JACKSON TWP — It was just the type of win the Seneca Valley volleyball team wanted heading into the playoffs.

The Raiders dominated, particularly on the serve, in a 25-17, 25-11, 25-15 home win Tuesday night over rival Butler.

“I'm definitely really proud of them,” said Seneca Valley coach Karen Martini. “I think tonight was one of our best serving nights. I thought tonight we didn't miss many serves and we kept serving tough. We weren't just hitting lollipops over the net.”

Seneca Valley had 17 aces in the match against Butler. And even when the Golden Tornado were able to return the difficult Raider serves, it was a challenge setting up their offense.

“They were hitting it exactly where we wanted to hit it,” Martini said.

Senior Hannah White had eight service points and three aces in the first game alone and finished with six aces.

“We're struggling right now in serve receive,” said Butler coach Meghan Lucas. “We'll make some adjustments and go from there.”

Despite the loss, Butler (6-7, 3-7) qualified for the WPIAL 4A playoffs thanks to Pine-Richland's 3-0 sweep over Shaler Tuesday night.

“Considering Butler hasn't made it to the playoffs in nine years, yeah, it's going to be a nice feeling for these kids to experience,” Lucas said.

Butler got off to a good start, leading Seneca Valley 14-9 in the first game, but the Raiders scored nine straight points to seize the lead.

Seneca Valley (11-5, 7-3) only trailed one other time in the match, 1-0, at the beginning of the third game.

Freshman Sarah White had 10 kills and Emily Devlin and Anna DeGraaf each added eight kills for the well-rounded Raiders.

“I'm definitely excited about (Sarah White),” Martini said, “especially when we have her and (Devlin) opposite each other. You get kills from one and as soon as one leaves, you get kills from the other.

“Our passing has been able to leave us able to disperse the ball to all our hitters,” Martini added.

Seneca Valley has won six of its last seven matches after a somewhat shaky start to the season.

The Raiders downed Upper St. Clair, 3-1, Monday night.

“The girls all contribute,” Martini said. “We're starting to get to that time where we are really jelling.

“I think the last three to four matches we've had, we've really seen we've ironed some things out,” Martini added.

Seneca Valley, which won the WPIAL 4A championship last season, is determined to make another run when the playoffs begin next week.

“We'd like to return there,” Martini said.