Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Junior outside hitter Kati Wood (Pasadena, Md.) notched her eighth and final double-double of the season for host Barton College in a 3-0 (25-19, 26-24, 25-13) Conference Carolinas women's volleyball loss to Mount Olive College on Saturday night in the Dog House.
The contest marked the end of the season for the Lady Bulldogs, who were mathematically eliminated from postseason consideration earlier in the day because of a Pfeiffer University win and tiebreaker so the evening served as a celebration of the playing careers of defensive specialist Meredith Thompson (Henderson, N.C.) and middle blocker Krystin Moore (Clinton, N.C.) during Barton College's Senior Night.
First year head coach Jim Freeman, assistant coach Elizabeth Strange and teammates honored Thompson and Moore, along with family members, before and after the match. Coach Freeman said, ""I was thrilled both our seniors Krystin and Meredith were on the team this year. They are high quality kids. They both worked very hard and I am thankful to have had them on the team. They are great leaders and teammates and I will miss them."
The Trojans hit .373 for the match in completing the league sweep, even though the Bulldogs defeated Mount Olive the first weekend of the season in non-conference play. MOC got a match-high 12 kills from freshman Sarah Robertson, who hit .611. The sophomore duo of Erika Conner and Carly White each added 11 spikes. White, the league leader in kills per set and hitting percentage, connected oat a .526 clip.
Wood tallied her 11 kills on 35 attempts with only three errors for a .229 accuracy and freshman middle blocker Melissa Cochran totaled eight kills and three misfires on 14 strikes for .357 precision. The rest of the Lady Bulldogs lineup hit -.118 for the match. Cochran also chipped in a team-best four block assists.
Junior defensive specialist Chelsea Fleury (Camden, N.C.) served up a match-high four aces and scooped up seven digs. Freshman setter Meka Hoover (Seagrove, N.C.) logged 24 assists and freshman libero Amanda Grandy (Rolesville, N.C.) lifted up a team-high 11 digs.
The Trojans never trailed in the first set and finally closed out the six-point win by hitting an incredible .550.
Barton led for majority of the second set and three consecutive aces by Fleury provided the hosts with an 18-14 advantage. A kill by Wood later in the set kept the Bulldogs ahead by four at 22-18. However, it would be the last point scored by BC as Mount Olive mounted a comeback win with a late 8-2 rally capped by a sophomore Nicole Powell ace.
With the final set tied at 8-8, Powell launched another service ace that put the Trojans ahead for good. Mount Olive closed the frame on a 17-5 run to complete the sweep.
MOC finished with 10 team blocks compared to only four by Barton as the 6-foot-4 White totaled one solo block on match point and seven block assists. Robertson added one block solo and six block assists. Sophomore Charnel Austin had a match-high 37 assists and Conner completed a double-double with 12 digs.
Mount Olive finished the regular season at 16-13 overall and will enter the Conference Carolinas Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Division and will host a quarterfinals match against King College on Tuesday after finishing league play with a record above .500 at 9-8.
Barton wrapped up play in 2011 with a 10-15 overall record and a 6-11 league ledger. Coach Freeman concluded, ""We were very inexperienced and I expect things to be better next year. We have to keep improving. They are a great bunch of kids and they represented our school well."
