BC3 Volleyball Team Finishes 6th Overall In National Championships

The Butler County Community College volleyball team finished the 2021 season with the program’s 12th consecutive winning record and first national ranking since 2016, titles in its conference, region and district, and a sixth-place finish in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III championships in Rochester, Minn., on Saturday.

The Pioneers entered the NJCAA Division III championships at 16-1. They finished 2-2 in the 12-team tournament after a loss Saturday afternoon to Central Lakes College, Brainerd, Minn., at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.

BC3 on Thursday swept Rockland Community College, Suffern, N.Y., and was swept by Minnesota State Community and Technical College, Fergus Falls, Minn. The Pioneers on Friday swept Finger Lakes Community College, Canandaigua, N.Y.; and were swept by Central Lakes.

“We played really well in the games we won,” BC3 coach Rob Snyder said. “And we played well in the games we lost in stretches. We just weren’t as consistent as the other team. We didn’t have the depth and we just had to be perfect and we couldn’t maintain that level as long. …

“Overall, I think we played some of our best volleyball.”

BC3’s play against Finger Lakes, Snyder said, “was the best full match this season, which is what you want to do at the end of the year.”

The Pioneers were seeded sixth in the NJCAA Division III championships. Rockland was seeded 11th, Minnesota State third, Finger Lakes 10th and Central Lakes fourth.

BC3 finished fifth in the NJCAA Division III championships 2002 and sixth in 2009.

Owens Community College, Perrysburg, Ohio, won its third consecutive NJCAA Division III championship Saturday night with a 3-2 victory against Rock Valley College, Rockford., Ill. Owens handed the Pioneers their first loss of the season Oct. 30.

BC3’s Aslyn Pry was selected to the all-tournament team.

Pry led the Pioneers with 10 kills in a 25-19, 25-13, 25-14 loss to Central Lakes. Madison Raypush had 14 digs and Morgan Jack, 18 assists. BC3 finished the 2021 season at 18-3 and Central Lakes, 23-10.

Lincoln High School graduate Breanna Reisinger had 11 kills in a 25-22, 25-20, 25-18 victory against Finger Lakes. Jack had 28 assists. Lainey Tobolewski had 15 digs, Reisinger 13 and Jack 12. Finger Lakes finished 20-8.

Reisinger had eight kills and Pry six against Minnesota State. Jack had 18 assists and Tobolewski, 12 digs. Minnesota State finished 21-6.

Reisinger this season led BC3 in kills with 205 and Pry had 199. Jack led the Pioneers with 635 assists, Tobolewski with 472 digs and Pry with 27 blocks.

BC3 in 2021 won its Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference-record sixth conference title in a row and 17th overall, its third consecutive NJCAA Division III Region 20 crown and 11th overall, and the NJCAA Division III Middle Atlantic District B championship.

The Pioneers were ranked as high as third in 2021 among 91 squads in the NJCAA Division III. BC3 was last ranked in 2016, as fifth.

The NJCAA Region 20 announced Nov. 12 that Pry was a Region 20 player of the month for October, when she helped to lead BC3 to eight wins with 94 kills, 30 blocks and 22 digs.

First-year players on a BC3 team that recorded the program’s fourth winning percentage of .850 or higher under Snyder in his 22 years as coach are Logan Barnhart, setter, Moniteau; Kylee Bender, defense, Knoch; Riley Danner, defense, Knoch; Morgan Frishkorn, opposite hitter, Knoch; Abby Granato, outside hitter, Mohawk; Jack, setter, Knoch; Claire Kile, middle hitter, Harvest Baptist; Pry, middle hitter, Moniteau; Raypush, outside hitter, Knoch; Reisinger, outside hitter, Lincoln, Ellwood City; Josie Rupp, outside hitter, Redbank Valley; and Tobolewski, libero, Seneca Valley.

PICTURED BELOW: Front row, from left, Kylee Bender, Madison Raypush, Josie Rupp, Morgan Jack and Riley Danner. Back row, from left, assistant coach Autumn Rodgers, Abby Granato, Claire Kile, Aslyn Pry, Breanna Reisinger, Morgan Frishkorn, Logan Barnhart, Lainey Tobolewski and head coach Rob Snyder. The team is shown Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.