The UB volleyball team suffered two disappointing losses this weekend. Northern Illinois beat the Bulls on Friday, and defending Mid-American Conference champion Ohio swept the Bulls on Saturday.
Bulls KO'd by Huskies
The Bulls (7-10, 0-4 MAC) lost to Northern Illinois on Friday night, by scores of 19-30, 23-30, and 27-30 to the visiting Huskies.
Northern Illinois appeared to be a step ahead of the Bulls the whole night. The Huskies took an early lead in the first game and was able to capitalize on the Bulls' lack of consistency to seal the victory.
The second game provided much more energy for the crowd on hand. It started out much like the first, with Northern Illinois jumping out to an early lead. However, the Bulls weren't going down without a struggle this time. There were five lead changes and the Bulls looked poised to steal game two until what seemed like an hour long volley went to the Huskies. The Huskies took the next point as well, and a UB service error gave the Huskies the lead for good.
Buffalo looked like a new team at the start of game three as they took an early 3-0 lead, but UB was unable to hold onto their lead, allowing the Huskies to catch up. NIU went on to win game three 30-27.
UB played with intensity and proved that their hearts were in it at the end of the third game, and senior Molly Schrantz feels that the team should play like that all the time.
"The end was great. We looked so good, I wish we could play like that throughout the whole game," said Schrantz. "Right now I think we're too streaky, we need to get to a point where we're really solid with our play."
Though Coach Kus enjoyed the team's performance at the end of the third game, she said the inconsistency they showed throughout the match is something she would like to fix.
"At times we played hard and at times we played flat-footed," head coach Sally Kus said.
Schrantz echoed Kus' remarks.
"At times we played really well and at times we let up and we just need to get more consistent and play hard throughout the whole game and not just certain points," she said.
Kus was impressed with a couple of the players' performances.
"When (Katie) Weekley was in, that really helped us. She played great. Sarah Streib came in and sparked us at the end," Kus said.
To be successful in the MAC, the Bulls know that they will need to elevate their overall level of play.
"We need to have better ball control. That first pass has got to be there. Ohio has a perfect first pass every time, so they run a really sweet offense and we've got to play with more heart," Kus said.
Schrantz also noted a few things that the team needed to work on.
"We need to work on communicating more, staying positive and being focused. We also need to improve our serves," Schrantz said.
Schrantz and Weekley led the Bulls with nine kills apiece, while sophomore Nikki Morzenti and freshman Tammy Jule each added six kills in the match. Freshman Lizaiha Garcia recorded a team-high 20 digs and Schrantz had 10 digs on the night.
Different Team, Same Results
The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team looked like a very different team than the one that took the court against Northern Illinois on Friday night. However, the results were the same; the defending Mid-American Conference champion, Ohio University swept the Bulls, 30-23, 30-21, 30-23.
The first game started off very evenly, with each team exchanging points. Ohio pulled ahead early, but relinquished the lead to the charging Bulls. UB (7-10, 0-4 MAC) played with intensity and carried the momentum into an OU timeout, but was unable to hold off the Bobcats. Ohio regained control of the game and stole the victory to go ahead, one game to none.
Though UB ended game one on a low note, they exhibited an intensity on the floor that was absent in the previous game against Northern Illinois.
Game two started off with a questionable call that awarded Ohio the point. UB fell behind early, but charged back to take the lead at 11-10. The Bobcats fought back and led for most of the game after that point. Ohio registered another victory, taking game two 30-21.
There was another questionable call to start off game three. This time it went the Bulls' way. Despite extreme hustle by UB, the Bobcats proved to be too tough for the Bulls to handle, falling in game three 30-23.
Ohio presented numerous problems for the Bulls, starting with their consistency.
"They're an excellent ball control team, they're excellent serve receivers and they maintain a consistent level of play and I think their consistency was just hard for us to battle with," junior Katie Weekley said.
Coach Kus also noticed another problem that the Bulls were unable to address.
"A lot of times they set away from where we had just attacked, so Katie Weekley ran a slide and was trying to get back to the middle and they'd run the ball on the other side of the court, so they were going against a single block. They're a very smart team."
Though Ohio dominated most of the match, the Bulls played much better than they did against Northern Illinois.
"We played with a lot more passion. I thought we dug the ball real hard. We always have one point in every game where we lose four or five points with ball control and if we didn't have that we would have been in all three games real close."
Weekley also saw improvement in the Bulls' play from the night before.
"There was a definite improvement in intensity; everybody felt it today, everybody wanted it and we came out swinging hard in the beginning. Usually we get behind and try to come back and today I really felt like we started out strong," Weekley said.
Schrantz and Morzenti led the team with nine kills apiece and freshman Lizaiha Garcia had a team-high 12 digs on the day. Morzenti also added eight digs for the Bulls.
"Lizaiha was a little miracle girl, she kept us in some rallies that we shouldn't have been in. The first couple of games Katie Weekley did a great job blocking also," Kus said.
The Bulls return to action Friday, Oct. 8 when they host Kent State at 7 p.m. Before that match-up Coach Kus would like the team to work on a few things.
"I'd like to see better ball control and better serve receive. We need to side out the first time, not the second time because that means we've given up two points. We also need more consistent blocking and attacking."
