(Johnstown, PA) The fourth-ranked Butler County Community College volleyball team Saturday had 39 kills and 20 service aces in limiting Pennsylvania Highlands Community College to 17 points and by winning the dual conference and regional title match is 21-0 and a victory away from a national championship tournament berth.
Marissa Metzka had a season-high 10 kills and All-American Josie Russo and Dakota Weldon nine each in a 25-8, 25-2 and 25-7 sweep in Johnstown.
Molly Bissell had a career-high eight service aces and Anora Robare tied a career-high with five as BC3 won its 10th Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference crown in a row and seventh consecutive National Junior College Athletic Association Division III Region 20 championship.
“We were really on today,” BC3 coach Rob Snyder said. “You see it in the focus. You see it in the energy level. You see it in the crispness of the passing and the aggressiveness of the approaches.”
The Pioneers were “locked in,” Bissell said. “Our hitters were relentless and our serving game kept them scrambling. It wasn’t just about scoring, it was about staying up and keeping control of the game.”
BC3’s performance, Robare said, “shows that we didn’t come to play around. We were there to take care of business and I think the stats really showed that.”
“Everyone,” Russo said, “stepped up and brought intensity.”
Robare had 30 assists, Sarah Lucas 11 of BC3’s 50 digs and Metzka two solo blocks as the Pioneers advanced to and will host the NJCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic District championship at 1 p.m. Nov. 1 in BC3’s Field House against No. 2-ranked Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, N.C.
The public is invited to attend a tailgater-type event at noon in the Field House before the championship match in which Pioneers fans are asked to wear black T-shirts.
The winner between BC3 and Sandhills (33-2) receives an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division III national championship tournament Nov. 11-13 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
BC3 with a victory against Sandhills would reach the national championship tournament for a fifth time and give coach Rob Snyder his 500th win at BC3.
“Everyone will have to perform their best and give a 100 percent effort at all times against Sandhills,” Weldon said. “They are a very good team and I believe all of us want the chance to defeat them to secure a spot in the national tournament.”
The Pioneers are 1-2 in the postseason against Sandhills, which in 2024 handed the Pioneers their first loss after a 22-0 start in the Mid-Atlantic District championship in Pinehurst.
“We have been focused on this for a long time,” Snyder said. “This has been our goal since the beginning of the season. A lot of our players are returners from last year and they know what this is going to be like. They know that team beat us last year and they are focused on not letting that happen again.”
Sandhills, Russo said, “is a dynamic and an all-around good team. We know this and we know how to prepare.”
Sandhills qualified for the NJCAA Division III Mid-Atlantic District championship at BC3 on Nov. 1 by sweeping Patrick & Henry Community College, Martinsville, Va., in a semifinal and Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute, Hudson, N.C., in the final of the Region 10 tournament in Pinehurst on Saturday.
“We really just need to trust that we have been working for this all season,” Lucas said. “We really have an incredible opportunity at hand, and I believe we all have that fire needed to motivate us to go out there with our best.”
Russo, Weldon, Lucas and Robare were selected Saturday to the WPCC all-conference team and to the Region 20 all-tournament squad. Bissell was chosen as the Region 20 tournament’s most valuable player.
Summer Haney had eight digs and Bissell, six kills and digs against Pennsylvania Highlands.
BC3, ranked No. 10 among 86 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III programs in the preseason, has held the No. 4 spot for two consecutive weeks. BC3 has been in the Top 15 in Division III in 35 of 39 polls dating to Oct. 4, 2021.
The sweep against Pennsylvania Highlands was the Pioneers’ 17th of 2025.
Pennsylvania Highlands reached the dual championship final against BC3 with a semifinal win against CCAC earlier Saturday.
BC3 has won 20 WPCC titles since 1977 and 14 Region 20 titles in volleyball since 1999. No other BC3 athletics program has won more WPCC or Region 20 championships.
Robare, setter, Metzka, middle hitter, and Bissell, outside hitter, are Slippery Rock Area High School graduates. Weldon, outside hitter, and Haney, a defensive specialist, Laurel; Maeggie Wysocki, defensive specialist, and Marly Koleno, defensive specialist, Apollo-Ridge; Russo, middle hitter, Freeport; Lucas, defensive specialist, Butler; Kristen Gallagher, Knoch, setter; Emmy Fisher, Seneca Valley, opposite hitter.
Haney, Koleno and Russo are registered nursing students; Bissell and Weldon, business administration; Fisher, Gallagher and Metzka, general studies; Lucas, technical trades-cosmetology management option; Robare, medical coding and billing specialist; and Wysocki, business management.