Bulls Chip Away; Defeat Central Michigan In Five Sets

Saturday, October 26

Mount Pleasant, MI

5 pm

8-15,4-7MAC

Central Michigan

18-4,8-2MAC

Buffalo

Central Mich.

Bulls Chip Away; Defeat Central Michigan In Five Sets

10/26/2019 8:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

MT. PLEASANT, MI – The University at Buffalo volleyball team overcame a 2-0 deficit on Saturday evening as the Bulls stormed back to defeat Central Michigan 3-2, handing the Chippewas just their second conference loss of the season. The win improves UB to 8-14 and 4-6 in league play.

The Bulls took the match 16-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-12 as UB outhit Central Michigan .182 to .136. Early on it looked as if the Chippewas were on their way to their ninth MAC win, taking the first two sets, but the Bulls came out of the intermission determined to leave McGuirk Arena with the victory.

Tied at 14-14 in the third set, the Bulls went on a 5-0 run as a kill from senior Rachel Sanks put UB ahead 19-14. Buffalo continued to lead by five at 23-18 when the Bulls scored the final two points on back-to-back kills from Polina Prokudina and Monika Simkova to clinch the set.

Once the match went four, the Bulls had to feel confident they would send it to a fifth as UB has yet to play a four-set match this season. Buffalo hit .405 in the fourth set with 18 kills and just three errors.

Three straight kills from Prokudina gave the Bulls the early 8-3 lead. Another kill from the senior extended the advantage to 17-11 before Central Michigan crept back to pull within 19-16. With UB leading 22-17, Prokudina took over again with back-to-back kills and a solo block, clinching the set and sending the match to five.

The fifth set was tight early on before Central Michigan took an 8-6 lead, forcing the Bulls into their first timeout. Out of the break, UB responded with four straight points, including a pair of blocks by junior Lexi Nordmann. A kill from the SMU transfer forced CMU into a timeout with Buffalo leading 10-8.

The Chippewas would come back to tie it up at 12-12, but the Bulls took over from there, scoring the final three. A kill by Sanks and a CMU attack error made it match point and the Bulls finished the night off with their 16^th block of the evening, this one a combined effort from Simkova and freshman Abby Leigh to clinch the set and the match.

"I am proud of the fight the team showed tonight and the resiliency to come back from down 0-2," said head coach Scott Smith. "We made it a focus to strengthen our block and transition attacking and it helped earn us a great win over a very good CMU team."

Sanks and Prokudina both finished with 20 kills each on the night to lead the UB offense. Nordmann and Simkova each added seven, while Leigh had four.

Senior Scout McLerran paced the Buffalo offense with 53 assists, while adding three kills and 11 digs. Leigh and Simkova each added a pair of service aces.

Defensively, four player had double figures in digs led by 19 from sophomore Paige Beck. Prokudina added 13 and senior Hannah Watson finished with 10. UB had 16.0 blocks led by eight from Leigh and six from Nordmann. Both players had a pair of solo blocks. Simkova added five blocks.

The Bulls will remain on the road next weekend beginning on Thursday night at Akron.