Finding a way
Butler volleyball team loses starting setter, still battles way past Pine-Richland, 3-1

By Mike Kilroy 
Eagle Staff Writer 

BUTLER TWP — Unforced errors threatened to sink both teams. 
That's because both the Butler and Pine-Richland boys volleyball teams were playing without one of their starting setters. 
With Butler sophomore Cody Schnur out after he was hit in the head by an errant volleyball in pregame and Pine-Richland's Lance Todorowski also sidelined, both teams struggled with sloppy and uneven play. 
But Butler was able to shore things up the best in a 25-16, 20-25, 25-16, 26-24 home win Thursday night. 
“It was not a pretty night for volleyball,” said Butler Lew Liparulo, grinning. “But the kids stayed with it and that's what's important. They have enough confidence that they know even when things are down they can work through it.” 
Butler (4-1, 2-1) looked sharp in the first game, taking a commanding 16-10 lead and cruising to the win. 
But things unraveled quickly for the Golden Tornado in Game 2 as errors led to an 18-10 hole Butler couldn't crawl out of. 
“In the game we lost, we had 14 unforced errors,” Liparulo said. “We didn't serve well. We didn't pass well.” 
Butler rebounded to take Game 3 thanks to a run in which the Golden Tornado scored 10 of 12 points. 
Pine-Richland (2-2, 2-2) was error-prone in that match, committing 10 unforced errors. 
The Rams' woes escalated from there in the fourth game as six of Butler's first eight points came on service errors. 
That kept Butler in the game and allowed the Golden Tornado to rally for a 26-24 win to end the night. 
“Both teams made a ton of errors tonight,” said Pine-Richland assistant coach Shawn Grady. “It was a close match. The unforced errors have to go away. Was that the reason we lost? Probably. But both sides were making them.” 
Both sides also had some bright spots. 
Butler sophomore outside hitter Nash Bryan continued his hot start to the season with 19 kills. 
Bryan's biggest kills came when Butler needed them the most. 
“He hits the ball from anywhere,” Liparulo said. “I have a lot of praise for him. And the kids put the ball in the setter's hands.” 
Matt Wetzel, Butler's senior setter, picked up the slack for the missing Schnur with 31 assists. 
“I give the kids a lot of credit. We had to adjust our lineup and it was a little different, but we adapted,” Liparulo said. “Concussions, I don't take a chance. (Schnur) took a big shot to the head.” 
James Kozej led Pine-Richland with 18 kills. 
“Kozej is most definitely the leader of this team,” Grady said. “He's our most senior player. He's played club. He was captain last year as well. We rely upon him pretty heavily.” 
Butler relies heavily on a slew of sophomores, which made Liparulo even more pleased that his team was able to overcome its errors to win against a quality section foe. 
“There are points where we have four 10th-graders out there at once,” Liparulo said. “We're susceptible to making errors because of that. But we battle.”