Alysha Burnett recorded a career-high 14 kills and University of Mount Olive went to the wire in the first two sets, but Barton College held on for a 25-22, 28-26, 25-17 victory over the Trojans in Conference Carolinas women's volleyball Saturday at Wilson, N.C. The second set saw 21 ties.
Mount Olive (4-17 overall, 3-8 Conference Carolinas) rallied from an early three-point deficit in the opening set and a pair of kills by Burnett helped the Trojans take an 18-17 lead. The set was tied 20-20 and Barton (13-8, 8-3) regained the lead for good on a kill by Mariana Kedzia, who also served an ace on set point.
Neither team led by more than two points in a back-and-forth second set. Kills by Britni Johnson and Danielle Plante helped give the Trojans a 24-23 lead. After a Barton side out, Montgomery Register's kill gave Mount Olive a second set point. Back-to-back kills by Stephanie Pingyin saved a set point and gave the Bulldogs their first set point. Burnett's kill tied the set 26-26, but another kill by Pingyin put Barton back on top and a Trojan error on set point put the Bulldogs up two sets.
Barton capitalized on Trojan errors to jump out to a 6-2 lead in the third set and the margin never fell below three points the rest of the way.
Plante recorded nine kills and a .412 hitting percentage for Mount Olive. Samantha Winfield had 10 digs, while Burnett added seven digs and the Trojans' lone ace of the night.
Pingyin led all players with 15 kills for Barton, while Kedzia added 10 kills.
Mount Olive returns to action next weekend with a pair of Conference Carolinas road contests. The Trojans travel to Due West, S.C., Friday night to take on Erskine College, then head to Franklin Springs, Ga., Saturday afternoon to face Emmanuel College.