Butler didn't trail until the third set but only for a short while as a balanced offensive attack helped the Grizzlies cruise to a straight set victory of Dodge City Wednesday night.
Dodge City (3-21, 0-13) came into the night still searching for their first KJCCC win of the season and it will have to wait as Butler dominated the match throughout the night winning 25-15, 25-12, 25-16.
With three kills in the first four points of the match, Sydney Scanlon knew her outside hitter Jaryn Benning was going to have a good night and she could continue to feed her the ball.
"My job is really easy when we pass well and I can set all my hitters," said sophomore setter Sydney Scanlon. "Our hitters did a good job of keeping balls in play tonight."
After a quick strike by Butler who took an early 8-3 lead in set one, Dodge City wasn't able to recover. Keera Parks finished the set serving four straight points, two of which were serving aces as the Grizzlies took set one 25-15.
"Sydney had great distribution tonight and so did Jessi when she came in," said head coach Lisa Lechtenberg. "You can really keep a defense off guard when you spread the ball around so well. Jaryn did her job for sure tonight. She put the ball away when we needed her to."
Jaryn Benning was back at it in set two right out the gate as she had a powerful backrow attack that dropped in between the Dodge defenders giving Butler the 1-0 lead. After that kill from Benning, Butler would never trail in the set. Another serving ace from Parks would give spark to Butler and it was now Sydney Scanlon's turn to go on a serving run. Scanlon served six straight giving Butler the 9-3 lead. Milayna Hollinger got in on the serving action with a seven-point run later in the set advancing the Grizzly lead to 19-7. Kills from Mikayla Keith and Morgan Bryand would finish up the set 25-12 with Butler taking the 2-0 set lead.
The Grizzlies trailed for the first time in the match in set three as Dodge City scored the first two points of the set taking a 2-0 lead. That would be the largest deficit Butler would trail by before tying the match at 7-7. Back to back to back three-point bursts from the Grizzlies sprung them to a 15-9 lead which forced a Dodge City timeout. A Milayna Hollinger kill and a big block at the net would force another Dodge timeout with the Grizzlies leading 20-13. Ashley Larking served up an ace and Morgan Bryant put down a ball and the Grizzlies finished the set and match winning 25-16.
"We followed our scouting report and we had really good passing tonight. Our passing was great, so we were able to put the ball down," said Jaryn Benning who had a team high nine kills while hitting .304.
The balanced offensive attack had nine Grizzlies registering kills in the match. Benning led with nine followed by Amalie Rupertova with six. Both Milayna Hollinger and Morgan Bryand finished with five kills and Keera Parks added in three. Scanlon ended the evening with 27 set assists with Jessi Nibarger chalking up five assists. Montana Soderberg led in digs with 12 in the match.
"We are playing Buco volleyball," mentioned Scanlon, "and hope to continue that into post season. I feel like we are playing like we know we can play."
"Our girls really stuck to the scouting report tonight," commented Lechtenberg, "which is something we have been working on all year and it really showed tonight."
The Grizzlies are on the home stretch of the KJCCC with only five conference matchups left. "The biggest thing that we need to do is we need to be good in November," said Lechtenberg. "We make strides then take a step back then take them again. We just need to be on the up come November."
Butler will look to avenge their September 4th 3-1 loss at Garden City this Friday when the Broncbusters come to town.
"We have progressed a lot from the Garden loss, so I am looking forward to getting them back here at home on Friday," said Scanlon. Coach Lechtenberg added, "We will be mentally and physically prepared come Friday."
Butler (13-9, 5-6) will host Garden City on Friday, October 11 at 6:30pm in the Power Plant in El Dorado, KS.