Freshman hitter Megan Lipski could be the driving force behind a successful season for the Bulls. In a three-game tournament in South Bend, Ind. this weekend, Lipski put up monster numbers against top NCAA talent.
Lipski was one of the weekend's only bright spots. The Bulls (3-3) won their first match against Eastern Kentucky (2-4), 3-0, but fell to Notre Dame (4-2), 3-1, and University of Alabama-Birmingham (3-4), 3-0.
"We knew it was probably the toughest preseason tournament we had scheduled," said head coach Todd Kress. "Notre Dame and UAB are traditionally NCAA tournament teams, so we knew it would be a challenge. But we had a good week of practice so we had high expectations going in."
The weekend's tournament opened with promise, as Buffalo started off by sweeping Eastern Kentucky 25-17, 25-22 and 25-21. Three Bulls reached doubles in kills in the win; Lipski and sophomore hitter Liz Scott tallied 11 kills on the night, while freshman hitter Tahleia Bishop added 10, for a total of 32 of UB's 41 points.
On day two, the Bulls fell to the would-be tournament champions, Notre Dame. The Irish took the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-10. Buffalo rallied to take the third, 25-23, and push the match to a fourth set. The Irish took an early six-kill lead, putting the game out of reach and won the set 25-18.
Kress thought his team had a lot of missed opportunities in its match against the Fighting Irish, with its good play leading to its chance to win in the extra set.
"I thought that the entire match we had an opportunity to win," Kress said. "We gave ourselves that opportunity by winning that third set and then in that fourth set it was close. At that point you keep trying and keep fighting and try to get an upset. I feel like we gave ourselves a lot of opportunities against a very good program. It could have gone either way."
On Sunday, Buffalo didn't have the fight to come back from its tough loss to Notre Dame the night before. University of Alabama-Birmingham took advantage and swept the Bulls 25-16, 25-17 and 25-21.
"We were completely outplayed against UAB," Kress said. "We didn't compete. We were very undisciplined in our approach. Blocking wise, our middles were completely lost as far as closing. Afterwards, we talked about their importance about closing blocks and transitioning. All it takes is one person not doing their job for us to struggle."
Lipski's stellar opening performance was a bright spot for the struggling Bulls. In the loss to Notre Dame she came out as the leader in kills with 11. Against UAB, she took to the defensive, tallied only six kills, but added six digs to her stats.
Her performance on the court earned her a spot on the All-Tournament team at the end of the invite.
"She had a great preseason, probably the best of anyone in our program," Kress said. "She's a quality player, and even coming in as a freshman we expected great things from her. She came out as much more aggressive in this tournament [than last weekend], on and off the court. She had some great things to say in the locker room after the games and I really enjoyed seeing her play."
Kress hopes that as a freshman, Lipski can act as a spark plug to inspire the upper classmen "to play with the same determination and to do their game and do their role." Kress believes that once that happens the Bulls will be much more successful.
The Bulls get a full week to prepare for their next invitational at Cleveland State (5-2) this weekend. Their first game of the invite is against Cleveland State, Friday at 7 p.m.
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Photo: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics
