Box Score by Benny Benton
HARTSVILLE, S.C. – The Barton College women's volleyball team fought back from a quick two-set deficit with a win in set three and a tight battle through set four, but Coker College was able to finish off a non-conference home victory over the Lady Bulldogs in four frames, 25-12, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, Wednesday night.
The Cobras improved to 3-2 with the win, which came before a crowd of more than 550 who witnessed the first event in the school's new DeLoach Center. Barton dropped to 0-5 on the young season.
Senior Melissa Cochran led all players with 15 kills in the losing cause for Barton, while sophomore Kaitlyn Micol added 14 kills. Freshman setter Riley Bane had 39 assists, the most of her first season with the Royal Blue and White, and fellow freshman Courtney Wiseman led both sides with 16 digs, her top performance of the year in that category. Senior Amanda Grandy added 13 digs, and has now reached double-digits in all five matches this season.
Coker was paced by 10 kills and six blocks from sophomore middle blocker Toni Hammer. Freshman Madison Bingle added nine kills, and freshman Libby Merrifield contributed eight kills and three aces. Freshman Megan Hardy also chipped in eight kills while also producing a team-high 14 digs.
Although it improved significantly over the final two sets, Barton still finished the night with an attack percentage of just .076, the fourth time in five matches it has hit below .100. Coker, meanwhile, recorded a hefty attack average of .307.
Those numbers were even more lopsided in the match's first set. The Cobras had 11 kills and just one error in 21 attempts for a gaudy .476 average, while Barton had nine kills but 10 errors for a negative percentage.
The numbers moved only slightly in Barton's favor in the second frame (.031 for the Lady Bulldogs, .292 for Coker). Four kills by Cochran early in the frame helped BC keep pace to a 6-all tie before the Cobras pulled away to a five-point lead. One of just three Coker errors in the set gave the Lady Bulldogs possession, and a Jillian Sherman ace and kills by Wiseman and Cochran pulled Barton within a single point at 15-14. The margin was just one at 19-18 when Coker rolled off seven of the set's last eight points, two of those points coming on Bingle kills and the final three on Barton attack errors.
Barton broke a 15-all tie in the third frame with a four-point spurt that included a Cochran ace, a Wiseman kill and a block by Wiseman and Brittany Edwards. The Cobras stormed back with a four-point run of their own to tie the match at 20-all, but the Lady Bulldogs put together a second four-point string that included a kill and block by Micol, an Edwards block and a Wiseman ace. Coker avoided one set point but dropped the frame 25-21 on a service error.
The Lady Bulldogs had their best hitting set of the night in the final frame, .162, while Coker had its worst, .256, and the result was the closest set of the night in terms of margin. The two sides fought through 11 ties and a pair of lead changes. Barton led as late at 17-16 following a Coker miscue and the final tie came at 18-all.
Coker took the lead for good at 19-18 on an ace by Merrifield. Barton remained within a point after a Cochran kill made the score 20-19, but a kill by Hardy sparked a 3-0 run that helped the Cobras ease away to the set and match win. Coker won the final frame despite Barton's Wiseman collecting 10 digs in the last set alone.
The match was the mid-point in a nine-match road trip for the Lady Bulldogs. The travels continue this weekend, when Barton will visit Spartanburg, S.C., to compete in the Converse College Invitational. BC will play Southern Wesleyan at 5 p.m. and host Converse at 7 p.m. on Friday. Both matches will count as non-conference games.
