Box Score by Benny Benton
GAFFNEY, S.C. – For the second time this year, the Barton College women's volleyball team was unable to extend a winning streak to three matches after falling at Limestone College Friday night, 25-17, 25-17, 20-25, 25-17.
With the loss, the Lady Bulldogs dropped back to .500 in the league at 3-3, and moved to 5-10 overall. The Lady Saints improved to 4-1 in Conference Carolinas and 5-13 overall.
Sophomore Shae Schmidt was credited with a team-high eight kills for Barton, while Kaitlyn Micol and Melissa Cochran each collected seven. Cochran hit a match-high .300 (one error on 20 attempts) and also had a part in five blocks, three of them solo.
As a team, the Lady Bulldogs hit just .043 in the match, the eighth time this year that BC has had an attack percentage below .100. Barton also allowed nine service aces in the contest and committed a season-high six ball-handling errors.
Limestone hit .145 as a unit. Junior Judy Slow and freshman Rycki Ebert paced the Saints with 11 kills each. Freshman setter Natalie Tucker produced a double-double of 36 assists and 11 digs, and junior libero Jessica Onken contributed a match-high 21 digs.
Barton managed just five kills in both the first and third sets. Led by four kills each from Schmidt and Micol, the Lady Bulldogs ripped off 14 kills in their victorious third frame, a set in which they hit an impressive .357.
The Saints rolled off the first six points of the match and enjoyed a commanding lead of 10-1 early in the first frame. Barton fought back to within four points at 13-9 and forced a Limestone timeout, but the Saints received consecutive kills from Ebert and Slow to stop the BC momentum and pull away to a comfortable 18-10 advantage.
The second set was tied 3-3 when Limestone went on a 4-0 run made up of two service aces and two Barton miscues. The Lady Bulldogs moved back within two at 7-5 on a block by Courtney Wiseman and Schmidt, but a service error gave possession right back to Limestone, and kills by Regan Youngs and Tucker pushed the LC advantage to 10-5.
The Limestone lead gradually grew to eight at 18-10. That was still the margin at 20-12 when Barton made a 3-0 run, but another service error stopped the rally.
In the third frame, Barton tied the set at 4-all on a kill by Schmidt. Limestone went a 4-0 spurt to force a BC timeout, but Barton closed to within 9-7 on a block by Wiseman and Micol. The Saints won the next point, but the Lady Bulldogs rolled off the next five points in a row to take a 12-10 lead. Cochran and Catherine Barber each had a kill and a block assist during the run.
Barton increased its lead to 15-12 on a Limestone attack error, but the Saints pulled back within one at 18-17 on Kenzie Hall's only kill of the night. However, Schmidt responded with a kill, Riley Bane collected one of her two service aces and Limestone helped with a pair of miscues to put the Lady Bulldogs up 23-17.
In the final frame, two Barton ball-handling errors and two kills by Slow led the Saints to a quick 5-1 advantage. The score was 6-3 when two attack errors by the Lady Bulldogs started a 4-0 Limestone run that increased the margin to 10-3, and the Saints eventually went up 15-4 before cruising from there.
Barton will attempt to get back in the win column on Saturday when it visits Spartanburg, S.C., for a 2 p.m. match against Converse College, which lost a 3-1 decision to University of Mount Olive Friday night. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Converse 3-2 in a non-conference tournament match earlier this year.
