Cougars enjoy short night at Pratt, eye regular season finale Wednesday at Hutchinson #GoBarton

The rematch from five days ago left a similar result Monday night at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena as the Barton Community College volleyball team won in straight sets 25-23, 25-13, and 25-17 over Pratt Community College. 

The victory keeps Barton tied for second place of the conference standings at 12-3, improving to 22-10 overall while Pratt drops to 2-13 in league and 9-21 on the season.

The Cougars wrap up regular season play Wednesday in a 6:00 p.m. first serve at Hutchinson Community College.  The Cougars will then turn its attention to defending its Region VI title, hosting a first round matchup on Tuesday, November 3^rd.

RECAP
Barton doubled up the Beavers early at 10-5 but saw Pratt fire back on a 6-2 stretch in cutting the deficit to one twice.  A Victoria Da Silva and Maria Santos block was followed by a Santos kill to gain a little separation before later getting another Santos kill and consecutive Mylena Testoni attack's pushing the margin back out to four. The Beavers wouldn't back down, later stringing a trio of points to tie it at 21.  Santos and Buse Kocakaya double block highlighted a two point spurt but an attack error drew Pratt to within one.  Following another Testoni kill to gain set point, Pratt earned the next point to again trail by one but Testoni put the cap on the Beavers' comeback attack with her unofficial 6^th kill of the frame. 

Battling point for point early in the second with Pratt on the topside of a 7-6 score, Tasiah Nunnery was the Cougars' second frame force leading a 7-0 run knocking down four kills.  Isabella Guedes served up two aces in the stretch with Jaden Boden contributing her 2^nd kill of the frame's early stage.  Later following a pair of Barton attack errors slicing the advantage back down to five, Testoni's pair of attacks then teaming up with Addison Crites on a block sparked a 7-0 run stretching the lead out to 23-11 as the Cougars rolled on to an easy set win behind an evening high .344 attack.

Pratt's 7-1 run early in the third gave the Beavers an 8-6 edge.  Molly Norris came off the bench to help reignite the Cougars, putting down three kills to go along with an assisted block by Crites as the Cougars broke away with a 7-1 stretch of their own for a 15-10 lead.  A pair of Jadyn Brown service aces helped the Cougars put the Beavers under a log as four straight points increase the gap to nine.  Sloppy play late helped contribute to a mini Pratt surge but kills by Joelle LaForce and Testoni put the night on ice.

STATS
Nunnery took team high kill honors with 13 on 30 swings for a .400 percentage while adding 11 digs for her 13^th double-double of the year.  Testoni was right behind on the stat sheet with 12 kills on a .353 attack in recording her 16^th double-double with the club's second best 17 digs while leading the team with 4 assisted blocks.

Santos finished with 6 kills while Boden had five as each were joined by Crites in recording two blocks each. Contributing to the block party, Kocakaya had three on one solo and two assisted while Norris had a solo and assisted, and Da Silva also contributing an assisted.

The Cougars hit .252 on the night, keyed by Guedes' 32 assists and 10 digs for her third straight and 12^th double-double of the year while adding three service aces.  Mya Maxwell just missed her 4^th double-double, putting up 9 assists and gathering 9 digs.

Hanna Miller again led the backline defense, chalking up 27 digs to go along with two aces.

Record Book Update
The Cougars now have three players making impact on the career dig list.  Miller solidified her 3^rd all-time standing now at 1085 digs, Testoni solidifiying 4^th place at 966 digs, while Nunnery's recent popping into the Top-10 is now in 9^th with 728 and just five out of moving up a slot.