Bulls Hand Broncos First Home Loss in Five-Set Thriller

Saturday, October 24

Kalamazoo, Mich.

2 p.m.

University at Buffalo

12-9,4-6MAC

Western Michigan

14-7,6-4MAC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Buffalo	28	13	25	13	15	3
Western Mich.	26	25	18	25	12	2

Match Notes

Photo by: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics

10/24/2026 6:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Zach Monell

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team (12-9, 4-6 MAC) took down the Western Michigan Broncos (14-7, 6-4 MAC) on Saturday afternoon in five sets. With the win, this marked Western Michigan's first home loss since Oct. 10, 2025, snapping their 13-home match win streak.

The Bulls were led offensively by Sydney Bell and Hailey Campagna as they both had 15 kills. Manoela Forlin added 11 kills to go with her 15 digs, good for her 19^th career double-double. Campagna added 10 digs for her third double-double of the season.

Abbie Willis was efficient on the attack with nine kills on 18 attempts with a .444 hitting percentage.

Maddie Mitchell had her 22^nd career double-double with 34 assists and 16 digs. Today's match marked the third time the Bulls had three players record a double-double on the season.

Bell and Abisola Adebayo had two blocks each.

SET 1 | The opener was a back-and-forth battle with 11 ties and 4 lead changes. Buffalo hit .208 while Western Michigan only managed to hit .135. After an early Campagna kill, the Broncos built a lead at 7-2. By the media timeout, the Bulls trailed 15-11. Out of the break, Buffalo rattled off a 6-2 run to tie the set at 17. The Bulls fought off a pair of late set points. A Sadie Gladhill ace put Buffalo ahead, and Forlin's kill closed it out at 28-26.

SET 2 | Western Michigan immediately bounced back with a 25-13 win in the second set. The Broncos hit .613 with 20 kills as Buffalo managed just 9 kills and .233 hitting percentage.

SET 3 | Buffalo rebounded with its best offensive set of the match with a .314 hitting percentage. The Bulls built a lead through Forlin's four kills and solid play from Adebayo and Willis. A key stretch came with Michal Benaim on the serve where the Bull went on a 5-0 run. The set was capped off by a Mitchell ace after a Bell kill.

SET 4 | It was déjà vu of the second set as Western Michigan dominated for a 25-13 win. They hit .538 with 15 kills as the Bulls had eight kills.

SET 5 | In the decisive fifth set, the Bulls led at the media 8-5. The Broncos stormed back to take a 10-9 lead forcing a Buffalo timeout. Out of the break the Bulls shifted the momentum as they went up 13-11 off a Forlin ace. Western Michigan used their final timeout, but the Bulls managed to come out with a 15-12 victory as Campagna finished the match off with a kill.

"Western does a great job of creating one of the most difficult environments to play in," stated Head Coach Scott Smith. "We really felt that the first night and knew we needed to embrace the situation to get the bounce back win today. We know we need to improve our consistency in the serve and pass game. The extra effort in the fifth set to fight for every point was very exciting and we will be working very hard to bring that mentality into this coming week. We have a lot of work to do ahead of us but we are up to the task."

The Bulls are back in action next Friday for a pair of matches at Central Michigan. Both matches will be on ESPN+.

For all the latest on UB volleyball, follow the team on Twitter/X and Instagram at @UBuffaloVB and like the UB Women's Volleyball Facebook page.

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