By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information
In a battle of unbeaten first-place Jayhawk West teams, the Barton Community College Cougars had a little too much Paula da Silva and Juliana de Barros for the Hutchinson Community College volleyball team to handle on Monday night at the Sports Arena.
Da Silva had 12 kills and nine total blocks while de Barros, Barton’s All-America setter riddled the Lady Dragons with well-placed dumps to lead the 11th-ranked Cougars to a 25-17, 25-19, 25-17 Jayhawk West victory over Hutchinson which snapped the Lady Dragons’ three-match winning streak.
“We got outworked,” HCC head coach Sarah Myers said. “We simply got outworked. Barton’s a very talented team, and they made us look silly.”
Sophomore Jordan Rehm led Hutchinson with a double-double, posting 12 kills and 14 digs.
But Barton (8-0, 4-0 Jayhawk West) passed the ball much more effectively, which enabled the Cougars to utilize their middles much better. Da Silva, who came into the match hitting an astounding .592, was dominant, but the play of de Barros was the key for Barton.
De Barros had nine kills and three total blocks to power Barton offensively. She had four kills the third set, including a well-placed return of an HCC attack that landed in the deep right corner of the Lady Dragon side to close out the match.
“You look at the scores, and they don’t look bad,” sophomore hitter Jordan Rehm said. “But when it comes down to how we’re expected to play and what we’re capable of, it was a disappointment.”
Barton out-hit Hutchinson 38-33 and out-blocked the Lady Dragons 11-7. Barton minimized its hitting errors to just seven in the match, while HCC had 12 attack errors and eight service errors.
Freshman Shayne Haley had six kills. Setter Hayley Young had 21 set assists, three blocks and two service aces. Sophomore Cassie Wiley had four kills and three total blocks.
Barton scored first in all three sets and the longest run of points by Hutchinson was four points.
HCC trailed 9-7 in the first set when Barton took control with a 4-0 run. The Lady Dragons were within three points twice, the second time at 18-15 on a Wiley kill. But the Cougars closed on a 7-2 run, scoring the final two points on a de Barros kill and a combo block on de Barros and da Silva.
Barton jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but HCC chipped away. A pair of stuff blocks were part of a three-point run to pull the Lady Dragons within 5-4. Da Silva and Taylor Arnold had four kills each in the second set for Barton built a 19-14 lead. Rehm caught fire for Hutchinson with six second-set kills. Her final kill of the set, a combo block by Wiley and freshman Emily Oberlin and a Barton attack error pulled the Lady Dragons within 20-18, but that’s as close as HCC got.
“I thought Jordan did a good job,” Myers said. “She played with emotion and intensity, but we’ve got to get a couple others to do that. If we do that, then momentum will come.”
“We need more momentum on kills and blocks,” Rehm said. “We have to feed off that. I feel like we grab it but we let go of it quick. We dwell on the errors instead of the kills and positive things.”
A Haley service ace and Rehm kill gave Hutchinson its first lead of the match at 6-4, but the Cougars quickly overtook the Lady Dragons with a 4-0 run. A 7-2 run gave Barton a 15-9 lead and HCC didn’t threaten again.
The Lady Dragons will play four matches this weekend at the Northeastern Junior College Classic in Sterling Colo.