Volleyball Earns Sweep over Purple Eagles

Niagara Falls, NY - When comparing this year's UB Bulls volleyball to last year's, one stat jumps right out at you.

Their Mid-American Conference record.

Buffalo has already collected two conference wins on the season, something they only did once last season while losing 49 consecutive conference games prior to that win.

Needless to say, improvement is evident.

But Wednesday night's game against the Niagara Purple Eagles (4-17) was a non-conference game, something UB has done well in recently. With a tough MAC schedule looming, the Bulls could not afford to crash against a speed bump.

Fortunately for Buffalo, they didn't overlook the Purple Eagles, who at times have shown they can play with the best. UB swept Niagara in three games 30-21, 30-25, 30-26 and improved their record to 8-11 overall.

"I think they were just real hungry for a win," said UB head coach Sally Kus on the dominance her team played with against Niagara on Wednesday night.

"I thought they spread the ball around well, they exploited Niagara's weaknesses and yet went to our strengths," continued Kus.

One of UB's strengths against NU was the trio of Lindsay Matikosh, Molly Schrantz and Nikki Morzenti.

Schrantz and Morzenti led the way offensively, each contributing 16 kills, while Matikosh chipped in with 12 digs.

The Bulls started off the first game very slow as NU led 16-15, but that lead was short lived, as Buffalo exploded for a 15-5 run en route to taking game one.

"We need to find it from within to come to play every night," stated Niagara head coach Rocco Lucci in a press release. "When we have the lead, we have to want to keep it."

Some of what happened in game one spilled over into the next game, and NU bolted out to a 10-5 lead in game two. The lead was once again short lived, as the Bulls registered nine of the next 13 points to even the score at 14 apiece. From that point on, Buffalo took control and fought off Niagara as the Purple Eagles nipped at the Bulls' heels the rest of the game. UB was able to take the game 30-25.

Game three was a game for the ages that saw both teams trading points back and forth, full of long volleys by both teams. With the score tied at 20, the teams once again went back and forth scoring points before Buffalo captured the win on a NU hitting error.

Early in the season Kus noted that team chemistry and communication would bring this team together to help them compete with anyone. However she still feels that the team is lacking communication and is looking for someone to step up.

"It's still way too quiet out there," said Kus "I thought they celebrated well, because sometimes they don't celebrate. But we're still working on communication a lot and that's what's going to help our first contact, someone who really takes charge and pushes the ball to target."

Sophomore Amy Brown had another impressive night with 43 assists.

"I thought we had a pretty good first contact which makes everything great," said Kus. "When Brownie gets a hand on the ball we can run anything we want."

Freshman Wendy Haskell once again started at the setter position and contributed with a team high 11 kills, but Kus still sees this as the position that needs more improvement.

"(Setter) is still an area we are trying to improve on. We've got two freshmen working that position and it's tough," said Kus. "You're in charge of that whole back row."

The win makes a good confidence booster for the Bulls who have now won two out of their last three games and are in the hunt to move up in the Mid-American Conference standings (2-3) in the hope to earn a home playoff game in the MAC tournament.

To do so, UB will have to take care of Akron this weekend and will have their hands full with the remaining games being MAC matchups.

"We need to go to Akron this weekend and take care of the Zips," said Kus. "We need to come with another win under our belt when we face Ball State. We need that win to stay in the middle of the MAC."

The Bulls' next game is at 7 p.m. today in Akron and then they return home to face Ball State, which is the first of a four-game home stand, ending with the Zips on the Oct. 29.