November 10, 2009
MISENHEIMER, N.C. - Pfeiffer University's Brittany Dickens (Raleigh, NC) and Abbie Ovbey (Mt. Gilead, NC) each had 11 kills while Vanessa Gerig (Towanda, IL) threw up 39 assists as the second-seeded Lady Falcons swept seventh seed Barton College 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-20) in the first-round of the Conference Carolinas women's volleyball tournament on Tuesday night in the Merner Gym.
The victory pushes the Lady Falcons record to 21-11. They will host a semifinal match against Limestone on Friday night. Barton, which was 8-10 in league play, ends its season at 14-19 overall.
The Lady Falcons started the night strong by hitting .368 in the first set, .304 in the match. Dickens snagged a pair of kills in the first three points while junior Kristina Mordini picked up three kills in a four-play span to put Pfeiffer up 13-8. After kills by the Bulldogs Melissa Ritter (Wescosville, PA), Megan Parrott (Oxford, NC) and Chancey Sebranek (Garden City, KS) put Barton within four, Ovbey helped separate the Lady Falcons with a pair of kills and a block with Victoria Parrish (Henderson, NC) to end set one 25-20 in favor of the hosts.
Set two began quickly for the Lady Falcons with a 4-0 lead as Dickens registered a pair of kills while Gerig served up two aces. Macon Harmon (Durham, NC) would get the Bulldogs squared at 4-4 with an ace, 7-7 with an assist to Ritter and 13-13 with another helper, this time to Kati Wood (Pasadena, MD), before the Lady Falcons pulled away for good in the middle set. Freshman outside hitter Jordan O'Bryant (Reidsville, NC), along with Dickens, each picked up a pair of late kills to secure a 25-20 set two victory.
Continuing the offense output on Tuesday, O'Bryant threw down three more kills in a four-play span to help push the hosts to a 6-1 lead in front of Ovbey's third kill of the set which gave Pfeiffer a 15-11 advantage. Three Barton errors and a pair of Cassie Byerly (Lewistown, MT) aces advanced the lead to 22-13 before a kill by Ritter and four-straight Pfeiffer errors brought the Bulldogs back to within five at 23-18. However, Dickens and O'Bryant would secure back-to-back kills to end the match.
Ritter and Wood each had nine kills for the visitors while Carly Cash (Oxford, NC) had 14 assists.
The Pfeiffer-Limestone winner will face either Lees-McRae or Anderson in the championship match on Sunday.
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November 10, 2009
Barton volleyball fans can follow tonight's Conference Carolinas Tournament match between your Barton College Lady Bulldogs and Pfeiffer at the following link:
http://www.gofalconsports.com/schedule.asp?sportID=27
There is live streaming video and stats for your enjoyment. Barton is the 7th seed and Pfeiffer is the #2 seed. The match begins at 6:30 p.m.
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November 6, 2009
WILSON, NC — The Barton College women's volleyball team clinched a spot in the Conference Carolinas Tournament Friday night with a 25-20, 25-14, 27-25 victory over visiting Converse College.
The Lady Bulldogs of head coach Patrick Morgan are locked into the seventh spot in the league standings and should play at No. 2 seed Pfeiffer Tuesday night. The game will likely be contested at 6:30. Barton concludes the regular season Saturday at 2 in Wilson Gymnasium against league rival Limestone.
"The first game was a game of runs, and we just had the last run," Morgan said, noting that the Valkyries had closed within 20-19 before the Lady Bulldogs ran off the last five points. "In the second game, we played well, and unfortunately, they did not. They just made a lot of unforced errors, and we capitalized on that. We just stayed aggressive in the third game, played well and eked out the victory."
Barton was up 24-21 in the final set when Converse scored four straight to take a 25-24 lead. The Lady Bulldogs rattled off three straight points to win the match.
Morgan was happy that he was able to get junior Meagan Parrott back on the court for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks. Parrott has been one of two injured starters for the Lady Bulldogs. Junior libero Cassie Blackmon is still out after breaking her thumb.
Junior setter Carly Cash accounted for 16 assists, six digs and two aces and junior setter Macon Harmon added 19 assists in running the show for Barton. Junior outside hitter Mel Ritter pounded 12 kills, had 16 digs, made three blocks and served up three aces. Freshman outside hitter Kati Wood added 15 kills and two digs.
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November 1, 2009
BANNER ELK, N.C. - The Lees-McRae College Lady Bobcats (23-5, 14-1) defeated the Barton College Lady Bulldogs 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) on Senior Day in Williams Gymnasium in a Conference Carolinas women's volleyball match.
Megan Epperson led Lees-McRae with 12 kills on 24 attempts with three errors for a .375 hitting percentage. Legg followed with 10 kills on 21 attempts with only one error for a .429 hitting percentage. Trisha Reese and Lauren Dickover had 19 and ten assists respectively, and Luana Rocha had 13 digs and three service aces. Justice and Taylor Stice had four total blocks.
For Barton (13-16, 7-8 Conference Carolinas), Kati Wood had nine kills and Chancey Sebranek had seven kills. Carly Cash handed out 14 assists and Mel Ritter picked up 15 digs.
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October 14, 2009
HIGH POINT, N.C. — Barton College's Mel Ritter has been selected as the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas women's volleyball Player of the Week during week number seven in the 2009 season.
This is the second time this season that the high-flying Ritter (Wescosville, PA) has won this award.
Ritter once again led the way for the Bulldogs (11-2 overall, 6-5 league) as the team went 2-1 this past week. Barton defeated Chowan and Anderson, but lost a five-setter at Erksine. She topped 20 kills twice and recorded a double-double in kills and digs for all three matches. Ritter currently ranks 13th among the national leaders in kills/game and with this week's performance, she should continue to improve upon her standing.
Ritter's steady leadership and outstanding performances continue to keep Barton toward the upper half of Conference Carolinas teams.
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October 9, 2009
DUE WEST, SC — The Barton College volleyball team let a golden chance to even its overall record at .500 and move into the upper half of the Conference Carolinas standings slip away Friday night at Erskine.
Despite leading 2-1 in sets, then 8-3 in the fifth set, the Lady Bulldogs could not hold on. The Flying Fleet eked out a 25-17, 19-25, 22-25, 25-20, 15-13 win, improving to 8-11 overall and 6-4 in the league. Barton fell to 10-12 overall and 5-5 in the conference and will play at league rival Anderson University at noon on Saturday.
"I think we played well at times," Barton assistant coach Liz Strange said, "but we just started out really, really slow in each game and had to play catch up. We were up 8-3 in the final game and got what we felt were a couple of bad calls. That's when everybody really shut down. We just choked."
Junior Mel Ritter (Wescosville, PA) led the Barton attack with 23 kills. Junior Cassie Blackmon (Henderson, NC) tallied 15 digs and junior Macon Harmon (Durham, NC) notched 36 assists.
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September 29, 2009
HIGH POINT, N.C. — Barton College's Mel Ritter has been selected as the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas women's volleyball Player of the Week during week number five in the 2009 season.
Ritter, an outside hitter from Wescosville, PA, had a sensational week for the surging Lady Bulldogs (8-10, 4-3 league), who defeated Virginia Union and Belmont Abbey in four-setters at home, then fell in a 21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 36-34 thriller to Lees-McRae on Saturday afternoon. She had a phenomenal 56 kills and 40 digs in those three matches.
She averaged 5.1 kills, a .305 hitting percentage, 3.63 digs and nearly six points per set. She had an excellent hitting percentage of .522 in the win over Virginia Union, adding 13 kills and nine digs while playing just three games. In the Abbey match, Barton was up 2-1, but trailing 18-21 in the fourth game, when Ritter went off, hammering six kills to account for six of BC's final seven points in a clinching 25-23 win. She finished with 26 kills and 14 digs and had a .318 hitting percentage.
Against perennial league power Lees-McRae, Ritter a force once again with 17 kills and 17 digs. In the 70-point last set, Ritter came through with three kills and numerous digs during the extra session.
For the year, Ritter is averaging 4.2 kills, 3.7 digs and 5.1 points per set.
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September 29, 2009
HARTSVILLE, S.C. - The Barton College volleyball team has risen above .500 in league play after a dominating performance at Coker College on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs won with scores of 25-18, 25-12 and 25-15. The loss dropped Coker, a loser of eigtht straight, to 1-16 overall and 0-8 in the conference, while Barton improved to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
Coker jumped out to early leads in both the first and third sets, but each time the Lady Bulldogs battled their way back, taking advantage of Lady Cobra's errors and timely kills.
Leading the Coker offense was Cynallyhia Indriago (Columbia, S.C.) with eight kills, while Molly Bookhart (Orangeburg, S.C.) and Paige Murray (Kitty Hawk, N.C.) led the defense with nine digs apiece. Abby Frame (Sylvania, Ohio) had 13 assists and Bookhart had 10 assists.
For the Lady Bulldogs, Meagan Parrott (Oxford, N.C.) led the attack with 11 kills, while Mel Ritter (Wescosville, Pa.) had seven kills and 19 digs. Carly Cash (Oxford, N.C.) had 16 assists and 11 digs, with Macon Harmon (Durham, N.C.) adding 11 assists.
Barton entertains Queens University at 7 p.m. Friday. Coker returns to action an Friday, October 2, when it hosts Fayetteville State for homecoming at 6:00 p.m.
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September 28, 2009
ELIZABETH CITY, NC — After a blistering start and a terrible lull in the opening set, the Barton College women's volleyball team bounced back in style Monday night to defeat host Elizabeth City State University 23-25, 25-21, 25-19 and 25-18.
The surging Lady Bulldogs of fourth-year head coach Patrick Morgan have now won three of their last four matches and stand 7-10. Barton, which sports a 3-3 Conference Carolinas record, plays at league foe Coker at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. ECSU slipped to 12-9 overall.
"We got off to a fast start and led 11-2 in game one, but then we just let them win," Morgan said. "But they're a pretty good team that is very athletic."
Although the Vikings had some talented blockers up front, the Lady Bulldogs took control for the remainder of the match. Mel Ritter (Wescosville, PA), Meagan Parrott (Oxford, NC) and Kati Wood (Pasadena, MD) began putting balls away that were set by Carly Cash (27 assists) and Macon Harmon (19 assists). Ritter finished with 14 kills, five aces and 18 digs. Parrott accounted for 13 kills and Wood had 12 kills and four blocks. Junior Chancey Sebranek (Garden City, KS) notched four blocks and Cassie Blackmon (Henderson, NC) totaled 24 digs.
For the Vikings, Sie'Ara Smallings (seven blocks) and Stacie West (six blocks) were a tough tandem in the front row. Eva Johnson netted 10 kills and 10 digs, Lia Scott had nine kills and 10 digs, Jasmin Knox finished with 15 assists, Cassie Noe had 12 digs and Regan Simpson added 18 assists.
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September 26, 2009
WILSON, NC — The Barton College women's volleyball team gave a Fall Family Weekend crowd of some 300 fans a match to remember on Saturday afternoon. With perennial Conference Carolinas power Lees-McRae in town, the Lady Bulldogs put up a valiant fight with the visiting Bobcats before losing a 21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 36-34 thriller.
The final set had the fans on their feet, the coaches disputing calls, referees calling for do-overs and excitement galore. Few in the building have ever seen a set last 70 points. There were high-flying kills from both teams, a few service errors and bodies diving all over the court to keep balls in play. In the end, the fans, players and coaches were all exhausted.
Lees-McRae, which had lost a five-set heartbreaker at league-leading Mount Olive on Friday night, improved to 10-4 overall and 5-1 in the league. Barton slipped to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in league play. The Lady Bulldogs play at Elizabeth City State at 6 p.m. Monday and visit Coker at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
"Barton really stepped up to the plate today and showed a lot of character," Lees-McRae head coach Jamie Petrik said. "In many critical situations, they put the ball down and we didn't. However, we did come through in the end. Any time a game goes into the 30s, it's just a flip of the coin as to who will win."
Both Petrik and Barton head coach Patrick Morgan commisserated over substitutes. Both had used up all their available substitutions in game four by the time the score reached 24-24.
"Both teams ran out of subs, which made it very interesting," Petrik said. "We had two 5-foot-5 setters in the front row for more than two rotations. In fact, we had three setters in there during that stretch, which probably helped us because there were a lot of freaky plays."
"I think our girls did a good job of keeping everything on an even keel and staying focused today," Morgan said. "You don't want to give away your opportunities to win when you have them (like in game two), but I thought our girls regrouped well. We played hard in game four."
However, he said the Lady Bulldogs "were not satisfied" with getting close.
"It doesn't prove anything until you win," he said. "It just proves that we have to work hard to finish out (games). We are moving in the right direction. Our work ethic on the court is better and our mental toughness is coming through more."
Barton fell behind in the fourth set, but rallied to a 17-14 lead. LMC tied it at 19-19, then the seesaw affair continued for 32 more points. Freshman Kati Wood (Pasadena, MD), junior Meagan Parrott (Oxford, NC) and junior Mel Ritter (Wescosville, PA) accounted for eight kills for Barton after the game went into extra time. For the Bobcats, Megan Epperson (St. John, IN), Taylor Clendenin (Statesville, NC) and Whitney Justice (Franklin, TN) had some big kills down the stretch.
Barton had set point five times, but Lees-McRae came up with the big play each time. The Lady Bulldogs were also hurt by two service errors late in the set.
Ritter paced the Lady Bulldogs with 17 kills, 13 digs, two solo blocks and two block assists. Parrott tallied 12 kills and seven digs; Wood had 11 kills and three digs; junior setter Carly Cash (Oxford, NC) had 30 assists; junior libero Cassie Blackmon (Henderson, NC) notched 21 digs; and junior middle hitter Chancey Sebranek totaled five kills, five block assists, four digs and one ace.
For the Bobcats, Justice finished with 15 kills, one solo block and five block assists. Clendenin logged 14 kills and three block assists and Epperson had 15 kills. Freshman setter Megan Mitchell (Minden, NV) notched 37 assists and two aces in three games while freshmen libero Luana Rocha (Brazil) recorded 21 digs and five aces.
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