Mario Cabrera
Student Sports Media
On Friday, Sept. 16, the Butler Grizzlies volleyball team was in Dodge City playing in the Dodge City Invitational. The first team the Grizzlies were set to face was Dodge City. The Grizzlies won the first set 25-21, then Dodge City took the second set, 25-23. The Grizzlies took the third set, 26-22. Dodge City then won the fourth set 25-21, and finally the Grizzlies won the fifth and last set, 15-8, making this the first conference win for the Grizzlies.
Freshman Cassidy Lutz and sophomore Kelsey Hitch both had 13 kills. Freshman Nicole Klusner had 12 kills and freshman Brooke Fender had 7 kills. Sophomore Halie Sigurdson had 24 assists and five aces. Freshman Adreyanna Barnes had 11 assists and one ace. Defensively for the Grizzlies, freshman Abby Goodrum had 38 digs, and Klusner had 22 digs. Fender added 15 digs while Sigurdson also had 12 digs. Hayley Leeper had four blocks as did Hitch. The Grizzlies had 58 kills, 46 assists, 15 aces, 101 digs and 10 blocks.
“It was a good tough win for the Grizzlies,” Coach Rick Younger said.
Later that day, Butler’s next match-up was Independence at the Dodge City Invitational. The Grizzlies swept Independence three sets to zero, (25-15, 25-22, 26-24). Hitch led the team with nine kills and Klusner added seven kills. Alex Stiles had 10 assists and two aces while freshman Abby Goodrum had 14 digs and Lutz had five blocks. This made three wins in a row for the Grizzlies, going back to the win against Friends JV.
Looking to make it four in a row, the next match for the Grizzlies way at the Dodge City Invitational against Labette on Saturday Sept. 17. The Grizzlies also swept Labette three sets to zero (25-20, 25-8, 25-17). Klusner had nine kills, 18 digs and one block. Fender had six kills, three aces and 10 digs while Leeper had six kills, two aces and one block.
Freshman Kinzee Mayo had six kills and two blocks and Hitch added five kills. Sigurdson had 19 assists, two aces and Barnes had 14 assists. The Grizzlies hit .241 with 42 kills, 36 assists and eight aces.
Later that day Butler was ready to play their final game at the Dodge City Invitational against Cedar Valley. The first and second sets went to the Grizzlies winning 26-14 and 25-14. The third set went to Cedar Valley with the score of 27-25. The final set went to the Grizzlies 25-21 giving Butler a three sets to one victory over Cedar Valley. Hitch had 13 kills while Leeper had 14 kills and seven blocks. Goodrum had 22 digs and four aces and Stiles had 24 assists and Nibarger had 14 assists. The Grizzlies finished the tournament perfect with four wins and extending their winning streak to five games.
After the Dodge City Invitational, the Grizzlies were off to play at Hutchinson. The Grizzlies started out the game with a troubled start. Hutchinson swept the Grizzlies three sets to zero (25-14, 25-19, 25-18), snapping the Grizzlies five game winning streak. Fender had five kills and Sigurdson, Klusener and Leeper had three kills each. Freshman Katie Dyer had 10 digs and one ace. Defensively, the Grizzlies only had three blocks and 31 digs. Offensively, the Grizzlies hit .048 on the evening with 23 kills and five aces. The Grizzlies are now 9-7 on the year.
