Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The Barton College women's volleyball team bounced back from a 3-0 loss to King University on Friday night with a dominating 3-0 win against Lees-McRae College on Saturday to split a pair of Conference Carolinas matches in the Dog House during Barton's Homecoming weekend.
The Lady Bulldogs (12-10 overall) maintain a top-four position in the conference standings with a league ledger of 8-5 (top four teams host a quarterfinals match in the 2013 Conference Carolinas Tournament). Barton continues its four-match home stand against Converse College on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Barton wore pink during Friday's match against King in support of the Dig Pink initiative to fight the battle against breast cancer. The Lady Bulldogs collected donations and held a 50/50 raffle to raise funds for Dink Pink.
King 3, Barton 0
The Tornado bounced back from its first loss in 20 matches on Wednesday by defeating Barton 25-14, 25-13, 25-14. King has the top-ranked hitting percentage in the conference and the Tornado had a hot hand against the Lady Bulldogs firing .369 for the night.
Barton scored the first point in all three sets before the Tornado quickly stormed ahead each time.
Freshman Kaitlyn Micol, the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week, led the Lady Bulldogs with 11 kills. Classmate Amber Kelly posted 19 assists and junior Corinna Morton had a team-best 10 digs. Junior Melissa Cochran chipped in four kills and two solo blocks.
The showdown featured the top ranked teams in the conference in aces but it was King that dominated the service game launching eight aces while successfully receiving every serve by Barton.
Summer Kremer and Kelsey Griffitts led the Tornado with 13 and eight digs, respectively. Olivia Underwood tallied 35 assists in just three sets and Payton Tipton paced a balanced back row defensive game with nine digs.
Barton 3, Lees-McRae 0
Cochran had 14 points and Micol added 12 points in leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 25-18, 25-10, 25-20 sweep of the Bobcats. Cochran had nine kills, 5 blocks (1 solo, 4 assists), and two aces. Micol registered seven kills, four aces and two block assists.
Barton showed its strength at both serving the ball and blocking with 12 aces and 10 team blocks. Junior Amanda Grandy supplied three aces to complement Micol's team-high four and Cochran's two aces. Sophomore Brittany Edwards had four blocks (1 solo, 3 assists), senior Jordan Lee assisted on three blocks and freshman Amber Kelly notched three blocks (1 solo, 2 assists).
Kelly set up the Lady Bulldogs offense that hit .176 with 23 assists. Lee posted five kills without an error on 11 swings for a .455 hitting percentage.
Barton broke a 5-5 tie in the first set with an 8-2 run before coasting to the seven-point win. The run was highlighted by three consecutive aces by Micol. Barton then hit .391 in the second to win by 15. Lees-McRae led as late as 13-12 but the Lady Bulldogs won the next five points to pull in front before hanging on by five. The momentum shifting rally included a pair of kills by both Micol and Cochran before Cochran closed out the match with her ninth kill to hit .500.
Avalon Liscio posted a match-high 10 kills for LMC.
