The UB women's volleyball team traveled to Morgantown, W. Va., for the West Virginia University Classic over the weekend and went 2-1 over three games, finishing second-place overall for the tournament.
The team improved its record to 7-5 on the season, but Buffalo Head Coach Jim Lodes is still expecting more from his team.
"Honestly, we would have liked to have played at a higher level," Lodes said. "We had too many unforced errors."
The Bulls started off the tournament in heartbreaking fashion, losing a five-game set to WVU on Friday. Games one and two went to the Mountaineers but Buffalo battled back, winning games three and four to force a fifth game.
Game five went back and forth with seven ties. The teams were tied 10-10 before WVU took five out of the last six points to win the game 15-11 and steal the match from the Bulls, three games to two with final scores of 20-26, 25-30, 30-22, 22-30, and 15-11, respectively.
The Bulls were led in the first match by senior setter Amy Brown, junior outside hitter Jenna Map?(c), and junior outside hitter Nikki Morzenti, who each recorded their second straight double-doubles. Morzenti had 16 kills and 14 digs, while Map?(c) had 10 kills and 16 digs, a new career high. Brown continued her stellar play with 45 assists, 11 digs, three kills and four blocks.
Lodes feels that the loss on Friday helped his team focus on what they were doing, and served as a wake up call for the season.
"(Losing on Friday) made us stop to reevaluate what we were doing," Lodes said. "It made us play hard the whole time."
Rebounding from a tough loss is the sign of a good team, and the Bulls showed perseverance by coming back on Saturday to beat Duquesne and Memphis, both in four games.
Buffalo faced Memphis first on Saturday and the match was never in doubt as the Bulls won 30-28, 30-15, 21-30, and 30-23. Brown led the team again with 45 assists, 12 digs, and three blocks. Morzenti also added 12 kills and a match-high 15 digs.
The second match of the day, this time against Duquesne, looked as if it could go either way for a while but the Bulls pulled out the win in the end.
After the teams had split the first two games, the third was a marathon with the Bulls winning 39-37. It took Buffalo just four games to defeat Duquesne. The final scores were 30-28, 19-30, 39-37 and 30-24.
Morzenti once again played a large role in the team's victory, with a match-high 24 kills and 11 digs. Brown added 53 assists, five kills, and 13 digs. Both Morzenti and Brown have recorded double-doubles in four consecutive matches.
Two UB athletes, Brown and junior middle blocker Lauren Burd, were named to the All-Tournament Team. For the tournament, Brown averaged 11 assists, 2.77 digs, and accumulated 10 kills in three games. Burd averaged 2.69 digs and had a team-high hitting percentage of .329. Burd also averaged 1.08 blocks per contest for the weekend.
Looking ahead, the Bulls begin their Mid-American Conference play at Kent State next weekend. Lodes sees areas in which the team played well and other areas in which the team needs to improve from this weekend, if they want to compete in the MAC.
"We had moments of good blocking, and good serving at times," Lodes said. "We still need to do a better job at receiving serves, and a better job on defense."
Lodes has high aspirations for his team coming into MAC play.
"Our expectations are higher this season," Lodes said. "We have to try to compete and win every match."
The Bulls will face their first MAC competition on Friday at 7 p.m. when they take on the Golden Flashes in Kent, Ohio, one of four consecutive away games in the MAC.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
