Perhaps the regular season didn’t go as well as the Barton volleyball team would have liked. Now is the opportunity to do something about it.
The regular season ended last week with a three set loss at Seward County, 25-18, 25-11, 25-23. That closed out the regular season for the Cougars with a 9-23 overall record and a 6-10 Jayhawk West mark good for sixth place. Seward finished second in the West at 13-3.
“Our match with Seward certainly could have been better,” Coach Phil Shoemaker said. “We struggled getting going, really playing a pretty weak game in the first set, stronger in the second, and we battled well in the third, but fell short.
“Seward is a talented team, and when you don’t take it to them they are doubly tough, because they have an aggressive style and they do press you. When we prepare before contact with recognition communication and movement we can perform with just about anyone. When we don’t we are in trouble.”
Sophomore Emily Deterding led Barton with nine kills in the loss followed Nathalia Gouveia with seven. Lydia Konrade had 11 digs and Mallory McQueen 16 assists.
Now the Cougars can put the regular season behind them and turn focus to the post-season.
Barton will open Region VI action Wednesday with a trip to Concordia to take on Cloud County. The Thunderbirds finished 11-5 in the West and edged out Pratt and Colby for the third seed. Both Pratt and Colby finished 10-6.
Barton lost twice to Cloud this season in straight sets. In the final match between the two Barton battled Cloud close in two of the three sets.
The two teams have not played in nearly a month. Since that last loss to Cloud, Barton closed out the regular season at 3-3 in conference games, including a win over Pratt.
The winner of the Barton-Cloud match would get the winner of Butler at Seward. The other half of the bracket would pit top seeded Hutchinson against Garden City and Pratt against Colby.