by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-The Barton College women's volleyball team will try and knock off South Division champion Erskine College as the Lady Bulldogs begin play in the 2014 Conference Carolinas Tournament in the quarterfinals round Tuesday evening in Due West, S.C.
Barton is the fourth seed from the North Division and will be playing an Erskine squad that finished the regular season with the best league record. The BC-EC winner will play the winner of the North Greenville University (South No. 3) at Lees-McRae College (North No. 2) winner. On the other side of the bracket, King University (North No. 1) will be hosting University of Mount Olive (North No. 5) and Limestone College (South No. 2) will be entertaining Belmont Abbey College (North No. 3) in the other quarterfinals on Tuesday. The best ranked remaining team after the first round will host both the semifinals and finals on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 14-15.
Erskine sports information will be providing Live Video for Tuesday's quarterfinals match.
Barton volleyball fans can follow the Bulldogs throughout the season on BartonBulldogs.com and via social media including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Barton College Women's Volleyball
The Lady Bulldogs will be trying to avoid having their season come to an end in for a second straight year in Erskine's Belk Arena. The two teams met in last year's quarterfinals as well in Due West, S.C., with the host Flying Fleet coming away with a straight-set win.
Barton dropped its final two regular season contests this past weekend at Southern Wesleyan University and North Greenville University to enter the league tourney with a 9-17 overall record. The Lady Bulldogs, who finished 7-9 in league play, won the first set in both matches before eventually losing in four sets each time.
BC has had a lot of experience playing on the road this season with 19 of its 26 matches taken place away from Wilson. The Lady Bulldogs went 5-14 in their travels.
2013 All-Conference honoree Melissa Cochran is completing a stellar four-year career at Barton. This season Cochran ranks second in the league with 1.04 blocks per set, fourth with a .332 hitting percentage and eighth with 3.23 kills per set.
Sophomore Shae Schmidt (2.34 kills per set), sophomore Kaitlyn Micol (2.32) and freshman Courtney Wiseman (1.42) have all produced over 100 kills for the Lady Bulldogs. Freshman setter Riley Bane has orchestrated BC's offense most of the season with 8.00 assists per set while sophomore Alex Ward averaged 10.25 assists per set in the Lady Bulldogs last two matches.
Senior libero Amanda Grandy has been Barton's back row anchor with 4.60 digs per set (third in the league). The 2011 All-Conference honoree at libero before setting as a sophomore and serving as a defensive specialist as a junior also ranks seventh in the conference with 0.42 aces per set.
Other Lady Bulldogs that have been contributing regularly include Micol and junior Brittany Edwards ranking 10th and 13th in the league, respectively, with 0.75 and 0.71 blocks per set. Bane adds 2.66 digs per set and senior Corinna Morton chips in 2.24 digs per set and 0.34 aces per set.
Barton lost its only meeting to Erskine this season, 3-0, in Wilson on September 20. Micol led the Lady Bulldogs with seven kills in the 25-21, 25-20, 25-20 loss. Bane totaled 21 assists and Grandy added 17 digs and three aces.
Erskine College Women's Volleyball
The Flying Fleet were closing in on an undefeated year in league play heading into the last weekend of the regular season but then lost two close matches to Lees-McRae College (3-2) and King University (3-1) this past Friday and Saturday. Erskine enters postseason play still boasting an 18-8 overall record after completing conference action at 14-2.
Erskine was picked sixth in the preseason poll before proving the league's coaches wrong by winning the South Division title. The Fleet are 5-3 at home.
Senior Caitlin Bullock has earned First Team All-Conference attention each of the last two seasons and currently ranks fourth in the conference with 3.65 kills per set. Junior Kelly Sullivan joined Bullock as an All-Conference honoree in 2013, making the third team, and is continuing her strong play ranking 10th in the league with 3.01 kills per set.
Erskine is hitting .194 on the season and is led by Sullivan's hitting percentage of .300.
Sophomore Marissa Greenough (2.25 kills per set), freshman Catherine McAlister (1.80) and sophomore Sade Mendez (1.73) contribute regularly to a strong EC offense that ranks third in the league with 12.91 kills per set.
Sophomore setter Kristen Dodge averages 10.18 assists per set (second in the league).
Defensively, EC is paced by Kendall Kirk's 3.88 digs per set.
Erskine is one of two women's volleyball programs in the league averaging over two aces per set. Bullock (0.44) and Dodge (0.43) combine for nearly one service ace each game.
The Flying Fleet are 5-1 against Barton over the last three seasons. In the most recent matchup in September, Sullivan had a team-high 10 kills and Dodge tallied a double-double of 27 assists and 11 digs. Bullock and senior Emily Kennington also served up five aces apiece as EC finished with 14 total aces in the straight-set triumph.
