Cougar Volleyball season comes to end in Region VI

The Barton Community College volleyball team had their season end Sunday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena as Colby Community College took three of four sets to advance in the Region VI semifinal round.  The Cougars took the first set 26-24 but Colby won the next three 25-18, 25-16, and 25-15 to bounce Barton from the playoffs for the second consecutive year.  Barton finishes the season at 7-26 while Colby improved to 17-18 advancing to the semifinal round of the Region VI Championships.  

As both teams struggled serving throughout the first set, Colby grabbed early leads of three points but the Cougars kept fighting eventually drawing to a 20-all tie.  Emily Deterding and Kim Hockley combined for six kills in the Cougar twelve kill first set as Barton took control setting up set point at 24-21.   The Trojans drew to within one then immediately tied the set following a Barton timeout, but the Cougars took the next two points capped by 2nd Team All-Jayhawk Conference setter Casey Friesen perfectly placing a kill in the far corner giving Barton the 26-24 win. 

"Things started fairly well for us tonight," said Head Coach Phil Shoemaker.  "We were not perfect by any means in the first set, but we battled pretty well and played them close enough so that when they did crack a bit we were able to jump on them a little and compete well enough and long enough to get that one."

The tide for the Cougars began to change early in the second as Barton burned its first timeout following Colby's 4-0 run to grab a 9-6 lead.  The timeout did little to slow the early momentum as the Trojans would outscore Barton 9-2 for an 18-8 lead.  The Cougars fought back with a 6-0 run as freshman Jordan Edelman dropped in two ace serves to draw Barton to within 18-14.  Three straight by the Trojans opened the gap and the teams traded points the rest of the way in Colby's 25-18 win to even the match at one apiece.

The third started much like the second with the Cougars grabbing an early two point lead.  Four straight Colby points reclaimed the lead as the Trojans would score five of the next seven points to jump out to a 14-9 advantage.  Scoring four of the next five, Colby ballooned its lead out to eight then held off any significant Cougar rally to win 25-16.

Getting into an early 4-1 deficit to begin the fourth, Barton fought back with three straight before the wheels fell off for the Cougars.  Five straight by the Trojans reclaimed the momentum and despite Barton getting two of the next three following a timeout, Colby then rattled off six of the next seven to lead 16-7.  The Cougars would cut it back to a six point deficit twice by Colby held off the rally with a clinching three straight and four of the next five to win 25-15.

"Sets two through four we didn't maintain our composure very well," Shoemaker said. "We made too many errors of all kinds any it ruined our chances."

For the match Barton had twenty-six attack errors for their lowest percentage in over a month at .052.  Jessie Sewell led the Cougars with nine kills in her final game as fellow sophomore Tahje Ochs had seven.   Casey Friesen also wrapped up her Barton career by recording her thirteenth double-double of the season leading the Cougars with fifteen assists and fifteen digs, one less than sophomore Mykela Reidl's team leading sixteen.  Sophomore Jenna Reid shared team high block honors with freshmen Emily Deterding and Kylie Jones with two each.

"It is disappointing that we did not show the progress we have made because we were so inconsistent," said Shoemaker. "Unfortunately that has been our most consistent trait.  We thank our sophomores for their efforts, contributions, and we know they will do well as they move on. We know our returning athletes will want to take the tough lessons learned and amp up their training to assure future success."