Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Benny Benton
PHOENIX – Barton College came out on the positive side of its second five-set match with Concordia University Irvine in as many days on Saturday before dropping a straight-set decision to host Grand Canyon University in a tri-match at Antelope Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs, now 9-12 after the tri-match split, defeated Concordia-Irvine 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 17-25, 16-14 before losing to the Antelopes, 25-13, 25-21, 25-23.
The win over the Eagles (8-6) was a big one for the fourth-year Barton program, as Concordia-Irvine was ranked No. 6 in the NAIA Top Ten poll and had been to the last two NAIA national title games, winning it all in 2013.
Barton almost clipped the Eagles on Friday, holding a match point before giving up the final three points to fall 17-15 in the fifth set tiebreaker.
This time the Bulldogs returned the favor, with the script almost exactly the same. From a 9-all tie, Barton used consecutive kills by Pierre Tang-Taye and an attack error by CUI to claim a 12-9 advantage, only to watch the Eagles produce three straight kills and a block to power back into the lead at 13-12.
The two sides then traded attack errors, leaving Concordia holding a match point at 14-13. However, Barton senior Brennan O'Connor came up huge with consecutive kills to put the Bulldogs on match point, and sophomore Chad Stanback Jr. finished off the 16-14 Barton victory with a kill.
The Bulldogs had very balanced production on both sides of the net. Offensively, three players reached double-figures in kills, and O'Connor chipped in nine. Tang-Taye led the way with a match-high 19, followed by Stanback with 15 and Tanner Medina with 10.
Barton hit .194 in the contest, with a high of .316 coming in the third set after Tang-Taye had eight kills while hitting .583 and Stanback added five while hitting .571.
However, the key for Barton may have rested on defense, where the Bulldogs collected a school-record 65 digs. Sophomore setter Federico Pagliara set a career-high with 19 of those digs in addition to his 49 assists. Senior Mike McMahon, the 2014 national leader in digs, added 17 and Tang-Taye contributed 13.
The Bulldogs also produced 11.5 team blocks, with Medina delivering eight block assists and O"Connor chipping in six.
Concordia-Irvine was paced by 14 kills from Devin Ross and 12 from Brett Anema. The Eagles hit .207 in the contest, with a high of .344 in its fourth-set rally. However, CUI hit just .074 in the final frame.
As expected in a five-set match, the contest featured 47 ties and 20 lead changes.
Playing back-to-back matches for the second straight day, with the previous three all five-set affairs, the Bulldogs had little left for a well-rested and talented NCAA Division I Grand Canyon team in the finale.
The Antelopes (11-7) jumped out to a quick 7-2 start in set one and breezed through the 25-13 frame. Tanner Maxwell had five kills without an error in the frame, and the Antelopes hit .321 while Barton had an equal number of kills and errors (6) for a .000 percentage.
Barton bounced back with a solid second set, as Tang-Taye had six kills in the frame. Barton led 15-13 after one of those kills, but Grand Canyon won the next five points to go up 18-15 and then held the advantage from there.
A block and a kill by sophomore Michael Perez helped the Bulldogs open up a 15-11 cushion in set three, and Barton still led by three at 18-15 following a GCU service error. However, Barton had five attack errors in a span of six points, allowing the Antelopes to regain the lead and finish off the match.
Maxwell had 12 kills for Grand Canyon and freshman Shalev Saada added 11. Tang-Taye collected a kill on GCU's first match point to give him 10 for the contest, extending his streak of consecutive double-figure matches to 13.
Stanback chipped in six and Perez added five while hitting .556. McMahon saw his string of consecutive double-figure dig matches end at nine, as he collected a team-high eight digs in the contest.
Barton will make another long trip next weekend, this time to Connecticut and Pennsylvania, where they will take on NCAA Division I members Sacred Heart and St. Francis.
