12-4
Canisius
6-8
Bulls Sweep Past Canisius, 3-0
9/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team finished its non-conference home season undefeated on Wednesday night as the Bulls swept Canisius, 3-0, at Alumni Arena. The Bulls finished the non-conference portion 7-0 at home as they improve to 12-4 overall.
The Bulls took the match 25-22, 25-23, 25-18 as UB outhit Canisius, .235 to .082. The Bulls stormed out to an early 9-3 lead in the first set and led 11-4 when Canisius started to make a run, tying the set up at 14-14. The Golden Griffins went on to take their first lead of the set at 15-14, before UB came back with a 6-1 run to take a 20-16 lead. Canisius would again fight back to tie things up at 22-22, but the Bulls took the last three points of the set to win 25-22.
The second set belonged to Canisius early as the Griffs took a 15-11 advantage. UB came back with a 6-1 run, taking the lead at 17-16. With the set tied up at 18-18, UB recorded four straight points to take a 22-18 advantage. The Griffs then scored four points of their own to tie things up at 22-22. Senior Marisa Hornbaker put the Bulls back on front with a kill and then gave UB a two-point advantage with a service ace. Following a UB service error, senior Kristin Bignell slammed a kill down to end the set.
The Bulls had a little bit of an easier time in the third set as they hit .467, their highest total of the match. Tied at 10-10, UB had an 8-4 run to give it an 18-14 advantage. The Griffs got to within 20-16, but two straight kills from Dana Musil gave Buffalo the 22-16 advantage. Hornbaker would ultimately seal the set and the match with a kill.
"I thought we came out a little sloppy in the first two sets and didn't play with enough energy," said head coach Todd Kress. "I thought we did a much better job in the third set with our focus level, but we need to realize that we need that focus from the very first point. We have two teams coming in this weekend that we really respect and we need to play our best volleyball to get a couple of wins."
Musil led the Bulls with 12 kills, while senior Kayla Govier added 10. Abby Niekamp had seven kills against the Griffs, while Bignell and Hornbaker had six and five kills, respectively. Senior Lindsey Schlegel led the UB offense with 30 assists. As a team, UB had six service aces led by freshman Christine Fritsche, who had two. Musil, Schlegel, Hornbaker and Dani Reinert each contributed with one.
Defensively, freshman Kelly Svoboda led the way with nine digs, while junior Heather Pyle added eight. Musil chipped in with seven. The Bulls had eight total team blocks led by five blocks from Govier. Bignell had four, while Niekamp added three.
UB begins Mid-American Conference play this weekend as it hosts Miami (OH) on Friday night at 7:00 pm. The Bulls will then host Bowling Green on Saturday at 5:00 pm.
