QUEENS, N.Y. – The Butler volleyball team put the finishing touches on a successful regular season by defeating the St. John's Red Strom in five sets (26-28, 25-14, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13). The Bulldogs went 13-5 against conference opponents this year and reached 23 total wins with the victory on Saturday.
Brooke Gregory played great for BU on Saturday by posting a team-high 18 kills off 48 swings. She only made one attack error to end the match with a .354 attack percentage. She was one of three Bulldogs to take 20 attempts or more and end the contest with a hitting percentage over .300.
Bri Lilly notched 14 kills, hitting at a .370 clip and
Rachel Klitzing torched the Red Storm with 12 kills and a team-best .381 attack percentage.
The Bulldogs also got great effort out of their seniors
Makayla Ferguson and
Whitney Beck. Ferguson set the tone with 57 assists, 11 digs, six kills, four blocks and three service aces. Beck was in the box score with 12 kills, 15 digs, three assists, two blocks and an ace.
Taylor Takeda would once again lead the team in digs with 17. The final piece of the puzzle was freshman
Natalie Ravenell who posted nine kills and eight digs.
Action in the opening set was tight from start to finish. The two clubs came together at 26-26 and Danisha Moss would push STJ to set point with a kill off an Erica Di Maulo assist. Moss and Di Maulo would follow up with a team block to give the home team a 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs got back to work in set two and cruised to a 25-14 victory. Ravenell's serve helped Butler score four points towards the tail end of the match and a final kill from Beck would even the scoreboard at 1-1.
Butler would move forward to win the pivotal third set 25-23. Klitzing would come up big to break a 22-22 tie with a kill and an attack error from St. John's would push BU to set point. St. John's stayed alive with a kill from Kayley Wood, but the Bulldogs would prevail after a kill from Lilly.
The match would roll along to a fifth set after St. John's scored the final four points of the fourth. Wood broke a 21-21 tie for STJ and Hanna Wagner's serve would knot the contest at 2-2. Jordan McCalla had two big kills around BU timeouts and Moss would finish off Butler 25-21.
The fifth set was a wild one with the home team coming out of the gates with a 5-2 lead. Butler would call a timeout and climb back within two points at 8-6. The game would come together at 10-10 and the Bulldogs would make their final adjustments to win the match 15-13. A total team effort lifted Butler to victory as Ravenell, Beck, Lilly and Gregory all recorded kills in crunch time. Gregory was credited with the game-winner off a feed from Ferguson.
Butler clinched a BIG EAST Tournament berth last night with their win at Seton Hall. The Bulldogs will play as the No. 3 seed in the postseason and face the No. 2 seed Marquette Golden Eagles on their home floor. Full tournament details will be available on ButlerSports.com in the coming days.
