BUTLER TWP — At times, the Seneca Valley girls volleyball team can be too good — for its own good.

The Raiders swept Butler 25-16, 25-13, 25-17 on Tuesday, but the Tornado was able to stay close during several stretches of the match.

“They need to work a little harder,” said Raiders coach Karen Martini of her squad. “They know if they get down, they know they can buckle down and come back.”

With a senior-ladened team — including five starters on Tuesday — the Raiders have rolled to a 15-1 record, 9-1 in the section with the lone loss coming to Pine-Richland two weeks ago.

“They've been with me so long, I don't have to tell them what to do,” Martini said. “They know me so well. They tell me, ‘We know what you're going to say.' I tell them, ‘Then do it.'”

Seneca Valley wasted little time jumping out to an early 4-1 lead in the first set but the Tornado worked it back to a 6-all tie.

Senior outside hitter Meghan Drambel's kill gave the Raiders a 7-6 lead but an errant Raiders' shot made it 7-7.

From there, Seneca Valley scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 18-9 lead.

In the second set, it was the Tornado that raced out to a 5-1 lead — an ace by Makenzie Huey, a service error by SV, a Butler block, a kill by Heather Straynick and a Raiders' shot that went long.

The Raiders, however, regrouped and chipped away at the deficit before consecutive kills by Cate Seman and Drambel tied the game at 9.

With the Raiders holding a 13-12 lead, Drambel and Alex Karika had back-to-back kills to start a 9-0 run and a 12-1 spurt that closed out the set.

Laura Thomas earned eight service points to highlight the stretch.

In the third set, a 10-2 start by the Raiders sent them on their way to wrapping up the match.

“This is a difficult section, but we step up to the challenge every year,” said Butler coach Meghan Lucas. “I can tell you the final four this year: Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, North Allegheny and someone else from another section.

“But that's OK. My kids keep fighting. they'll work hard and play in club season. ... I'm proud of the girls. They get beat up night after night. All they have to do is step out of the section and see how well they do,” Lucas added.

Straynick led Butler with eight kills and MacKenzie O'Donnell added six kills. The Raiders received eight kills apiece from Seman and Drambel and seven from Karika.

“We went through a couple of different lineups,” Martini said. “We have a good bench. If someone is not performing, they respond well.”

Butler honored its two seniors — setter-defensive specialist Huey and defensive specialist Ashley Grooms.

“Makenzie's constantly been a leader on the court and Ashley, our other senior, they leave it all on the court.

“Both did a great job accepting whatever roles we gave them,” Lucas added.

Next up, the Raiders will await the WPIAL playoff pairings.

“We'll take a couple days of rest,” Martini noted, “then a couple of hard-core practices. then, we'll see if we can scrimmage someone. If not, we'll be practicing hard against each other.”