Breanna Reisinger and Morgan Jack, players who helped to lead the Butler County Community College volleyball squad to conference, regional and district titles and to a national championships appearance in Minnesota, are the first teammates in program history to be named All-Americans following the same season. “This,” BC3 coach Rob Snyder said, “is unprecedented for the program.”
The National Junior College Athletic Association has selected the outsider hitter and the setter to receive the prestigious postseason award following a season in which BC3 placed sixth in the Division III national championships in Rochester, Minn., on Nov. 13. Reisinger is graduate of Lincoln High School in Ellwood City and Jack, a graduate of Knoch.
BC3’s volleyball program now has nine NJCAA Division III All-Americans. Reisinger is the first to be selected as a first-team All-American. Eight players have been chosen as honorable-mention All-Americans since 1999, most recently Jack.
Reisinger led the Pioneers with 205 kills and Jack, with 635 assists. BC3 finished 18-3 and with its first berth in the national championships since 2009.
“What I spent a lot of time talking to the players about over the past couple of weeks when we were starting to get a lot of individual awards is that all volleyball awards are team awards,” Snyder said. “There’s literally no way to do it without the team being good. I think that’s a big part of it, how far we went and how successful we were.”
The NJCAA has also announced a postseason all-region first team that includes Reisinger, Jack, Aslyn Pry and Lainey Tobolewski. Pry is a middle hitter and graduate of Moniteau, and Tobolewski, a libero and graduate of Seneca Valley.
Teammates “like best friends on the court”
The Pioneers “were like best friends on the court,” Reisinger said. “Volleyball is always going to be about chemistry so that we can read each other and understand what is happening in the game. We had Lainey. She had so many digs. Aslyn is a great middle and Morgan contributed to everything.”
The All-American awards are “a group celebration,” Jack said. “I think it shows that the whole team worked toward this and everyone should celebrate it, not just Breanna and I. … Everyone gave it their all, and it just turned out great.”
The Pioneers compete in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference in the regular season and in the NJCAA Division III Region 20 in the postseason. BC3 won the WPCC, Region 20 and Mid-Atlantic District B championships in October.
Reisinger, Jack, Pry and Tobolewski were also selected to the WPCC all-conference team after the Pioneers won their WPCC-record sixth conference title in a row Oct. 16.
Reisinger was named most valuable player and Jack, Pry and Tobolewski to the Region 20 all-tournament team in Arnold, Md., after BC3 won its third consecutive regional crown Oct. 23.
The Pioneers won the Mid-Atlantic District B championship Oct. 30.
Pry was also named to the NJCAA Division III all-tournament team following the national championships in Minnesota and as the Region 20 player of the month for October. She led the Pioneers in 2021 in blocks with 27 and was second in kills with 199.
Tobolewski led BC3 with 472 digs.
BC3 All-American awards reach 29
The NJCAA chose 30 first- or second-team, or honorable-mention All-Americans from 22 programs in Division III. BC3 was one of seven programs to have multiple All-Americans.
Twenty-five BC3 student-athletes have earned a total of 29 All-American awards since 1970. BC3 has had four first-team All-Americans, nine second-team All-Americans, two third-team All-Americans and 14 honorable-mention All-Americans.
Reisinger is the first first-team All-American in 18 years, and follows men’s basketball players Nathaniel McCoy in 2003, Joe Lewandowski in 1995 and Hal Koenemund in 1994.
Jack joins Mackenzie Craig in 2018, Brittney Bianco in 2017, Danielle Lloyd in 2011, Sarah Beals in 2010, Megan Smith in 2003 and in 2002, and Missy Haney in 1999 as BC3 volleyball honorable-mention All-Americans.
Other BC3 teammates to be named All-Americans following the same season were golfers Thomas Dimun and Stefan Carlsson in 2015, and men’s basketball players McCoy and Jason Kneidinger in 2003 and Jerry Noll and Kevin Dill in 1996.
BC3 student-athletes have received All-American awards in cross-country, golf, men’s basketball, softball, volleyball and women’s basketball since 1970. Bob Wilson in cross-country, Smith in volleyball, Carlsson in golf, and Craig in volleyball and in women’s basketball, were twice named All-Americans.
Other NJCAA Division III first-team All-Americans selected after the 2021 season were players from programs in Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.
Other NJCAA Division III honorable-mention All-Americans were players from programs in Massachusetts, New York and Texas.
Snyder in September won his 400th career game as BC3’s coach. The Pioneers finished with the program’s 12th consecutive winning season.
Hi. Jason Kneidinger here.
Just want to clear up an error in the report. I was a Baseball player. Not a basketball player