With two games left before the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship Tournament, the Bulls are in dire need of a victory to boost their spirits as they lost their 10th and 11th-straight matches this weekend versus MAC opponents.
On Friday evening, the Bulls (2-28, 1-13 MAC) visited the Akron Zips (10-16, 2-11 MAC) in a must-win match for the Bulls, but left the Zips swept the Bulls three games to none (30-27, 30-28, 30-21). The win snapped an eight-match losing streak for Akron, while it added another loss to Buffalo's record.
"I thought we played well enough to win," said head coach Jim Lodes. "I thought we had opportunities in the first two games, but we did not do a good job closing out. Akron played well enough to beat us, but we still had a chance."
The Zips' game one victory was lead behind four kills from Jess Antosz and three from Brionne Patterson. After a Bulls 7-3 run tied the game at 25-25, Akron came back to finish the contest strong with a 5-2 run, piloted by a pair of kills from Elizabeth Martin.
In the second game, Akron jumped out early to a 4-0 lead and led the Bulls 5-1 before the Bulls closed the gap to two points, 13-11. Buffalo would eventually tie the game at 20-all, but the Zips held their ground and tried to put the game away with a 5-1 run. Showing resiliency, the Bulls rallied back to tie the contest at 26, 27 and 28, but the Zips held off Buffalo by taking two of the last three points to end the game.
In the final game of the match, the Zips took an initial 7-1 lead and never looked back as they zipped to their final game victory in a game where the Bulls could not keep up. Brionna Patterson led the attack with 12 overall kills, as libero Megan Rodriguez finished with a match-high 18 digs.
The Bulls were led by a match-high 13 kills from freshman Richelle Bigelow. Bigelow also recorded seven digs during the event. Sophomore Kelsey Lueders added 10 kills on the evening. Freshman Lindsey Schlegel had 36 assists and a team-high 15 digs, while junior Claudia Neba added six kills and eight digs.
On Saturday evening, the Bulls returned home after a five-match road trip, hosting the Toledo Rockets (4-21, 1-13 MAC). The Bulls showed life in the contest by winning their first game in 11 matches, but could not follow the momentum from the victory as the Rockets won their first MAC match of the season with a 4-1 win over Buffalo (30-19, 31-29, 26-30, 30-22).
"We had a very slow start in game one," Lodes said. "In game two, things didn't happen for us in a game we should have won. We won game three which put us back in the match, but we couldn't get it done in game four even though we had chances."
Sarah Kreher led the Rockets' offense with a match-high 16 kills, with Brittany Alaburda and Sarah Wilson contributing as well with eight kills apiece. The Rockets out-hit the Bulls by a .207 to .097 margin. Toledo also tallied a season-high 17 service aces from Katie Westerfeld's eight winners. Lori Ruth led defensively with 17 digs, while Alaburda and Wilson added seven blocks and six blocks, respectively.
The Bulls were lead by Lueders, adding 13 kills and just one error on 24 swings. She also recorded three service aces and three total blocks for the match. Neba had 11 kills and six blocks, while sophomore Maria Mezzadri added nine kills on the evening. Schlegel also added 41 assists and seven digs for the night. The defense was led by senior Lizaiha Garcia, who had a match-high 20 digs. Bigelow contributed to the defense as well, with 13 digs. Freshman Kristin Bignell added to the effort with six block-assists overall.
Even with the Bulls posting another loss, Lodes feels that there is still hope in the final matches of the season as the team prepares for tournament play.
"We have got to keep working hard and executing hard," he said. "What we need to do is pull what we do in practice and execute it on game day, which I believe we can do."
As the final matches of the 2007 volleyball season are finishing, the Bulls have two more matches prior to MAC tournament play. Their second-to-last game will be played against the Bowling Green Falcons this Friday evening at 7 p.m. at Alumni Arena.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
