DODGE CITY, Kan. - Butler volleyball ran its winning streak to five straight games after going 4-0 at the two-day Dodge City Invitational.
Butler (9-6 overall, 1-5 conference) opened the invitational on Friday with a five-set win over host Dodge City (25-21, 23-25, 25-22, 21-25, 15-8) to pick up its first conference win of the season. The Grizzlies then swept Independence in three straight sets (25-15, 25-22, 26-24) to end the first day.
On Saturday, the Grizzlies easily disposed of Labette in three sets (25-20, 25-8, 25-17) and then won a hard-fought four-set match against Cedar Valley, Texas (26-24, 25-14, 25-27, 25-21).
Against Dodge, freshman Cassidy Lutz and sophomore Kelsey Hitch had 13 kills apiece to lead the Grizzlies, while sophomore setter Halie Sigurdson had 24 assists and five aces. Defensively, freshman libero Abby Goodrum had 38 digs and Haley Leeper finished with four blocks. The Grizzlies had a total of 58 kills, 46 assists, 15 aces, 101 digs and 10 blocks in the five-set win over Dodge.
In the three-set sweep of Independence, Hitch led the offense with nine kills, while freshman outside hitter Nicole Klusener had seven kills. Freshman Alex Stiles had 10 assists and two aces. On defense, Goodrum had 14 digs and Lutz made five blocks to lead the Grizzlies.
Klusener led Butler with nine kills, 18 digs and one block in the victory over Labette. Freshman Brooke Fender added six kills, three assists and 10 digs. Leeper and Kinzee Mayo also had six kills each. Sigurdson (19 assists, two aces) and freshman Adreyanna Barnes (14 assists) led Butler in passing. The Grizzlies finished with a .241 hitting clip with 42 kills, 36 assists, eight aces, 53 digs, and five blocks.
Against Cedar Valley, Leeper finished with 14 kills and seven total blocks to lead the Grizzlies. Hitch added 13 kills, while Goodrum had a team-high 22 digs and four aces. Stiles led Butler in passing with 24 assists, with freshman Andie Nibarger pitching in with 14 assists.
The Grizzlies will return to conference play on Wednesday with a road match at Hutchinson beginning at 6:30 p.m. from the Hutch Sports Arena.
