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University at Buffalo
18-11, 6-10MAC
Bowling Green
14-14, 10-6MAC
Bulls Celebrate Senior Day With Five-Set Win Over Defending Champions
11/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo volleyball team swept a Mid-American Conference weekend for the first time since 2003 as the Bulls ended MAC play with an impressive 3-2 victory over the defending MAC Champions, the Bowling Green Falcons. The Bulls improved to 18-11 on the season, just the second time they have reached 18 wins in a season since 1996, both under current head coach Todd Kress (2010, 2013). The Bulls also finished the conference season with a 6-10 record. The six victories are the most a UB volleyball team has had since joining the conference in 1998.
The Bulls took the contest 25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 15-13 as they narrowly outhit the Falcons, .110 to .104. UB trailed early in the first set, 8-5, but went on a 9-2 run thanks to a few BG errors, forcing the Falcons to call timeout. UB built its lead up to 20-13 following a kill from Akeila Lain and although BG cut it to three at 23-20, UB scored the final two points with the final one coming on one of 20 blocks, this time from seniors Carissa McKenna and Christine Fritsche.
The Falcons were able to take a close set in the second, 25-22, but UB came back out of the break and won a tight third set. With the two teams tied at 21-21, the Bulls rattled off four straight points, including two monster kills from sophomore Tahleia Bishop to win the set 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In what was a back-and-forth match all night, Bowling Green took the 20-16 lead in the fourth set, but the Bulls answered with an 8-2 run, capped off on a solo block from McKenna. However, with UB leading 24-22 and needing just one more point for the match, Bowling Green fought off three match points and scored the final three points of the set, 28-26.
For the Bulls this became their seventh match to go five sets, all in conference play and the second time that UB and BG were going five. The Bulls opened the fifth on a 5-2 run and never trailed although the Falcons did tie it up late at 12-12. A kill from sophomore Megan Lipski followed by a block from Amber Hatchett and Dana Musil put the Bulls up 14-12 and just one point away from the match. Following a UB service error, Musil took a pass from senior Kelly Svoboda and converted for the final point of the night.
"Tremendous team win to celebrate these seniors and all they have done for the program," said Kress. "This group is extremely hard-working and their accomplishments over these last four years have changed the expectations of this program moving forward."
Bishop led the way with 22 kills, giving her 400 on the season, the first UB player to do so since 2006 and the first to do it since the current 25-point scoring format. Her 3.67 kills per set are currently the fourth most in a single season. Bishop had just three errors, hitting .365 for the night.
Lain chipped in with 13 kills, while Musil had nine on her senior night. Fellow senior Dani Reinert finished with 31 assists and 14 digs, while Taylor Pritchett added 24 assists.
The Bulls had a solid night defensively as Svoboda added 25 digs, giving her 626 on the season and 1,935 for her career. Pritchett and Musil both finished with seven digs.
UB finished with a season-high 20.0 blocks, led by McKenna, who had a career-high 11 blocks, including five solos. The five solo blocks from McKenna are the most by a UB player in one match since Nov. 3, 2005 when Katie Weekley had seven against Toledo. Hatchett added seven blocks, while Lain had six.
With the regular season concluding, the Bulls finished in a tie for seventh place in the MAC, but lost out on a conference tournament bid due to tiebreakers. This is a team, that as mentioned earlier played in seven five-set matches in conference, losing three of them by just two points.
The Bulls opened the match tonight by honoring its six seniors and when the match began all six were in the starting lineup including Kaja Schirmer, who was on the floor with Musil, Fritsche, Reinert, McKenna and Svoboda.
