After winning four of their first five matches to start the season, the women's volleyball team dropped three in a row this weekend at the Washington State Tournament, quickly bringing the team's record down to .500.
The Bulls lost three matches by scores of 3-0, 3-1 and 3-1, never threatening to steal a win in any of the three games.
As the only East coast team, the Bulls struggled on this long road trip, failing to establish control of the matches.
Buffalo opened play against the Idaho Vandals, losing 3-0. The Bulls took two of the games to the wire, dropping game one 30-26 and game three 31-29. Junior Nikki Morzenti lead Buffalo with 15 kills and sophomore Lizaiha Garcia tallied 12 digs.
Idaho took an early lead in game one of the match, but the persistent Bulls played their way back to a 24-24 tie. The Vandals closed the floodgates, however, with a 6-2 run.
Buffalo came out strong after game two, where they were soundly beaten by a score of 30-20, and took an early 24-19 lead in game three. The Bulls were unable to execute a final blow as they failed to put away three game points, before falling 31-29 to complete the sweep.
Morzenti was the only Bulls player to hit double digits in kills for UB. The Bulls finished with only a .120 hitting percentage compared to Idaho's .288.
Senior Katie Weekley also put forth a strong effort against Idaho, boasting eight kills and three blocks in the match.
Junior Brandie Clark finished with seven kills and two blocks on the day and senior Amy Brown led the Bulls with 31 assists, three service aces and six digs.
UB wrapped up their performance in the Washington State Tournament with a doubleheader on Saturday were they first battled the host team Washington State Cougars, followed by a game against Oral Roberts University.
The Bulls lost both games 3-1 with sets for the first game ending at 30-23, 30-24, 24-30, 30-25, and the sets for the Roberts' match going 30-22, 30-26, 22-30, 30-18.
Weekley had another strong performance for the Bulls leading the team with 15 kills. Weekly also chipped in on defense touting four blocks, two of them solos.
Junior Jenna Map?(c) had 14 kills and nine digs in the game and senior Amy Brown led the team with 48 assists, while also putting up two kills and three blocks of her own.
Morzenti had another strong game as well, posting a double-double in both kills and digs.
Against Roberts, Weekley led the team again with 14 kills while earning a match high nine blocks.
Clark contributed10 kills to the effort and tied her career high in blocks with seven. Sophomore Sarah Streib reached career highs with eight kills and ten digs. Garcia led all play with a match-high 21 digs.
The Bulls next match will be against rival Niagara at home on Sept. 13. Game time is 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on WLVL 1340 AM.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
