Barton volleyball wraps up third straight conference runner-up, defeats Hutchinson 3-1 in regular season finale #GoBarton

The Barton Community College volleyball team secured its third straight conference runner-up finish as the Cougars concluded regular season play Wednesday night with a 3-1 victory at Hutchinson Community College 25-17, 25-21, 21-25, and 25-19. 

Head Coach Alan Segal's squads remain unbeaten in his third season at the helm versus Hutchinson, wrapping up at least a share of second place at 13-3 and on a four match win streak improving to 23-10 overall.  Pending other conference results, Hutchinson momentarily slips into the sixth slot at 7-9 and 19-15 on the season.

Barton now turns its attention in defending its Region VI title, tentatively set to begin on Tuesday against an opponent to be named later in a 6:30 p.m. first serve at the Barton Gym.

RECAP
The Cougars led throughout the opener, breaking away behind four straight on Tasiah Nunnery and Buse Kocakaya kills and a Hanna Miller ace. Five straight by the Blue Dragons eventually cut the gap to two at 11-9 prompting Barton to switch its lineup going to a 5-1 attack.  Nunnery's kill halted Hutchinson's spurt then helped key a four-point answer stretching Barton's lead out to 17-11.  Victoria Da Silva plugged the middle for a kill and block with Nunnery, to go along with, an Isabella Guedes ace to aid the lead expansion.  The Cougars would keep Hutchinson at arm's length the rest of the set, opening up the margin with four straight following Maria Santos' kill before closing out the final three points on a Kocakaya attack and the blockade of Da Silva and Nunnery.

The teams battled point-for-point in the second frame, each team owning a modest two-point advantage with Hutchinson eventually winning the race to twenty leading 20-19.  It would be the final lead of the set for the Blue Dragons as Kocakaya's block with Guedes broke the set's 18^th tie and her subsequent kill on the next point put Barton in front for good. Nunnery kept the train rolling with a pair of kills, including her unofficially 7^th kill of the set, leading the Cougars on a 3-1 close out and two set match lead.

Hutchinson gained the early momentum in the third set breaking away from the sixth tie on a 4-1 spurt.  Trailing by three, Mylena Testoni led the comeback with consecutive kills sparking a 5-0 run to flip the advantage 15-13 Barton.  The Blue Dragons balked at the momentum change, rattling off the next five regaining the edge but an attack error and Da Silva's ace sliced the Barton deficit to one.  A Cougar net violation gave the point back then Hutchinson added five more points in the 6-1 span to gain set point at 24-18.  The Cougars fought off three of those set points but it was too little too late with Hutchinson winning the frame sending the match to the fourth.

Barton responded with a good start to the final set, Da Silva and Nunnery contributing to a five pack of points building a 5-1 lead. A pair of Kocakaya attacks and kills by Nunnery and Da Silva helped double up the score at 12-6 but things started to unravel for a period of time.  Three attack errors and surrendering two aces added fuel to the Blue Dragon flame, scoring eight straight for a 14-12 home team lead.  The lead was short lived however as assisted block parties hosted by Molly Norris and Da Silva, a pair of Blue Dragon errors, and a kill by Norris put Barton on top the rest of the night behind the six pack of points to lead 18-14.  Kills by Testoni and Guedes led a final trio of points spurt in building a six point lead with Kocakaya adding a late attack to go along with a pair of Hutchinson errors to wrap up the night.

STATS
Nunnery again took team high kill honors, putting away 15 of her 44 swings and posting a team second best 18 digs in recording her 14^th double-double of the year.  Kocakaya was a force in the middle all night, just missing double figures with a career high 9 kills and five of the Cougars' 16 assisted blocks.  Da Silva also led the block party with two solo and three assisted while joining Santos with seven kills each and Testoni adding 6 and a pair of service aces.

Guedes put up a season fourth best 41 assists in the 5-1 offense, adding 12 digs recording her 4^th straight and 13^th double-double of the year.

Miller moved into fourth place of the single season dig chart, flying all over the backline with numerous big time digs and perfect passes, finishing with 28 as Santos joined the four others with double digit digs by adding 12.

The Cougars finished at a .211 attack percentage, opening the match with .286 and .256 sets before sinking to a .094 third set and rebounding to a .190 fourth.

Record Book Update
The trio of Cougars continue to climb and solidify their place in Barton history.  Miller climbs into 4^th best single season with 619 digs, inching to within a little over a hundred from 2^nd all-time with a third slot standing of 1113.  Testoni jumps over Miller's freshman campaign in taking over the 8^th best single season total now with 502, 24 away from becoming just the fourth Cougar with 1000 or more career digs.  Nunnery also continues to make an impact, now with 746 career digs to move into the program's 8^th most total.