(Butler, PA) A two-time high school state champion and other all-stars are among first-year players recruited to inherit a Butler County Community College volleyball program ranked No. 13 in the preseason and defending at least four conference or regional championships.
Aryana Girvan, Alyssa Gallagher, Johnna Hill, Nina Szymanski and Jozee Weaver join three other freshmen in a Pioneers volleyball program coming off a two-year run in which it reached the national championship tournament in Minnesota, was ranked No. 1 for the first time and produced three of the program’s six All-Americans.
The Pioneers in 2022 finished 19-4. Their winning record was the program’s 13th in the past 13 seasons.
They captured BC3’s unprecedented seventh consecutive Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference crown and later, its fourth National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Region 20 championship in a row behind All-Americans Morgan Jack, Aslyn Pry and Breanna Reisinger.
“I would see when they would win the conference and regionals,” said freshman Lexi Ruckdeschel, a graduate of Allegheny-Clarion Valley High School in Foxburg, Clarion County, who will be a middle hitter for the Pioneers. “I thought that was the coolest thing, coming from Butler and traveling to different states to play for nationals and other titles.”
Added Hill, a graduate of Laurel High and a BC3 opposite hitter: “They’ve won so many championships.”
"I think it is awesome that new players come together and work as hard as they can to reach those goals and championships.”
“Blend a lot of new people”
BC3 is ranked No. 13 in an Aug. 14 NJCAA Division III preseason poll behind top-ranked and defending national champion College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Amber Maurer, Zoe Morley and Abby Young return from a Pioneers team that in 2022 was ranked No. 1 in Division III for six consecutive weeks beginning Sept. 19.
BC3 in late October fell to No. 2 Owens Community College, Perrysburg, Ohio; and to No. 11 Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, N.C., in the NJCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic District A-B championship tournament in Pinehurst.
“(Maurer, Morley and Young) all contributed to last season’s success,” said Rob Snyder, who is 432-160 through 23 seasons as BC3’s coach. “They should have learned the expectations of how we play, what the competition level will be like, what our goals are and how we need to accomplish them.
“Where we are right now is trying to blend a lot of new people into a system that they don’t know.”
“I would see when they would win the conference and regionals. I thought that was the coolest thing, coming from Butler and traveling to different states to play for nationals and other titles.”
Girvan was a player on Clarion High teams that won Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association titles in 2020 and 2021. Gallagher, Girvan, Szymanski, Weaver and other BC3 freshmen were also named to postseason all-star squads in high school. Other BC3 freshmen are Tara Metz and Rosie Carden.
“I think we are capable of everything we accomplished last year,” said Morley, a graduate of Portersville Christian School and BC3 opposite hitter. “As the first few games come and we get connected more and work out the kinks, we are going to have a really good team.”
BC3 is 95-31 in the five seasons since 2014 in which it has returned three or fewer players from the previous year. Its 2021 squad was composed of only freshmen, placed sixth in the NJCAA national championship tournament in Rochester, Minn., and finished 18-3.
“There are always some big players around our community that come in, which is fabulous,” Hill said. “They always want to come work. I think it is awesome that new players come together and work as hard as they can to reach those goals and championships.”
Weaver is an outside hitter and graduate of Keystone, Knox, Clarion County; Gallagher, outside hitter, Knoch; Young, defense, Redbank, New Bethlehem, Clarion County; Mauer, outside hitter, Karns City; Girvan, outside hitter; Metz, opposite hitter, Butler Baptist; Szymanski, libero, Knoch; and Carden, setter, Karns City.
BC3 opens its 21-match 2023 regular season at 6 p.m. Aug. 22 at Westmoreland County Community College. The Pioneers’ first home game in 2023 is at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 against the Community College of Beaver County.
