A winning streak.
The Barton Community College volleyball team is now riding one. For the first time this season the Lady Cougars have put together back-to-back wins after sweeping Marshalltown College (Iowa) at Kirkman Activity Center on Wednesday night.
The Lady Cougars turned in one of their better efforts of the season with a 25-14, 25-15, 25-20 win coming on the heels of a five-set thriller at Butler Tuesday night.
It was the first three-set sweep by Barton.
“This was one of those nights where things went right from the moment we left the locker room until the final whistle,” Barton head coach Phil Shoemaker said.
Barton wasted little time in gaining control of the match, jumping to a 7-1 lead and never trailing in the opening set.
The Lady Cougars did likewise in the second set, getting out to a 6-0 lead and again in the third with a 5-0 lead to start the game.
“We had some great offensive performances on the night, especially from Emily (Deterding) and Kim (Hockley),” Shoemaker said. “Our ball control was very strong and the setters did a very good job with delivery and distribution. Our serving took Marshalltown out of its system most of the night.”
Hockley and Deterding led the Lady Cougars hitting attack. Hockley had eight kills on just one error, while Deterding had seven kills with no errors.
Abi Rhiza led Barton with 20 assists and Casey Friesen added 10. Mykela Riedl had a pair of service aces and 9 digs to pace the Lady Cougars.
Barton improves to 5-16 on the season, while Marshalltown drops to 7-11.
The Lady Cougars will look to make it three straight when they travel to Arkansas City on Monday to take on Cowley College. Cowley is one of the top teams in Division II, ranked No. 10 at that level with an 11-5 record. The Tigers are 5-0 and leading the Jayhawk East.
“I could not be much happier with our performance,” Shoemaker said. “It was a good ending to our week. The players will get a full two days off and should be excited and ready to go Monday at Cowley.”
The contest at Cowley, set for 6:30 pm, will be the final non-conference match of the season for the Lady Cougars. Barton will begin a month of October full of Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West matches on Oct. 1 when Colby visits Kirkman Activity Center.