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University at Buffalo
9-13, 2-6MAC
Northern Illinois
17-5, 6-2MAC
Bulls Drop Saturday Evening Affair To NIU, 3-0
10/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team lost its fourth consecutive match on Saturday evening, falling 3-0 to Northern Illinois at Alumni Arena. It was UB's annual Dig For The Cure match as the Bulls donated over $2,500 to the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
The Huskies took the contest 25-14, 25-14, 30-28 as UB hit just .069 for the match. The first two sets were all Huskies as they rode the momentum of seven service aces from All-American candidate Lauren Wicinski. The Bulls hit a season-low -.148 in the second set, but the intermission came at the right time as UB came out with a different attitude in the third.
The third set remained close early on, but the Bulls managed to get out to a 19-15 lead following a kill from sophomore Carissa McKenna. The Bulls continued to lead by three at 21-18 when Northern Illinois responded with four straight points to take the lead. The Huskies had their first match point at 24-23, but the Bulls answered to tie it up at 24-24. The Bulls then had three set points, but were unable to convert on any of them as NIU tied it up each time. UB fought off one more match point at 28-27, but the Huskies went on to score the next two points to take the set and the match.
The Bulls were led by eight kills from sophomore Dana Musil, who struggled in the contest, hitting 11 errors. Liz Scott, Abby Niekamp and McKenna all finished with six kills, including McKenna's match-high .556 hitting mark. Sophomore Dani Reinert added 29 assists and one of UB's five aces. Musil finished with a team-high two aces.
On defense, sophomore Kelly Svoboda had a match-high 14 digs, while Christine Fritsche added eight and Scott finished with six. Niekamp had a team-high four blocks, while freshman Alessandra Jovy-Heuser had three, including two solos.
The Bulls will hit the road next weekend as they head to Michigan for a pair of matches. UB will face Eastern Michigan on Friday night and Central Michigan on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7:00 pm.
