No. 9 Barton opens conference play with sweep at Butler #GoBarton

The No. 9 Barton Community College volleyball team opened conference play Tuesday night with a sweep at Butler, 25-20, 25-15, 25-16.

The win kept the Cougars perfect at 5-0 on the season, while the Grizzlies dropped to 2-2.

Barton now turns its attention to a grueling three-day stretch in Dodge City against four ranked opponents. The Cougars face No. 8 Missouri State-West Plains at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, then begin play in the Victory Electric Classic on Friday against No. 14 Eastern Arizona College at 10 a.m. and Lee College at 4 p.m. Barton closes the weekend Saturday with a 10:30 a.m. matchup against No. 2 Miami Dade and a 1:30 p.m. finale versus No. 11 New Mexico Military Institute.

Caroliny Cristiny led the attack with a match-high 13 kills on .353 hitting, while Stasa Stamenkovic added eight kills and three block assists. Aubrey Olander was efficient in the middle, posting four kills on .444 hitting to go with a match-best five blocks. Brylynn Wicker chipped in six kills and Paola Batista followed with five.

Mina Kaneko anchored the defense with 22 digs and added an ace, while Stamenkovic contributed 14 digs for a double-double effort in holding Butler to just 24 total kills.

Janka Tolnai and Ori Briger paced the offense with 19 and 16 assists respectively helping Barton's offense to a .337 efficiency night.

Set 1
Barton grabbed the early edge before a 5-0 Butler run forced a timeout with the Grizzlies leading 13-10. The Cougars regrouped to take six of the next eight points, including four straight, knotting the score at 15. Still tied at 20, Barton slammed the door by scoring the final five points. Cristiny and Olander combined for four kills in the closing stretch, with a Kaneko ace sandwiched in between.

Set 2
Stamenkovic provided the spark with three early kills during a seven-point Cougar surge that built a 16-8 lead. Barton never trailed, though Butler trimmed the margin to 19-14. The Cougars answered with six of the final seven points, including four straight to finish off the set and take a commanding 2-0 lead.

Set 3
Barton came out firing in the third, ripping off the first nine points to seize control. The lead ballooned to 13 before Butler mounted a 5-0 rally to close within 13-7. The Grizzlies later pulled within five at 18-13, but the Cougars countered with a three-point burst that all but sealed it. Barton tacked on another three-point run late to cap the sweep.