Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The Barton College women's volleyball team hit a season-best .236 with freshman Amber Kelly setting up the Lady Bulldogs offense with a season-high 40 assists in a 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-11, 25-17) Conference Carolinas conquest of North Greenville University on Saturday afternoon in the Dog House.
The Lady Bulldogs wrapped up a successful 2-0 Family Weekend to improve to 3-5 overall and 2-0 in the conference. The Crusaders (1-10, 0-2) departed losers of 10 consecutive matches.
Junior Melissa Cochran converted on half of her swings with a match-high 13 kills on 26 attempts. Cochran only had two errors for a .423 hitting percentage. Freshman Kaitlyn Micol added her second double-double in as many days with 11 kills and 12 digs. Senior Jordan Lee and junior Jillian Sherman both contributed season-high nine spikes.
The Lady Bulldogs made an unlikely rally in the first game to set the tone of the match and then dominated the third and fourth sets to eclipse a second-straight conference foe that was picked in front of them. North Greenville, selected fourth in the preseason coaches' poll, was led by Yomi Adeyeye's 10 kills and Elizabeth James' double-double that consisted of 23 assists and 13 digs.
NGU used a late 7-1 run to move within one point of winning the first set at 24-18 before the preseason eighth-picked Lady Bulldogs electrified the large home crowd with a gutsy 8-0 rally to win the opener 26-24. The comeback featured kills by Micol and juniors Ginny Howard and Jillian Sherman. The Bulldogs won the final seven points with Micol serving and she delivered at a pair of clutch aces with the first tying the score at 24-24 and the second finishing off the set two points later.
The Crusaders were able to tie the match at 1-1 winning another two-point set in the second. Barton led as late as 22-21 but an Adeyeye kill started a 4-1 run to close out the frame in the visitors' favor. A Sherman spike knotted the score for a 14th time at 23-23 but North Greenville won the next two points on a kill by James and an ace by Haley Hester.
Barton responded with a statement-making third period. The Lady Bulldogs started the set on a 7-1 run and later led by as many as 17 after Kelly served up three straight aces to make the score 21-5. The Royal Blue and White hit .346 in the quick 14-point win to regain control.
The hosts never trailed in the fourth set as well with Cochran starting the frame with a pair of kills. Ward launched three of her match-high five aces in the early stages of the fourth in leading Barton to a 14-8 lead but the Crusaders fought back to within one, 14-13, with five consecutive points. Cochran provided the answer for the Lady Bulldogs with two more kills that started a closing 11-4 run.
BC controlled play all areas of play. The Lady Bulldogs ripped 50 kills and served up 13 aces while the defense provided 52 digs, 8.5 blocks and held NGU to a .121 hitting percentage. Cochran (2 solo blocks, 3 block assists) and Lee (4 block assists) proved to be a front line wall with a combined 5.5 blocks. Ward led all players with 14 digs.
The Crusaders managed just four team blocks and seven aces.
Barton will next play its first two league road matches on the weekend of Sept. 27-28 when the Lady Bulldogs visit Limestone College on Friday (7 PM) and Converse College on Saturday (2 PM).
