Nationals

The dawgs traveled to St. Louis to compete in the National Tournament April 12-14. The team finished 8-2 and won the Division II Silver Bracket. It was an unbelievable experience. The venue was nothing short of spectacular, the matches were intense, and  the atmosphere was electric. Here’s a brief recap of each match:

vs UW-Stout (W): 25-8, 25-21 – the dawgs started out the tournament with a strong performance against UW-Stout. A few long serving runs kept the dawgs in the lead throughout the entire match.

vs Bethel U (W): 25-15, 25-19 – the dawgs played another clean match and knocked off Bethel University pretty easily. The dawgs offense proved to be too much for Bethel to handle.

vs SUNY Brockport (L): 22-25, 25-22, 12-15 – the dawgs ended pool play 2-1 after a tough loss to SUNY Brockport. The dawgs rallied late in set 3 but Brockport’s middles were too much for the dawgs to handle in this match.

vs Colorado School of Mines (L): 25-22, 21-25, 13-15 – the dawgs drew a tough opponent in the challenge round. The score was close throughout all three sets but the Miners ultimately prevailed.

vs Northern Ohio (W): 25-12, 25-20 – the dawgs’ next match was against Northern Ohio. After a relatively easy first set, the dawgs had to rally from a 10-2 deficit in set 2. Jackson Nagle and Jakob Jozwiakowski put up a few big blocks to close out the match.

vs Bentley U (W): 25-20, 25-11 – the dawgs then played Bentley for a chance to compete in the silver bracket. After a slow start, the dawgs figured things out and played one of their best matches of the year. Nate Kelch, John Lacheta, and Sam Burton played middle during this match and put down a few kills. 

vs Stockton (W): 25-23, 25-14 – the dawgs then played Stockton to determine seeding for silver pool play. The match started out pretty close but the dawgs ultimately prevailed in set 1. Set 2 was controlled by the dawgs from start to finish. Brandon Gansell went on a few long serving runs that gave the dawgs a big lead from the start.

vs UMBC (W): 25-20, 25-23 – the dawgs knocked off UMBC in the silver quarterfinals in a close match. Rob Smith racked up a ton of digs and played one of his best matches of the year. Sam Smith also had a great game from the left pin.

vs SUNY Brockport (W): 18-25, 36-34, 16-14 – no, 36-34 is not a typo. That actually happened. The dawgs pulled off a stunner in the silver semifinals in a rematch against SUNY Brockport. The dawgs got off to a rough start and dropped the first set 18-25. At the beginning, set 2 wasn’t looking very good either but the dawgs fought back to push the match past 25. The dawgs then fought off 11 match points to take their first lead of the set at 35-34 and ultimately won the set 36-34. As the set kept going, more and more people circled around our court. By the time both teams reached 30, the area surrounding the court was completely filled with teams and fans from other schools. Some of the courts around us even stopped to see what was going on. After a long second set, the dawgs prevailed in set 3.

vs UM Duluth (W): 25-15, 25-23 – the dawgs knocked off UM Duluth in the silver championship to end the day 3-0 and the tournament 8-2. The team was exhausted after just playing an intense semifinal match. But, the team found a way to rally and win the last match of the year with a dominating performance.

Awards

Along with a plaque for winning the silver bracket, the dawgs brought home a few more awards. Jackson Nagle was named 2nd team All-Conference in the MWPVC after monster performances at the regional and crossover tournaments this semester. The team also won the “Outstanding Achievement” award through Butler’s HRC for all the things the team accomplished this year.

New Leadership

Congratulations to our members that will be taking over our leadership positions next year:

Sam Burton – President

Lukas Harkins – Treasurer

Trevor Tokarek – Vice President

Nate “Randall” Kelch – Secretary

Thank you seniors

Thank you to our 3 seniors (4 if you count Condon) for everything they’ve done over the past 4 years. 

Jakob Jozwiakowski might be the smartest kid at Butler and will be going to IU School of Medicine next year. He claims that Organic Chemistry is easy and having a test the next day is not a valid excuse to miss practice. While he claims to be a middle at heart and put on a tremendous showing at spring sports as an opposite, Jaws has been the team’s setter for the past three years. He runs the offense well and is easily the best blocker out of all the setters in the conference. He always knew what to say and was a great leader for our team. We’ll miss Jaws a lot next year but we know he’s moving on to bigger and better things.

Chris Coulter is also pretty smart. Next fall will be the first time in 4 years that he won’t be eating at Atherton Union as he’ll be attending Marquette’s Dental School in a few months. Chris was a huge asset for our team the past few years. He’s served as the team’s Vice President and helped out with a lot of behind the scenes work. His versatility on the court allowed us to use him at both pins and his defense was outstanding. While none of us can figure out his approach, Chris always found a way to get a good swing on every ball. We’ll miss Chris and wish him all the best in his bright future.

Rob Smith isn’t quite as smart but he’s still going to grad school. He’ll be completing Butler’s MPA program next year and he’s keeping us in the dark as to whether or not he’ll play again next year. Bob has been the team’s libero for the past 3.5 years (still salty about you going abroad last spring) and has been a big part of the team’s success. His serve receive and defense are excellent and he would probably be the greatest outside hitter this world has ever seen if he was 6′ 2” (he’s 5′ 7” with shoes on). Everyone believes he got snubbed from the All-Conference team and should probably be given an award just for putting up with me for so long. 

Final Remarks

The dawgs finished 32-16 and broke many of our club’s records along the way. Huge thank you goes out to all our players for sticking with it all year, our parents for all the tournaments (Nate Kelch’s mom has been to more tournaments this year than Nate himself), and the HRC staff for all their help along the way. We’re looking forward to starting another great season in the fall! Be sure to check our social media accounts for updates about the 2018-2019 season!

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MWPVC Crossover Recap

March 3rd and 4th, the dawgs competed in their second tournament as a member of the Midwest Plains Volleyball Conference. The team played well throughout the weekend but found themselves on the losing end of a few tough matches. Sam Smith and Jackson Nagle powered the offensive attack all weekend. Jakob Jozwiakowski and Rob Smith lead the team’s defensive efforts. Jonathan Phoun and Brad Herzog provided tough serving off the bench. The team ultimately went 3-4 and took 6th out of 27. Here are the scores from the event:

vs Missouri State (W): 25-15, 25-22

vs Bradley (W): 25-18, 18-25, 15-13

vs Missouri S&T (L): 23-25, 20-25

vs Lincoln (L): 20-25, 21-25

vs St Louis (L): 17-25, 25-19, 5-15

vs Missouri State (W): 25-19, 25-23

vs Washington University at St. Louis (L): 24-26, 25-22, 11-15

The dawgs are now 24-14 and ranked #22 in the Men’s D2 national poll.

Upcoming Events

April 12-14: National Tournament @ St. Louis Convention Center

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Updates

Earlier this month, the dawgs got accepted into the Midwest Plaines Volleyball Conference. This was a huge step towards qualifying for Nationals in April.

Following the acceptance into the MWPVC, the dawgs were ranked 14th in the D2 national poll. Rankings will be released again on February 28th. 

MWPVC Regional

The dawgs competed in their first tournament as a member of the MWPVC on February 10th. The team traveled to Lincoln College and went 4-1. The dawgs started their day strong by knocking off Western Illinois (25-15, 25-18) and Bradley (25-23, 25-22) in pool play. They then knocked off #25 Lewis in the challenge round (25-23, 28-26) which sent them to the gold bracket. The team played tough to knock off Lincoln B (25-20, 25-9) and put them in the championship against #9 Lincoln A. The dawgs started out very strong and shocked everybody in the gym by taking the first set 25-14. The second set was very close throughout but the dawgs were never able to get ahead. They dropped the second set 24-26 and ended up dropping set 3 12-15. 

Despite not winning the tournament, the dawgs proved that they can compete with the best teams in D2. The team is in a good position heading into the MWPVC crossover at Bradley and will likely see many of the same teams again. Jackson Nagle and Sam Smith led the offensive attack while Jakob Jozwiakowski and Rob Smith carried the team on defense. Nate Kelch and John Lacheta were a force in the middle both offensively and defensively.

Rose Hulman Quad

The B team traveled to Rose Hulman on February 11th to compete in a quad. After dropping a close match to Rose Hulman, the team rallied to beat Indiana State in 3. The team also picked up a win against U Indy. The B team showed great improvement by beating two teams they lost to earlier this semester. Chris Coulter and Jacob Gulley led the offensive attack while Jonathan Phoun played great defense throughout the day.

Looking ahead…

MWPVC Crossover: March 3-4 @ Bradley University

NCVF Nationals: April 12-14 @ St. Louis Convention Center

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Spring 2018: Bulldog Classic Recap & Semester Schedule

Bulldog Classic

The Men’s Club Volleyball team just hosted their first tournament in many years. Both “Butler A” and “Butler B” competed in the inaugural Bulldog Classic on January 27th. The A team finished 2nd and the B team finished 6th.

The A team cruised through pool play knocking off Ball State (25-10, 25-17), Louisville (25-11, 25-11), and U Indy (25-13, 25-11). The A team took on Butler B in the quarterfinals and won (25-22) and beat Indiana State in the semifinals (25-21, 25-16) . The A team took on Western Michigan for the third time this year in the finals. After taking the first set 25-16, the dawgs dropped set 2 (22-25) and set 3 (8-15). Jakob “Jaws” Jozwiakowski, Jackson Nagle, Nate Kelch, and Sam Smith powered a very balanced and efficient offense while Rob Smith and Johnny McDonald contributed to the defensive effort. Special shoutout to Jaws for staying on his line all tournament.

The B team struggled a bit throughout the day. They were short-handed in pool play and drew a tough opponent in the quarterfinals. A lot of guys were either playing for the first time or playing a new position. The B team lost to Western Michigan, Indiana State, and U Indy in pool play. John Lacheta and Sam Burton kept the offense rolling while Jonathan Phoun, Richie Colburn, and Brad Herzog played tough defense throughout the day. The B team lost in the quarterfinals to the A team (22-25).

Semester Schedule

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the semester:

-February 10: tournament at Lincoln College

-February 11: quad at Rose Hulman

-March 3 & 4: tournament at Bradley University

-April 12-14: national tournament at St. Louis

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**Fall 2017: End of semester update**

Butler’s Men’s Club Volleyball team just ended one of its most successful semesters in recent years. With a few huge wins at Purdue, the Dawgs finished the semester with a record of 12-8. 

After starting the year 6-2, here’s how the team did:

Northern Illinois tournament

The Dawgs traveled to Northern Illinois University in early November. We started the day against the reigning national champion, St. Louis University. Without going into too much detail, let’s just say that wasn’t our best match. We played better against NIU’s alumni team and University of Illinois, but we lost two close matches and put us at 0-3 for the day. We bounced back with a nice win against Toledo. Rob Smith played some good defense in that match to help us get back on track. The Dawgs then won a revenge game against University of Chicago. The team lost to University of Chicago at this tournament last year and didn’t want the same result again. Brandon “Pipe” Gansell and Sam Smith led the offensive attack for the Dawgs in a blow-out win against the Phoenix. With those two wins, the dawgs had momentum going into the last match of the day against Western Michigan. Despite Nate Kelch’s blocking and Brandon Gansell’s hitting, the Dawgs dropped a tight one to Western Michigan to end the day 2-4.

Purdue tournament

The Dawgs were back in action the weekend following Thanksgiving Break at Purdue University. The team played some of their best volleyball of the semester and took third in a very tough tournament. The tournament started with a huge win against Wisconsin. In the words of Matthew Condon, it was a “thriller”. The Dawgs’ offensive attack got hot early and the Badgers had no answer for Jakob Jozwiakowski’s defense. “Jaws” would be later be named “First Team All-Defense” for his efforts. The Dawgs took the momentum from this match into the rest of pool play by knocking off Michigan and UW-Milwaukee in 2 sets each. We ended day 1 of the tournament with a match against Indiana. The Dawgs took the first set after an incredible serving run from Jonathan Phoun. IU’s block proved to be too much in sets 2 and 3 as the Dawgs dropped a heartbreaker to end the day. Day 2 of the tournament started with a come-from-behind victory against Central Michigan. The Dawgs won the first set easily but found themselves down 19-24 in set two. The Dawgs ran off 7 straight points to take the second set, sending us to the semifinals against Wisconsin. We split the first two sets with neither team being able to pull away until the last few points. The Badgers came out hot in set three and the Dawgs were never able to recover. The Dawgs ended the tournament 4-2 and a third place finish.

Looking ahead…

The Dawgs are looking forward to a home tournament on January 27th. This is the first time in many years that we’ve had enough guys for an A and B team which is very exciting. More details about this to come. We’d love to see you all there.

The team is also looking forward to the return of Jacob Gulley. The team’s “real president” will be back after spending all of last semester recovering from a stress fracture.

We’re excited to announce that the team will be going to NATIONALS for the first time in over 5 years. The team will be in St. Louis from April 11th-14th to compete with schools across the country.

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*Fall 2017: Mid-Semester Update*

Butler’s Men’s Volleyball Team is up and running for the 2017-2018 academic year. The team has brought on 3 new players and 4 practice players to go along with 12 returning players. There’s a lot of energy on the practice court as we gear up for a busy semester. We plan on playing 16-18 matches during the fall semester and compete at Nationals in the spring.

Dawgs are off to a fast start this year. With 8 matches already in the books, the Dawgs are 6-2 on the year. The team has already exceeded their win total from all of last year (4) with two more tournaments remaining in the fall semester. Here’s a quick rundown of our matches so far:

Scrimmage vs. Ball State (W) (1-0): 25-16, 25-10. The Dawgs beat Ball State soundly in 2 sets. The team was a little rusty in the beginning but tough serving powered the Dawgs to their first win of the year.

Tournament at Illinois State (3rd)

-Dawgs vs. Bradley (W) (2-0): 17-25, 25-14. The Dawgs came out really slow against Bradley but were able to turn things around in the second set and beat Bradley to start off the ISU tournament.

-Dawgs vs. Indiana State 2’s (W) (3-0): 25-13, 25-16. Everyone got in on the action as the Dawgs took down Indiana State’s 2’s in 2 sets.  

-Dawgs vs. SIUE (W) (4-0): 25-10, 25-16. SIU Edwardsville had a few big hitters but the Dawgs were able to prevail in 2 sets.

-Dawgs vs. Illinois State Alumni (L): (4-1) 24-26, 15-25. ISU Alumni team was big and tough. The Dawgs kept things interesting in set 1 but the alumni were too much to handle in set 2.

-*Quarterfinals* Dawgs vs. Western Michigan (W): (5-1) 25-22. In a 1 set playoff with Western Michigan, the Dawgs beat Western Michigan in a close, high-energy match.  

-*Semifinals* Dawgs vs. Illinois State Alumni (L): (5-2) 16-25, 25-22, 12-15. The Dawgs got one last crack at the alumni team in the semifinals. After a rough first set, the Dawgs started to figure things out. The Dawgs were the only team to steal a set from the ISU Alumni team all day. The Dawgs ultimately fell on the losing side of a tight third set.

Scrimmage vs. IUPUI (W): Forfeit (6-2). IUPUI has been on the calendar since we played them last March. When setting things up for our match this semester. We were told that they don’t have a team this year. So yes, we are counting that as a win.

The Dawgs are looking forward to our next two tournaments. We’ll will be at Northern Illinois University on Saturday, November 4th and Purdue University on Saturday, December 2nd and Sunday, December 3rd. More details about those tournaments will be made available as soon as we have them.

A successful first half of the fall semester merits two thumbs up from our President!

–

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The Butler University Volleyball Club (BUMVC) was founded in 2008, in order to create another playing avenue for competitive volleyball players. Since then, the club has grown into one of the student engaging, trend setting, and popular clubs on campus. We recently re-branded and reorganized the club in hopes of becoming of one of the biggest organizations in Indianapolis.

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