The Butler volleyball team wrapped up conference play Wednesday night on the road as they fell to Hutchinson in three tough sets, two of which took extra points to decide the outcome, 26-28, 22-25, 27-29.
After falling behind by as many as seven points early and trailing most of the set, Butler put together a run and took their first lead at 17-16. It would be a back and forth affair the remainder of the set with both teams fighting to take the first set. The set would take extra points to decide a winner as the game was tied at 24-24 and 26-26 before Hutchinson would score two straight giving them the 28-26 set one win.
Butler swung first scoring the first four points of the set and eventually taking an 11-4 lead. Butler continued to lead but Hutchinson wouldn't fold. A Jaryn Benning kill would give Butler the 20-15 advantage but the Blue Dragons had other plans. Hutch outscored Butler 10-2 in the final 12 points of the set and took a 2-0 set lead with a 25-22 win.
Hutchinson led by as many as six in set three, but Butler wasn't going to go away quietly. The Grizzlies continued to scrap and fought back to tie the game at 22-22 after a big block at the net by Keera Parks forcing a Blue Dragon timeout. Butler had a chance to win when they led 25-24 but couldn't score that lone point to finish the set. It was a back and forth finish going into extra points 27-27 before Hutch took the 28-27. A double touch violation by the Grizzlies would end the set with Hutchinson winning 29-27.
Milayna Hollinger and Morgan Bryand led the team in kills with 10 a piece. Hollinger added in five blocks and five digs while Bryand finished with two blocks and four digs. Jaryn Benning added in nine kills and 16 digs while Sydney Scanlon finished the match with 36 assists, nine digs and two blocks. As a team, Butler finished with a hitting percentage of .236 and recorded 75 digs and 12 blocks in the loss.
With the Grizzlies loss, they fall to 8-8 in KJCCC play and 16-11 overall. They are sitting in 5th place in the KJCCC West standings behind Hutchinson, who has two confernce matchups left. Butler will most likely finish in the 5th spot forcing them to travel for a first-round playoff game.
Butler will finish regular season play with two non-conference matchups next week as they host Neosho on Monday, October 28 at 6:30pm and Cowley on Friday, November 1 at 6:30pm.
