(Butler, PA) The Butler County Community College volleyball team has been ranked No. 1 in a fourth consecutive weekly poll, is riding an eight-match winning streak and on Saturday begins a postseason quest to reach the national championship tournament for an unprecedented second straight year.
The Pioneers since Sept. 19 have been ranked first among 96 squads in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Division III.
BC3 is 15-2 and has swept its past six opponents. The Pioneers on Saturday seek to defend their first of three 2021 postseason titles en route to a possible return to the NJCAA Division III national championship tournament in Rochester, Minn.
BC3, the Community College of Beaver County, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College and Westmoreland County Community College will compete Saturday for the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference title in BC3’s Field House.
The Pioneers have won a conference-record six consecutive WPCC titles.
Top-seeded BC3 faces No. 4 seed Westmoreland County at 11 a.m. Saturday. No. 2 seed CCBC faces No. 3 seed Penn Highlands at 1 p.m. The winners will play for the WPCC title at approximately 3:30 p.m.
“We’re trying to fine-tune,” BC3 coach Rob Snyder said. “To be our best at the end just like everyone else. A little more focus on the next opponent and making sure we are ready to compete.”
Three Pioneers are among the Top 10 in NJCAA Division III statistical leaders.
Aslyn Pry is first in hitting percentage at .457, Morgan Jack is third in assists per set with 10.05 and Madison Raypush is sixth in digs per set with 6.02.
“Morgan is doing a great job setting,” Snyder said. “Aslyn has been hitting the ball really well, getting a lot of kills off her swings. And Breanna (Reisinger) and Madison are doing a lot of work.”
Pry is a middle and outside hitter and Moniteau High School graduate; Jack, a setter, and Raypush, a libero, are Knoch High graduates and Reisinger is an outside hitter and graduate of Lincoln High in Ellwood City.
The Pioneers on Oct. 22 in BC3’s Field House will also defend three consecutive NJCAA Division III Region 20 titles. BC3 also seeks to defend an NJCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic district crown that carries with it an automatic berth to the national championship tournament.
Saturday, October 15 | BC3 Field House
Pry, Raypush and All-Americans Jack and Reisinger are among six players who returned from a BC3 team that finished 18-3 overall in 2021 and sixth in the national championship tournament.
A second consecutive berth in the national championship tournament would be a first for BC3’s volleyball program, which previously qualified in 2002, when it finished fifth; and in 2009, when it finished sixth.
“It’s going to be tough,” Snyder said. “All the teams in our district are ranked in the Top 10.”
BC3 was again ranked No. 1 in an NJCAA Division III poll released Monday. The College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., was ranked No. 2 at 23-2 and Owens Community College, Perrysburg, Ohio, No. 3 at 18-6. Owens is the three-time-defending national champion that in 2021 handed BC3 its first loss after the Pioneers’ record 16-0 start.
BC3’s top-ranked team also includes Abby Young, Redbank Valley; Amber Maurer, Karns City; Abby Granato, Mohawk; Zoe Morley, Portersville Christian; Claire Kile, Harvest Baptist; and Becca McCandless, Slippery Rock.