2-3
South Florida
1-3
UB Drops Tough Five-Set Match At USF
9/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
TAMPA, FL - The University at Buffalo volleyball team hit the road for the first time in 2014 on Friday afternoon and gave it their all at USF, but the UB Bulls fell to the USF Bulls in five sets, 3-2. The loss drops UB to 2-3 on the season.
USF took the contest 25-23, 18-25, 25-12, 29-31, 16-14 in what was a close match throughout. Despite trailing for much of the opening set, UB finally tied things up at 19-19. The Bulls actually took the lead at 23-22 in the set, but USF scored the final three points.
UB scored six of the first seven points in the second set forcing an early USF timeout and Buffalo led throughout. A block from juniors Amber Hatchett and Tahleia Bishop gave UB a 19-13 advantage and a service ace from freshman Tessa Ooyama clinched the set. USF regained the advantage with a third-set win, but UB fought back again in the fourth.
The set remained close as the two teams were tied 22-22 late in the fourth. USF took a 24-23 lead and UB managed to fight off four match points, tying the set 28-28. USF then fought off a UB set point to tie it at 29-29, but back-to-back USF attack errors gave UB the set at 31-29 to tie the match up 2-2 and send UB to its first five-set match of the season.
USF got out to the early lead, taking a 10-7 advantage, but a kill from Bishop got UB back into the set and down just one, 12-11. UB actually went on to take a 14-13 lead and had a match point, but a kill from Joli Holland of USF began a quick 3-0 run to end the match.
Bishop led the offense with a season-high 22 kills, setting a new career high with 82 attack attempts, just three shy of the single-match school record. Bishop added 13 digs and three total blocks. Fellow junior Megan Lipski had a career-high 19 kills, while adding 14 digs.
Junior setter Marissa Prinzbach made her UB debut this afternoon and finished with 43 assists, while adding seven digs.
Defensively, sophomore Megan Lin finished with a career-high 21 digs, one of five UB players in double figures. Freshman Niki Bozinoski added 15 digs, while senior Sable Staller finished with 11 to go with her seven kills. Hatchett finished the day with eight total blocks.
UB will continue action at the USF Invite tomorrow with an 11:00 am contest against Florida International and a 2:00 pm match against South Carolina State.
