The No. 5 Barton Community College volleyball team continued its postseason march Saturday evening, sweeping fourth-seeded Dodge City Community College (25-22, 25-17, 25-16) inside Hays’ Gross Memorial Coliseum to advance to the Plains District/Region 6 Championship match for the second consecutive season.
The 13th straight victory moves the Cougars to 30-5 on the year and sends them back to Sunday’s 2:00 p.m. title match, while the Conquistadors conclude their season at 16-14.
Barton will meet familiar foe No. 13 Colby Community College, after the No. 2-seeded Trojans advanced to their third straight championship appearance with a 3-1 win over Hutchinson Community College. The matchup sets up the third meeting between the two programs this season, with each defending home court during the regular season. The winner will earn an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament, held November 19-22 in Clarksville, Tennessee.
A balanced Cougar attack led the way with five players tallying, four or more kills, paced by Caroliny Cristiny‘s 12 kills and a team high 13 points. Stasa Stamenkovic followed with eight kills on a .375 hitting percentage while adding 17 digs, falling just shy of a double-double effort. Aubrey Olander and Indigo Pruitt combined for nine kills and five blocks in the middle to anchor the front line.
Ori Briger directed the offense with 20 assists and three service aces, while Mina Kaneko steadied the back row with a team high 11 digs to hit the 600 mark this season passing Ashlee Maples 595, and adding two aces. As a team, Barton hit .202 while limiting the Conquistadors to a .077 efficiency, finishing with seven aces and 11 team blocks.
Record Book Watch
Mina Kaneko
– 5th – Single Season Digs (600): Surpassed Ashlee Maples’ 595 (2005), 28 from Giselle de Moura’s 628 (2011)
– 5th – Career Digs (1,057): 64 away from Tasiah Nunnery’s 1,121 (2020–23)
Aubrey Olander
– T-10th – Single Season Total Blocks (155): 5 shy of Danielle Geronymo’s 157 (1998)
– 4th – Career Total Blocks (279): 5 shy of Kara Robeson’s 284 (2006–07)
– 2nd – Single Season Assisted Blocks (134): passes Sunshine Misa-Uli’s 132 (2005); 10 shy of Laura Macek’s program record 144 (2008)
– 1st – Career Assisted Blocks (246)
