Butler University Athletics

Butler Volleyball Set for the 2025 Season

8/25/2025 9:16:00 AM | By: Nick Laudano

Third-year head coach Kyle Shondell will have nine returning student-athletes from last year's team to help the Dawgs compete on the court during 2025. Rylie Tam is the lone senior on this year's team. Shondell has brought in four freshmen and one transfer. Sophomore Ellery Rees played last season at the University of Alabama. Rees appeared in 41 sets and collected 73 kills and 24 blocks during her freshman season.

"This is the closest group we have had in 3 years. The team is really enjoying each other on and off the court," Shondell noted. Additionally, Shondell and coaching staff is "excited to see this young team mature throughout the season."

The 2024 Bulldog leader in kills, Elise Ward is back for her junior season. Ward finished with 232 kills last season. Alaleh Tolliver, who tallied 190 kills during the 2024 season is back for her sophomore season. Tolliver, Ward, freshman Maria Nix, and freshman Ellie Barker are the Dawgs Outside Hitters. This foursome will look to provide a ton of scoring for Butler this season.

"Defense will be this team's calling card," Shondell said. Lauren Evans, Jersey Loyer, and Aesha Vogt will be the Defensive Specialists for the 2025 Bulldogs. Evans and Loyer each played in over 90% of the Dawgs matches in 2024 and Lauren Evans finished the 2024 season with 270 digs and 2.81 per set, which both lead the Dawgs in 2024. Jersey Loyer was also a big contributor to the Dawgs defense in 2024, she tallied 204 digs last season. Evans, Loyer, and Vogt are all sophomores returning to Butler for their second season. Zoe McDonald, Carly Slusser, and Ellery Rees are slated to be the Middle Blockers for the Dawgs.

Kaylee Finnegan, who is back for her Junior season and freshman Sarah Kempf are the two listed Setters for the Dawgs in 2025. During 2024, Finnegan was second on the team in assists per set with 3. Kaylee will look to have a more prominent role in 2025.

Another factor that has coach Kyle Shondell excited for the 2025 season is "Our student-athletes here want to build Butler Volleyball," he shared.

Butler will begin their season by hosting the Big Dawg Kickoff. The Bulldogs will play three matches in two days at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Friday August 29th Butler opens their season with two matches. At 12pm ET Butler will take on Evansville, where admission will be free. Then at 7pm ET on the 29th the Dawgs will take on Purdue Fort Wayne. Saturday August 30th, Butler will wrap up their first weekend of the season and play Middle Tennessee State at 5pm ET.

Butler will begin BIG EAST conference play September 24th where they will take on Xaiver in Cincinnati.

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