As the old adage goes, "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." The Buffalo volleyball team learned the hard way Wednesday night that this motto does not apply to their sport.
In a closely contested match between local rivals, the Purple Eagles, 3-2, in five games, defeated the Bulls. At one point during the fifth game, the score was deadlocked at nine, but visiting Niagara (2-5) was able to pull away, winning six of the next seven points for a 15-10 victory.
After taking the first game by a score of 30-25, the Bulls (1-8) found themselves down by double digits for the majority of the second game, falling 30-17. Buffalo fought back to win the third game by a 30-22 decision, and gave themselves a chance to win it all with a victory in the fourth game. However, they were unable to seal the deal. Though the Bulls led 30-29, Niagara scored the final three points of the game to defeat the Bulls 32-30 and tie the match at two games apiece.
The Bulls started off the fifth game strong, taking the first three points in deciding fashion. However, a few calls went against them and they were unable to completely regain their focus, allowing the Purple Eagles to hang around long enough to win the match.
"I'm sure that's disappointing for them. I'm sure that's a tough thing. We probably aren't supposed to lose a match like that, and we've got to kick it up a notch," said head coach Jim Lodes.
Even though the team is very young, with just as many freshmen on the roster (six) as juniors and seniors combined, Lodes does not accept inexperience as an excuse for why the team is struggling.
"I don't think that we're necessarily pushing ourselves at maximum, and I think that we've got to remember that we've got to fight for every point like it's a game point or match point," Lodes said.
Buffalo senior Lizaiha Garcia, already the school's all-time leader in digs, added 23 more to her resume in the losing effort. Freshman Kristin Bignell connected on a team-high .450 percent of her shots and was one of three Bulls to register at least 10 kills. The other two were freshman Marisa Hornbaker, with 13 and sophomore Maria Mezzadri, with 10.
Niagara's Lindsey Kriger served up eight aces and Raelean Rush registered match-high 18 kills.
"The big thing we have to realize right now is that, yeah, it stinks to be 1-8. Yes, we're young, and we have how many built-in excuses like that we can use?" Lodes said.
The Bulls now begin a seven game road trip where they will participate in tournaments in Pittsburgh and Carolina.
"It's not going to be easy," Lodes said of the next 10 days. "I scheduled teams (for the Pittsburgh Invitational) that are going to be competitive in their conference; teams that are thinking about at least top three or four in their conference. With those teams (George Mason, Alabama-Birmingham and Pitt)...it doesn't necessarily get any easier for us."
The Pittsburgh Invitational on Friday sees Buffalo take on UAB at 10:30 a.m. and then George Mason later on at 5 p.m. The match against host Pitt is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The Bulls' next home date is Sept. 21 as they open their Mid-American Conference schedule against Ohio.
E-mail: spectrum-sports@buffalo.edu
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
