After a disappointing start to its season, the Buffalo volleyball team pulled together for a five match winning streak. The streak was extended by a difficult victory over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Saturday in the Western New York Invitational at Alumni Arena.
Coming into this weekend with a 2-2 record, the Bulls (5-2) swept Quinnipiac (0-6) on Friday (30-16, 30-15, 30-23), and Youngstown State (2-4) on Saturday (30-20, 30-23, 30-28) before it battled Coastal Carolina (1-5) in a 5 game nail-biter that same night.
"On the weekend I'm very proud of our players," said Bulls head coach Jim Lodes. "After going 2-2 down in Carolina, I wondered where we'd be. But we fought hard. We came out and played really good volleyball."
The Bulls carried a four-match win streak into its game against the Chanticleers before being bested 31-29 and 30-26. The Bulls had zero blocks in the second game. This was one of several aspects Lodes felt the team could improve upon in its remaining games.
"As a staff we try to talk about the process," Lodes said. "We really didn't talk about just winning or losing because that's not the issue. We really put our focus on the fundamentals, our blocks, defensive posture, and our first ball contact."
With their back against the wall, the Bulls came out with a warrior's mindset. The final three games were not easily won though, with four out of the five games decided by five points or less. Seniors Jenna Map?(c) and Nikki Morzenti led the Bulls with 14 kills apeice. While junior Lizaiha Garcia surpassed the 1,000-dig mark for her career. Garcia is just the tenth player in Buffalo history to reach this milestone.
"She [Morzenti] is a key energy provider for the team," Lodes said. "As a senior who has played a whole lot all four years, as a majority four-year starter, you got to hope at crunch time she's going to step up and I think she did."
In Buffalo's first match of the Western New York Invitational, sophomore Alyssa Fitchette hit a match-high .600 and had six blocks against Quinnipiac. Map?(c) had two match-highs of her own with 12 digs and four service aces. Freshman Lauren Fensten tied Map?(c)'s match-high with four service aces of her own. Senior Brandie Clark had match-high in assists with 34.
The Bulls strong showing against Youngstown State was a true team effort. Buffalo out hit the Penguins .448 to .000 in the opening game to set the tempo for the contest. Morzenti had a match-high of 11 kills. Garcia recorded a match-high 13 digs for the Bulls. Clark recorded 40 assists in the win for the Bulls.
Though the Bulls have played well lately, Lodes wants to keep the team looking ahead, and not rest on its laurels.
"What are we going to do between now and November to be really good then?" Lodes said. "Great run, but what can we do better? Any coach will tell you its better to be riding the winning streak than trying to figure out how to get out of the losing streak, but at the same time, especially because we are so young in a lot of spots, we have to keep working. I'd like to think we're going to keep them on task. It's a good problem to have."
Next on the schedule for the Bulls is the Syracuse Orange, a team that it struggled with last season.
"We went down to Syracuse last year and didn't play that well," Lodes said. "We had opportunities but just couldn't get it done. So I hope that maybe they remember that a little bit and say, 'Hey, what we did in the past is behind us now.' We are ready to play on Tuesday. I think we'll be alright."
The Bulls will take on the Orange at home on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
