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Sept. 10, 2002

BUSY BULLDOGS: The Butler volleyball team has a busy week ahead of them, playing in five matches in five days. The Bulldogs will play host to Indiana State on Tuesday (Sept. 10) before making their longest trek of the season out to California. There, Butler will take on Sacramento State in a non-conference match on Thursday (Sept. 12) before participating in University of San Francisco's Molten Golden Gate Classic over the weekend (Sept. 13-14). Other teams participating in the tournament are Washington State and IPFW.

SCOUTING THE SYCAMORES: Indiana State holds a 5-2 mark entering tomorrow's match. The Sycamores won their own tournament two weeks ago by defeating Montana State, a team that Butler fell to on Sept. 1, in five games. The Sycamores' losses have come against Bowling Green and Duke. They are led by Kylee Osborne's 3.61 kills and 3.00 digs per game. Butler leads the overall series between the two programs, 12-6. Their last meeting was during the 2000 campaign when Butler won at ISU in five games.

THE HYPE ON THE HORNETS: Sacramento State is coming off a 20-9 season in which the Hornets captured a first place finish in the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets are off to their best start, 6-1, since the 1995 season. Sacramento State was crowned champions of the IKON Husky Invitational last weekend and junior Lisa Beauchene was named the Tournament's MVP. En route to their championship, Sacramento State defeated the Horizon League's UW-Milwaukee in three games. This is the first meeting between the two programs.

WATCHING WASHINGTON STATE: Washington State enters the week ranked No. 25 in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches' Poll standing tall with a 6-0 record. The Pac-10 squad recently won the UAF Nanook Classic with 3-0 wins over Weber State, Alaska Fairbanks and Southwest Texas State. LaToya Harris leads the Cougars' charge with 3.53 kills and 2.63 digs per game. This is Butler's first ever meeting against the team.

A LOOK AT THE DONS: The University of San Francisco will play host to the Molten Golden Gate Classic. The Dons, a member of the West Coast Conference, are 2-5 on the season and have lost their last three matches in three games. Brittanie Budinger is averaging 3.57 kills and 3.13 digs to lead USF. This is Butler's first ever meeting against the Dons.

WE MEET AGAIN: Butler will meet up against IPFW in its final match of the Golden Gate Classic. The Bulldogs locked horns with the Mastodons over the past weekend (Sept. 7) at the Mortarboard Purdue Premiere. IPFW downed Butler 3-1 as Fabina Souza, the Tournament's MVP, blasted 29 kills in addition to her 10 digs to lead the Mastodons. This was the second season in a row that Butler had lost to IPFW in a close fashion, as the Mastodons lead the overall series 5-2.

WEEKEND RECAP: The Bulldogs struggled this past weekend at the Mortarboard Purdue Premiere, going 1-3 in Tournament action. Butler fell to Western Kentucky in three games (30-26, 30-13, 30-10) before defeating Delaware in four game (30-20, 19-30, 30-23, 33-31) later that day. Butler lost both of its matches in Day Two of the Tournament, falling to eventual Tournament champions IPFW (30-19, 26-30, 22-30, 28-30), and losing to tourney hosts Purdue (30-22, 28-30, 22-30, 30-22, 12-15).

TOURNEY HONORS: Senior Keely Norris earned all-tournament honors at the Mortarboard Purdue Premiere over the weekend, marking the second time this season, the 6-2 middle hitter has received such honors. Norris and classmate Laura Klancnik were both named to the all-tournament team at Saint Louis University's Billiken Classic.

MOVING ON UP: Keely Norris continued her climb up the Bulldogs' career ladder, moving into sixth place in block assists (264), seventh in total blocks (331). Norris also tallied 53 kills over the weekend, bumping former teammate Allison Cox (1998-01) out of the top ten, and positioning herself just 20 kills away from ninth place all-time.

SHE'S DIGGIN' IT: Freshman Megan Knightly led the team in digs in three of the four matches this weekend, raising her average to 3.00 digs per game. Knightly tallied 12 digs against Western Kentucky and then 13 digs against Delaware. She followed up those performances with a pair of 14-dig outputs the following day against IPFW and Purdue. Knightly has led the Bulldogs in digs four times this season.

CALIFORNIA GIRLS: This weekend's trip to California marks a homecoming for a pair of Bulldogs. Sophomore Sara Gallagher and redshirt freshman Sarah Clough both hail from out west, as Gallagher is a native of Sonoma Calif. while Clough is a product of Bloomington Christian in Riverside Calif. Head coach Sharon Clark is also no stranger to California, as she spent the majority of her life there as either a player or a coach. Clark's collegiate volleyball journey began at Sacramento State, where she played from 1985-88. She then spent one year at Humboldt State in Arcata, Calif. as its head coach before moving on to UC Davis, where she was head coach for six seasons.

A CAREER DAY: Sophomore Kali Carter's 15-kill output against Purdue marked a new career high for the Columbus, Ind. native. Carter also posted a career-best four assists on the match. Carter is averaging 2.45 kills and 2.74 digs on the season.

AREAL ASSAULT: Sophomore Areal Bienemy found her way into the Butler starting lineup in all four matches at the Mortarboard Purdue Premier. The 6-0 outside hitter didn't let her team down, collecting 31 kills on the weekend, including a season-high 11 kills against Purdue. Bienemy also posted career-highs in solo blocks (2) and total blocks (5) against the Boilermakers. Bienemy is averaging 1.91 kills per game.

A DOUBLE DOSE: Megan Knightly has proven herself to be an all-around performer, posting a team-leading three double-double outings on the season. Knightly tallied her first career double-double last week against Saint Louis (14 kills, 20 digs) and then turned in a pair of double-double performances at the Mortarboard Purdue Premier, against Delaware (13 kills, 13 digs) and Purdue (12 kills, 14 digs). She is averaging 2.47 kills and 3.00 digs per game.

BUILDING A WALL: The Bulldogs posted their best blocking performance of the season against Purdue, posting 29 total blocks as a team. Keely Norris' eight block assists led the way, while Laura Klancnik and Megan Knightly each added six total blocks. Norris leads the team, averaging 1.00 blocks per game.

OFFENSIVELY SPEAKING: The Bulldogs are overpowering their counterparts in several offensive categories, including kills per game and hitting percentage. Butler is averaging 14.50 kpg, while its foes are recording just 13.41 kpg. Likewise, the Bulldogs are hitting .234 as a team, while holding their opponents to a .188 clip.

REACHING A MILESTONE: Senior Keely Norris became just the 11th player in school history to record 1,000 career kills. She achieved the feat in the first game against Saint Louis in the Billiken Invitational.

REWRITING THE BOOKS: Senior Laura Klancnik set a Butler single match record with a 1.000 (12-0-12) hitting efficiency against Providence. That mark ranks her in a tie for fifth place in the NCAA record book for a three-game match (10-14 attempts).

UP NEXT: Following the Molten Golden Gate Classic, the Bulldogs will participate in the IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. (Sept. 20-21). There, Butler will face nationally-ranked Louisville, host Indiana and Central Michigan.