The Official Newsletter for Butler Athletics

Good Morning, Butler Fam. All that extra offseason work. All the early mornings. All of it is done for these moments.

Two more programs hit the field for season openers this week! Welcome back Butler softball and lacrosse!

What all do we have stirring in today’s Brew? Check it out below!

🏀 Special Night On Tap
📚 Speed & Smarts
😎 Future Shining Bright
🐶 And much more!

🏀 SPECIAL NIGHT ON TAP

Game days at Hinkle are always special, but this one has a little bit of extra special to it.

Wednesday night, the Butler women’s hoops team returns home to host Villanova on a night when the ‘Dawgs will be having three celebrations all-in-one.

First, National Girls and Women In Sport Day will have activities on the concourse and for fans throughout the pregame. Second, the Black Fives Foundation will be honored as the team will be wearing shooting shirts and represent the Spartan Girls.

Lastly, Butler will be honoring founders week and its originator, Ovid Butler.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Toledo Takedown. Need a closer? Nicholas Shirley is your guy.

The Butler men’s tennis standout provided the late heroics for the ‘Dawgs on Sunday, pulling out a three-set victory to help clinch the squad’s first win of the season, a 4-3 defeat of Toledo.

The other three points for Butler came courtesy of singles victories from Nicolas Arts, Rahulniket Konakanchi, and Siddhartha Lama, each winning in straight sets. 

🏀 The Full Recap

🔼 Speed & Smarts. The course wasn’t the only thing the Butler cross country programs dominated this past fall.

Late last week, the United States Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) recognized both the Butler men's and women's cross country teams on the 2025 All-Academic Teams. 

The cross country team led all men's programs at Butler with a combined 3.517 GPA. On the women's side, the team finished with a combined 3.693 GPA.

Four Bulldogs also were also named All-Academic Athletes. On the men's team, Austin Gabay, Jesse Hamlin, William Zegarski, and Matteo Rosio each earned the honors.

📚 More On The Academic Success

🔼 Senior Salutin’. No better way to honor the seniors than with a W!

That’s what the Butler swimming & diving squad did on Sunday, taking down Valparaiso, 141-120 in the 17th annual Butler Invite at Fishers High School Natatorium.

Prior to the meet, Butler also honored its 10 seniors — Sadie Brown, Ava McGonigle, Olivia McKee, Elizabeth Naylor, Sophie Resner, Kate Schilling, Olivia Stotts, Megan VanValkenburgh, Cotter Welch and Caroline Zimner — and their contributions to the program over the past four seasons.

🏊 The Full Recap

🔼 Future So Bright. An Indiana native and future Butler Bulldog Joslyn Bricker recently received a national honor as the Warsaw native was named a McDonald’s All-American Nominee.

In her three varsity seasons at Warsaw, Bricker has helped the Lady Tigers to a 63-12 record, averaging 19.7 points, 3.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game.

🤝 A GAMECHANGER

Butler Athletics and Playfly Sports, the sports industry's leading revenue maximization company, recently announced a partnership with Droplight. The multi-year agreement is the largest and most comprehensive sponsorship agreement in Butler Athletics history.
 
The partnership with Droplight will highlight many of the partners and businesses within its network, including Desnuda Tequila, Call Sign, Pregame, Indiana Small Batch, and others.

Droplight is a strategic growth partner that plugs brands into a powerful ecosystem of companies, sports teams, and live events. From racing paddocks to major stages like LightX, Droplight creates partnerships and cross-pollinated campaigns that put clients in rooms and relationships they couldn't access on their own. By aligning strategy, operations, and brand storytelling with high-impact partners, Droplight helps organizations of any size unlock new value, bigger audiences, and faster opportunities than they could build alone. 

🤔 BUTLER TRIVIA

Last season, Makena Alexander launched nine HRs for the Butler softball squad and now sits just outside the top-10 all-time in program history entering her junior season.

Which former Bulldog is the program’s all-time leader in career HRs?

Got a guess?

Scroll down to see if you know your stuff!

📆 LOOKING AHEAD

*all times EST

Monday, February 2nd
⛳️ Women’s Golf at UNCG Advance Partners Intercollegiate (Palm City, Fla.)

Tuesday, February 3rd
⛳️ Women’s Golf at UNCG Advance Partners Intercollegiate (Palm City, Fla.)

Wednesday, February 4th
🎾 Women’s Tennis vs. UIndy @ 12:30pm
🏀 Women’s Basketball vs. Villanova @ 7pm l Tickets
🏀 Men’s Basketball at Providence @ 7pm l Peacock

Friday, February 6th
🥍 Women’s Lacrosse at Detroit Mercy @ 1pm
🥎 Softball vs. Omaha @ 1:30 pm EST (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
🎾 Women’s Tennis at Ball State @ 3pm
🎾 Men’s Tennis at Marian University @ 5pm
🥎 Softball vs. Kansas City @ 6:30pm EST (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
👟 Track & Field at Fairground Invitational (Indianapolis, Ind.)

Saturday, February 7th
🏀 Women’s Basketball at #1 UConn @ 12pm l FS1
🏀 Men’s Basketball at Marquette @ 2pm l FS1
🥎 Softball vs. Kansas City @ 3pm EST (Cedar Falls, Iowa)
🥎 Softball at Northern Iowa @ 8pm EST
👟 Track & Field at Fairground Invitational (Indianapolis, Ind.)

🐶 Click here to see the full Butler Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Erin Falkenberry (41)

🐶 Have a great one!