Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn.–Kaitlyn Micol had three kills and Melissa Cochran added a pair as the Barton College women's volleyball team took the opening set against league co-leader King University Friday night, but the Tornado stormed back to take the next three sets and a 19-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-14 Conference Carolinas victory at the Student Center.
King improved to 28-4 overall and 16-1 in league play, while the Lady Bulldogs dropped to 13-13 overall and 9-8 in the conference. Barton fell into a tie for fifth place with the loss, but will move back into a tie for fourth place and possibly third place with a victory at 2-28 Lees-McRae College on Saturday afternoon.
Cochran finished the match with a team-high 14 kills, while Micol added 11. Corinna Morton led both teams in digs with 19. The Tornado was paced by 15 kills from Summer Kremer. Kelsey Griffitts added nine kills, and Payton Tipton collected 17 digs.
A Tipton service error gave Barton possession and a 4-all tie in the opening frame, and the Lady Bulldogs used kills by Amanda Grandy and Alex Ward, sandwiched around a Cochran ace, to take a three-point lead.
King pulled back to within one, but Barton got the ball back on a service error, and a Micol kill, an Amber Kelly ace and a King miscue put the Lady Bulldogs up 11-6. The Tornado got no closer than four the rest of the way. King helped Barton with five attack errors and five service errors in the frame.
Barton trailed 10-4 in the second set when the Lady Bulldogs used four kills – two by Cochran, and one each by Brittany Edwards and Micol – along with service aces by Kelly and Morton to take a 14-13 lead. However, King went on a 7-1 run, capped by a pair of Blair Fields service aces, to claim the set.
Barton again rallied from an 11-6 hole in the third set, this time courtesy of five Tornado errors, to tie the set at 15-all. However, King went on a 5-0 spurt, once more finished off by a pair of Fields aces. The sophomore had five of the Tornado's nine aces in the match.
The final set was dominated by King throughout, as the Tornado took an early 7-3 lead and didn't let it get away this time. King hit .414 in the final frame.
Barton will take on Lees-McRae at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Banner Elk, N.C. A win against the injury-depleted Bobcats, who are 0-17 in league play, and a Mount Olive College loss to King on Saturday will create a three-way tie between Barton, Mount Olive and Erskine for third place. Limestone could make it a four-way tie with a victory at Pfeiffer University on Saturday.
