Fifth set strikes again, 19th ranked Cougars drop second straight match in 3-2 loss at Colby #GoBarton

It took five sets again and a season low offensive efficiency to knock off the 19th ranked Barton Community College volleyball team as the Cougars failed to hold a two set advantage in falling 3-2 at Colby Community College.

A reversal of last Saturday's being down 2-0 and having its comeback fall short, Wednesday evening at the Colby Event Center saw the Cougars the one jumping out to the lead winning 26-24 and 25-18.

Colby turned the tide in the third behind a 10-1 stretch to ride out a 25-18 victory before methodically pulling away for another 25-18 win to force a deciding set.

Barton's 4-0 run erased an early final frame deficit in claiming a 7-6 lead but was quickly flip-flopped on two straight home team tallies. The Cougars again grabbed the lead at 9-8 and again at 10-9 but four straight by Colby in forcing a Barton timeout did little to halt the momentum as the Trojans added two more points to close the match out on a 6-0 run for the 15-10 victory.

Suffering its second straight five set loss after winning the previous twelve matches, Barton slips to 12-3 in conference play and 23-5 overall. Snapping Barton's seven match win streak in the series, Colby made strides in hopes of climbing up the standings to a possible two-seed for the upcoming Region VI Tournament by improving to 10-5 and 18-9 on the season.

The Cougars wrap-up regular season play on Saturday in hosting second place Hutchinson Community College (9-4, 23-13). Barton has already clinched atleast a share of the KJCCC title but will be looking for outright bragging rights and locking in the top seed for the playoffs. A 6:30 p.m. first serve is slated with sophomore recognition taking place approximately ten minutes prior.

Kassidy Nixon's career high 18 kills on 43 swings for a .326 efficiency was the lone Cougar reaching double figures as the squad struggled offensively on a season low .106 efficiency. Defensively Nixon also added 11 digs for her second consecutive and 8th double-double of the year while also accounting for four walls of denial, two of which being solo.

Aside from the offensive setbacks, the Cougars did match its season high 14 blocks for the second straight contest with Anna Wierzbicki leading the blockades with three solo and assisting on four others for a career high seven denials while adding 8 kills on the offensive side on

Flying around the backline with numerous spectacular saves, Clara Lindstrom recorded 26 digs while just missing her 2nd double-double of the year in finishing with 9 assists. Naya Danenberg finished with 17 digs as part of the team's season high 99 total digs.

Setters Elena Stankovic and Maurin Reyes each recorded double-doubles, Stankovic on 21 assists with 18 digs for her 7th of the season while Reyes recorded her 8th tying Nixon for the team lead in putting up 15 assists to go along with 14 digs.

Series Notes:
- Teams split the season series
- Colby snapped Barton's three match win streak in Colby and seventh straight in the series
- Barton leads the series 18-10 in Colby
- Barton leads the overall series 56-20