Butler Wins 5-Set Thriller at Garden City

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – Butler volleyball picked up a crucial 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-20, 16-25, 15-13) win over the Garden City Broncbusters at Conestoga Arena Saturday afternoon.

Butler (15-14, 7-6 KJCCC) moved over .500 in conference play winning their third straight match and dropped Garden City to 11-10 and 5-7 in league action.

Sarah Sullivan led the Grizzly attack with 15 kills, 12 digs and five block assists. Anja Milosevic added 35 assists and 11 digs, Laynee Brown dug up 20 attacks while Ryann Hamilton finished with nine kills and seven block assists.

Garden City led the first set 22-19 but Butler closed it out in a 6-1 run thanks in part to Sullivan's final two kills to take a 1-0 match lead.

Garden City handily won the second and fourth sets while the Grizzlies won the third and final sets. It came down to the wire as the Broncbusters went ahead 9-5 in the fifth set before Hamilton slammed home back-to-back kills and Sullivan rejected an attack to tie it 13-13. Kayla Hermreck and Sophia Neihouse scored the final two points for Butler to secure the come from behind fifth set win.

Butler hit just .141 while Garden City hit .122 in the match. The edge came on the defensive side as Butler blocked 26 Garden attacks compared to 16 Broncbuster blocks.

Butler is back in action on the road Wednesday at Hutchinson for a 6 p.m. match.