Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Senior Jillian Sherman produced a season-high 12 kills and teammates Shae Schmidt and Melissa Cochran added double-digit kills as well in leading Barton College past the University of Mount Olive, 3-1, in Conference Carolinas women's volleyball before a large crowd at Wilson Gym Tuesday night.
Schmidt, a sophomore outside hitter, recorded 14 kills for the second straight match to lead both teams. Cochran, a senior middle blocker, added 10 kills and a team-high six blocks in helping the Lady Bulldogs (5-9, 3-2) take the 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16 win.
Mount Olive, which dropped to 4-11 overall and 1-4 in league play, was paced by freshman Britni Johnson, who had a double-double of 10 kills and 11 digs, and sophomore Montgomery Register, who also had 10 kills to go with a match-high seven blocks.
Sherman also had 12 kills against the Trojans in 2012, the last time the Lady Bulldogs defeated Mount Olive in the Dog House.
In Tuesday's match, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident got Barton off to a strong start from the service line, where she produced consecutive aces to help the Lady Bulldogs to a 9-3 advantage in the first set. Barton had a total of four aces in the first half of the set in pulling away to a 13-5 lead.
Three straight blocks by Mount Olive, each one of them involving freshman Ellen Morgan, helped the Trojans climb back within three at 14-11, but three straight attack errors by UMO a short time later allowed Barton to double its margin from three to six.
Barton only had seven kills in the opening frame and hit for a negative percentage, but Mount Olive had nine attack errors while also hitting in the negative.
The Lady Bulldogs trailed early in set two, 7-4, before consecutive kills by Schmidt and an ace by freshman Riley Bane spurred a 5-0 run to put BC in front. Barton built its lead to 14-8, and still enjoyed a four-point margin at 20-16 when Mount Olive stormed back to tie the set at 23-all on a double block by Morgan and Johnson. However, Cochran collected a kill to put BC on set point, and the frame ended with a UMO attack error.
Barton took an early lead in set three as well, but consecutive kills by Register sparked a 7-2 run that put the Trojans up 9-7. The Royal Blue and White would tie the match back at 12-all, and the two sides would go through a total of nine ties and four lead changes in the set.
Leading by one at 20-19, Mount Olive went on a 4-1 run to reach set point, but Barton went on a 3-0 spurt of its own, closing within one again at 24-23 on a double block by Cochran and sophomore Kaitlyn Micol. However, Johnson responded with a kill to give the Trojans the set and extend the match.
Any thoughts of a complete comeback would be short-lived for Mount Olive, however, as another kill and ace by Sherman helped Barton get out to a quick 6-2 start in the fourth frame. The Trojans, which lost their starting setter to injury early in the year, had two bad sets in a row and a ball-handling error two points later to help Barton extend the lead to 10-4.
Mount Olive received three kills from Register in a span of four points to close the gap to just one at 10-9, but a kill by Micol and an attack error by the Trojans pushed the BC lead back to three, and Barton gradually pulled away to a 19-12 cushion. Cochran had a big role in the final set, collecting half of her 10 kills in the frame while not committing an error.
The Lady Bulldogs won despite hitting below .100 for the seventh time this season (.090), in part because Mount Olive did as well, hitting just .027.
Barton's freshman setter, Bane, had a double-double of 40 assists and 15 digs. The 15 digs matched the team high, which was also reached by senior Amanda Grandy. Mount Olive's Casey Fiechter produced a match-high 19 digs for the Trojans.
The Royal Blue and White, which won consecutive matches for the second time this season, hopes to produce a season-high three-match win streak when it visits Gaffney, S.C., on Friday night to take on Limestone College. That match is the first of six straight road matches for the Lady Bulldogs that includes a rematch with the Trojans in Mount Olive on Oct. 8.
