Hurricane Isabel caused a last minute cancellation of the University of Maryland's Eastern Shore Tournament, so the Buffalo women's volleyball team traveled to Lewisburg, Pa. to play Bucknell and Stony Brook in the Bison Scramble over the weekend.
The Bulls split the two matches at the Bison Scramble, by beating their first opponent, Bucknell, in three games (30-23, 30-20, 30-19) and surrendering their second match of the day to Stony Brook in five games (30-27, 20-30, 30-32, 30-24, 15-11).
During Buffalo's first match of the tournament against Bucknell, they took an early advantage over the Bisons, and continued their lead through all three games. UB freshman Nikki Morzenti recorded the most kills for the Bulls, 16, while senior Lindsay Matikosh and freshman Wendy Haskell executed the most digs, with 12 apiece. Senior Alexis Bouie aided the team by recording nine kills and five blocks, and junior Molly Schrantz helped the UB team by adding ten kills and seven digs to the win.
"This was a very personal and emotional game for us," said UB head volleyball coach Sally Kus. "There were girls on Bucknell's team that are from the western part of N.Y. and have played on teams and clubs with the girls on my team. The Bucknell match was probably the only match so far that everyone on the UB team has played their very best."
It was during the emotional game against Bucknell that Kus led her team to their fifth win of the season, and captured her long awaited 900th career coaching victory.
"I had actually forgotten about the 900 wins coming into the tournament, I was just focused on winning this weekend," said Kus.
During Kus' career, she achieved 794 wins as the girls' varsity coach at Sweet Home High School when she left after 23 years to coach at the collegiate level. Kus then gained 92 wins in four years at Daemon College, and is now in her second year of coaching at Buffalo, with 14 victories under her belt. Not only was the Bucknell triumph sweet for Kus by achieving 900 coaching wins, but two of her players, sophomore Amy Brown and senior Matikosh were honored as part of the All-Tournament Team, as well.
Buffalo then got back on the court to play against Stony Brook, and lost in a grueling five-game match. The Seawolves succeeded to win the first game in the match 30-27, but the Bulls came back to even the score by wining games two and three by scores of 20-30 and 30-32. Buffalo's advantage after the third game was short lived, as the Seawolves broke ahead to take game four 30-24, and finally won the match with game five, a 15-11 loss.
"This game was not as personal as Bucknell's, so the girls were not very into the match at all," stated Kus. "It was a close game and we played well, but our team needs to learn how to hold a lead when we have one."
Morzenti posted a match-high of 19 kills and ten digs, while Schrantz had a team-high of 18 digs and eleven kills in the match against Stony Brook. Sophomore Katie Weekley accomplished a personal best, as she tied her career high of ten blocks, which included five solos, and Bouie also did well as she brought in 15 kills and eight blocks for the Buffalo team.
The team, now 5-7 overall, will begin their MAC season by hosting Western Michigan on Saturday at 7 p.m.
