Volleyball drops two in a row

After a gritty road trip where the UB volleyball team lost four of five games, last weekend's back-to-back home games came as a welcoming change.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, they were unable to capitalize on the advantage of playing in friendly confines as they lost to Miami (Ohio) on Friday by a score of 3-1 and again on Saturday to Bowling Green 3-0.

The Bulls (8-11 overall, 0-6 Mid-American Conference) were able to rebound from a heartbreaking first-game loss to Miami. The women lost by a score of 30-28 and came back to win the second game 30-25 thanks to a great block from junior Nikki Morzenti to seal the victory.

However, Buffalo was unable to carry the momentum going into its third and fourth games, losing by scores of 30-26 and 30-19, respectively. RedHawks sophomore Alex Ratcliff and Nikki Morzenti both led the game and their particular teams in kills with 17 apiece.

The Bulls lost focus down the stretch, and head coach Jim Lodes believes their play is at its best when they are able to keep their heads in the game.

"We need to stay confident," Lodes said. "We came out in games one, two and most of three and played pretty aggressive. For whatever reason, at the end of game three and onto game four we didn't play with that same fire we had previously. When we're confident we execute well and we're a pretty good team."

Lack of confidence wasn't the only thing that hurt the Bulls over the weekend. Hampered by an extremely short bench, UB was unable to find fresh legs in the latter games to compensate for Miami's substitutions.

"Today at crunch time it would have been nice to have a deeper bench and be able to look to some people," Lodes said.

One of the players sidelined during the game for the Bulls was junior Jenna Map?(c), who is second on the team in kills per game. UB was able to overcome the loss of Map?(c) at first but was hurt by her absence as the match progressed.

"Jenna has been playing awesome," Lodes said. "She's been a big part of our offense and a big part of our serve reception. As a group in the first, second and third games, we did a good job trying to compensate for her not being there."

The game did have a bright spot for the Bulls. Senior Amy Brown became the school's all-time assist leader with 3,865. Brown said she is humbled by the accomplishment and couldn't have done it without her teammates.

As far as the team's progress, Brown agrees with Lodes that the team needs to be steadier in late-match play.

"We need to be more consistent with passing and play relentless defense," Brown said.

The second match of the weekend was against the Bowling Green Falcons (9-8 overall, 3-3 MAC) and the Bulls were unable to bounce back from their previous loss. They were swept in straight matches by scores of 30-22, 30-18 and 30-17, respectively.

The Bulls didn't answer Falcons senior Ashlei Nofzinger, who had 17 kills in the match. UB appeared to be overmatched as they were trailing by huge leads throughout each game. Sophomore Lizaiha Garcia says the team needs to be more unified throughout the whole match in order to become a contender.

"In the beginning, we came out fighting hard but towards the end we fell apart and played individually," Garcia said.

The Bulls remain winless in the MAC, but Coach Lodes believes the team has played a lot better than its record shows.

"We went five games at Akron and we played Ohio and Penn State well," Lodes said. "We have to understand that we can compete in the MAC. We could just as easily be 3-2 or 4-1, so it's not like we don't belong in this league."

Lodes remains optimistic of his team's chances despite their recent string of defeats in MAC play.

"We're capable of playing well together if we believe in ourselves and we stick together," Lodes said.

The Bulls' next match is Tuesday at Syracuse before closing out the season with a series of six consecutive matches against MAC opponents that could very well decide whether or not they will be a viable contender for the conference championship.