The Butler Volleyball team (15-11, 5-7) defeated La Salle (4-24, 0-12) in straight sets for its third straight win.
The first set was even in the beginning stages. Butler took a 11-10 lead to force a La Salle timeout, and then took four of the next five to take a 15-11 lead. The Bulldogs went on a four point run later in the set to bring the score to 20-14, and force and Explorer timeout. The Bulldogs closed out the set off a kill by Morgan Peterson.
The Bulldogs nearly held the Explorers to single digits as Butler dominated the entire second set to take a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.
Butler was down 2-5 early in the second set, but the Bulldogs fought back to tie it at five. Later, Butler took seven straight capped by two aces by Stephanie Kranda, and La Salle called a timeout. Butler again went on a run, taking six of seven to force another Explorer timeout. The Bulldogs then outscored La Salle five to three to finish the set and complete the sweep.
“I think serving tonight was great for us” said Sharon Clark, head coach of the Bulldogs. “We did a terrific job of serving really aggressively and the girls did a good job and stuck to it.”
Leading the Bulldogs was Morgan Peterson, who had nine kills, Erica Stahl added six blocks, and Brooke Ruffolo tallied eight digs.
Vs. Temple
The Butler Volleyball team (16-11, 6-7) defeated Temple (17-10, 7-6) three sets to one for their fourth straight win.
Butler started off the first set hot, taking an early 10-5 lead to force a Temple timeout. The Bulldogs continued their dominance out of the timeout, taking nine of 14 to force another Temple timeout. Butler finished out the set with a three point run, capped by an ace by Brooke Ruffolo.
Butler again took an early 9-4 lead before the Owls called a timeout. Butler held a comfortable lead for the rest of the set, and took a 2-0 lead into halftime following a kill by Claire Randich.
In the third set, it was the Owls who took an early 10-5 lead, and later a 13-6 lead to force a Butler timeout. Temple extended their lead to 20-13, and the Butler then called a timeout. The Bulldogs came out of the timeout with a three-point run, and the Owls called a timeout. Butler could not continue their run, as the Owls took the third set 25-20.
Butler dominated the entire fourth set, and held Temple to only eight points. The Bulldogs took 11 of the last 15 points in the set.
Leading the Bulldogs was Maggie Harbison who had 16 kills, Brooke Ruffolo had 19 digs, and Claire Randich and Erica Stahl each added seven blocks.
Butler will have their season finale against Saint Louis on Saturday at 5:00. Butler lost a tough match in St. Louis in early October.
“Our goal is to finish on a win, to finish the conference with two,” Clark said.
