Box Score by Kevin Buczek
MISENHIEMER, N.C.-Melissa Cochran, Kaitlyn Micol and Catherine Barber all hit over .200 with 26 combined kills in leading the Barton College women's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-21) Conference Carolinas sweep of host Pfeiffer University Wednesday evening in Merner Gym.
The Lady Bulldogs, who have a pair of 3-0 wins against the Falcons in the last five days after completing the true home-and-away series, once again pull within one game of .500 at 6-7 overall. Barton moved into a tie for third place in the league standings at 5-2 in the conference. Pfeiffer had its records slip to 4-13 overall and 2-5 in the league.
Barton only trailed in the early stages of the middle set in cruising to the series sweep. The Bulldogs had a .126 hitting percentage while holding the Falcons to .032.
Cochran reached double digit kills for a seventh consecutive contest with a match-high 11 spikes. The middle blocker from Knightdale, N.C., fired at a .500 clip with only one hitting error on 20 attempts. Cochran, who leads the league in blocking and is 36th nationally in points per set, also registered three block assists for a total of 12.5 points.
Micol and Barber followed with eight and seven kills, respectively. Micol flirted with a double-double adding 10 digs. Alex Ward matched Micol with 10 digs. Setter Amber Kelly set up the Lady Bulldogs offense with 23 assists.
Ward, who entered the week ranking 23rd nationally in service aces, set the tone of the match with an ace on the first play. Barton went on to win the first eight points highlighted by three Barber kills and never trailed. Pfeiffer closed the deficit to three points on a trio of occasions including as late as 19-16 but a pair of Kelly aces helped the Lady Bulldogs closeout the five-point win.
Three Barton errors early in the second set gave Pfeiffer its only lead of the match at 3-1. The Bulldogs won the next four points to jump in front before the Falcons tied the set for the second and final time at 7-7. Pfeiffer then committed one of its 10 service errors to ignite a 10-2 Bulldog run to extend the visitors cushion to 17-9. Barton maintained the eight-point cushion on the 25th point to take the 2-nil set advantage.
Cochran crushed a pair of kills to begin the third and Barton jumped out on a 5-0 spurt. The Falcons rallied to within one point trice including at 22-21 but the Bulldogs barked back with the final three points. Cochran's 11th kill set the stage at 24-21 before Amanda Grandy served up BC's eighth service ace on match point.
Brianna Jones led Pfeiffer with eight kills while setter Emily Wall contributed 21 assists and nine digs. Haley Denny chipped in a team-high 10 digs.
Barton next plays three weekend matches in South Carolina. The Bulldogs first visit league rival Erskine College in Due West on Friday at 7 p.m., before battling conference foe North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C., on Saturday at Noon. Barton will conclude its road trip in a non-conference neutral site match against Winston-Salem State University at NGU on Saturday at 2 p.m.
