After dropping its first match in a month in the regular season finale Jayhawk West title match, the Barton volleyball team is back to its winning way.

The Cougars rolled past Dodge City in the first round of Region VI action at the Barton Gym. Barton handed Dodge a 25-22, 25-19, 27-25 loss to move into semifinal action on Good Friday in Liberal.

The Cougars will take on Hutchinson in one semifinal while host Seward County will get Colby.

Seward and Colby will play the first match today at noon with the Barton and Hutch match to follow 40 minutes after its conclusion.

After both semifinal bouts are complete, the Region VI title game will take place one hour later.

Barton didn’t exactly blow Dodge City out but did sweep the Conquistadors in three sets.

The Cougars led nearly the entire first set but could not shake the Conqs. In fact, it was tied at 20 before Barton closed out the set by scoring five of seven for the 25-22 win.

The second set was a little easier on those in attendance as Barton got control midway through the set and closed it out on kills by Maria Santos and Mylena Testoni.

The third set was a battle. Dodge led much of the time, by as much as 17-12 after a 9-3 run by the Conquistadors.

But the Cougars clawed their way back and fought off three set points before pulling out the 27-25 win.

Testoni ended with 16 kills and Santos 10. Santos also had five blocks. Tasiah Nunnery led Barton with 21 digs.

Region VI Volleyball

First Round, March 30

1 Seward def 8 Pratt, 25-16, 25-14, 25-10

4 Colby def 5 Butler, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-13

2 Barton def 7 Dodge, 25-22, 25-19, 27-25

3 Hutch def 6 Garden, 25-15, 19-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-11

Semifinals, April 2 at Liberal

1 Seward (21-4) v 4 Colby (14-7), Noon

2 Barton (23-4) v 3 Hutch (18-9), TBD

Finals, April 2 at Liberal

Semifinal winners, TBD