Already securing at least a tie for the Jayhawk West conference title, the Barton Community College volleyball team hoped they could clinch the title outright tonight in Colby against second place Colby Community College.   However, Colby wasn’t about to let the Lady Cougars celebrate on their home floor as they defeated Barton in five sets 22-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, and 15-8.  With the loss the Lady Cougars see their unbeaten conference season come to a halt and fall to 11-1 in conference play and 23-11 overall while Colby improves to 10-3 in conference and 25-12 overall.  Barton still controls its own destiny for the outright title needing to win one of their remaining two regular season matches next week at the friendly confines of the Barton Gym.

As been the case in Barton’s eight of ten previous conference matches, the Lady Cougars won the first two sets and appeared primed for its ninth conference match sweep.  Still adjusting to injuries and players in new positions, Barton won the first two sets by identical 25-22 scores.  In an eerie similarity of the two teams’ previous five-set thriller on September 26 at the Barton Gym, the team trailing in the match would battle back to win the next two sets to force a fifth set.  Colby did just that by winning the next two sets 25-18 and 25-19 and carried that momentum to win the fifth 15-8 just as Barton had done in previous match up.

The Lady Cougars will have the weekend off from competition in preparation of trying to wrap up the West title and the Region VI Tournament’s top seed next week.  Barton will host Cloud County Community College on Monday and then face Seward County Community College on Wednesday for the third time this season.  Match time is 6:30 p.m. for each contest and will be available to view via the internet at www.ihigh.com/bartonsports.

Released:  October 20, 2011

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