The Barton Community College volleyball team made short work of the day sweeping the junior varsity squad from Bethany College 25-22, 25-11, and 25-21 Saturday at the Barton Gym. The victory improves the Cougars to 3-3 on the season heading into Monday’s 6:30 p.m. match against the junior varsity of Sterling College at the Barton Gym. The Cougars will then hit the road Wednesday taking on Dodge City Community College in Dodge City before hosting another non-conference match Thursday against Ottawa University JV.
Nathalia Gouveia led the sluggish Cougars in the first set putting down four kills for .571 attack as Barton struggled before pulling away in the end for the final three points. The Cougars finally started to get rolling in the second utilizing a three point run and building momentum prompting Bethany to use their first timeout. Despite the pause in play, the Cougars continued to roll reeling off six of the next seven points forcing Bethany to burn their last timeout trailing 17-5. Olivia Naccarato helped thwart off any hope of a Swede comeback with two kills and a block as the Cougars rolled to the 25-11 win.
Bethany wouldn’t concede the match by laying down in the third as the Swedes turned a three point early deficit with a 6-0 run grabbing a 12-6 lead. Following a Barton timeout Bethany tacked on another before a Mallory McQueen quick set hitter to Naccarato ended the run. Trading points the next couple of plays, another Naccarato kill sandwiched between two Emily Deterding kills tied it up at 15. A service error regained the Bethany lead but a 5-0 run by the Cougars keyed by another Deterding kill increased the lead out to 20-16. Barton would go on to keep Bethany at bay as a block by Sianna Cherweniuk and Deterding kill sealed the 25-21 win.
Gouveia and Naccarato tied for the team lead with nine kills with Gouveia having the attack edge of .471 to Naccarato’s .438. McQueen’s nineteen assists and eight digs led the Cougars with Deterding’s seven digs close behind while Naccarato manned the net with three blocks.
