BUTLER — Ariana Mata can’t wait to walk onto the court for the Butler girls volleyball team’s first match. No matter that it’ll be on the road at Emerson.
Mata, a senior, has been waiting since middle school to represent the Bulldogs. She and classmate Stacey Rengifo started playing at Garden State Elite years ago to prepare for this moment.
Mata has been chirping in Butler athletic director Derek Hall’s ear since she got to high school.
More than 30 girls signed up at a spring interest meeting, and nearly all of them attended twice-weekly summer workouts. That's enough for Butler to launch both varsity and JV teams.
“Even if it was little things, 'When are we going to get a volleyball team?’ I wanted to put the thought in his mind,” Mata said. “It feels good we were able to finally get what we wanted, and see everyone come together in a different way.”
Bringing volleyball to Butler
Sophomore setter Aleksia Stojanovic, who plays club volleyball with Sideout Sports, helped teach her new teammates –along with Mata and Rengifo and classmates Anna Totyik and Sierra Roche, who also have experience.
The number of girls playing high school volleyball in New Jersey has more than doubled since 2006-07, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations' annual survey. There were 335 teams last fall, up from 228 two decades ago.
Nearly every Morris County high school now offers volleyball, except Boonton. It’s a way to utilize the gym in the fall, when other sports are usually outdoors – and a plus for Title IX.
Hall has wanted to bring volleyball to his alma mater since he returned home to Butler five years ago. The delay resulted from the need for renovations to Butler's more than century-old gym, in order to properly anchor the net stanchions into the floor. There were also concerns about the extensive ductwork and metal rafters that lower the ceiling.
"In phys ed, the No. 1 class they want is volleyball. At our pep rallies, we do volleyball in front of the whole class," said Hall, who coached volleyball at Sparta despite having never played the sport. "To have it as a sport is going to be a lot of fun. It's a little bit different, but we're going to have fun with it."
How Butler built new volleyball program
Butler residents passed three referendum questions in September 2023, authorizing $13.4 million to connect the two high school buildings, renovate science labs and restrooms and replace the original wooden gym bleachers and floor, among other projects.
Volleyball will debut in the revamped gym almost exactly three years after Butler opened its blue artificial turf at Memorial Field. Girls volleyball starts its varsity schedule with an NJIC-Liberty road match at Emerson on Sept. 4, then plays Manchester the following day.
Butler will also launch boys volleyball in the spring. The team will play an independent varsity schedule for the first season before joining the NJIC.
Like Hall, Butler volleyball coach Ally Spellman was not a volleyball player. She and her younger sister Larissa Spellman were part of the Butler softball team that reached the Morris County Tournament and Group 1 finals in 2014.
"Not having too many people with volleyball experience apply I thought, 'Who is growing and has the potential to be a great coach?'" Hall said of Ally Spellman, who went on to play at Ramapo College. "Watching her with the JV softball team, I thought she was ready to be a head coach. She can learn the volleyball, but she has certain skills you can't learn. I think she was meant to coach."
Hall has promised free admission to Butler's home Friday night football game to any students who attend the volleyball match earlier in the day. Judging from attendance at the Bulldogs' scrimmages, that incentive won't be necessary.
Many parents and friends were in the new blue plastic bleachers as Butler lost its final scrimmage, 25-14, 25-16, 25-20, to Midland Park on Sept. 2.
“They really are doing a really good job for just forming,” said Board of Education member Heather Oguss, whose daughter, Olivia, is a freshman on the team. “I’m proud of this. I’m proud of them. I’m proud of how much the school district has done.”