The Butler Volleyball team (10-4) defeated Kent State (3-9) in straight sets on Saturday evening in the final match of the Butler Invitational to finish the weekend 2-1.

Butler started off slow, and was down 6-10 before they took a timeout. It turned out to be changing point, as the Bulldogs would go on to outscore Kent State 19 to six to close out the set by a score of 25-16.

The second set was won in similar fashion. The set was back and forth until the middle stages of the set. With Butler leading 16-15, the Bulldogs would take nine of the next 13 points to close out the set, and take a 2-0 lead going into halftime.

The third set was anything but similar to the first two. The set was close throughout; no team was ever ahead by more than three points. The Bulldogs were faced with set point, but the Golden Flashes had a service error, which tied the score at 24.

This would begin a back and forth in which Butler and Kent State each had four opportunities to put away the set. With Butler leading 31-30, the Bulldogs appeared to win, and began to celebrate on the court. Even the scoreboard keeper had put 32-30 on the scoreboard. But the official made a late call and signaled that the kill by Kent State was in, so the match carried on.

In the end, it was the Bulldogs who were able to win off an ace by sophomore Stephanie Kranda to win the set 34-32 and complete the sweep.

Leading the Bulldogs was sophomore Jadyn Yarling who tallied 13 digs, along with sophomore Kelly Kyle who had 12 digs. Additionally, sophomore Erica Stahl contributed with six blocks, and sophomore Belle Obert led the team with 17 kills.

“I thought we played great defense. We dug more balls than they did, we blocked well, and we were able to transition out and get more kills,” said coach Sharon Clark.

“I think we played a really solid, tough schedule in preseason, and that’s has prepared us to be ready to go in to Dayton and Xavier next weekend and really be ready for them,” Clark said.

The Bulldogs lost to the University of California, Davis three sets to none on Friday evening.

The first set was competitive in the beginning, but the Aggies pulled ahead in the middle stages of the set to a 17-10 lead. The Bulldogs then appeared to be on a late surge; down 15-23 the Bulldogs scored four straight points to force a UC Davis timeout. The Bulldogs were unable to continue the surge, and the Aggies won the first set 25-20.

The second set was also competitive; the Bulldogs took a 9-8 lead to force a UC Davis timeout. The match remained even until the Aggies went on a four-point run to take a 17-14 lead. Butler would not be able to match that rally, and UC Davis won the second set 25-19.

The third set was not as even as the first two. The Bulldogs faced big deficits of 4-10 and 9-17, and were not able to rally as the Aggies won the third set 25-14 to complete the sweep.

Leading the Bulldogs was Yarling who had 22 digs, along with Obert who had 13 kills, and Stahl who had 5 blocks.

In the first match of the invitational, Butler defeated Southeast Missouri State (6-6) three sets to two on Friday afternoon.

The Bulldogs were down two sets to one and faced with elimination. However, they were able to win the final two sets to pull out the victory for their ninth win of the season.

Butler started off the match winning the first set, 25-19, and it looked as though it was going to be a quick match. The Redhawks had different thoughts and would win the next two sets 25-20 and 25-18 to put the Bulldogs on the brink of a loss.

With their back to the wall, coach Sharon Clark made a switch with her outside hitters. The change would prove to be a good one, as Butler would take the fourth set 25-20 to force a winner-take-all fifth set.

In the fifth set, the Bulldogs had to take a quick timeout after trailing early 3-0. Butler was able to rally and would take a 6-5 lead, which they would hold, and eventually close out the set by a score of 15-11.

Leading the Bulldogs was junior Maggie Harbison who had 17 kills, sophomore Erica Stahl who tallied nine blocks, and sophomore Jadyn Yarling had 27 digs. Also contributing was sophomore Belle Obert who had 14 kills and nine digs, along with the help of junior Claire Randich who had six blocks and 12 kills.

The Bulldogs will travel to Dayton on Friday in what will be the first Atlantic 10 Conference match in the history of Butler Athletics. Coach Clark said she is looking forward to the matchup, and believes that the team is ready.

The Butler volleyball team is off to a 6-3 start, and contributing to this record are two new Bulldog faces.

Junior Morgan Peterson and sophomore Erica Stahl are transfer students who have made the transition to the Butler community both on and off the court.

Volleyball coach Sharon Clark said she is very pleased with the additions of Peterson and Stahl.

“They’re phenomenal,” Clark said.  “They are both great additions to the program. They’re great with the team and fit right in.”

Both Peterson and Stahl had different ways of finding out about Butler.

Peterson discovered Butler through a friend who knew a graduate assistant. She attended Middle Tennessee State prior to coming here.

Peterson originally transferred to Butler because of the pharmacy program, not to play volleyball.

“I knew that Butler had a good pharmacy school,” Peterson said.  “I did not know much about the volleyball program.”

Peterson realized that it was a good program and decided to play after talking to Clark and meeting some of the players.

“I really like everything about Butler,” Peterson said. “I like the coaching staff, the players that I met, and I like the campus.”

Clark is also happy with Peterson’s decision to play volleyball at Butler.

“She is serving really aggressively and very physical, and we haven’t had that in a long time,” Clark said.

Peterson was named to the All-Tournament Team at both the DePaul and Pittsburgh Invitationals. Through nine matches, Peterson has tallied 36 kills, 329 assists, 11 aces, 82 digs and 38 blocks.

Stahl was at the University of Cincinnati prior to arriving at Butler.

Butler was Stahl’s second choice when she was making her college decision. Stahl said that Cincinnati and Butler both recruited her to play at their schools.

Stahl, an Indianapolis native, already knew several of her teammates who are also from Indiana.

But Stahl said the ultimate reason to change schools came from her respect for the coaching staff at Butler.

“Honestly, the reason I picked Butler was because of the coaches and because of Sharon (Clark),” Stahl said.

Stahl described her transition to Butler as being easy and smooth, despite having shoulder surgery in the offseason.

Stahl had a great outing at the DePaul Invitational, where she was named to the All-Tournament Team.

“When she gets going, that really changes the game for us,” Clark said.

The middle blocker has played in all 11 matches for the Bulldogs this season, recording over 90 points for the team.

Both Peterson and Stahl expressed their excitement for playing in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

“When I heard about it, I was pumped,” Stahl said. “I know a lot of girls that play on the Dayton team.”

The Bulldogs have finished four consecutive seasons with a winning record.

Peterson and Stahl said they want to continue this level of play, but their ultimate goal as a team is to win the conference.

“It’s going to be tough,” Peterson said. “I do think we have the potential.”

The first A-10 match will be at Dayton on Sept. 21.

In the meantime, the team will continue to mesh and get prepared for its inaugural A-10 season.

“We love having Peterson and Stahl,” Clark said. “They add so much to us. We’re thrilled that they’re here.”

The first major renovation of Hinkle Fieldhouse since the early-1990s is progressing as expected, school officials said.
“Overall, I think it has gone well,” Richard Michal, executive director of facilities, said. “It has been challenging, but we knew it would be getting into it.”
Michal said he views the renovation as two distinct projects: exterior renovation and interior renovation.
Work on the exterior, which has occurred through the summer, is made easily apparent to observers due to scaffolding blanketing the building.
One of the major aspects of the exterior renovation involves Hinkle’s windows.
Michal said the project will replace all the glass and glazing and restore the windows’ original steel frames.
“A lot of the glass is original from 1928,” Michal said. “What we’re hoping to accomplish is to put in a type of glass that won’t require us to have blinds all the time.”
An added complication of the window work lies in the panes, which all need to be custom-cut.
Bruce Arick, Vice President for Finance, said each window has individual panes because there were no standards when Hinkle was built.
The second aspect of the exterior work is the tuckpointing of Hinkle’s bricks and limestone.
This process requires workers to grind away at the old mortar that sits between pieces of brick and limestone so they can spread new mortar.
“There were some of those 103-degree days where (workers) were up on the scaffolding with grinders and, God bless them, they were under the heat,” athletic director Barry Collier said.
Arick and Michal both said the external renovations could not have come at a better time, as some of Hinkle’s exterior had begun to break apart.
In summer 2009, structural issues with the building’s brick façade caused some bricks to fall through the roof of the West Gym. This damage necessitated emergency repairs in fall 2009 and summer 2010.
While the scope of the internal renovations is not set in stone, Collier said he has several plans to improve the athletic and academic experiences of all Butler student-athletes.
The list of potential improvements includes the construction of a student-athlete academic success center, a sports medicine and training room, a new weight room and updated locker rooms.
“We’re talking about the body, mind and spirit of each person being supported in a way that allows them to be positive about their possibilities,” Collier said.
Michal said the infrastructure of Hinkle, which includes telecommunication, power, electricity and water, will also be looked at during the renovation process.
While some plans are still being nailed down, a grant attained by the university in April 2011 keeps the project from changing too much.
The Save America’s Treasures grant, which is administered by the U.S. National Park Service, provides Butler with $700,000 for renovations and comes with strict reporting requirements, Michal said.
Michal said every decision- from paint color to the glass used in the glazing of windows- has to be run by the National Park Service for approval.
The grant will help to offset the cost of almost half of the exterior work, which should cost the university approximately $1.7 million, Arick said.
The amount of money raised by Butler in its ongoing private and soon-to-be-starting public campaign will help determine the final cost of the internal renovations.
“The generosity of our donors allows us to sustain the building and make improvements that otherwise wouldn’t be possible,” Collier said.
Another important factor in the renovations has been the potential for them to hinder Butler’s athletic teams.
Dust, dirt and building materials are visible throughout the fieldhouse, especially in the upper level.
Michal also said that while work on the building’s north, east and south windows is either complete or close to complete, he is concerned about the high windows in the west and the scaffolding occupying some spectator seating.
Volleyball coach Sharon Clark’s team has had to practice in the West Gym until recently. Work is being done on the other side of the gym’s south wall, and drilling can be heard during team workouts.
“It’s been a difficult transition for us this preseason,” Clark said. “Trying to keep (our equipment) and the floor clean has been a big issue.”
Despite this, Clark acknowledged that she felt the renovations were necessary.
“The end result is absolutely better for our current and future student-athletes,” she said.

The new will meet the old this fall as the Butler volleyball team prepares for another season on the court.

The new is the fresh competition the Bulldogs will face in their first season as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Collegian file photo

The old are the four starters returning to the team—junior middle blockers Maggie Harbison and Claire Randich and sophomore outside hitters Kelly Kyle and Belle Obert.

Also returning are sophomores Jadyn Yarling and Brooke Ruffolo, who will share time at the libero position.

Coach Sharon Clark said sophomore middle blocker Erica Stahl, a transfer from Cincinnati, is a player to watch this season for the Bulldogs.

Clark also said she expects the team’s captains, senior outside hitter Rachel Barber and junior setter Morgan Peterson, to rise into key leadership positions.

Peterson, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State, will fill the role of setter for Butler.

Members of the team and coaching staff said they are excited by the new challenges and opportunities they will face in the A-10.

Players said they are eagerly anticipating traveling to new locations and facing both new teams and previously non-conference opponents within the A-10.

Butler was ranked seventh in the A-10 preseason coaches’ poll following last season’s campaign, which saw the Bulldogs go 16-14 overall and 11-5 in Horizon League play.

Defending A-10 Conference champion Dayton was unanimously selected as this year’s preseason favorite to win the conference. Xavier was picked to finish second.

The Midwest contingent of A-10 teams—specifically Dayton, Xavier and Saint Louis—are teams that players and coaches said they are most excited to play.

“Those [matches] have a little more meaning for us personally as we have played those teams in the past,” Clark said. “Because of their location and membership in the A-10, they are built-in rivalry games for us.”

Despite the new conference, Clark said the team’s expectations are the same as they have always been.

“We have been working hard to be the best team we can be this preseason in order for us to play our best,” Clark said.

Clark said she places an emphasis on focusing on each match individually. The team’s goal to win the conference remains the same despite new competition.

The team has been busy in its preparation for the upcoming season and, with a short turnaround, has wasted no time in scouting its new competition.

Coaches assigned each player an A-10 team to scout and introduce to the rest of the Bulldogs, focusing on everything from style of play and last season’s results to school locations and mascots.

Ruffolo said she feels Butler has an advantage because some A-10 schools have not faced Butler in the past.

“My personal goal for this season is just to wow everyone,” Ruffolo said. “I don’t think teams expect a lot out of us, and we want to prove them wrong.”

The Bulldogs have their first chance to do so this Friday at the DePaul Invitational, with matches against Indiana State, Eastern Illinois and host DePaul.

The team will play its first home match on Sept. 7 against Western Illinois as it hosts the annual Butler Classic.

Coaches of athletic teams are hired to provide leadership and usher in success at all levels of sport.

They are expected to help athletes improve at their respective sports while also instilling real-world values in them.

Photo courtesy of MCT

Not all coaches do their job the same way, though.

For example, some coaches like to spend time talking to the media, and others do not.

A coach talking to the media is a typical experience in the sporting world. However, some coaches go too far and become the focal point of their teams.

This should rarely be the case, and most coaches do a great job at shunning attention.

Ozzie Guillen, the manager of MLB’s Miami Marlins, does not fall into this category.

Guillen ignited a firestorm in his new city—he was formerly the coach of the Chicago White Sox—by saying he loves former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Florida boasts a large Cuban-American population that hates Castro and is now asking for Guillen’s head.

Through this, Guillen has burdened his teams and caused them to worry about something other than the game itself. This is not what a good coach is supposed to do.

John Tortorella, the manager of the NHL’s New York Rangers, also consistently brings negative heat upon his team, because he cannot keep his mouth shut.

Tortorella was fined $20,000 last Saturday for criticizing members of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tortorella has brought undue negative attention to a team that was at the top of its game for most of the recently completed regular season.

Just because he feels the need to sound off publicly about issues does not mean he should do it, especially when it can only cause problems for those who he is supposed to be leading and helping.

We get laughs out of coaching rants from the likes of Guillen and Tortorella, but they serve no legitimate purpose because they are not meant to help anyone or fix anything.

Sometimes a coach becoming the focal point of his or her team has some merit.

For example, Stan Van Gundy, the coach of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, recently went public about one of his players apparently trying to get him fired.

That said, Butler sports fans should consider themselves lucky—they do not have to deal with coaches who have overbearing egos and large mouths.

Men’s basketball coach Brad Stevens always directs attention away from himself, as do Butler’s other coaches.

Baseball coach Steve Farley, tennis coach Jason Suscha and volleyball coach Sharon Clark—the three longest tenured Butler coaches—have all achieved success without blabbing to the media.

Quiet coaches in sports can be a blessing in disguise.

Hopefully, Guillen and Tortorella can figure this out in the near future.

In recent weeks, reports from ESPN and CBS led many to believe that Butler may switch athletic conferences within the next few years.

Butler could make the transition from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 conference and replace departing Temple.

The Owls of Temple are currently part of the A-10 in all sports except football.

For football, Temple is an associate member of the Mid-American Conference.

Temple is joining the Big East next season for football and all other sports the following year.

According to reports, Butler may likely be the team to fill the spot left by Temple in the A-10.

Butler would bring all of its athletic teams to the A-10 except for football, which is a member of the Pioneer Football League.

The change would go into effect beginning with the 2013-2014 school year.

Other schools that ESPN and CBS consider to be candidates for filling the A-10 vacancy are Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason.

If the crossover is made, Butler would be the second-smallest university in the league.

Butler would have more students than only St. Bonaventure, which has an enrollment of approximately 2,400.

Butler’s athletic programs would compete against schools with more than 20,000 students, such as Charlotte, George Washington University and the Massachusetts.

However, most of the schools in the A-10 have between 6,000 and 15,000 students.

The Butler athletics department declined to comment on conference affiliation or changes, other than Associate Athletic Director Jim McGrath saying that “we are members of the Horizon League.”

The move would likely benefit Butler’s men’s basketball team, which competed in back-to-back NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011.

This season, the A-10 placed four teams in the NCAA tournament—Xavier, St. Bonaventure, Temple and Saint Louis. The Horizon League sent only Detroit to the Big Dance.

The Bulldogs would see an increase in competition and would have a traditional conference rival in Xavier.

Senior guard Rotnei Clarke has experience playing in a collegiate athletic conference more prominent than the Horizon League.

Clarke transferred from Arkansas—a member of the Southeastern Conference—last year and sat out this season with a year of eligibility remaining.

“It’s a cool thing being able to play in a power conference,” Clarke said.

The A-10 is not nearly as big as the SEC, but the A-10 tends to draw more attention from major media outlets—specifically ESPN—than the Horizon League.

Clarke said the media exposure he experienced during his time in the SEC was a good experience.

Clarke will graduate from Butler prior to any of Butler’s teams competing in A-10 play, but he said he thinks the men’s basketball team would still measure up in the new conference if they moved.

“I feel like we would compete in the A-10 for sure. No doubt about it,” Clarke said.

Like the men’s basketball team, the other squads would see an increase in competition but not necessarily unfamiliar opponents.

Men’s basketball, women’s soccer, baseball, men’s tennis and women’s tennis all played or will already play at least one A-10 team during this academic school year.

Baseball coach Steve Farley said both Xavier and Dayton, two teams from the A-10 that Butler has faced or will face this season, were in the conference when he took his current job more than 20 years ago.

Farley  also said he would be OK with the new competition, but he is wary of the way the conference is spread out.

“Fifteen-hour bus rides to places like Massachusetts, Rhode Island and upstate New York don’t excite me that much,” Farley said.

Volleyball coach Sharon Clark said she is not familiar with the A-10 but thinks it would be a little tougher from a traveling aspect as well.

As for football, scholarships are available for players in the A-10 but not in the PFL.

Reports indicate that if Butler jumped to the A-10, its football team would remain in the PFL.

Senior middle blocker Maureen Bamiro ended her career at Hinkle Fieldhouse the same way she began it—with a bang.

Every set in Butler’s 3-0 win over Illinois-Chicago Saturday began and ended with a point from Bamiro, the lone senior Bulldog, including the match-clinching kill. Bamiro has started every match since her sophomore season and 118 of 121 overall.

The match was Butler’s (12-13, 8-5) second consecutive win and last home match of the season. The Bulldogs defeated the Flames (14-11, 7-6) 25-21, 25-10 and 25-23.

Bamiro, who is fourth in Butler history with a .269 career hitting percentage and ninth in blocks per set and all-time block assists, was honored during a break between the second and third sets in front of a crowd of 280.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling, but I’m content being done,” Bamiro said. “In my four years here, I’ve accomplished so much. That fulfillment is enough for me.”

Last season, the Bulldogs were crowned Horizon League champions with a conference record of 14-3 and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second time in school history.

This year, a late-season surge has catapulted Butler to a third-place tie with Valparaiso in the Horizon League standings. The Bulldogs won seven of their last eight games, including a 3-1 win over the Crusaders Friday.

Following Saturday’s win against UIC, Butler coach Sharon Clark recognized the impact that Bamiro has had on the program over the past four years.

“She has been a dominant middle her entire career,” Clark said. “The biggest thing that she does is she shows people how to work hard. She has a great work ethic in the gym and has really shown the younger players how much hard work will pay off for them.”

Now the Bulldogs are focused on closing out the regular season and excelling in the Horizon League tournament, which begins Nov. 18.

“The biggest thing for us is consistency—going after teams and being the aggressor,” Clark said. “We’ve got to continue to do that, and things will keep going our way.”

Butler will face off against Wisconsin-Green Bay tomorrow and Loyola Saturday.

The Bulldogs defeated the Phoenix (10-14, 6-6) and Ramblers (4-18, 1-11) once each time this season.

Facing a team on a 10-match winning streak is problem enough for many volleyball teams.

When the Butler volleyball team was handed that scenario on Saturday with a match against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Bulldogs had to deal with an unanticipated problem as well.

“We were really dead,” sophomore outside hitter Maggie Harbison said.

The lack of energy exerted by the Bulldogs (10-13, 6-5) combined with strong play by the visiting Panthers (18-4, 11-0) pushed Milwaukee past Butler in three sets.

The victory allowed the Panthers to remain undefeated in Horizon League action.

“Milwaukee is good, but they aren’t that good,” Butler coach Sharon Clark said. “We didn’t play very well, and it’s disappointing.”

Milwaukee scored the first four points in the opening set to create a gap that Butler was never able to close.

The Panthers put together multiple point streaks behind their .371 hitting percentage and topped the Bulldogs in kills 17-10.

Statistical domination translated to a 25-17 first-set victory for Milwaukee.

The second set saw the Bulldogs tally five points in six serves to pull to 15-14.

The Panthers responded quickly however, putting together a five-point streak and pushing their lead to 21-15.

Milwaukee closed out the set moments later, winning 25-19.

Photo by Taylor Cox

The Bulldogs picked up their first lead of the match by grabbing an early 2-1 advantage in the third set.

Butler led late in the set 21-20 before Milwaukee made a final push to capture a 25-23 win and 3-0 match victory.

“You need to have a match where you lose sometimes,” Harbison said. “Hopefully it’ll wake us up.”

Freshman outside hitter Belle Obert had seven kills and 11 digs for the Bulldogs, freshman outside hitter Kelly Kyle had a team-high 10 kills and freshman libero Brooke Ruffolo added a team-high 19 digs.

Butler will welcome Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago to Hinkle Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday for two more conference matches.

“We need to practice and work hard this week,” Clark said.

Inexperience and a low hitting percentage sent the Butler volleyball team to a 3-0 defeat Monday night against North Dakota State.

Butler coach Sharon Clark said it has been a growing year for the young team that includes six freshmen. She said this inexperience added to the Bulldogs’ 20 attack errors in the match.

“We have erred ourselves out of games this year,” Clark said, “but we’re looking at getting better in each game.”

The Bulldogs (5-10, 1-2) had a slow first two sets and ended the match with a .087 hitting percentage, a far cry from the .288 hitting percentage of the Bison (10-6).

Photo by Taylor Cox

Freshman middle back Stephanie Kranda had a strong first set for Butler. She ended the match with a team-high nine kills.

“[Kranda] is by far the ultimate utility player,” Clark said. “As she gets better playing at this level, she’ll really be a valuable weapon for us.”

The momentum was ultimately not in the Bulldogs’ favor, however, with the Bison taking the first set 25-18.

Butler sophomore middle back Claire Randich started off the second set with a kill, followed by a series of long volleys.

The two teams traded points until back-to-back kills by the Bison put them ahead 9-5.

The kills began a streak of 11 unanswered points by the Bison that ended when the Bulldogs scored on an error.

“Those long rallies are always energizing but also deflating whenever you come out on the short end of it,” Clark said.

Junior setter Gina Vera said the team tried to regroup between the second and third sets and focus on moving around the floor more quickly.

The third set started off tighter with kills by Kranda and senior middle back Maureen Bamiro.

The teams were neck and neck early in the set and tied at 15-15 following a kill by Bamiro.

They continued trading points, but the Bison pulled ahead and won the set 25-19.

The Bulldogs also fell 3-0 Friday against Milwaukee. The Panthers (11-4, 4-0) recorded a hitting percentage of .317, pushing them past the error-prone Bulldogs in three sets (25-23, 25-15, 25-14).

Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Harbison led the Bulldogs with six kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Freshman outside hitter Kelly Kyle had a team-high nine kills and five digs in the loss.

Butler will hit the road this weekend, taking on conference opponents Illinois-Chicago Friday and Valparaiso Saturday.

Since arriving at Butler last month, Brooke Ruffolo has made everything look easy.

The freshman from Farmington Hills, Mich. immediately became the Bulldogs’ starting libero this season. In that role, she has played in every one of Butler’s 13 matches and 47 sets and leads the team in hitting percentage (.400) and digs (173).

The best part: Ruffolo is a walk-on player.

“I have a good work ethic, and I know what the coaches expected of me,” Ruffolo said. “It’s an honor to be a freshman walk-on and starting. I’m really lucky.”

Luck might not have as much to do with it as sheer ability and talent.

Photo by Taylor Cox

The nine-year player became serious about volleyball during the offseason of her junior year of high school.

After deciding that she indeed wanted to play the game at the collegiate level, Ruffolo starting winning awards and getting phone calls from multiple colleges.

One of those colleges, of course, was Butler.

“The coaches [at Butler] contacted me during a tournament, and I fell in love with the campus,” Ruffolo said. “The girls are very nice, and it was a perfect fit for me.”

Ruffolo has proved to be a perfect fit for Butler volleyball coach Sharon Clark’s team as well.

“[Ruffolo] has worked and competed hard for the starting libero spot,” Clark said. “She’s done a great job for us this year.”

Ruffolo said she can not only help the team with strong performances but also acquire a scholarship to help offset some of the cost of college.

“I hope there is a scholarship for me in the future,” Ruffolo said. “If I’m doing my job for the team, I don’t see why there can’t be.”

While Ruffolo’s work in the first 13 matches of this season has been impressive, she said she must keep working if there is any chance for her to attain a scholarship.

“I need to keep doing what I’m doing now,” Ruffolo said. “I need to scout opponents, get stronger and try to get better during practice.”

Ruffolo said that she hasn’t been treated any differently on the team because she is a walk-on, and Clark admits that she does not use the term walk-on.

This bodes well for a squad that is likely to return nearly all of its players, excluding lone senior Maureen Bamiro.

“Maureen [Bamiro] does a good job leading, and the juniors have stepped up, too,” Ruffolo said. “We all mesh well, and we’re optimistic about the future.”

Ruffolo, who is studying pre-med at Butler, said she expects to “do her own thing” after college. Even if that does not include volleyball, she said she knows she will be better off for competing at the college level.

“It will be a great experience,” Ruffolo said.