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INDIANAPOLIS – The Butler Bulldogs will face the Xavier Musketeers in the first round of the 2022 BIG EAST Championship Volleyball Tournament. Butler will play as the No. 6 seed on Wednesday and Xavier is in the postseason as the No. 3 seed. All five matches will be held at DJ Sokol Arena in Omaha, Neb. The Bulldog match starts at 5 PM.
 
Bulldog Bits
- Jaymeson Kinley is just 15 digs away from breaking her own single-season school record of 610 digs.
- Kinley had a team-high 30 digs in her last match.
- Cora Taylor (33 assists and 10 digs) recorded a double-double last time out against UConn.
- Taylor ranks fifth in assists per set (9.34) in the BIG EAST. 
- Butler leads the BIG EAST in blocks per set (2.37) and third in opponent hitting percentage (.193).
- Marisa Guisti leads the conference in blocks per set (1.15) and Kinley leads all BIG EAST players in digs per set (5.42).
- Mariah Grunze ranks eighth in the BIG EAST in kills per set (3.32) and second in attacks per set (10.61).
- Grunze posted a team-high 16 kills and 17 digs in the five-set match vs. UConn.
- There were 46 ties and 19 lead changes between Butler and UConn.
- The Bulldogs needed 24 points in the fifth set to defeat the Huskies.
- Brooklyne Darby delivered three aces in Butler's last match.
- Butler is 3-2 this year in five-set matches.
- The Bulldogs had a 14-7 advantage in blocks vs. Xavier earlier this season.
- The Bulldogs head into the postseason on a three-match win streak.
- Butler is 3-1 this season when playing at a neutral site.
 
SCOUTING XAVIER: The Musketeers earned the #3 seed in the conference tournament with an 11-7 BIG EAST record. They ended the regular season with road losses to Marquette (3-1) and DePaul (3-2). Xavier is 3-5 this year against the tournament field. They swept St. John's and added a victory against Butler in Cincinnati. Brooklyn Cink leads the team in kills (362 / 3.42 per set) and Carrigan O'Reilly sets up the action. Head Coach Christy Pfeffenberger has been at Xavier for eight seasons. Pfeffenberger is from Indianapolis and played collegiately at Dayton.
 
Carrigan O'Reilly has recorded two triple-doubles this season. She posted 15 kills, 25 assists and 15 digs vs. Cleveland State and had 11 kills, 58 assists and 16 digs vs. Cincinnati.
 
BUTLER AT XAVIER (OCT. 2): Butler won the first two sets at Xavier, but were upended 3-2 at the Cintas Center (25-21, 26-24, 21-25, 19-25, 11-15). Amina Shackelford was the team leader in kills with 18. Brooklyn Cink matched that effort with 18 for Xavier. Cora Taylor had a double-double for BU with 47 assists and 15 digs. Carrigan O'Reilly was equally as impressive with 55 assists and 20 digs.
 
Jaymeson Kinley's 42 digs at Xavier were the second most in a single match by a Butler player in program history (45 by Jessica Taylor vs. UIC, Sept. 12, 1989).
 
TOURNAMENT FIELD: Marquette defeated Creighton to earn the No. 1 seed in the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship Tournament. The Bluejays took the No. 2 seed with the setback. Each program will get an automatic bye into the semifinal round. On Wednesday, No. 4 seed St. John's will play No. 5 seed UConn at 2 PM. No. 3 seed Xavier will play Butler at 5 PM. The winner of game one will play Marquette on Friday at 5 PM. The winner of the BU and Xavier match will face Creighton at 8 PM.
 
This is Butler's first BIG EAST Tournament appearance since 2017. Butler went 23-8 overall that year with a 13-5 mark against conference foes. They lost 3-1 in the postseason to Marquette in Milwaukee.
 
WHERE TO WATCH: The first round and semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament will stream on the BIG EAST Digital Network. The championship can be viewed on FS2.
 
First round action begins on Wednesday, Nov. 23. The Semifinals are set for Friday and the Final will follow on Saturday.
 
TOURNAMENT TALK: Since joining the BIG EAST in 2013, Butler has made the conference tournament field two times. They were the No. 4 seed in 2013 and lost 3-1 vs. Marquette in Omaha. They played as the No. 3 seed in 2017 when they lost at Marquette.
 
Butler's last conference tournament win came in 2011 when they beat Green Bay 3-1 as members of the Horizon League. Their last conference tournament title came in 2010.
 
REWRITE THE RECORD BOOK: Jaymeson Kinley set a school record last year with 610 digs in a single-season. She has 596 this year and is on pace to break her own record. Kinley averages 5.42 digs per set.
 
Kinley has 1,432 career digs at Butler. She ranks 8th all-time at BU and needs just five digs to move into seventh.
 
BIG EAST LEADER: Jaymeson Kinley leads the BIG EAST Conference and ranks 10th in the NCAA in digs per set (5.42).
 
Kinley has posted 20 or more digs in 16 matches this season.
 
BULLDOGS CAN BLOCK: Marisa Guisti and Amina Shackelford lead the Bulldogs at the net. Guisti has a team-high 106 total blocks and Shackelford is second on the team with 100.
 
Guisti had eight blocks vs. Xavier in the first meeting. Her season-high came early in the year vs. Akron (9).
 
NEW LOOK: This is the first year for the BIG EAST to expand the tournament field to six teams. Previously, only the top four teams in the conference standings would reach the postseason.
 
November's Championship will mark the sixth BIG EAST Volleyball Championship hosted by reigning BIG EAST Champions, Creighton. In 2021, the Creighton Bluejays swept Marquette to claim their seventh BIG EAST title in eight years.
 
UP NEXT: A Butler win would set up a match against host Creighton. That game would be played on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8 PM.
 
Creighton swept Butler in Omaha 3-0. That was the only meeting between the two programs this season.
 
TICKETS: Single-match tickets for all rounds can be purchased by clicking here.