Barton volleyball sweeps Dodge City; Miller joins 1000 dig club #GoBarton

The Barton Community College volleyball team prevailed in straight sets Wednesday night at the Barton Gym dispatching Dodge City Community College 31-29, 25-17, and 25-22.

The Cougars improve their second place conference record to 9-2 and 19-9 overall while Dodge City slides to 5-7 and 12-7 on the season.

Barton will play their next two matches on the road, first coming Saturday in a 6:00 p.m. first serve at No. 5 Butler Community College followed by Monday's trip to Garden City Community College for a 6:30 p.m. first serve. The Cougars will then play their final regular season home match next Wednesday, October 20, hosting Pratt Community College on sophomore night.

During the match, Barton's libero Hanna Miller recorded 16 kills joining a prestigious club becoming just the third Cougar in the program's storied history reaching the 1000 career dig accomplishment. Now with 1006 and counting, Miller only trails single season record holder Karina de Oliveira's career mark of 1217 during the 2018 and 2019 seasons and the top career chart leader Cristin Haines' 1361 set during the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

RECAP
The teams treated the crowd to a highly competitive first set, each eventually having four set points before an anti-climactic attack error gave Barton the final point for victory.

Barton had the early edge behind a pair of Tasiah Nunnery and Maria Santos kills for a 9-6 advantage before the Conquistadors would shortly surge in front 11-10. Tied for the sixth time at 14-all, Dodge City looked to be grabbing command behind four straight, holding the margin again at 19-15. Getting three of her team high 13 kills in a pivotal stretch, Joelle LaForce led the comeback to slice the deficit in half before three straight from Santos and Mylena Testoni kills followed by a Nunnery service ace put Barton up 22-20. Dodge City claimed the next three for their first set point, getting another following Santos' kill to tie it at 24, only to have LaForce's kill and a Conquistador attack error handing Barton their first set point opportunity. Holding off Dodge City's next two set point chances while being denied their next two, Barton's fourth opportunity came after the 14th tie of the opener with Victoria Da Silva hammering down a center attack before a Conquistador misfire clinched the set.

Matching point-for-point through the first ten tallies, the Conquistadors took four straight for an early 9-5 lead. Barton fired back with three straight on LaForce and Miller kills on either side of a Da Silva and Nunnery block. Dodge City stayed on top through the next handful of exchanges before Barton took control of the set on a 5-0 spurt led by a pair of Testoni hammers and a LaForce attack. From there Barton kept the gap at no less than three before taking the final four points highlighted by a Testoni and Da Silva wall of denial followed by another Testoni kill.

The Cougars looked to run away with the third, taking five straight in building a 7-3 lead in part to a trio of Miller service aces. Dodge City grabbed the next three but Barton held off the charge through the next few exchanges until the Conquistadors strung the next five in taking a 12-9 lead.

A Barton switch in the lineup bringing Jadyn Brown off the bench was nearly a sports storybook highlight between cousins as Miller's 1000th dig set up Brown for an attack but unfortunately, the Conquistadors recorded a great dig in countering to eventually win the point growing their lead to 13-9.

Brown's rise-n-shine fired back on the next possession to halt the Dodge City 6-0 run, bringing new energy that would later help the Cougars close out the match.

With the Cougars still trailing later at 21-18, LaForce planted her 13th kill before Brown punished the Fleske Court with three straight including the set tying 21-all point coming after the spectacular one-handed diving dig by Miller. Now leading by one after Brown's third straight and coming out of a Dodge City timeout, Brown split the Conquistador barricade for her fifth kill off the bench. Following Isabella Guedes' third service ace of the night and Dodge City attack, Da Silva put the final point on the board burying Guedes' set to the back corner for the victory.

Coming off a career high 15 kill night on Monday, LaForce's highlight Wednesday wasn't the fact she led the Cougars with the thirteen kills but did so in front of her mother who she hadn't seen in two years. Being whisked away to the locker room fifteen minutes before first serve, LaForce was emotionally met by the surprise visitor from Canada as the two embraced in an expected mother-daughter reunion.

Joining LaForce in double digit kills was Testoni, posting her 15th double-double of the season in recording a team high 22 digs with 10 kills on a team leading .500 attack coming on 18 swings.

Santos added seven kills on a .400 attack with Da Silva finishing with six, Nunnery with five, and Brown's five coming on a .400 attack as well.

Guedes led the Cougars' .325 offensive attack on the night with 28 assists with fellow setter Mya Maxwell finishing with 17.