The Butler volleyball team's season came to a close Tuesday night as they fell three sets to one (21-25, 25-19, 20-25, 20-25) in a hard-fought match on the road at Hutchinson in the first round of the NJCAA Div. I Region VI tournament.
Poorly timed errors and a low hitting percentage plagued the Grizzlies in this playoff matchup. They committed 20 hitting errors and eight serving errors in the match which Hutchinson was able to take advantage of most of the night. The Grizzlies hit only .152 in the match and were only able to record fifteen total blocks.
It was an exciting match from the Sports Arena in Hutchinson as all four sets saw both teams lead at different parts of the set.
Set one was a set that featured eight ties and three lead changes throughout the set. Butler led a majority of the set up until the 20-19 mark. Some unforced errors would give Hutchinson the advantage 22-20. Butler would score one more, but it would not be enough as Hutchinson took set one 25-21. Butler battled back in the second set not letting a 1-0 set deficit affect them and evened up the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win.
The Grizzlies came out firing in set three scoring the first seven points of the set. After a Blue Dragon timeout, Hutchinson settled in and started to chip away. They tied the set at 12 and took the lead on the ensuing point. A Jaryn Benning kill and a block by Milayna Hollinger and Jaryn Benning would even the game up at 15, but that would be the last time the Grizzlies would have the set tied. Hutch outscored Butler 10-5 during the next 15 serves and would take the set 25-20.
It was another tight fourth and final set as Butler continued to scratch and claw trying to extend the match into a fifth set. After trailing early, Butler led up until the 15-16 mark. At that point, Hutchinson had found their groove yet again and similar to the third set, scored 10 of the next fifteen serves to win the set 25-20 and take the match 3-1.
Amalie Rupertova led the Grizzlies with 15 kills and 26 digs in her final match in the purple. She added in two blocks and a service ace. Jaryn Benning finished the night with nine kills, 22 digs and six blocks. Morgan Bryand chalked up eight kills while teammates Milayna Hollinger finished with six kills and three blocks and Keera Parks added in five kills and three blocks on the night. Sophomore setter Sydney Scanlon dished out 38 assists in her final game as a Grizzly while sophomore teammate Montana Soderberg finished her Butler career with 19 digs in the match.
Butler ends their season 18-12, 8-8, an improvement from last year's 15-15 overall finish.
