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UB Volleyball Earns 6th Straight Win


dj_paige

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Junior Stacia Gollogly
Photo credit: Mark Debortoli

The UB Volleyball team pushed their winning streak to six matches, and seven in their last 8 matches, with a pair of wins over Miami (OH) this weekend. Buffalo is now 9–6 in the MAC, tied for 4th place, but because of tie-breakers, they would have the #5 seed into the MAC tournament if the season were to end today. The Bulls have clinched at least a 0.500 record in the MAC, just the 4th time Buffalo has done so since joining the MAC, and the second time under head coach Scott Smith.

In the first match against Miami, a weak first set by the Bulls in which they hit 0.108 compared to Miami's 0.278, led to Miami taking the set 25–19. But that was the last weak set of the weekend for the Bulls, who won the next six sets over two matches. Thereafter, Buffalo held Miami to 21 points or less in each set. In the last two sets of the second match, Buffalo held Miami to a zero hitting percentage.

In the first match, junior right side Emma Gielas led the Bulls with 12 kills and just 2 errors for a 0.370 hitting percentage, and had 3 blocks. Senior middle blocker Courtney Okwara had 9 kills and hit 0.438, and added 3 blocks. Buffalo's other middle blocker, senior Olivia DeBortoli, struggled on offense and was replaced by junior Stacia Gollogly for the third set, and in two sets Gollogly had 5 kills and just one error, plus led the team with 5 blocks.

The Bulls two outside hitters in the match, sophomore Katrin Trebichavská and fifth year Cali Assaley both struggled. Neither hit above 0.000 for the match, while the rest of the team hit 0.406.

Sophomore setter Mandy Leigh had 7 kills and just 1 error, and 38 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore libero Maria Futey led the team with 19 digs. Trebichavská had 13 digs.

Gollogly has been the jack-of-all-trades for the Bulls this year, playing all three front row positions and sometimes serving as well. Her play in the first match against Miami earned her the start at middle blocker in the second match, and she made the most of her opportunity. Gollogly led the team with 12 kills and hit 0.450, led the team with 16.5 points, and also led the team with 6 blocks. Okwara had 9 kills and hit 0.600, plus 3 blocks. Okwara had missed some time with an injury, and then when she returned it seemed as if she wasn't 100%, but against Miami she played as well as she ever has. The strong play of Gollogly and Okwara at middle blocker was important for the Bulls as senior middle blocker Abby Leigh did not make the trip to Miami. Abby Leigh is the team's leading blocker and also second leading scorer and second on the team in aces.

Assaley continued to struggle in the second match against Miami and was eventually replaced by freshman outside hitter Lauren Otten, who picked up a career high 5 kills in 2 sets. Mandy Leigh had 38 assists. Futey and Trebichavská each had 11 digs.

Notes:

  • Buffalo will face MAC-East leader Bowling Green twice at Alumni Arena this upcoming weekend. The first match is Friday, November 11 at 6pm and the second match is Saturday, November 12 at 7pm. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+ and are free to attend in person. A split of these two matches will be critical if Buffalo is to make the MAC tournament; naturally winning both matches would be even better.
  • The two matches at Miami saw some of the most effective serving by the Bulls all season. In the first match, Buffalo had 7 aces and just 6 errors, with Futey leading the way with 3 aces. In the second match, Buffalo had 6 aces and 7 errors, 3 of the aces from Trebichavská. Buffalo has gotten a lot better at avoiding service errors, compared to earlier in the season, and this has been a big factor in the Bulls recent success. Trebichavská, the MAC leader in aces and aces per set, had her best serving of the year, consistently forcing Miami into bad passes (this doesn't show up in the box score directly), picked up 4 aces across the two matches, and she did it without going her jump serve against Miami. That's almost like Aaron Judge turning into a slap-hitter for the second half of the season.
  • Maria Futey watch: the made up statistic I have been following for Futey is digs per set in only those matches where she played libero. Her average is now up to 4.48 digs per set, good enough for 5th in the MAC (but the official statistics include all games at all positions, so Futey's season average is lower). No Buffalo libero has been that high in nearly a decade.
  • Mandy Leigh is averaging 10.63 assists per set, good enough for 3rd in the MAC.
Edited by dj_paige
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