Bulls Move to First Place in the MAC with Victory Over Miami (OH)

Friday, October 11

Oxford, Ohio

6:30 p.m.

University at Buffalo

9-10,5-1MAC

Miami (OH)

6-11,0-6MAC

Buffalo

Miami (OH)

Photo by: Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics

Bulls Move to First Place in the MAC with Victory Over Miami (OH)

10/11/2024 10:08:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Zach Monell

OXFORD, Ohio – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (9-10, 5-1 MAC) defeated the Miami (OH) RedHawks (6-11, 0-6 MAC) on Friday evening (25-23, 25-14, 23-25, 18-25, 15-7). With their win, the Bulls have won five in a row and are atop the MAC standings.

The Bulls' three-headed attack of Abby Leigh, Manoela Forlin and Katrin Trebichavska surged the Bulls on offense. Trebichavska recorded her seventh double-double of the season with a match-high 22 kills and 14 digs. A. Leigh finished with 19 kills and a match-high .567 hitting percentage as Forlin added 17 kills on the evening.

Mandy Leigh helped run the offense as she had 59 assists in the win, good for 11.80 assists per set. She earned her seventh double-double of the season as she added 11 digs to go along with her 59 assists. Maria Futey had a match-high 22 digs in the affair as Keira Kleidon had a career-high 16 digs. A. Leigh had five total blocks against the RedHawks.

In the first set, the RedHawks outhit the Bulls, .355 to .250. On the attack, Miami was nearly perfect as they had just one attack error with 12 kills. 19 of Buffalo's points came on the attack. The Bulls were able to get off to a solid start as they led 3-1, but the RedHawks fought they way back to tie the set at 5. Buffalo had a lead as big as eight in the set at 19-11, but Miami didn't give in as they went on an 8-2 run. The Bulls won the set, 25-23 with A. Leigh putting the set away.

It was all Buffalo in the second set as the defense shut the RedHawks down. Miami hit -.129 as the Bulls hit .324. Trebichavska had more points than Miami in the set with 7.5 to Miami's 6.0. She hit .429 with seven kills to help the Bulls reach 20.0 points. Buffalo won the set, 25-14.

With the Bulls looking for their fourth sweep in five matches, the RedHawks denied them the opportunity as they won, 25-23. The RedHawks led 15-13 at the media timeout, but the Bulls went on a 5-0 afterwards to take an 18-15 lead. Miami rallied from behind and forced four Buffalo attack errors in the stretch before taking the set win.

Buffalo stumbled in the fourth set as they were ice cold to start. The Bulls used both timeouts as Miami led 13-5. Buffalo trailed 15-13, but that was the closest it got as Miami closed the set outscoring the Bulls, 10-5. The RedHawks won the fourth set, 25-18 and forced the decisive fifth set.

It was all Buffalo in the final set of the night. The Bulls outhit the RedHawks, .381 to .053. Miami never led in the set as the Bulls cruised by for a 15-7 win.

"Miami is a very physical team that can do a lot of damage when they are in system, so we really focused on staying aggressive to keep them off balance as best we could," stated Head Coach Scott Smith. "Sets 3 and 4 got away from us due to a lot of our own errors and Miami capitalizing off of those miscues. We knew we would have to earn it and we cleaned things up to get a decisive win in the fifth set."

The Bulls are back in action tomorrow at Ball State (10-7, 3-3 MAC). The match will start at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

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