Friday evening, Bears head volleyball coach Larry Lewis guided the Bears into the National Christian College Athletic Association Southwest Region tournament in Moore, Okla. Their opening round match-up was against #2 seeded Arlington Baptist College (Arlington, Texas). The Bears were optimistic about their chances based on how competitive they had been against the top schools in the region and conference during the regular season.

Early on in the first set, the Bears stuck with the Patriots. They matched them run-for-run and serve-for-serve. In the end, however, the Patriots were able to string a few points together here and there to pull out a 25-18 win in the opening set. The second and third sets were similar to the first, as the Bears dropped the final two sets 18-25 and 16-25. The Patriots advanced to the semifinals of the single elimination Southwest Regional

Barclay College assistant coach Kayleen Stevens concluded, “They played really well. (We) were right with them all three games.”

The Bears once again proved they could compete with the top schools and have realized the competitive gap is not insurmountable. They will now look to next year and are hopeful their youthfulness will pay dividends in the seasons to come.