It was a record breaking year for several Grizzly players and that excellence was recognized by the conference as four different players were named to the KJCCC All Conference volleyball teams on Monday.
Rainey Aven, Kennedy Kelly, and Ivy Fink all earned first team honors and it was Carrie Roe who picked up the lone representation for the Grizzlies on the second team.
Aven, a sophomore from Hereford, Texas, had a season to remember. She will go down in Butler history as the best setter the program has ever seen. She set not only the record for assists in a season with 1,266, which was also third in the nation, also the record for assists in her career. If the final loss against Seward ends up being her last match as a Grizzly she will have finished with 1,909 assists. She earned 9.24 assists per set, playing in all 36 matches.
Ivy Fink, also a sophomore who hails from Hoyt, Kansas, earned her second career nomination to the All-Conference first team. She finished with 356 kills at a rate of 2.60 kills per set, earning 10 or more kills in 21 games. She reached 20 kills twice, against Cisco and Mineral Area. She also put in 54 service aces, which was good for 13th in the conference.
Kennedy Kelly was a newcomer to this Grizzly program, and her impact was immediate. The sophomore middle blocker from Frisco, Texas dominated all season. She led the nation in hitting percentage the entire year, finishing with a percentage of .382. She finished the season with 337 kills, and her 2.42 kills per set was 29th in the nation. She racked up 71 service aces, which led the Grizzlies and was good for fifth nationally. Her 16 solo blocks also led the team and ranked 19th in the nation. She racked up 458 total points in 37 matches which put her at seventh nationally.
Carrie Roe, also a sophomore and Kansas native, hailing from Herington, came on strong at the end of the year, providing all kinds of clutch factor for the Grizzlies in the stretch run of the regular season. She tallied 17 kills in the Region quarterfinal against Colby, and she led the Grizzlies in kills with 16 in the semifinal against rival Hutch to put the Grizzlies into the final for the second straight year. She finished with 2.55 kills per set and a hitting percentage of .294, also contributing .27 service aces per set.
The four Grizzlies led the team to their second straight share of a conference title and made it back to the region final for the second straight year. They're still hoping for an at large bid for the national tournament in West Plains, Missouri next week.
