Spike and miss

???Jim Lodes hates injuries.

???The volleyball team and their coach are digging deep in order to find a way to put wins on the board after two losses in straight sets by Northern Illinois (11-8, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) and Western Michigan (14-3, 5-1 MAC).

???"We've got to keep working," Lodes said. "We've had some injury setbacks to our two middles and we have to work hard Monday through Friday to compete on Saturday through Sunday."

???The Bulls (5-17, 0-8 MAC) battled (Northern Illinois) on Friday but lost the match in stright sets, 25-20, 25-16 and 25-19. The Huskies out-hit the Bulls .290 to .156. Buffalo did show promise, due to sophomore Kristin Bignell's seven kills and two errors in 18 attacks; Lindsey Schlegel had a match high with 25 assists.

???A veteran presence was felt on the court with senior Claudia Neba's six kills and only two errors on 15 attacks. Junior Maria Messadri chipped in with six kills, while Lauren Fensten had a match high 14 digs.

???Irene Johnson led the Huskies with 12 kills and Megan Schoenrock had 11. Kristin Hoffman added 22 assists.

???On Saturday night, the Bulls finished their road trip with a match against Western Michigan. Unfortunately, the results weren't a smashing success.

???Western Michigan swept the Bulls 25-20, 25-21 and 25-16, outhitting the Bulls .253 to .109. However, the Bulls blocked a total of seven shots, all of them by Kristen Bignell. Bignell was doing it all and leading the Bulls with 10 kills.

"We had some chances to win games one and two," Lodes said.

Neba put together another solid performance with eight kills and led the team in hitting percentage with .400. Schlegel had 28 assists and Fensten added seven digs.

???Michelle Moore led Western Michigan with 11 kills. Caitlin Strimel had a match high of 19 digs and Jillian Mitchell finished with 25 assists.

As for the rest of the way for the Bulls, the team still has the second half of their MAC schedule ahead of them. They know what a daunting task lies ahead.

"It doesn't get any easier from here," Lodes said. "We still have Miami of Ohio and Bowling Green upcoming. We need to work hard, keep it close and hopefully come out with some wins."

The Bulls return to Alumni Arena this upcoming weekend as they host Central Michigan on Friday and Eastern Michigan on Saturday at their "Dig for the Cure" event. Both games begin at 7 p.m.