BUTLER TWP — Dan Mountain knows what kind of boys volleyball team Butler is this year. He just wants to make sure his team understands it.

The Seneca Valley coach had seen Butler make a strong run in the first and second games to force a 1-all tie.

The Raiders responded by grabbing the next two games en route to a 25-22, 23-25, 25-14, 25-18 Section 2-AAA victory Tuesday.

The win keeps Seneca Valley (7-1, 6-1) one game behind North Allegheny while Butler (6-2, 4-2) sits in third place.

“We have to understand who we are playing against,” Mountain said. “This is probably the best team Butler's ever had here. They're well-rounded.

“The setter they have (Dustin DeFrancisis) is one of the best we've faced. They have a chance to get a point every time with him,” Mountain added.

The Raiders led 11-9 in the first game before the squad scored the next three points — highlighted by kills from Ben Hart and Chad Albert — then expanded the lead to 21-14.

The Tornado rallied by earning eight of the next nine points to tie the score at 22 before Seneca Valley tallied the next three points.

The Raiders used a block that deflected off a Butler player, a kill by Hart and a Butler shot out of bounds to wrap up the opening game.

“We did some things wrong fundamentally,” said Butler coach Lew Liparulo. “We didn't penetrate their blocks on the net.

“They blocked us well ... They took us out of our offense,” Liparulo added.

Butler opened the second game with the first six points before the Raiders countered with a run of their own to knot that game at 11.

Later, a Jacob Black kill helped Butler tie the game at 17 to begin a 5-0 run to give Butler a 21-17 lead.

Seneca Valley would trim the deficit to one at 21-20, 23-22 and 24-23 but couldn't tie the game.

When the Raiders couldn't get the ball out of their end, Butler secured the final point of Game 2.

“There's no time limit in volleyball, so it affords you to work on the next point,” Liparulo noted.

With the score tied at 3-all in the third game, The Raiders scored six consecutive points to take a 9-3 lead, Butler would get as close as two (15-13), but another 6-0 spurt by the Raiders opened up a 21-13 lead and the Raiders cruised to take a 2-1 lead.

“This team is good about not getting excited or too down on themselves,” said Mountain. “They understand there are runs in volleyball, momentum swings.

“You can get runs and hope you keep runs from happening for the other team.”

Case in point, after trailing 1-0 in the fourth game, the Raiders scored the next five points and went on to close out the match.

Hart, Zach Herrmann and Albert led the Raiders with 14, 12 and nine kills respectively, while Albert added 15 blocks and Brad Parrish 11 blocks.

Mike Dreher had 13 kills for Butler, Black had six blocks, Xavier Krause 18 passes and DeFrancisis 21 assists.

Next up, Butler will host North Hills today while Seneca Valley will host North Hills April 28.