Cougars hold off Colby in four set road victory #GoBarton

The Barton Community College volleyball team notched a four-set road victory over Colby Community College (25-17, 25-20, 20-25, and 25-16) Monday evening inside the Colby Event Center.

The third straight victory for the Cougars moves their KJCCC mark to 8-2 and overall record to 18-9 while the Trojans drop to 6-5 in conference play and fall to 13-10 on the season.

Next up for Barton is a home contest on Wednesday against Dodge City Community College before returning to the road on Saturday with a matchup against No. 5 Butler Community College. First serve for each of the contests slated for 6:30 p.m. 

RECAP
A theme in all four sets, the team's battled mostly point for point through the early stages. A Joelle LaForce kill begun a 3-0 spurt followed by a Buse Kocakaya solo block and Tasiah Nunnery smack out of a Colby timeout propelled Barton to an 18-14 lead in the opening set. Following a Colby point, Barton rattled off four-straight before scoring three of the final five points to clinch the opener 25-17.

Barton carried the momentum into the second in jumping out to a 4-2 lead as a pair of Trojan errors and Nunnery spike sparked a 3-0 spurt. The Cougar advantage expanded to 7-3 ensuing a pair of Mylena Testoni throw downs and another Colby error. The Trojans continued to hang around pulling to within one on seven different occasions eventually knotting it up at 18-18. Barton responded off a trio of Colby miscues and Nunnery rise and shine propelling a 4-0 spurt. The Cougars put the hammer down with three of the final five tallies taking a 2-0 match lead.

Barton faced its largest deficit of the night falling behind 7-2 before clawing back with a 6-1 stretch highlighted by LaForce, Nunnery and Testoni kills knotting it up at 8-8. Seesawing over the next six points and swapping a 2-0 run each way, the Cougars found themselves in an uphill climb as the Trojans accounted for six of the next seven grasping a 19-14 lead. Barton closed the gap to within 19-17 before Colby secured six of the final nine avoiding the match sweep.

Looking to avoid a fifth set, the Cougars broke things open at the midway point as a Trojan error, Testoni attack, Maria Santos solo block and Addison Crites kill sparked a 4-0 run. Barton sustained the lead pulling ahead 21-13 as a pair of LaForce kills capped a five straight run. Colby clawed within 21-16 before Barton put the foot on the gas pedals claiming the final four.

LaForce led the Cougar attack with a career high 15 kills for a .250 efficiency while also recording a team high four blocks. Nunnery posted her 11th double-double of the season chalking up 15 kills on 50 swings while also digging up 17 digs.

The setting crew of Isabella Guedes and Mya Maxwell logged double-doubles in the winning effort. Guedes led the assists distribution with 25 as Maxwell finished just four back with 21 as the duo matched each other in digs with 12 for their ninth and third double-doubles respectively.