WICHITA — The Barton Community College volleyball team entered the NJCAA Region VI tournament as the No. 4 seed.
They left the tournament as Region VI champions.
The Lady Cougars started their run towards the NJCAA National Tournament last Tuesday when they beat No. 5-seeded Colby and finished by beating Seward County on Sunday to earn a trip to West Plains, Mo., where the tournament will be held on Nov. 18.
It is the 20th time the Lady Cougars have made the trip to the national tournament in school history. In 2003, Barton returned with the national crown.
The Lady Cougars played their way through the winner’s bracket unbeaten with wins over Pratt and Seward.
Barton knocked off Pratt Friday afternoon, 25-17, 28-26, 17-25 and 25-22, to move into the winner’s bracket final Saturday afternoon. The Lady Cougars outlasted Seward in a thrilling match, winning 19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13 and 17-15. That put the Lady Cougars in position to have to be beaten twice by the loser’s bracket winner.
It proved to be Seward in the way of Barton and the Region VI title Sunday with the Saints turning the tables on Barton with a best-of-five match win of their own. Seward shocked Barton, 20-25, 25-17, 27-25, 14-25 and 15-13, to force a second championship contest. Barton rolled Seward in three games, 25-15, 25-18 and 25-7.
Barton hit the ball with great efficiency in the final match of the championships with 36 kills in 71 attempts.
Malia Tonga led Barton with nine kills.
Gabriela Oliveira added eight kills, and Juliana Barros had seven kills and 24 assists.
The Cougars will find out their seeding for the NJCAA Championships on Wednesday.