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WASHINGTON - Georgetown University's volleyball team opened the home portion of BIG EAST Conference play with a 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-13) victory over visiting Butler on Friday evening. The win for the Hoyas was the first in program history against Butler as the Blue & Gray improved to 7-8 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas/Dawson) led the Hoyas with 17 kills while Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) added 13 and both Olivia King (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) and Madison Smith (Elk Grove, Calif./Elk Grove) chipped in eight. Paige McKnight (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody) posted her eighth double-double of the season with 43 assists and 17 digs, both match highs.

Defensively, Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) also notched double-digit digs with 16 while Aima Eichie (Castle Rock, Colo./Rock Canyon/UC Davis) put down five blocks at net.

No stranger to five set affairs, Georgetown had played in five prior to Friday's match. With experience on their side, the Hoyas showed grit as they battled back from deficits of 8-5 and 13-10 in the fifth before rallying off five-straight points for the victory. Aggressive serving by Margo Pivonka (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) set the stage for Sinnette and Speech to close out the final 5-0 run of the match with a kill each and an emphatic block on the final point of the contest.

"We came out strong and played a really good game," Head Coach Arlisa Williams said. "I'm happy at the way we finished, the fact that we were down at the split, and then trialing 13-10, just shows their commitment and unity."

Both sides battled the entirety of the match as no set saw any fewer than seven combined ties and lead changes throughout.

Knotted up 16-16 in the opening frame, the Hoyas used a 5-0 run to wipe the Bulldogs (12-4, 2-2 BIG EAST) of both timeouts before eventually taking the set, 25-19.

Butler responded in the second, coming back from a 20-16 deficit to tie things up at 21-21 before eventually evening the match at one set apiece with the 25-22 victory in the frame.

Georgetown's most prodigious offensive output came in the third set behind 16 kills at a .263 clip. King, Sinnette and Speech all had four kills in the frame as the Blue & Gray took a 17-17 tie and ran off eight of the next 10 points for the 25-19 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Following seven tie scores in the fourth, including at 9-9, BU put together runs of 5-1 and 7-2 to close out the frame, 25-16, and force a deciding fifth stanza.

Anna Logan led Butler with 17 kills to tie the match lead with Sinnette while Whitney Beck added 16.

Georgetown returns to action on Saturday as it hosts Xavier on the Hilltop in BIG EAST action. Live stats and a paid video stream will be available at www.GUHoyas.com with Monika Moore calling the play-by-play.