(Jamestown, N.Y.) The 13th-ranked Butler County Community College volleyball team in New York on Friday night won its fifth consecutive match and at 17-3 enters postseason competition in North Carolina seeking to earn an automatic berth to the national championship tournament in Illinois.

The Pioneers had 78 digs, 39 kills and seven service aces in a 25-13, 25-20, 25-23 victory against Jamestown (N.Y.) Community College in the Pioneers’ regular-season finale.

Mackenzie Kurtz had 10 kills and two solo blocks in the Pioneers’ fifth consecutive sweep and 12th of the season. 

Madelyn Nosel had 10 kills and two service aces; Taylor Simon had 24 digs; Addison Say had 36 assists, tied a season-high with 13 digs and had two service aces; and Sarah Lucas added 12 digs.

Jamestown’s record fell to 4-12.

The Pioneers this weekend will seek the program’s sixth appearance in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III national championship tournament, which will be held Nov. 12-14 in Glen Ellyn, Ill.

BC3 is one of three programs ranked in the Top 15 in Division III in the seven-team Region 10/Mid-Atlantic District Championship tournament, which begins Friday in Pinehurst, N.C.

Host Sandhills Community College is 27-2, ranked No. 1 and, as the tournament’s top seed, receives a first-round bye.

Third-seeded BC3 faces sixth seed Rockingham Community College (2-20, Wentworth, N.C.) at 5 p.m.

Also on Friday, fourth seed Central Carolina Community College (10-12, Sanford, N.C.) plays Virginia Peninsula Community College (4-10, Hampton, Va.) at 1 p.m.

At 3 p.m., ninth-ranked and second seeded Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute (19-7, Hudson, N.C.) faces seventh seed Patrick & Henry Community College (1-18, Martinsville, Va.).

In Saturday’s semifinals, Sandhills will play the Central Carolina-Virginia Peninsula winner at 11 a.m. The BC3-Rockingham winner will face the Caldwell-Patrick & Henry winner at 1 p.m.

The final is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Kurtz is a middle hitter and Knoch High School graduate; Simon and Lucas, defensive specialists, Butler; Nosel, outside hitter, Warren; and Say, a setter and opposite hitter, Keystone.

The Pioneers were ranked No. 13 among 86 National Junior College Athletic Association Division III programs in a Week 8 poll released Oct. 19.

BC3’s program has been ranked in the Top 15 in Division III in 45 of 49 polls dating to Oct. 4, 2021, including the past 26 in a row.