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University at Buffalo
16-4, 4-3MAC
Northern Illinois
11-10, 3-4 mac
Bulls Down Northern Illinois In Five Sets
10/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit on Friday night, coming back to defeat the Northern Illinois Huskies, 3-2, in a five-set thriller. The win for the Bulls was their first over NIU since 2003. UB, which has played five-set matches in three of its last four contests, improve to 16-4 on the year and 4-3 in conference play.
The Bulls took the contest 25-18, 17-25, 18-25, 25-21, 15-12 despite being outhit by the visiting Huskies, .243 to .208. UB got out to the early lead in the match as it won the opening set. UB was down 6-2 early in the first set, but four straight points tied it up at 6-6. With th Bulls down 9-8, UB went on a 6-0 run, including a pair of service aces from sophomore Tahleia Bishop to put the Bulls up 14-9. UB led by as many as seven in the opening set and won it by that margin, 25-18.
The Huskies came back to take sets two and three, giving them a 2-1 lead in the match, but the Bulls continued to fight in front of the home crowd and it began in the fourth set. UB took a 13-9 lead in the set, but the Huskies fought back to take a 19-18 lead. The teams were tied at 20-20 when the Huskies were called out of rotation, giving the Bulls the point and sparking a quick 3-0 run to go up 23-20 in the set. A kill from sophomore Akeila Lain gave UB the set, 25-21 and sent the match to a fifth set.
The Bulls scored the first three points of the fifth, but Northern Illinois came back to take a 9-7 lead. Two straight Buffalo points tied the set up at 9-9, but NIU again took the lead at 10-9. The Bulls responded with another 3-0 run, which included back-to-back kills from senior Christine Fritsche. A service ace from senior Dani Reinert put the Bulls up 14-11 and fellow senior Carissa McKenna clinched the match with a kill of her own.
"I am so proud of this team tonight," said head coach Todd Kress. "We were outplayed for most of the night, but we showed a lot of resiliency again and came away with a huge win."
Bishop led the way with 18 kills and 15 digs, while adding three service aces. Fritsche added 14 kills, while junior Liz Scott had nine. Reinert added 25 assists, while junior Taylor Pritchett had 23. In addition to Bishop's three aces, Reinert had two and Pritchett and senior Dana Musil each had one.
Senior Kelly Svoboda finished with a match-high 20 digs as she was one of four players in doubles figures. Musil had 16, while Bishop and Reinert finished with 15 and 14, respectively. The Bulls had 7.0 total blocks led by four from Scott and sophomore Amber Hatchett. McKenna added three total blocks.
The win over NIU was just the third all-time for Buffalo and the first since 2003. All three wins (1999, 2003, 2013) have come in five sets.
The Bulls return home tomorrow night when they host Western Michigan at 7:30 pm.
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