The volleyball team needed to win its last two matches of the season to qualify for the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
Although the Bulls (11-19, 4-12 MAC) struggled throughout most of the season and had very little success recently, they still positioned themselves to salvage the eighth and final playoff spot pending road wins over Ohio (20-9, 12-3 MAC) and Kent State (12-9, 5-11 MAC). But the Bulls had their playoff hopes dashed away as both teams swept them.
The Bulls traveled to Ohio on Friday night in a must-win situation and played three close sets, 19-25, 22-25, 24-26, giving the Bobcats all they could handle, but it wouldn't be enough to keep Buffalo's playoff hopes alive.
The Bulls led in the third set but were unable to put away the Bobcats. Sophomore Dana Musil was her usual steady presence, leading the Bulls with seven kills while freshmen Liz Scott and Sable Staller had six each.
With their season all but over, the Bulls traveled to Kent State on Saturday for one last hurrah. But Buffalo came out flat, losing in straight sets once again, 16-25, 22-25 and 13-25. Head coach Todd Kress said his team knew it had to win both matches to get into the MAC Tournament, but after losing the tough match to Ohio on Friday night the girls just didn't have any fight left against Kent State.
The Bulls' season got out to a fast start, but the second-youngest team in the NCAA could not maintain its momentum and suffered a dismal month of October, winning only three matches after Oct. 1.
Kress credited the lousy stretch at the end of the season to his team being overmatched by the MAC West.
"We simply just played better teams," Kress said. "The West division was better than we were and we weren't ready to play at that level yet."
The good news for the Bulls is that they only graduate one senior and return a very young, talented core of players. Kress is looking for his team to refocus and rededicate through the offseason and into next season.
The Bulls will be without senior Abby Niekamp next year, a player that filled a tough role in being the only senior on the team. Kress applauded the job she did as team leader.
"I thought she did a really commendable job with everything that we faced, being such a young program and such a young team," Kress said. "She did a great job with the challenges that she had, being the only senior."
Although the season didn't play out exactly the way he would have liked, Kress can pull one huge positive from the 2011 season. The team played primarily freshmen and sophomores. Kress is looking for that early playing experience to pay off in the next few seasons as the program matures.
The Bulls will use the offseason to try and eliminate rookie mistakes with hopes for a more successful season next year.
One thing, however, is clear: if the girls want to be successful, they will need a "completely different level of commitment, determination and buy-in," something that Kress doesn't think will be a problem.
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