UB volleyball played with the heart that head coach Blair Brown Lipsitz has been begging for all season this weekend. The Bulls took the two top teams in the Mid-American Conference East Division to five sets.
Buffalo split the weekend 1-1 against the Miami (OH) RedHawks (19-5, 11-1 MAC) and the Bowling Green Falcons (15-10, 9-3 MAC). After a loss to the worst team in the MAC last week, it would be very easy to predict the Bulls losing both games. But Buffalo has been a road warrior this season and has won the majority of conference games outside of Alumni Arena.
At 6-6 in conference play and 14-10 overall, the Bulls are tied for third in the MAC East Division. Buffalo has three straight home games coming up, where it can secure a better playoff spot. All three games will be against teams with worse records.
Against Miami (OH), the Bulls put up one of their best overall performances of the season. They had a better hitting percentage and battled for every single set. Miami (OH) opened up the fifth set on a 7-3 run, but the Bulls battled back. The RedHawks made it 13-8 until the Bulls were able to rally off four consecutive points to make it 13-12. Buffalo was just shy of the comeback at 15-12.
After losing the first set to Bowling Green, Buffalo won back-to-back sets to take a 2-1 advantage for the match. One set was without junior setter Scout McLerran who only played two sets on the night. Sophomore setter Tia Gleason took her place and led the Bulls with 31 assists. When they reached the fifth set, the Bulls were not going to have a repeat of the previous night. At 10-10 the Bulls rallied three points in a row and were able to seal the match 15-11.
Next up for the Bulls are two home games this weekend against Kent State (12-14, 5-7 MAC) and Ohio (11-14, 6-6 MAC). The Kent State game is on Friday at 6 p.m. and Ohio is Saturday at 6 p.m.
Sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com and on Twitter @UBSpecSports
