The volleyball team has been steadily slipping to the bottom of the Mid-American Conference rankings all month long. The Bulls (10-16, 3-9 MAC) were on a six-match losing steak, and they were swept in their last four.
Buffalo finally broke the trend when it hosted a lowly Akron (4-21, 1-11 MAC) team on Thursday. The Bulls beat Akron, 3-2, but that would be the week's only bright spot. Ball State swept the Bulls when they traveled to Muncie, Ind. on Saturday.
For much of Thursday night, the Bulls exhibited the same underwhelming play that has plagued them all season. So when they faced a six-point deficit in a pivotal third set, the team looked like it was on its way to another loss.
The Bulls came fighting back. Buffalo got its first win since Oct. 1, taking the sets 22-25, 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 15-13 over Akron.
After splitting the first two sets, the Bulls found themselves playing catch up for majority of the third set. Akron had a 23-20 advantage, but the Bulls rallied to score five straight points to take the set.
Freshman hitter Liz Scott, who finished with a team-high 16 kills, cited the team's mentality as the force behind the comeback.
"I think for once we just started to believe in ourselves, and our team, and play together," Scott said. "I think that alone can pick us up from anything. I think we had momentum for the rest of the match, even though we had a couple wavering points. We just had control after [the third set] and stayed confident."
In the fifth set, the Zips had another early advantage, 4-1. However, the Bulls quickly recovered to tie the set at 4. Buffalo ultimately hustled its way to a 15-13 victory in the deciding set to take the match.
"This win completely changes around our confidence and our outlook on the rest of the season," Scott said. "We can still make it into the MAC [tournament] and we're confident in that. Every win from here on out will be our biggest win."
Buffalo hit .217 as a team for the match – ahead of just .176 for Akron. Freshman middle blocker Alessandra Jovy-Heuser influenced that number heavily, as she hit an astonishing .737 for the match, a career high. Scott also hit an impressive .483.
Head coach Todd Kress praised his team's overall performance, but he believes there's more to come for the Bulls.
"This is an important [win]; they're all important," Kress said. "But I think our biggest win is still out there. We have yet to play our best volleyball, and I think we'll have a more significant win in our future."
Saturday night's match wouldn't yield quite the same results for the Bulls, as they suffered their sixth shutout of the season at the hands of Ball State.
The Bulls never scored more than 19 points in any set, as the Cardinals were too much for the young Bulls team to handle.
Led by freshman hitter Sable Staller, Buffalo started out strong against Ball State, taking a 4-1 lead in the first set. Ball State would come back to take the set, 25-19, and never look back.
Staller and Scott would lead the way in kills with 10 and 11, respectively. Buffalo only accumulated 36 total kills in the match to Ball State's 45.
The disparities would not end in the kills department. Buffalo had a poor overall offensive performance, finishing with a .140 hitting percentage while concluding the first set at .107. Ball State, on the other hand, thrived, finishing with a team total of .337.
Errors would again haunt the Bulls as they committed a total of 21 on the night – amassing seven in set one, eight in set two and six in set three. Ball State limited its mistakes by only committing 12 throughout the contest.
The Bulls return to Alumni Arena this weekend for a two-game home stand. They will take on Bowling Green (18-8, 5-7 MAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Miami (Ohio) (12-14, 3-9 MAC) on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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