Box Score by Benny Benton
BANNER ELK, N.C.–The Barton College women's volleyball team claimed a four-set victory over host Lees-McRae College on Saturday, leaving the Lady Bulldogs in a four-way tie for third place in the final regular-season standings and earning the program a home match for the opening round of the Conference Carolinas Tournament.
Based on the league's tiebreaking policies, Barton was awarded the No. 4 seed, and will host No. 5 seed Erskine College on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 6:30 p.m. in Wilson Gym. The two teams split their two meetings this year, both teams winning on their home courts by a 3-1 margin.
The tie for third place in the standings is Barton's best finish since an identical four-way tie in 2010, which is also the last time the Lady Bulldogs hosted a league tournament match.
Melissa Cochran and Kaitlyn Micol each recorded a match-high 16 kills to lead the Barton (14-13, 10-8) in the 25-16, 25-27, 25-13, 25-12 win over the Bobcats (2-28, 0-18), a team so decimated by injuries that it competed against Barton with just seven players.
The Lady Bulldogs broke open a close first set with a 7-2 run that turned a one-point advantage at 6-5 into a comfortable 13-7 lead. Micol had a kill and a service ace during the spurt. Jordan Lee contributed a kill, and Jillian Sherman added an ace.
Consecutive kills by Cochran to open the second set spurred Barton to an early 13-3 lead, but Haydn Beatty had five of her nine kills in the match and two of her four blocks over the remainder of the set to lead the Bobcats back to win the set in a tiebreaker. Lees-McRae had its best hitting set of the match in the second frame, .270, while Barton had its worst, .119.
The Lady Bulldogs, which had hit .417 in the opening set, returned to that form in the third frame, posting a .310 attack percentage. A kill and an ace by setter Amber Kelly, along with kills by Catherine Barber and Micol, staked Barton to a quick 9-4 lead it would maintain the rest of the set.
In the fourth set, the two sides went through six ties and three lead changes before Barton finally pulled away midway through the frame. A kill by Cochran tied the set for the last time at 10-10, and with Alex Ward on the service line, the Lady Bulldogs rolled off 11 straight points to put away the match. Cochran had two more kills and a pair of block assists with Kelly during the spurt, and Ward had two of her three aces in the stretch.
Barton recorded a total of 11 aces in the match, led by four from Micol. Cochran had six blocks and Kelly added five along with 34 assists. Corinna Morton posted 12 digs, with Micol and Amanda Grandy chipping in 10 each.
Avalon Liscio turned in a team-high 13 kills in a losing cause for the Bobcats, with Haylee Leonard adding a team-high 10 digs.
Barton will be making its second straight league tournament appearance on Saturday. Last year, the Lady Bulldogs lost at Erskine.
