Madison Marx & Marissa Ramirez
Sports Media Staff
As the new season approaches, there are a lot of firsts for the Butler volleyball team. The new coach, former Kansas State University player Lisa Lechtenberg, who stood out at K-State with her dominating performance on and off the court, opened up the season against Cloud County on Wednesday, Aug 22, but came up short in four sets; (25-21, Butler) (18-25, Cloud County) (15-25, Cloud County) (14-25, Cloud County). Hitting and serving errors played a part in Butler’s downfall. On the flip side, sophomore Nia Bishop led the team with 16 kills, helping to add points to the scoreboard for the Grizzlies.
“There are two girls, myself included, from last fall and a couple girls from last spring,” sophomore Allison (Alli) Klausmeyer said. “There (are) eight new girls this year, so it is more about learning how to play with each other more than anything.”
Two days later, Friday, Aug 24, the Grizzlies set off to Lamar, Colorado for a quad meet. Butler swept Cisco College 3-1, (25-7, Butler) (25-27, Cisco) (25-22, Butler) (25-17, Butler) in their matchup, but fell to Otero Junior College 3-0, (25-15, Otero) (25-23, Otero) (25-21, Otero) on Saturday, Aug 25. Later that day, the Grizzlies came and defeated Lamar Community College 3-1, (22-25, Lamar) (25-15, Butler) (28-26, Butler) (27-25, Butler). In the Quiznos Classic in Lamar, Colorado, sophomore Claudia Hess was named first-team all-tournament. She had 37 kills and eight blocks. Freshman Amelia Rupertova was named honorable mention in the tournament as well with 26 digs and eight blocks.
The Butler Grizzlies had an outstanding performance against Garden City Community College in their season home opener. The game lasted five sets with Butler battling it out to finish on top, winning 3-2. It was exciting to watch such a close scoring game, the audience was on the edge of their seats from start to finish. (25-12, Butler) (25-22 Butler) (21-25, Garden City) (22-25, Garden City) (15-13, Butler).
“We were more alive in the last set, we started to scream and yell more and I think that really helped us”, sophomore Amalia Rupertova said. “We need to improve our passing and be in the match for the full time, not to just go up and down in sets.”
Amalia had 20 kills, 10 digs and six aces for the night, which helped Butler’s triumph over Garden City. Others who helped to secure Butler’s win was sophomore Claudia Hess with 12 kills and one ace, freshman Sydney Mossman with eight kills, two blocks, and one ace and sophomore Erin Goodrum with an outstanding 22 assists, 10 digs, and two aces.
“Some highs of the game is when we came back and won in the fifth set,” Klausmeyer said. “We were down 8-2 in the beginning and came together when we needed to the most. I’m really proud how we did not give up and we were able to finish with a win.”
Butler Grizzlies volleyball is now 4-2 and traveled to Great Bend for the Barton Classic on Friday, Aug 31-Saturday, Sept. 1.