Volleyball Starts the Season Blazing Hot at UAB Invitational

Friday, August 25

Birmingham, Ala.

Noon ET

Austin Peay

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UBBulls.com

Volleyball Starts the Season Blazing Hot at UAB Invitational

8/25/2023 11:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (2-0, 0-0 MAC) took down Austin Peay and UAB on day one of the UAB Invitational. With Buffalo's win over Austin Peay, Head Coach Scott Smith earned his 50^th career win at UB. He is just the fourth coach in program history to reach this feat. Mandy Leigh continues to move up the all-time career assists list as she had 70 assists on the day. She is now eighth in program history with 2,388 assists passing Larissa LaCour (1998-01) who had 2,381. M. Leigh needs 20 more to pass Candi Simms (1993-96) for seventh in program history.

AUSTIN PEAY RECAP
The Bulls secured their first win of the season on Friday afternoon against the Austin Peay Governors (0-1, 0-0 ASUN) with a 3-0 win, 25-23, 25-13, 25-19.

It was all Buffalo against the Governors as Austin Peay struggled to score. The Governors finished with a -.011 hitting percentage compared to Buffalo's .247. Mandy Leigh helped the Bulls on the offensive attack with 28 assists as Katrin Trebichavska led the way with 10 kills. Abby Leigh (8), Maurine Calande (7), and Courtney Okwara (6) had a great afternoon adding more kills for the Bulls.

Emma Gielas had a match-high two service aces, as the Bulls finished with six to the Governors one. On the defensive side, UB was 55-for-56 on receptions, good for a percentage of .982.

The Bulls jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the first, the largest margin in the set, but Austin Peay would sneak back slowly. The Governors chipped away at UB's lead and tied the match at 22 and 23 before the Bulls took the set courtesy of great blocking forcing the Governors to hit it out of bounds.

It was more like the Buffalo "Bullies" in the second set as they won in decisive manner, 25-13. In the set, the Bulls had 6-0 and 8-0 runs while closing the set on a 3-0 run. UB lead by as much as 14 when they were up 18-4. Austin Peay had a late 7-4 run to make it 22-12, but it was too little too late. The Governors hit -.143 in the set with 11 attack errors.

It was wash, rinse, and repeat for the Bulls in the third set. Buffalo was up by 11 twice in the set after getting up 5-0 off fantastic serving from Calande. The Governors made another late run to make the score respectable, but the Bulls shut the door to win 25-19.

"It was a great way to kick off the season, getting a sweep over a solid team," stated Head Coach Scott Smith. "Our blocking looked solid, forcing Austin Peay into taking some uncomfortable swings. Katrin [Trebichavska] played a very strong game, but Abby [Leigh] really stood out on both offense and defense. Our passing held up against some tough serving and I think if we keep that up, we will be tough to beat."

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMIGHAM (UAB) RECAP
The Bulls wrapped up day one of competition against host UAB (0-1, 0-0 AAC) in the evening slot. The teams met at last year's UB Invite where the Bulls defeated the Blazers, 3-1. Buffalo continued their win streak against the Blazers as it was a five-set thriller that the Bulls took, 3-2.

UB took an early 3-1 lead, but the set went back and forth as there were four lead changes and eight ties. Late in the set, the Bulls were up 19-16 after a kill from Okwara. UAB went on a 5-0 run, forcing Buffalo to call a timeout as they were losing 21-19. Out of the timeout, Manoela Forlin cut the lead to one. UAB scored four of the last six points to win set one, 25-22.

Up 3-0 to start the second set, Buffalo did not trail until UAB took a 15-14 lead to force the media timeout. Out of the timeout, UB went on a 4-1 run forcing UAB to take a timeout. Once again, the Bulls took a 22-17 lead after another 4-1 run to force UAB to call their final timeout. The Bulls took the set, 25-21. The Buffalo defense forced the Blazers to an abysmal .042 hitting percentage in the set.

It was neck and neck in the third set as the teams practically traded points until the media timeout. The Bulls came out of the break and tied the set at 15 after an Okwara kill. That'd be the closest the set would get as UAB closed the set on a 10-4 run.

After trailing early, it was all Buffalo in the fourth set. The Bulls took a 4-3 lead and never looked back as they picked up a 25-19 win to force the decisive fifth set. Buffalo capitalized on grat defense as they forced seven attack errors.

Both teams traded points until the Bulls went on a 3-0 run to take a 7-4 lead. UAB cut the lead to 7-6, but that didn't stop the Bulls from going on a 4-0 run to stop the Blazers momentum. Buffalo went on to take the set, 15-10.

Calande had a team-high 15 kills as Okwara had 10 of her own. M. Leigh racked up 42 assists in the match while also adding eight kills and 18 digs. As a team, the Bulls defense limited the Blazers to just a .167 hitting percentage.

The Bulls are back in action tomorrow, Saturday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. ET against Florida A&M as they close out their competition at the UAB Invitational.