EL DORADO — The results are starting to show in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action.
For the second straight West road game, the Barton volleyball team traveled home from a road contest with a win under its belt. This time the Lady Cougars won a five-set thriller over Butler in El Dorado.
The Lady Cougars rallied for a 10-25, 25-13, 13-25, 25-19, 15-13 win over the Grizzlies.
The win improved Barton to 3-3 in the West as the Lady Cougars inch their way back toward the top half and a possible opening round home playoff game. Barton is now 4-16 overall. Butler fell to 1-4 in the West and 7-10 overall.
“It was a big win for us,” Barton head coach Phil Shoemaker said. “It was important for a variety of reasons. It was a conference game, it was on the road, and we got some very big contributions off the bench.
“We had to come back from a poor start, battling, grinding it out, and we made some big plays in big moments.”
Butler rolled to the win in the opener by the 25-10 margin but quickly jumped out on top in the second set. The Lady Cougars played from the lead the entire way and pulled out to a big lead on its way to the 25-13 win.
The lopsided sets continued as Butler went on a run midway through the third set on the way to a 25-13 win of its own.
Staring defeat in the face, the Lady Cougars showed some fortitude in fourth set. A 5-0 run pushed the Lady Cougars to a 14-7 lead. Barton then pushed back a Grizzly rally and coasted to the 25-19 win to force a fifth and deciding set.
The teams went back-and-forth with the lead in the final set.
With the contest tied at 12-all, freshman Jordan Edelman’s block gave Barton the lead and sophomore Jenna Reid followed with a block of her own to put the Lady Cougars on the brink of the win.
Hoisington sophomore Mykela Riedl then put the game away for the Lady Cougars.
The Lady Cougars still committed 20 hitting errors in the five-set thriller, but scattered 46 kills as well.
In the all-important fourth set Barton did not commit a hitting error.
Kim Hockley, a 6-foot-4 freshman from Canada, and fellow countryman Jessie Sewell each had seven kills to pace the Lady Cougars.
Reid and Jennica O’Neill each added six. O’Neill’s six kills came with no errors. Emily Deterding contributed five kills with just one error.
Casey Friesen led Barton with 14 assists while Riedl led Barton with three service aces and 17 digs. O’Neill added 12 digs and Friesen 11.
Reid had a big night at the net with nine blocks, Hockley added six, O’Neill five and Edelman four.
“Jennica O’Neill and Mykela Riedl held us together with ball control and emotional leadership,” Shoemaker said. “Our best match of the season for blocks I think. Jenna (Reid) and Kim (Hockley) together were a good combo but we had good efforts from Jennica (O’Neill) and Jordon (Edelman) too.
“Emily Deterding really stepped up in the last two sets with big kills. We handled adversity a bit better tonight and we were able to regain our composure better. We are maturing but they still drive me crazy.”
The Lady Cougars returned home Wednesday after 21 days on the road to play Marshalltown (Iowa).
Barton will be back on the road next week when they travel to Arkansas City to take on Cowley. The match at Cowley will be the final non-Jayhawk West contest of the season.
Barton will start the final stretch of West games Oct. 1 when Colby pays a visit to the Barton Gym.