Alumni Arena was the host site for the Hotel Indigo Classic Tournament, which featured Buffalo, St. Francis (N.Y.), High Point and Davidson. It was the second tournament the Bulls hosted this season and even though they didn't finish undefeated, Buffalo was able to top their 1-2 record in the Ramada Invitational.
After losing 0-3 to High Point on Friday, the Bulls were able to beat both St. Francis and Davidson with a 3-0 score.
???Sophomores Kristen Bignell and Marisa Hornbaker were named to the all-tournament team as they helped lead the way for the Bulls second place finish. ???The Bulls (5-9) played poorly against High Point (10-2), getting out hit .255 to .037. High Point proved to be too much to handle for the Bulls, winning the match in straight sets of 25-13, 25-23 and 25-17.
Junior Maria Mezzadri led the Bulls with seven kills while sophomore Lindsey Schlegel recorded four kills, 20 assists and six digs. Junior Lauren Fensten also finished with a game-high 18 digs, tying her career-high.
??? The Panthers of High Point had two players with double-digit kills and digs. Audie Gonzalez finished with 11 kills and 12 digs, while Lindsey Raus finished with 10 kills and 12 digs of her own. Kristina Taylor also added 30 assists for the Panthers, who are currently on a nine-game winning streak. ???Upset about their performance the night before, the Bulls looked towards Saturday to rebound. They unleashed on St. Francis (0-15), beating them by more than 10 points in each set 25-8, 25-13, 25-10. Buffalo played very strong, out-hitting the terriers .481 to .000. This percentage broke the old record of .451, which was set on Oct. 17, 1992 versus Robert Morris. ???Hornbaker contributed 11 kills and four service aces and four digs, while Mezzadri also added 11 kills. Bignell recorded five blocks and Fensten had a match high 12 digs. ???The nightcap game versus Davidson was a closer contest than the morning one; however, at the end, the Bulls achieved the same result. Buffalo was able beat Davidson (4-8) in three straight, hard-fought sets 25-17, 25-22, 25-20.
Hornbaker continued her stellar play finishing the match with 13 kills and five digs, while teammate Bignell recorded seven kills and four blocks. Schlegel recorded 29 assists to go along with her four kills and nine digs. Senior Claudia Neba recorded four service aces for the Bulls, which accounted for nearly half of the team's total.
High Point's Raus, Taylor and Gonzalez; St. Francis' Liliana Rodriguez and Davidson's Christine Perzinski were named to the all-tournament team with Bignell and Hornbaker. Raus received all-tournament MVP honors as High Point won the tournament. ???Bignell was very excited to win her fourth all-tournament selection and she attributes most of her success to how well the team has been practicing. ???"I'm really excited," Bignell said "We've been working really hard all week in practice and I think it's really starting to pay off more." ???Head Coach Jim Lodes was also thrilled with how well his team did this weekend. ???"Despite a very shaky start ... the way we rebounded today, we played almost perfect against St. Francis," Lodes said. "It was just incredible how we put together a streak where everything we did was pretty much on."
The Bulls next match opens up Mid-American Conference play when they travel to Kent State next week. Lodes feels confident about entering MAC play after seeing his team's success so far. ???"I'm super excited that the last two matches lead up to MAC play." Lodes said. "Because other than the way we played at Air Force, this is by far the best we've played as far as consistency as a group since then. [The team] must also be feeling good about themselves ... they played fantastic."
Their match against the Golden Flashes is set for Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
