Box Score by Doug Page
WILSON, N.C. – Despite winning back-to-back sets to open the match, the Barton College women's volleyball team needed a fifth and deciding set to defeat UNC Pembroke in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Wilson Gym, 25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 15-9.
The Lady Bulldogs get back into the win column and improve their overall record to 18-7 on the season, while UNCP falls to 4-23 overall.
Freshman Kaytlin Elkins paced BC offensively with a match-high 24 kills and added 11 digs, while senior Miranda Miller recorded 15 kills, nine digs and three service aces for Barton. Junior Angelica Acevedo notched another double-double for the Lady Bulldogs, tallying a match-high 49 assists to go with 14 digs.
Freshman Ashley Owen registered a match-high 18 digs for Barton and redshirt junior Riley Bane delivered six aces.
UNCP was led by a team-high 11 kills and 16 digs from Madelyn Ashwell. Bailee Jones tallied a team-high 21 assists to go along with 10 digs for the Braves, while Cayce Bell added a team-high 17 digs.
The match featured a total of 10 lead changes and saw the score knotted 18 times throughout the night.
Barton fell-behind 8-5 in the opening set before rallying to knot the score 10-10 after a kill from Miller. That play sparked a 6-0 run by BC to eventually take a 16-10 advantage. Back-to-back kills from Elkins, followed by an ace from Bane gave the Lady Bulldogs an eight-point lead in the set. Following an attack error, that allowed UNCP to pull within 23-18, Miller and Elkins recorded kills to secure the 25-18 victory for the Lady Bulldogs.
The Lady Bulldogs raced out to an early 7-4 lead in the second set after a kill by junior Haley Headley. Holding a 12-8 lead, BC had to withstand a 3-0 run by the Braves, which trimmed the advantage to 12-11. Barton would then use its second 6-0 rally of the night to turn a one-point lead into a 20-13 edge. The Braves tallied consecutive points to trim the deficit to 24-19, but a kill by Miller gave BC the 25-19 victory to go up 2-0 in the match.
UNCP controlled the tempo early in the third set and took a 12-7 lead after a kill from Kaila Crowder. Barton responded right-away by rattling off five-straight points to even the score 12-12. Following a time-out by the Braves, the Lady Bulldogs added three more points to their rally to take a 15-12 lead. Senior Olivia Daley had the serve for BC on all eight points and delivered a pair of aces in the process.
Trailing 19-16, the Braves used a 3-0 spurt to knot the score against BC and would trade points with the Lady Bulldogs until eventually taking a 22-21 lead. BC looked to even the set after using an attack error by UNCP to trim the gap to a single point. Ashwell put the finishing touch on the set, however, for the Braves with a kill to give UNCP a 25-23 win.
Bane tried her best to spark BC offensively in the fourth set with her team trailing 19-17. The Lady Bulldogs would rally to even the score 19-19 in the set before UNCP tallied three points of its own to regain a 22-19 advantage. After keeping the score within two points, the Braves used some momentum to record a 25-22 win and force a decisive fifth set against the Lady Bulldogs.
In the fifth set, Barton got back to the basics and scored the opening four-points to take control of the atmosphere. An ace from Miller upped the BC lead to 7-2 and led to a timeout being taken by UNCP. Leading 14-9 and just a point away from victory, Miller delivered the final kill needed to give Barton the 15-9 win in the set and the match.
Barton hits the road for its final two regular-season Conference Carolinas matches, starting with Lees-McRae on Friday night at 7 p.m. and King on Saturday at 2 p.m.
