Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Kevin Buczek
TIGERVILLE, S.C.-The Lady Bulldogs hit over .200 in a pair of victories on Saturday, first knocking off host North Greenville University, 3-1, in a Conference Carolinas encounter and then sweeping non-conference Winston-Salem State University, 3-0, in Hayes Gymnasium.
Junior middle blocker Melissa Cochran continued her torrid play with match-high kill totals of 15 and 10, respectively, against the Crusaders and Rams. Cochran added 7.0 blocks (5 solo, 4 assists) in the seven sets Saturday. The Knightdale, N.C., product now ranks first in the league in blocking (1.07), second in kills (3.41) and third in hitting (.326).
Barton finally leveled its overall record to .500 at 8-8 after starting the season 0-4. The Lady Bulldogs are tied for third place in the league standings at 6-3 with Limestone College, who Barton next hosts in the Dog House on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Barton 3, North Greenville 1
Senior Jordan Lee and sophomore Brittany Edwards both posted a career-high kill totals in leading the Lady Bulldogs to the 25-19, 15-25, 25-22, 25-16 conquest of the Crusaders. Lee hit .391 with 11 kills and just two errors on 23 swings. Edwards totaled seven kills on 10 tries with one error for a .600 mark. Cochran added her match-high 15 kills on 34 attempts with just four errors for a .324 clip.
Barton finished with a season-best .264 hitting percentage. The Bulldogs rolled to the opening-set win hitting .417 but cooled off .029 in the second. North Greenville had its best offensive frame hitting .407 to tie the match but Barton heated back up and hit over .300 in the third and fourth sets to complete the triumph.
Freshman setter Amber Kelly set up BC's attack with 35 assists while chipping in four kills and five digs. Junior libero Corinna Morton produced a team-best 14 digs and classmate Amanda Grandy lifted up eight.
Grandy, Cochran and freshman Alex Ward all served up three aces as Barton launched 11 total aces.
Cochran finished with 22.5 points adding 4.5 blocks to her 15 kills and three aces.
NGU is 2-18 overall and 1-8 in the league.
Barton 3, Winston-Salem State 0
After surviving a first-set scare, Barton confidently completed a 26-24, 25-8, 25-21 thrashing of Winston-Salem State immediately after beating North Greenville (11-7 Overall), snapping a three-match winning streak for the Rams.
Cochran stretched her streak of 10-plus kills to 10 matches with exactly 10 spikes against WSSU. Cochran only had one hitting error on her 19 swings to hit a sizzling .474.
Lee continued her strong play with seven kills while a trio of other Lady Bulldogs produced four kills in Kelly, junior Catherine Barber and freshman Kaitlyn Micol.
Kelly had 20 assists and Morton made 17 successful passes. Edwards and Lee each had 3.0 blocks (1 solo, four assists).
Ward, who ranks second in Conference Carolinas with 0.58 aces per set, discharged five of BC's eight aces.
