BC3 women’s volleyball won record 22 straight. Now Pioneers eye deep NJCAA D-III tournament run
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The BC3 girls volleyball coach Rob Snyder sets the ball to be hit during practice on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Marly Koleno returns a serve during practice on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Johnna Hill and Marly Koleno practice their celebration handshake during practice on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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Anora Robare chats with her teammates during a quick break during practice Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
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The Butler Community College girls volleyball team practiced on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, at the Butler Community College Field House. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle
Rob Snyder has known for a while this is one of his most talented teams — he said so in late October before the playoffs began and thought so when practices began in the summer.
What the longtime head coach of the Butler County Community College women’s volleyball team didn’t know and what he’ll soon find out is if they’re one of the best.
The Pioneers (22-1) travel this week to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Volleyball Championships as one of the top seeds in the tournament.
They won 22 straight games to start the season before a loss in the NCJAA district championship against Sandhills Community College 3-0 Nov. 2. They have more size and athleticism than most years. They are playing as a team.
“We had four returners, which is a good return for us,” said Snyder, in his 24th season in charge, during a practice last week. “And then we had a really strong, seven-player recruiting class. So we’re strong at all our positions, and yeah, I said to them, one of the things about being one of the best teams is you have to get to this level. ... So yeah, I’d say this is one of our best teams (since I’ve been here).”
“I think that we’re gonna play pretty good,” freshman outside hitter Molly Bissell (Slippery Rock) said. “All of us are really excited, and of course I’m expecting to win (this week).”
BC3 is the No. 6 seed in the 16-team tournament, which begins Thursday with the first round in the morning and quarterfinals in the afternoon. Semifinals are Friday and the championship Saturday. BC3 opens against No. 11 College of DuPage, the 2022 national champion; Snyder said he was surprised by the seeding and said it would have made sense if the seeds were reversed.
The best BC3 has finished in the tournament is fifth, twice, Snyder said. But that was when the tournament field was smaller, between 8-12 teams. So it will take more to match those finishes or exceed them.
“It’s tough,” Snyder said of the first-round matchup. “One at a time is what I worry about. DuPage is a really good team, they were national champs two years ago, and they play in a way harder area, in Chicago, than we do, as far as volleyball goes.”
As a community college, BC3 has to microwave chemistry and find the ideal rotation quickly.
He’s found the right mix in a freshman class that features three of the best players on the team: Bissell, setter Anora Robare (Slippery Rock) and middle hitter Josie Russo (Freeport).
Russo comes from a program that had won 19 straight WPIAL section championships and seven district titles in that time, plus two PIAA championships in 2017 and then with Russo on the roster in 2022.
“We were surprised she came here, she wanted to be a nurse,” Snyder said. “She was one of the best players in the state the last few years.”
“It’s pretty similar (here compared to playing with Freeport),” said Josie, who joined the team later in the preseason after offseason jaw surgery. “It is faster, but I think the WPIAL and state background ... helped me get into the flow of it better.”
At 6-foot-1, she’s also the tallest player on the team; last year’s Pioneers didn’t feature a player taller than 5-8, Snyder said.
Russo came to BC3 for its nursing program, giving Snyder a surprisingly long and athletic player, a combo he doesn’t often get while recruiting within about an hour radius.
Robare and Bissell (5-9) played together as Rockets, providing a familiar attacking combination while Robare made adjustments as an emotional leader and jump setter.
Robare has 421 assists this season— another freshman setter, Adriona Arnold, has 259 — and Russo leads the team with 196 kills (3.02 per set) and 88 blocks (1.35 ). There is steady balance behind her, as sophomore middle Lexi Ruckdeschel has 150 kills, freshman outside Dakota Weldon has 135, Bissell has 133 and sophomore outside Johnna Hill has 111. Hill also leads the team with 54 aces.
The defense is led by sophomore libero Nina Szymanski, who has 292 digs and 298 serve returns; she’s also third with 32 aces.
“They’re energy is always good,” Robare said of the defense. “And we have some really tall and really talented hitters this year.”
And the chemistry extends off the court; rarely is the team apart.
“On road trips, everyone hangs in one hotel room, no separation,” Bissell said. “When we went to New York for the tournament, we all did a bunch of stuff and went to Niagara Falls. It was just so fun. During our last trip we all went to a playground.”
For all the chemistry and the 22-0 start, the Pioneers are in uncharted territory. Snyder said they rarely faced in-game adversity this season, and when they did against Sandhills, they couldn’t overcome it. Now they must find a way to win off their first loss of the season — albeit nearly two weeks later.
Robare, though, gave an example of when BC3 did overcome a challenge, when it lost the first set to Lakeland and came back to win 3- 1.
“ I think it was just a bump in the road. I don’t think we ever saw anything like that all season,” Russo said. “Now we know what to expect.”
“We won’t know until (this) week,” Snyder said. “That’s the goal is that we learn from that.”
BC3 opens NJCAAs at 11 a.m. ET. A win would pit them against the winner of No. 14 Monroe Bronx and No. 3 Finder Lakes, which the Pioneers scrimmaged in the preseason, in a 7:30 quarterfinal.
