In front of the largest home
crowd in program history, Valparaiso fought back from a two-set deficit to
force a decisive fifth frame, but Butler came out with the 3-2 (25-18, 25-16,
13-25, 18-25, 15-11) victory Saturday afternoon at the ARC. The loss snaps the Crusaders’ 11-match
winning streak.
The match between Horizon
League rivals was one of many activities held on Communiversity Day at Valparaiso on Saturday,
helping to draw a record crowd of 1,236 fans to the ARC. The Crusaders’ previous record crowd occurred
back in September of 2006, when 1,152 fans watched Valpo take on Oral Roberts.
“We put ourselves in a deep
hole today, and we did it to ourselves,” said Crusader head coach Carin Avery. “We did not play good volleyball at all in
the first two sets. When you're coming
from behind like that, it takes a lot of energy, and at 8-7 in the fifth set, we
just ran out of gas physically and mentally and never were able to rebound.”
The opening set on Saturday
was tight throughout the first half, as the two sides played to a 12-12 tie at
the midway point. Butler went on a 4-1 spurt to claim a
three-point advantage and force a Crusader timeout, but the stoppage wouldn’t
stop the Bulldogs’ momentum, as they scored nine of the final 14 points after
the timeout to take the opener. Valpo
got out to a 5-2 lead in the second set, but Butler responded with a 10-1 run to take
control as the Bulldogs took the two sets to none lead into the locker room for
the in-game break.
It looked like a completely
different Crusader squad coming out of the locker room, as Valpo led
start-to-finish in the third set. A 5-1
run early in the set took a 5-4 lead and extended it to five points at
10-5. The Bulldogs scored two straight
to cut the advantage to three points, but another 5-1 spurt pushed the lead out
to 15-8 and the Crusaders cruised to the win to keep the match going.
Butler held the advantage early in the fourth set, but a
service error by the Bulldogs tied things at eight apiece and sent Sarah Dooms (Greenwood, Ind./Center
Grove) back to the service line. Dooms
registered a pair of aces in a 6-0 run to give the Crusaders a 14-8
advantage. Valpo would hold Butler at bay throughout
the remainder of the set, and with the score 22-18, three kills by three
different Crusaders sent to match to a decisive fifth set.
Valpo got out to an early 4-2
lead in the final set, but three straight points by the Bulldogs gave Butler a 5-4
advantage. The two teams traded sideouts
until 8-7, when a Crusader attack error gave Butler a two-point edge. Katie
Britton (Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka) responded with a kill of her own to make it
9-8, but three straight kills by Butler’s
Jessica Wolfe pushed the Bulldog edge to four points, and the Crusaders would
be unable to cut the lead under three the rest of the way.
Valpo hit just .198 as a team
on Saturday afternoon, with four Crusaders finishing in double figures in
kills. Britton led the way with 14
kills, while Tara Diebler (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) registered 12 kills and Amy Groesbeck (Wheaton,
Ill./North) and Katie Layman (LaPorte,
Ind./New Prairie) posted 10
apiece. Jenny Pokorny (Geneva, Ill./Geneva)
approached a triple-double from the setter position with 44 assists, 20 digs
and nine kills.
On the defensive side of the
ball, Pokorny shared team-high honors with Taylor
Root (Jenison, Mich./Jenison), as each tallied 20 digs. Dooms registered 16 digs, while fellow
freshman Ariel Cudney (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte)
posted 15 digs and senior Andrea Balsis (Benton Harbor, Mich./Coloma)
recorded 12 digs. Valpo posted nine
total team blocks, with Groesbeck and Layman in on five apiece. Wolfe led Butler (6-6, 2-0 Horizon) with 21 kills and
18 digs, while Susan Lester and Katie Daprile each totaled 24 digs.
“You
can always learn from a loss, and I think this will be good for us,” said
Avery. “Hopefully this loss will refocus
us, and we'll come into next weekend on the road against UIC ready to play from
set one, which we didn't do today.”
Valparaiso (11-2, 1-1
Horizon) hits the road for the first time in the 2010 Horizon League campaign
next Friday evening, as the Crusaders make the short trip to the Windy City to
face UIC. First serve is slated for 7
p.m., and the match can be seen live on www.valpoathletics.com,
which will also have a link for live stats.