Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It took all five sets to determine a winner between Butler and Georgetown on Saturday afternoon (25-20, 24-26, 26-24, 22-25, 15-6). After a back and forth battle through the opening four sets, Butler settled in to dominate the fifth 15-6 to earn the 3-2 victory.
 
Butler's 18th win of the regular season was highlighted by a near triple-double from setter Makayla Ferguson. The junior went off against the Hoyas to record 51 assists, 11 digs, eight kills and six blocks. Ferguson split the work load evenly between Anna Logan and Whitney Beck. Logan led the team with 21 kills, hitting .352 on 54 attempts. Beck was equally as impactful with 19 kills on 45 swings for a .356 attack percentage.
 
With Logan and Beck taking care of the offense, Head Coach Sharon Clark once again leaned heavily on libero Taylor Takeda to help steer the defense. Takeda was all over the court to record a team-high 21 digs in the match. Teammate Christina Porada was also excellent defensively with 13 digs and zero receiving errors.
 
Team stats down the line were even, but the Bulldogs were able to separate themselves today by their high attack percentage and at the net with team blocks. BU hit .333 as a team compared to just .225 from the Hoyas. Team blocks were also lopsided with BU coming up with 14 compared to just five from Georgetown.
 
Competition opened up with Butler in control of the first set. The 'Dawgs led 15-10 near the midway point, but a GU scoring run would cut that deficit to a single point at 20-19. With the game on the line, Georgetown's Caitlin Brauneis sent her serve into the net to give BU a two-point edge and an attack error would follow to increase the BU cushion to 22-19. Beck came up with two key kills from Ferguson in the closing moments and BU would jump in front 1-0.
 
Set two would go the other way with Georgetown taking a 26-24 victory to knot the match at 1-1. The Hoyas led a majority of the way before Butler's comeback would tie the score at 24-24. BU went on a 3-0 scoring run to deny Georgetown of set point, but a kill from Alyssa Sinnette combined with an attack error from BU finished the set 26-24 in favor of the home team.
 
That same score would be used for set three, but this time Butler would come out on top. The 'Dawgs opened up an early 6-1 lead, but would be pulled in at 15-15. Neither team would be able to separate the rest of the way as the score reminded tied at 24-24. Beck broke the tie to get BU to set point and came back with yet another kill off a Ferguson assist to help Butler go up 2-1 in the match.
 
The Hoyas wouldn't go down without a fight as they forced a decisive fifth set by taking the fourth 25-22. The Bulldogs got within a point at 21-20, but back-to-back attack errors would give Georgetown an edge. Beck was once again a driving force for BU in crunch time, but Alyssa Sinnette would be too much to overcome leading to the three-point win.
 
The Bulldogs needed a win on Saturday to keep their tournament chances alive and it showed in the fifth. BU doubled up Georgetown early at 6-3 and it would roll into a 10-5 lead. Georgetown's only point in crunch time was off a BU service error as Butler dominated the late stages of the contest to record their seventh conference win of the year.
 
Butler will return to action tomorrow with a road match at Villanova. A win would send the team to .500 in the conference and put the team just one victory shy of the 20-win plateau.