A short-handed Barton Community College volleyball team grinded Saturday evening at the Barton Gym but the 15th ranked Saints of Seward County Community College was too much in recording a straight set 25-21, 25-21, and 25-11 victory.
The loss slides Barton to 3-7 in conference and 14-7 overall while the conference leader Saints improve to 10-1 and 21-5.
Barton wraps up its brief two-match homestand on Wednesday in hosting Cloud County Community College in a 6:30 p.m. first serve.
Playing without the services of starters Hanna Miller, Jadyn Brown, and Buse Kocakaya, the Cougars committed twenty recorded errors in the seventy-five points won, attacking at just .103 with twenty-two total kills.
Tasiah Nunnery led with five of the kills to move into solo position of 14th career most in program history while Molly Norris and Darby Smith had four kills each. Norris and Jada Davis led the net play with four and three blocks respectively as Clara Lindstrom led the backline with fourteen digs. Iris Oosterbaan put up 17 assists and one ace while defensively collecting six digs and three assisted blocks.
Tied at 12 in the opener, Seward County gained separation on a 5-0 run to eventually lead 20-14. Barton fired back with a trio of points to cut the deficit in half, cutting the gap to two three times before the Saints took three of the final four in gaining the match edge.
A four point Saints stretch broke a 7-all score in the second, expanding the lead to five twice including at 16-11. A Nunnery kill followed by a pair of Davis net plays led Barton back, taking the lead three points later following a 4-0 run led by an Ella Rumford kill and blocks by Norris and Davis for a 19-18 advantage. The Saints quickly erased Barton's final lead of the night with two straight and following a Nunnery kill to tie back up at 20, rolled out the rest of the set with a 5-1 stretch.
Jaden Boden helped the Cougars draw even at 2-all in the third but it was all Saints the rest of the way as Barton substituted and used its entire suited squad in the set. Outscoring Barton 7-1 early, a 9-3 Saints lead grew wider on another 7-1 spurt midway through the finale before another ending the night with a 6 of the last 7 points.