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University at Buffalo
Youngstown State
Bulls Freeze Penguins, 3-0
9/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team won its third consecutive match on Friday night, defeating the Youngstown State Penguins, 3-0, at Alumni Arena. UB put forth a stifling defense as it improved its record to 5-3 on the season.
The Bulls took the match 25-10, 25-18, 25-20 as it hit .275 for the match, opposed to a -.013 for the Penguins. The Bulls had their most dominating set right out of the gate in the first, when Youngstown State scored just 10 points. The Bulls were down 3-2 early in the set when they went on a 9-1 to run and took an 11-4 lead. From there UB scored seven of the next 10 points as it increased its lead to 18-7. One of the strengths for UB in that set was its ability to side out as it did so on 10 of its 11 opportunities. The Bulls also went on to hit .429 in the opening set.
The Bulls led throughout the second set, but had to fight their way back in the third. Youngstown State scored the first three points of the set and went on to have leads of 7-3 and 10-5, which was its biggest of the set. However, the Bulls went on to score seven straight points and take a 14-10 lead. Senior Lauren Fensten served for UB during the run and contributed with several good services, one leading in an ace. The Bulls led by as much as 17-12 before the Penguins came back and cut it to two as the Bulls led 22-20. That is as close as they would get thought as UB scored the final three points of the set to take the match.
"I am very happy with the way we played tonight," said head coach Todd Kress. "Anytime you can go out and win in three on your home court, you have to be happy. I think we improved on our blocking tonight and that was something we worked hard on this past week in practice. We also know we have to be ready to face Youngstown State again tomorrow. Anytime you play a team in back-to-back nights you have to be ready because we know they are going to bring forth their best effort tomorrow."
The Bulls were led by 14 kills from Dani Silvers as she added an assist, three digs and two blocks, including one solo. Junior Marisa Hornbaker added seven kills, six digs, two service aces and two blocks. Also adding seven kills was junior Kristin Bignell who also had four total blocks, tying for the match high with Kelsey Lueders Lueders had five kills on the night.
Junior Lindsey Schlegel had a match-high 34 assists, while adding four kills and two service aces. Freshman Tori Beckman had a match-high 12 digs, while sophomore Heather Pyle added nine.
The Bulls and Penguins will be back in action tomorrow as they wrap up this two-match series. The match starts at 4:00 pm at Alumni Arena.
