The stars aligned and the Barton Community College volleyball team had no magic Wednesday night as the Cougars suffered a dismal straight set loss to 16th ranked Butler Community College 25-22, 25-18, and 25-14.
The loss drops Barton to 4-1 in the Jayhawk and 12-6 overall while the Grizzlies' ninth straight victory improves their conference mark to 3-0 and 13-2 on the season.
Barton heads to Torrington, Wyoming, for the Wyo-Braska Tournament beginning at 11:00 a.m. (CT) Friday with a rematch of last season's national tournament bout versus Northeastern Junior College followed by a 4:00 p.m. (CT) contest against Eastern Wyoming College. The Cougars' Saturday action begins at 10:00 a.m. (CT) versus Colorado Northwestern Community College before winding up the four-match weekend at 5:30 p.m. (CT) against 13th ranked Central Wyoming.
RECAP
Still feeling the effects of Monday's big victory over 7th ranked Seward County in snapping a nine match home losing streak to the Saints, Barton was never able to recapture the emotional nor physical execution of two days prior.
Butler took advantage of the Cougars' missteps all evening, flying around the court in picking up their first win at the Barton Gym since 2017 and just the sixth victory of the 70-match history.
The teams began the match going blow-for-blow in the opening set to a 19-18 Butler edge before the Grizzlies' gained separation on three straight in proving the difference maker.
Hitting at just .065 in the first set with six errors, things didn't get any better throughout in committing five more in the second set and six in the third in finishing at a season low .027 attack.
As Barton utilized the bench to catch a spark while resting multiple ailing starters, Butler put the hammer down in the second set. Racing out to a 6-0 lead, another four-pack of points following Jaydn Brown's personal 2-0 run built the Grizzlies an early 10-2 advantage. Barton would later claw back into the set on a 5-0 run but the Grizzlies responded with their own five straight to take the wind completely out of the Cougars and the Barton Gym full of home faithful.
Led by the play of Addison Crites, Brown, and Molly Norris, the Cougars regrouped in the third with better execution but too many mistakes allowed Butler to stay in the early stages of the final frame. Tied at 11-all, a pivotal four straight by the Grizzlies started driving in the final nail of the coffin with another four straight three points later expanded the lead to 20-13. A Joelle LaForce kill temporarily halted the streak as Butler would score the final five points of the match.
Four kills on the night led the Cougar stat sheet shared by Mylena Testoni's limited action and LaForce. Tasiah Nunnery, who also saw limited action, finished with three kills and seven digs in snapping a five match double-double streak. Mya Maxwell put up nine of the Cougars' 20 total assists with Isabella Guedes' spotty action resulted in just eight assists. Hanna Miller led the backline with 21 digs with Guedes finishing with 13.