Bulls Fight to the Bitter End in Five-Set Thriller Against Northwestern

Friday, September 12

Buffalo, N.Y.

6 p.m.

2-3,0-0MAC

Northwestern

6-1,0-0Big Ten

Northwestern

Buffalo

Photo by: Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics

Bulls Fight to the Bitter End in Five-Set Thriller Against Northwestern

9/12/2025 10:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Manoela Forlin totaled 20.0 points on the evening

By: Zach Monell

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Buffalo Bulls volleyball team (2-3, 0-0 MAC) lost to the Northwestern Wildcats (6-1, 0-0 Big Ten) to open the Buffalo Classic, 26-28, 25-14, 11-15, 25-20, 13-15. In a back and forth match, the Bulls just ran out of momentum to close out the match to secure the win.

For her fifth straight match, Manoela Forlin tallied over 10 kills, finishing with 17 kills and 20 points. Maddie Mitchell recorded her second double-double of the season with 47 assists and 11 digs. Mitchell added a career-high four blocks on the night. Freshman Emerson Matthews added 12 kills.

Forlin and Chloe Brown each had three aces. Sadie Gladhill and Chloe Brown set career-high marks with 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

Sydney Bell had a solid night for the Bulls as she had a .308 hitting percentage (9-1-26) with five digs and five total blocks.

On the night, the Bulls had 11 blocks to Northwestern's six.

SET 1
The tone of the evening was set right from the beginning. There were 11 ties and five lead changes in the opening set, the most back and forth set on the night. The Wildcats outhit the Bulls, .292 to .265. Northwestern gave Buffalo 13 points off of errors, but they managed to get 21 kills. The Bulls jumped out to a 6-2 lead, but Northwestern tied the set at 11. Buffalo held a 23-20 lead and looked to go up 1-0, but an 8-3 run by Northwestern turned the tides as they won the first set, 28-26.

SET 2
The Bulls flipped the script in the second set as they held Northwestern to a -.129 hitting percentage. After finishing with five total blocks, the Bulls ran away with the set, 25-14. Brown had a pair of aces in the set.

SET 3
The third set wasn't kind to the Bulls as Northwestern hit .391. Buffalo could only muster five kills as the Wildcats won, 25-11.

SET 4
Buffalo was dominant in the first half of the fourth set as they led, 12-9. After calling a timeout to slow down Northwestern, the Wildcats came back to tie it at 13 after a 9-3 run. The Bulls' offense was clutch down the stretch as they forced the decisive fifth set, 25-20.

SET 5
It was a thrilling final set to close the first day of the Buffalo Classic. The Bulls took a 5-2 lead after forcing four Northwestern errors. After taking an 8-5 lead and switching sides, the momentum shifted toward the Wildcats as they went on a 10-5 run. In the match's crucial moments Buffalo finished with seven errors to Northwestern's six errors.

UP NEXT
The Bulls will host Big 4 rival Niagara tomorrow at 7 p.m.

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