Cougars fall to conference leading Blue Dragons. The Barton Community College Volleyball team woke No. 18 ranked Hutchinson Community College with a first set victory Saturday afternoon at the Barton Gym, but the conference leading Blue Dragons were too much in pulling away with the 3-1 victory. The Cougars took the first set 25-22 but Hutchinson dominated the next three winning 25-15, 25-19, and 25-15. The loss drops the Cougars to 3-5 in conference play and 5-19 overall while Hutchinson remains unbeaten in the Jayhawk at 8-0 and 14-6 overall.
“I think we battled well today, but could not keep up offensively,” said Barton Head Coach Phil Shoemaker. “Hutch has a nice stable of athletes and did a nice job of keeping the pressure on. We were unable to match their pressure, and as we know too well, we cannot win by playing defense constantly. I told the team despite our offensive inconsistency I felt like we had some really good ideas, good effort, but our execution was spotty. Our serving was aggressive for the most part, and we made some very good plays in all aspects of the game, especially defensively. Casey (Friesen), Mykela (Riedl), and Jennica (O’Neill) are providing good leadership for us, and I think the 2nd half of the league schedule will be exciting, and more to our liking.”
Barton will head to Liberal, Kansas, for a 6:30 p.m. conference match Wednesday against Seward County Community College. Defeating the Cougars 3-1 in late March at the the Barton Gym in the conference opener, the Saints have won five straight to move into a second place tie in the standings at 5-3 and 17-11 overall.
