(Butler, PA) The Butler County Community College volleyball team enters the second half of its 2022 regular season this week with a 7-2 record and upholding the highest national ranking the program has had in its history.
BC3 was ranked No. 2 among 97 programs in a National Junior College Athletic Association Division III poll released Monday. The Pioneers were also ranked No. 2 in a Sept. 6 poll.
The previous highest rankings for the program were No. 3 on Aug. 29, and No. 5 in an Aug. 15 preseason poll.
The Pioneers visit Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Johnstown on Friday.
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, Ill., has been ranked No. 1 in Division III of the NJCAA in three consecutive polls and is 12-0.
“Some of the teams we have played so far this year are better than the teams we played last year,” BC3 coach Rob Snyder said. “(Penn State) Greater Allegheny was much better than they were last year, and we didn’t play NOVA (Northern Virginia Community College) last year.
“So while we weren’t able to finish those matches the way we wanted to, those were pretty high-level competitions for us and we played at an extremely high level for much of those matches. We have shown our ceiling to be extremely high. … I’m pleased that we’ve shown the ability to play really good volleyball.”
"We have shown our ceiling to be extremely high. … I’m pleased that we’ve shown the ability to play really good volleyball.”
Penn State Greater Allegheny, McKeesport, and Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, each topped the Pioneers 3-2 in handing BC3 its only losses of 2022.
Owens Community College, Perrysburg, Ohio, was ranked No. 1 in the Aug. 15 preseason poll. The three-time-defending national champion that in 2021 handed BC3 its first loss after the Pioneers’ record 16-0 start has fallen to fifth at 11-3.
BC3’s program is 25-5 since the beginning of the 2021 season, which ended with a sixth-place finish in the NJCAA Division III national championship tournament in Minnesota and postseason All-American awards for Pioneers Breanna Reisinger and Morgan Jack.
Jack, Madison Raypush and Aslyn Pry are ranked in the Top 10 in Division III in assists, digs and hitting percentage.
Jack, a setter, and Raypush, a libero, are Knoch High School graduates. Jack is fifth with 331 assists, and Raypush is fifth with 231 digs and sixth with 30 service aces.
Pry, a middle and outside hitter and Moniteau graduate, is seventh in hitting percentage in Division III at .404.
Pry is also 11th in Division III with 132 kills and Reisinger, an outside hitter and graduate of Lincoln High in Ellwood City, is 22nd with 100 kills.
BC3’s second-ranked team also includes Abby Young, Redbank Valley; Amber Maurer, Karns City; Krystle Ekas, Knoch; Abby Granato, Mohawk; Zoe Morley, Portersville Christian; Claire Kile, Harvest Baptist; and Becca McCandless, Slippery Rock.
The Pioneers’ next home game is at 6 p.m. Sept. 21 against the Community College of Beaver County, Monaca.
