Volleyball heads West

With already half as many wins as they had last year under their belt, the women's volleyball team is set to continue its winning ways when it travels to Washington State University to take part in the Baden Cougar Challenge Tournament this weekend.

UB (4-1) will kick off their first game against the Idaho Vandals (4-2) on Friday and then continue with a doubleheader on Saturday when they face the Washington State Cougars (2-2) and Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (1-2).

Head coach Jim Lodes hopes to build off of the success they had at the Western New York Invitational, where they swept the competition.

"We have an advantage going in that we had reasonable success the last two weekends," Lodes said.

Last weekends' success, however, does not mean that this tournament will be a cakewalk.

"There is a disadvantage in that Washington State, Idaho and Oral Roberts could be the three toughest teams we have faced to date," Lodes said. "They will be bigger height-wise and it will be a good weekend to see how we will be able to compete in the (Mid-American Conference)."

The preparation process for this tournament will not be much different from any previous ones. Lodes said that the team would focus on improving on their own internal areas.

"We may change small things once we play them," Lodes said. "We will see Washington State and Oral Roberts play in the game before ours and we have video on all the teams there since they have played games already. We will also make individual adjustments as we see it live, especially during the first game against Idaho."

When asked what the key to the Bulls' success has been so far, Lodes' formula was simple.

"Balanced offensive attack, aggressive defensive approach, and we have been serving very well as well," Lodes said.

Consistency is another point that Lodes stressed, saying it is an area in which the Bulls will need to keep improving on to be successful in this tournament as well as the rest of the season.

"We have shown at short times that we can play at a top level, it's whether we can keep it up for longer amounts of time," Lodes said.

One of the key components to maintaining this consistency will be senior Amy Brown.

"As (Brown) continues to do well, we will have that balanced attack to stay consistently good," Lodes said.

Although Brown did not recently achieve any career-highs like a few fellow teammates, Lodes believes that she is responsible in helping to set them up for those situations. Brown is no stranger to lofty statistics, though. She is currently third all-time in career assists and is first all-time in assists per game.

This will be the Bulls' first meeting ever against the Washington State Cougars and the Idaho Vandals. The Bulls have faced the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles one other time before with the sole decision belonging to the Golden Eagles. Idaho is the only team in the Baden Cougar Challenge Tournament that participated in the NCAA Championship Tournament last year, where they lost in the first round.

The Bulls' match against the Vandals will begin at 8:30 p.m.