The Butler volleyball team is preparing to take on its next conference opponent, Saint Louis, after going 1-1 on the weekend and earning its first-ever Atlantic 10 conference win.

The Billikens (5-13, 0-4) are coming off a 15-12 record last year and a loss in the second round of the A-10 tournament to Xavier.

Saint Louis took back-to-back five-set losses against Duquesne and George Washington on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Butler (11-7, 1-3) fell to Duquesne (15-5, 4-0) three sets to one on Saturday night.

The Bulldogs won the first set by a score of 25-23, using multiple-point runs throughout the match to pull out the win.

The second set was similar to the first, except it was the Dukes who had success toward the end of the set.

With Butler leading 21-17, Duquesne would go on to take eight of the next 10 points to close out the set and send the teams into the third set tied.

In that set, the Bulldogs got into an 11-4 deficit, and were never able to recover. The Dukes won the third set 25-17 to put the Bulldogs on the brink of defeat.

With the score 15-15 in the fourth set, the Dukes rallied and went on a four point streak.

A few points later Butler senior Rachel Barber seemed to have a kill that was tipped by a Duquesne player. The officials ruled that it wasn’t tipped, to the dismay of the Bulldogs, and the Dukes then followed with an ace to force a Butler timeout.

Duquesne would eventually close out the set 25-19.

Junior Maggie Harbison led the Bulldogs with 15 kills, sophomore Brooke Ruffolo tallied 15 digs and junior Morgan Peterson and sophomore Erica Stahl each had four blocks.

The Bulldogs defeated George Washington (4-12, 1-2) three sets to none in Butler’s first home conference match of the season last Friday.

The Bulldogs came out strong and dominated the first set, winning by a score of 25-16.

Both teams traded for the lead several times in the second set. With Butler leading 21-20, Harbison served an ace to force a George Washington timeout.

The Colonials would bring the game to within one point again, but the Bulldogs took three of the next four points to close the set 25-22.

“It’s always great momentum to go in 2-0,” coach Sharon Clark said. “We worked on being aggressive throughout the match, and we had a few errors with that, but I’ll take that as long as we stay aggressive.”

In the third set, the Bulldogs started quickly. With Butler leading 21-16, George Washington would rally to cut the lead to one and force a Butler timeout.

Sophomore Belle Obert hit two kills to set up match point, and the Bulldogs got the win with a block by sophomores Stephanie Kranda and Stahl.

Clark said earning a victory in the second set was huge.

Clark also said that the crowd played a factor in the team’s victory.

“(The crowd) always helps,” Clark said. “The energy, the excitement about playing at home, that first conference match, we kind of ran with that, and that was great for us.”

Obert led the Bulldogs with 16 kills, junior Claire Randich had nine blocks, and Ruffolo had 18 digs.

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.

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.