The schedule is nearly perfect for a young team trying to work out some kinks and improve...a five game stretch that includes three junior varsity teams at home as well as two teams picked at the bottom of the Jayhawk West.

The Barton Community College volleyball team is taking advantage of that schedule.

After knocking off Garden City in West play, the Cougars – with nine freshmen on the roster – rolled by the Bethany College JV Saturday, 25-22, 25-11, 25-21.

The Cougars committed just 13 hitting errors during the match.

“We have been attempting to reduce the number of errors we are committing,” Barton coach Phil Shoemaker said, “but in that process I think maybe we are worrying too much about that rather than preparing for the next successful and aggressive play or opportunity. With each match these young players are learning and growing. We certainly need to keep that going.”

Freshmen Nathalia Gouviea and Olivia Naccarato led Barton with nine kills each. They did so with just three combined errors.

While those two combined for 18 kills the rest of the team combined for 11.

“That is fantastic efficiency from them but we need to get some others going,” coach Shoemaker said of the effort from Gouviea and Naccarato. “We are going to focus on our transition game this week to see if we can’t help others break out.”

Mallory McQueen once again paced Barton with 19 assists and also had eight digs. She also had three services aces to lead the Cougars.

Emily Deterding added seven digs.

Naccarato had three blocks to lead Barton.

The Cougars struggled to put away Bethany in the opening set but broke open a 22-all contest with the final three points for the win. The Cougars dominated the middle stages of the second set taking a

17-6 lead at one point and easily winning 25-11.

In the final set the Swedes took a 12-6 lead on Barton before the Cougars went on a 14-4 run to take the lead and go on to the 25-21 win.

With the win, Barton evens its season mark at 3-3 and has now won three straight. The Cougars will travel to Dodge City tomorrow to battle the Conquistadors in their second Jayhawk West game.