WICHITA — It wasn’t a win.
But Barton Community College head volleyball coach Andrea Rasmussen said that her team played their best match of the season against No. 17 Hutchinson.
The Lady Cougars fell in five games — 28-30, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21 and 15-12 — in the second round of the NJCAA Region VI tournament on Saturday morning at Newman University in Wichita.
“We did awesome,” Rasmussen said. “We probably played the best match of our season so far. Our offense did very well. Both our mids were unstoppable. Really all of our hitters had a great match.”
The loss dropped the Lady Cougars into the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
Barton squared off with Dodge City on Saturday evening, winning 25-11, 25-19 and 25-14.
“We have a one-track mind about getting to the final,” Rasmussen said.
The Lady Cougars will first have to go through Garden City at 10 a.m. today. The winner of the match goes on to face Hutchinson at noon.
If Hutchinson loses the first championship match, the final match will be held at 2 p.m.

                                                         — Kevin Price