Fans of the University at Buffalo women's volleyball team must wait at least one day longer for a conference win after the Bulls dropped a four-game match to the Toledo Rockets by the score of 3-1 on Thursday night at Alumni Arena.
Looking for a first round bye in the upcoming MAC tournament and coming off of a 3-1 win at Akron last Saturday, the Rockets (16-10 overall, 5-8 MAC) started the first game large and in charge, racking up 10 of the first 11 points scored on their way to a 10-1 lead.
The Bulls (7-19 overall, 0-13 MAC) bounced back thanks to the fine defensive play of sophomore middle hitter Lauren Burd and the commanding presence of sophomore outside hitter Nikki Morzenti, who notched three kills and a dig in the game.
Unfortunately, Toledo capitalized on some Buffalo errors and on inconsistent officiating. The Rockets were able to build a sizable cushion, large enough at least to stave off a late Bulls run, en route to a 30-25 victory.
Buffalo bounced back in the second game of the match, winning by the score of 30-27. After making a 5-0 run to open up an early 9-6 lead over Toledo, the Bulls completely outplayed the Rockets on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Bulls more than doubled their first game kill totals, running the tally to 17, six of those by Buffalo's lone senior - outside hitter Molly Schrantz. Schrantz was helped out by four kills and six digs by Morzenti.
The third game of the match was hard-fought on both sides, but the errors continued to pile up for the Bulls, as their 14 team kills were offset by 10 errors. The game went back and forth for a while, but the well-executed play of the Rockets was enough to overcome the sloppy Buffalo squad - offsetting the fine all-around play of junior middle hitter Katie Weekley, who made three kills and three digs in the game. The Rockets won the game 30-23.
With a few lucky bounces, in the final game, Buffalo was able to open up a commanding 15-8 lead over Toledo. But Toledo went on an 8-1 run, after which they never looked back. Even Weekley couldn't hold off the star-bound Toledo team, as they defeated Buffalo by a 30-24 margin.
"I think we played a good game," said Weekley. "It was just that at the end, things kind of started to break down and we had a tough time finishing."
Toledo was led by senior outside hitter Rachel Mohler, whose team leading 19 kills help her cement her place as seventh in the MAC in kills.
"We knew when we came in this game that their outsides just slash in against the blocks looking for flaws...Toledo just executed really well tonight," said UB head coach Sally Kus. "Sometimes when we try too hard, we play a little helter-skelter."
With seven digs in the match, Nikki Morzenti moved seven away from 1,000 on her career.
The Bulls hope to close out their season at home with a victory against the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (7-14 overall, 5-7 MAC). The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
