GREAT BEND, Kan. - Butler volleyball split four matches over the weekend at the Barton Classic, picking up victories against Clarendon, Texas and Friends University JV.
Butler (6-4 overall, 1-0 conference) opened up the two-day Classic on Friday with a four-set win over Clarendon, winning (24-26, 25-21, 25-13, 25-21). The Grizzlies then fell in three straight sets to Casper, Wyo. (20-25, 31-33, 19-25). On Saturday, Butler began the day with a three-set sweep over Friends JV (25-17, 25-19, 25-22), but lost in four sets to Cloud County (22-25, 19-25, 25-19, 24-26).
Against Clarendon, the Grizzlies nearly won the opening set after leading 24-23, but a set point serve sailed out of bounds. Clarendon then scored the final three points. Butler jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the second set before winning by four points, then cruised to a 12-point win in the third set before ending the match in four.
Sophomore Alli Klausmeyer finished with 11 kills, five blocks and three aces, while freshman Amalie Rupertova added 10 kills, five digs and four aces in the win. Nia Bishop contributed with five kills, four blocks and five digs and Claudia Hess had six kills and three blocks. Sophomore setter Erin Goodrum led the Grizzlies in both assists (18) and digs (10).
Butler kept the match against Casper close, despite losing all three sets. The Grizzlies had a chance to even the match at 1-1, but lost a marathon second-set at 33-31 before scoring 19 points in the third set. Rupertova led Butler with 14 kills and added five digs, while Bishop had 12 kills, two blocks and seven digs. Goodrum finished with 21 assists and four digs, while Montana Soderberg had 11 digs.
In the three-set victory over Friends, Rupertova and Bishop led the Grizzlies with seven kills each. Rupertova added eight digs and three aces, which were also team-highs for the match. Klausmeyer finished with six kills, four blocks and one ace, while Goodrum had 15 assists.
Butler had a season-high 17 blocks in the loss to Cloud, with Hess and Klausmeyer each having five blocks and seven kills. Rupertova added four blocks and six digs to go with a team-high 12 kills. Bishop finished with 10 kills, three aces and sevn digs. Goodurm had a double-double with 20 assists and 11 digs, Schulte had 15 assists and Soderberg led the Grizzlies with 13 digs.
The Grizzlies will return to conference action on Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. road match at Dodge City.