(Butler, PA) Butler County Community College’s 54-year-old athletics program has set a record with its third and fourth All-Americans chosen in 2022 by the National Junior College Athletic Association.
The NJCAA on Dec. 1 selected BC3 volleyball players Morgan Jack and Aslyn Pry to receive the prestigious postseason award. Pry was also chosen as an All-American in women’s basketball in March and Troy Loughry in golf in June.
BC3 had three All-Americans in 1996, 2003, 2015 and 2017.
Jack, a setter and graduate of Knoch High School, was named a first-team All-American. Pry, a middle hitter and graduate of Moniteau, was named a second-team All-American.
They join four other BC3 student-athletes since 1972 to be selected as an All-American twice. Jack was chosen as an All-American in volleyball in December 2021.
“This is something that is definitely a huge accomplishment,” Jack said.
“I am very excited,” Pry said, “and very grateful.”
“All-American is a team award. You don’t get individual awards unless the team is successful."
“You have to bring in good athletes”
Jack and Pry helped to lead BC3 volleyball teams to a 37-7 record in the past two seasons, a No. 1 NJCAA Division III national ranking for the first time in 2022 and a sixth-place finish in the 2021 Division III national championship tournament in Minnesota.
“It helped that we had such a close bond coming in from last year,” Jack said.
“Morgan and I wouldn’t have been able to receive this award if we didn’t have a great team surrounding us,” Pry said. “… We all just meshed together well.”
The Pioneers in 2022 also won their fourth consecutive Division III Region 20 championship and their seventh Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference crown in a row.
“All-American is a team award,” said Rob Snyder, BC3’s director of student life and athletics, and head coach of the college’s volleyball team. “You don’t get individual awards unless the team is successful. For players to receive this honor means they each had to be outstanding individually in a really successful team season.”
Ten of BC3’s past 11 All-American recipients have been female student-athletes.
“Morgan is ... just unbelievable. She is all hustle all the time. ... She’s a great leader on the court. She really pushes everyone on the team to be better and to play better.”
“Such a leader. (Aslyn) showed what it is like to be a good player and a good teammate. She always brought positive energy, and her skills improved so much from last year.”
Jack set assists record
Jack becomes BC3’s second two-time All-American in volleyball, and Pry the college’s second All-American in two sports.
Jack in 2022 set the program’s career assists record with 1,429 in 44 matches. She had at least 24 in each match in 2022 for the Pioneers, who finished 19-4. She had 40 or more assists in five matches, including 56 on Aug. 27 against Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio.
Jack ended third among players on all 96 Division III squads with 10.18 assists per set, and had 59 service aces.
“Not only was she a great setter, but she was just an unbelievably good server for us this year,” Snyder said. “Changed whole games with her serve.”
Pry led Division III with a .432 hitting percentage and was 15th in kills per set at 3.86.
“That’s one of the single best hitting seasons we have had here,” Snyder said of Pry’s kills per set.
Jack was also selected as the Division III Region 20 player of the month in volleyball for September.
Jack was chosen as most valuable player of the 2022 Division III Region 20 championship tournament and Pry was named to the 2022 Region 20 championship all-tournament squad. Each was selected this fall to the all-Region 20 team and to the 2021 Region 20 championship all-tournament squad.
“Morgan is just unbelievable,” Pry said. “She is all hustle all the time. Always all-in. She’s a great leader on the court. She really pushes everyone on the team to be better and to play better.”
Pry “such a leader”
They are each two-time WPCC all-conference selections, and Pry in 2021 was named to the NJCAA Division III national championship all-tournament team in Rochester, Minn.
Pry had 301 kills in 2022. She recorded at least 10 in 19 of BC3’s 23 matches.
“Such a leader,” Jack said of Pry. “She showed what it is like to be a good player and a good teammate. She always brought positive energy, and her skills improved so much from last year.”
BC3’s volleyball program has 11 of the college’s 33 All-American awards, including Breanna Reisinger in 2021.
Pry in 2021-2022 was the leading rebounder in Division III women’s basketball with 19.6 per game and ranked fourth in scoring with 23.2 points per game in being chosen as an honorable mention All-American.
Loughry, a Grove City graduate, shot a four-round 297 in the Division III national championship tournament in Chautauqua, N.Y., to become a first-team All-American.
BC3’s Bob Wilson received his second All-American award in cross-country in 1972. Other two-time BC3 All-Americans are Megan Smith in volleyball, Stefan Carlsson in golf, and Mackenzie Craig in volleyball and in women’s basketball.
Nicole (Sebastian) Bajuszik, a 2021 inductee into BC3’s Charles W. Dunaway Pioneer Hall of Fame, held BC3’s career volleyball assists record with 1,360 in 57 matches in the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
BC3 volleyball players Madison Raypush, a libero and Knoch graduate, and Reisinger, an outside hitter and graduate of Lincoln in Ellwood City, were also selected to the 2022 all-Region 20 team. Raypush led the Pioneers with 480 digs and Reisinger was second in kills for BC3 with 260.
