Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C.- Junior middle blocker Melissa Cochran delivered eight kills and four blocks for Barton College, but it was not nearly enough to overcome the play of Francis Marion University in a straight-set women's volleyball loss (25-16, 25-23, 25-18) Tuesday at Wilson Gym.
The Patriots used 12 kills by NCAA Division I transfer Emily Sears, eight by sophomore Alexzandra Reed and seven by senior Jessica Imbimbo to move to 6-1 on the season. Senior setter Kailey Smith added 31 assists and Imbimbo chipped in a team-high 11 digs for the winners.
Kaitlyn Micol added six kills for Barton, which fell to 1-1 at home and 1-5 overall, and Catherine Barber contributed five. Amber Kelly had 26 assists and six digs, while Corinna Morton delivered a match-high 13 digs for the Lady Bulldogs.
Francis Marion never trailed in the first set, jumping out to a quick 8-2 advantage on three straight kills by Sears, who had a total of six kills in the set with no errors and a .750 attack percentage. Sears would serve two straight aces to put the Patriots up 17-9, and she finished off the set with a kill to give FMU the 25-16 set win. Reed added five kills and five digs in the set as well.
Barton led very early in set two, 3-1, following a block by Cochran and Barber, but Francis Marion went on a 7-2 run that included a kill and service ace by Imbimbo and a pair of kills by Megan Mooney. A pair of blocks by Cochran, one assisted by Micol and the other by Kelly, sparked a 6-3 run that helped Barton tie the set at 11-all, but a kill by Sears capped a FMU spurt that led to a 20-15 advantage.
The Lady Bulldogs closed to within a single point at 20-19 and 21-20, but kills by Mooney and Shelby Jones gave FMU possession again each time, and an attack error by Barton gave the Patriots breathing room at 23-20. Still trailing by three at 24-21, the Lady Bulldogs made one last run, using a Barber kill and an FMU attack error to close within a point at 24-23, but Barton produced its own error to give the Patriots the set win, 25-23.
Kills by Cochran and Micol helped lift Barton to a 4-3 lead in the early stages of set three, but Francis Marion rolled off the next five points with Reed at the service line to put away for good. Consecutive kills by Cochran and a service ace by Amanda Grandy fueled a three-point run to get the Lady Bulldogs as close as 16-14 midway through the set, but a Mooney block gave FMU possession and a three-point lead again, and the Patriots slowly pulled away to the 25-18 set win.
Barton will conclude its four-game home stand this weekend when it opens Conference Carolinas play with matches on Friday and Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs will host Erskine College on Friday at 7 p.m. and North Greenville at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Both events are part of a full slate of campus activities for Family Weekend.
