Cougars squander two set lead, fall to Seward County in five

The Barton Community College Volleyball team couldn't hold a two-set lead Wednesday night as the Seward County Community College Saints marched back to win the Jayhawk West battle at the Barton Gym.  The Cougars had all the momentum after winning the first two sets 25-10 and 25-15 only to have the Saints, who hadn't overcome an 0-2 deficit since 2011, win three in a row 25-21, 25-22, and 15-8.  The loss drops Barton to 0-2 to start conference play and 1-6 overall while the Saints remain unblemished in conference at 2-0 and improve to 6-4 on the season.   The Cougars will travel to Garden City on Saturday to take on the Broncbusters in a 2:00 p.m. conference match at the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex. 

Barton came out on fire leading 6-0 to open the match and built a 20-6 lead as Seward was forced to take their second time out of the set.  After a 4-1 Seward run and subsequent Barton timeout, the Cougars closed with a 4-0 run to win the opening set 25-10.

The Cougars battled back from an early second set hole to tie it at seven then went on to outscore the Saints 11-4 to take a commanding 18-11 lead.  Again the Cougars closed strong limiting Seward to four points the rest of the way to win 25-13.

In what seemed like a match clinching third set, Barton had most of the momentum throughout the first half of the set taking a 13-11 lead into a Seward timeout.  Within a break of sixty second, the Saints came out of the huddle and flip-flopped the momentum by going on a 6-2 run prompting a Barton timeout.  Finding themselves now in a 17-15 hole, the Cougars were never able to turn back the Saints as Seward extending the match winning 25-21.

The fourth set played out much like the second and third sets with each team only managing small scoring runs.  Barton was finally able to manage some breathing room in the set with a 4-1 run to open up a 16-12 lead.  Again another Seward timeout rocked the momentum as the Saints battled back to tie it at 19.  The Cougars responded with two of their own before Seward scored the next three to regain the lead at 22-21.   The set reached its last tie as Barton would tie it up but the Saints closed with a 3-0 run to win 25-22 and force the match deciding fifth set. 

Seward began the fifth with the first two points before the Cougars answered to take a 3-2 lead.  A 5-0 run by the Saints broke the set open and was a deficit the Cougars simply couldn't overcome as Seward put the match away outscoring Barton 8-4 the rest of the way to win 15-8.