Seward Bounces Barton
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Barton Community College (5-20,3-6) | 14 | 19 | 20 | 0 |
|
Seward County Community College (18-12,6-4) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
With a festive crowd on hand in the Greenhouse and the leaves starting to change colors for fall outside, the Seward County Lady Saints were extremely inhospitable hosts on Wednesday night in Liberal as they hammered visiting Barton 3-0 in a match that was never in doubt.
The Lady Saints came out swinging in front of their home crowd as they continued the second of a four game homestand against the Cougars. Seward took an early 4-1 lead in the 1st on a pair of kills from Thayna Silva and extended their lead midway through the set on a pair of Megan Sharratt aces to make it 10-6. Sharratt's big serve continued to give Barton troubles and before the Cougars could regain their footing, the Lady Saints were out to a 14-7 lead. Three kills by Alex Wood in a span of five points put the gals in green up double digits at 19-9 and Barton never threatened again as Seward cruised to a 25-14 win in the 1st. Seward finished the 1st with a .414 hitting percentage, picking up 14 kills with just 2 errors on 29 total attack attempts.
The three minute layover between sets didn't slow the Lady Saints momentum down at all as Seward immediately jumped out to a commanding 9-2 lead in the 2nd. A block by Angelina Minor and Carolina Freitas midway through the set put the Lady Saints up 15-5 and Seward remained up big, 21-12 on an ace from Carolina Gasparini later in the set. Barton made a little bit of noise late, but it was far too little too late as Seward took the set 25-19 to go up 2-0 in the match.
As if things could get much worse for an already struggling Barton crew, the Cougars were assessed an administrative red card for delay of game to begin the 3rd set to give the Lady Saints a 1-0 lead and Seward continued the scoring until they had a 10-4 lead on a block from Minor and Sharratt in the middle. Barton crept to three at 13-10 at the halfway point of the 3rd set, but the Lady Saints got three straight kills from three different players to take back control of the set at 16-10. An ace late in the set by Kristen Anderson and a kill from Sharratt gave the Lady Saints match point at 24-14, but it took them a while to finish the Cougars off as Barton scored six straight points off of a poor Seward pass to make things interesting before the Lady Saints finally put them away 25-20.
As a team Seward hit .266 on the night, marking the second time this season that they hit over .265 against the Cougars. Silva led the Lady Saints with 12 kills and 10 digs on the night while Gasparini had 8 kills and 10 digs for Seward. Nacole Miller led the team with 19 assists and libero Kari Anderson had 15 digs on the night.
Seward improves to 18-12 overall on the year and 6-4 in Jayhawk West play while Barton continues a rough go of things as they fall to 5-20 overall and 3-6 in league action.
The Lady Saints will have a much needed rest for the next seven days before hitting the court next Wednesday on Dig Pink night in the Greenhouse when Seward battles rival Garden City. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to help support breast cancer awareness and the Lady Saints will be collecting fund to donate to the Sideout Foundation which goes towards breast cancer research and treatment.