forcing a Barton timeout. The two teams would trade the final nine points with Barton evening the match at 1-apiece taking the second set 25-21.

Set 3 – Jumping out with the opening four points, Barton's early lead would be erased at the midway point with four-straight by the Saints forcing a timeout locked at 17-all. Benefitting off a service error out of the timeout, Barton seized the match with the next five highlighted behind a Thompson kill, Nixon solo block and Naya Danenberg service ace. Claiming three of the final four on a Nixon attack mixed between a pair of Thompson kills securing the 25-22 set victory and 2-1 match lead.

Set 4 – The Cougars once again grasped an early lead as a pair of Saints errors, Nixon attack, Danenberg service ace and Wierzbicki solo block fueled a 5-0 run and early 10-6 lead. Like the previous three sets, the Saints would chip away once again but 11 Barton errors in the fourth would aid to a 10-0 Seward run eventually forcing a fifth and decisive set as the Saints settled for a 25-20 win.

Set 5 – There were four ties in the fifth set despite just two lead changes. The Saints leaped out to a 3-0 lead while holding it at 6-5 before back-to-back Thompson kills handed Barton their first lead at 7-6. Ensuing Nixon's kill to switch sides at the midway point two critical Seward errors gifted the Cougars with their largest lead 10-7, forcing a Saints timeout. Two straight by the Saints made it 10-9 with the teams swapping the final nine points with Thompson finishing off her tremendous set with her third kill closing out the five-set victory, winning the final set, 15-13.