Even though they started slow, the Barton Community College volleyball team was able to shut down Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division foe Dodge City on Wednesday night at Kirkman Activity Center.
The Lady Cougars made it a clean sweep, 25-23, 25-16 and 25-19 to improve to 3-6 overall, and 2-2 in the Jayhawk West.
“It was a little raggedy,” Barton head coach Phil Shoemaker said, “but it was a win, and it was one that we wanted. We had some decent statistical performances, but our serve-receive, which has been our strength for us this season, wasn’t as good.”
The Lady Conquistadors drop to 1-12, 0-4.
The Lady Cougars controlled most of the first game, snatching up the lead 4-3 and never letting it loose. However, they never led by more than three points as the Lady Conquistadors kept it close.
Dodge City tied the game up twice, once at 11 and again at 21, but Barton was able to get the next point to go ahead 22-21 and Jennica O’Neill’s ace closed the scoring as it prevailed 25-23.
The Lady Cougars led by as much as nine points in the second game as they started to get on a roll.
“I think it was more about us than it was about them,” Shoemaker said. “We just made silly errors and not playing really aggressively. We were pretty tentative, and once we got a fire in our belly, then things started to go our way.
“That’s the way it always is, but you have to put ourselves in a place where we can be aggressive, and we weren’t doing that early on like we can.”
McKenzie Piland started to find holes in the Dodge City defense. She led the team to a 25-16 victory.
“One adjustment that we made was we put McKenzie Piland in the game fulltime,” Shoemaker said of Game 2. “She’s kind of an emotional leader for us, and I felt like we needed her presence out there. I think that it helped.”
Piland finished with 11 kills and two blocks.
Jori Mote, who led the team with 15 kills, put the finishing touch on Game 3, recording the final kill for a 25-19 victory.
JUNIOR COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
Kansas Jayhawk
Community College Conference
Wednesday
At Great Bend
Kirman Activity Center
Barton 3, Dodge City 0
(25-22, 25-16, 25-19)
Mykela Riedl — 10 digs, 4 aces
Jori Mote — 15 kills, 3 blocks, 3 digs, 1 ace
Kiara Rivera — 5 digs, 3 assists
Mackenzie Orchard — 11 kills, 4 digs, 1 block
Jenna Reid — 5 kills, 2 blocks
Lakyn Rowden — 35 assists, 8 digs, 3 kills, 1 ace
Casey Friesen — 2 assists, 2 digs
Tahje Ochs — 2 digs, 1 kill
McKenzie Piland — 11 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks, 2 assists
Jennica O’Neill — 9 digs
