Cougar Volleyball's run in region comes up short, lose fifth set heartbreaker to Colby

For the first two sets the Barton Community College volleyball team appeared headed to the Region VI Championship match winning 25-21 and 25-22.  Colby Community College had other plans charging through the third and fourth set 25-16 and 25-17 to force an elimination fifth set.  The Trojans jumped out to a 6-2 lead and held off a late Cougar charge to win the fifth 15-12.  Barton finishes the season 14-20 while Colby improved to 26-9 and advanced to the Region VI Championship against Hutchinson Community College.  The Blue Dragons went on to capture the region title sweeping Colby in straight sets.

"I am proud of all of our team members and especially how well they hung together when things were not going our way earlier in the season," said Head Coach Phil Shoemaker.  "Because they hung together they were able to get some great performances and results on the back half of the season.  Other than the sting of today's defeat I am very pleased with this team, and they have a lot of great memories to take with them."

Trailing 9-3 in the fifth set, Barton began to play with more aggressiveness but still trailed by five at 12-7.  Four straight Cougar points cut the deficit to one but a misplay at the net increased the Trojan lead back to two.  Larned freshman Tahje Ochs stuffed the Colby attack to draw Barton back to within one but a Cougar attack error put Colby in position for  the set point.  Winding up from the right side, McKenzie Piland's cross court attack to keep the Cougars season alive landed just inches outside the lines giving Colby the 15-12 win.

"Going five sets and having to face a very talented Hutch team and beat them twice was probably unthinkable," Shoemaker reflected.  "With the turnaround of only forty-five minutes, Colby found that out as evidence of Hutch's three set sweep to win the title."

The Cougars came out on fire, riding the momentum of Sunday's sweep of Seward County Community College.  Behind the six kill .357 attack percentage of sophomore McKenzie Piland, Barton put together a 7-3 stretch to gain a three point advantage midway through the first set.  The Cougars closed out the set on a 4-1 run to win 25-21.  Freshman Tahje Ochs also stepped up with three kills as the Cougars tallied fourteen in the set attacking at a .222 rate.  The defensive end was equally impressive as sophomore Kiara Rivera and freshman Jennica O'Neill each recorded five digs to nearly combine for half of the Cougars' twenty-two total. 

The second set was more of a grind for the Cougars, giving up a five point Trojan run to trail 7-4.  After a Barton timeout, a Cougar four point run was matched by Colby but the Cougars simply kept hanging around.  Trailing by two, Barton seized momentary control of the set with a seven point stretch, only to have Colby fight back with three straight to cut the Trojan deficit to one.  Following a Barton timeout, the Cougars kept Colby at bay with a pair of two point runs to win 25-22 and take a two set lead.  Although the Cougar offensive attack was less than stellar, dipping to .059 for the set, Barton limited their errors to grind out the win.

With Colby facing elimination and the Cougars one win away from reaching the region championship match, both teams came out tight to begin the third.  After the set's fourth tie coming at five apiece, a Colby 4-0 run prompted a Barton timeout to attempt to slow down the Trojans early momentum.  After trading points, Colby began to assert its middle attack scoring five of the next seven points forcing Barton to utilize its second and final timeout.  Momentary it worked as Barton would score four of the next six to cut the deficit to five but a four point Colby run all but buried the Cougars in a 23-15 hole.  Barton scrapped for the next two points but Colby closed out the set with the final two to win 25-17 and cut the Cougar match lead in half.  Jori Mote put together her best set trying to keep Barton in it, recording five kills for a .333 attack.  As a team the Cougars hit under .200 for the second straight set hitting only .143.

"Had we been able to put Colby away in three sets, I think we would have had a legitimate shot at Hutch," said Shoemaker.  

Colby carried the momentum into the fourth scoring the first three points, only to have the Cougars respond with four of the next five points to tie it a four.  As the Cougars struggled again in the attack, hitting only .056, two modest two-point stretches gave Colby a little room but again Barton clawed back in to tie it at twelve.  It would be the last time the teams would be tied in not only the set, but for the match, as the Trojans outscored Barton 9-1 to take a commanding 21-13 lead.  Following the second and final timeout of the set for Barton, the Cougars scored three of the next four but Colby closed out on a 3-0 run to force the fifth set with the 25-16 victory.

"Today's loss was obviously a disappointment. When you are up 2-0, you anticipate the ability to close things out," Shoemaker said in the postgame interview. "Unfortunately we did not play with the confidence, composure and competitive spirit which allowed us to reach this point in our season. We were a bit passive in critical situations which allowed Colby, who played a good aggressive game, to gain an advantage and ultimately win out.  We also got away from our game plan, became passive, and came a bit undone as a team."

McKenzie Piland closed out her Barton career with a twelve kill twenty dig performance to record her eleventh double-double of the season and thirteenth overall.  Fellow sophomores Mackenzie Orchard and Jori Mote finished with twelve and eleven kills respectively while Kiara Rivera closed out her Cougar career with ten digs.  Freshman Casey Friesen also recorded a double-double with twenty-nine assists and eleven digs.   Mykela Reidl also reached double-digits in digs with twelve while fellow freshman Jennica O'Neill had eleven.

"I especially want to thank our sophomores who were so welcoming to me and who worked so hard to let everyone know that Barton is again a force to be reckoned with in the KJCCC," said Shoemaker.  "Our freshmen contributed greatly, learned a ton, and will provide us with a solid foundation for the future."