UB women’s volleyball (16-4, 6-2 MAC) split two games against the Toledo Rockets (8-11, 6-2 MAC) on Friday and Saturday, coming back to pull out a nervy 3-2 win in the first game before a comeback bid fell short in the second game. The team is still in the driver’s seat in the Mid American Conference’s (MAC) East Division, a game ahead of the second-place Akron Zips (10-9, 5-3 MAC).
Both games were held at Toledo’s John F. Savage Arena in Ohio. The first game on Friday night saw the Bulls drop the first two sets before storming back to force a fifth set. UB went on to win the fifth set 16-14, completing the comeback.
Senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavska had 21 kills in the win and also chipped in 20 digs, both of which led the team. Junior setter Mandy Leigh matched her season-high with 57 assists, outdueling Toledo’s setter Macy Hatkevich in a pivotal faceoff. Fifth-year middle blocker Courtney Okwara chipped in four blocks to seal the victory.
Buffalo again dropped the first two sets in the late afternoon game on Saturday, and replicated their efforts on Friday to force a decisive fifth and final set. The Bulls were unable to come all the way back this time, falling 13-15 in the last one.
Katrin Trebichavska again led the team with 17 kills and junior Maria Futey who led the team with 18 digs. Setter Mandy Leigh had 45 assists in the loss, keeping her third on the MAC leaderboard in overall assists. Leigh was named the MAC East Setter of the Week after passing 3,000 career assists with her 102-assist weekend.
Fifth-year Abby Leigh also performed well in the loss, moving into first on the MAC block leaderboard with four blocks on Saturday. That leaves the Bulls with four individual stats leaders, as Courtney Okwara still leads the MAC in hitting percentage and Katrin Trebichavska is number one in service aces in the conference.
Buffalo will open a three-game homestand with one game against Akron (10-9, 5-3 MAC) on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a game that has major conference implications. The Bulls will then play Ball State (11-8, 8-0 MAC) on Friday and Saturday.
Tuesday’s game will be played to promote Spirit Day and Pride Night, and can be streamed on ESPN+.
The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com
Henry Daley is an assistant sports editor at The Spectrum. His work has featured on other platforms such as Medium and Last Word on Sports. Outside of the newspaper, he enjoys running and watching sports (when he’s not writing about them).
