by Benny Benton
SPARTANBURG, S.C.-The Barton College women's volleyball team saw its undefeated run against Conference Carolinas competition come to an end Saturday against the most unlikely of opponents, as the Lady Bulldogs dropped a five-set decision at previously winless Converse College, 18-25, 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12.
The victory for the Valkyries was their first in 14 matches this year, and ended a 53-match losing streak dating back to Oct. 22, 2011. With the loss, Barton slipped to 3-1 in the league and 3-6 overall.
Converse had shown signs of a much-improved program in its pre-conference schedule, taking NCAA Division I member Wofford College to a fifth set before falling. The young Valkyries took full advantage of their perceived role as underdogs against a Lady Bulldogs' squad off to a hot league start.
Valkyries freshman outside hitter Ashley Biggs produced a match-high 21 kills to go with seven digs and four service aces. Three other players, freshman Scottie Kay Auton and sophomores Katie Butler and Michaela Evers, added eight kills each in the victory.
Junior Melissa Cochran had 19 kills and five blocks for Barton, while freshman Kaitlyn Micol added 12 kills and senior Jordan Lee chipped in 10. Junior Ginny Howard contributed her season-high of seven kills without an error to hit .538. Corinna Morton posted 17 digs for the Lady Bulldogs.
Converse never trailed in the decisive fifth set, in part because it was producing its best hitting performance of the season. The Valkyries collected eight kills in the set with just one error, hitting .368 in the process.
Barton hit .300 in the final frame as well with only three attack errors, but those three came in succession early in the set to increase Converse's 2-1 lead to 5-1. Consecutive kills by Micol cut the Lady Bulldogs' deficit to 5-3, and the Valkyries' lone error of the frame pulled Barton within one at 5-4.
Following a Converse time out, however, the Valkyries used a kill by Evers, a Barton ball-handling error and a Jenna Morton ace to surge in front by four again, 8-4. Kills by Micol and Amber Kelly for the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 8-6, but with the margin still two at 9-7, kills by Samantha Haynes and Biggs gave the Valkyries a four-point cushion once more at 11-7.
Down 13-9, Barton used kills by Lee and Cochran to move within two points, but a ball-handling error put the Valkyries on quadruple match point. The Lady Bulldogs held off the first of those points, but a kill by Kandace Griffin sealed the victory for Converse. Griffin was ironically one of three seniors who had suffered through the Valkyries' long winning drought.
Barton had used three straight aces by freshman Alex Ward to move from 14-all into a lead in set one. Amanda Grandy added another ace for the Lady Bulldogs to put them up five at 20-15, and Barton easily finished off the set from there.
The Lady Bulldogs overcame a terrible start to set two, marching back from a 11-4 deficit with a 14-4 run fueled by a pair of Cochran blocks and two Jillian Sherman kills. A Grandy ace put Barton up 18-15 in the frame, and the Lady Bulldogs still led by three at 20-17 after a Kelly kill.
However, the set and the match momentum turned suddenly against Barton. A kill by Haynes, consecutive kills by Evers and a fourth spike by Biggs took Converse from three points down to a 21-20 lead.
A Lee kill for Barton following a timeout tied the set at 21-all, but a kill by Biggs and a Barton error put the Valkyries up 23-21. The Lady Bulldogs closed to within one at 23-22 on a Lee kill, but an attack error by Barton and a kill by Biggs closed out the set for Converse.
Instead of trailing 0-2 in the match, the Valkyries had new life with a match tied at 1-all, and Converse used the momentum to produce a stellar third set in which it hit .346 as a team, the best effort of the year until the fifth set that followed.
Trailing 2-1 after dropping the third set, Barton responded with its best team hitting effort of the season in set four. The Lady Bulldogs produced 19 kills while hitting a season-best .448. Lee had four of her 10 kills during the middle part of the set to help force a fifth-set tiebreaker.
Despite the loss, Barton finished the two-game weekend road trip in a three-way tie for second place in Conference Carolinas, one game behind league-leading King University.
Barton will host Belmont Abbey, the preseason favorite in the coaches' poll, on Friday at 7 p.m. in Wilson Gymnasium. The Lady Bulldogs will entertain Pfeiffer University on Saturday at 2 p.m.
