dj_paige Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 For the first time in program history, the UB Volleyball team has advanced to the MAC Semi-Finals, with a 3-1 victory over #3 seed Ohio. This was Buffalo's 11th MAC win, a new program best. Buffalo will face Bowling Green on Monday at 7pm (ESPN+) at Worthen Arena at Ball State University. Bowling Green defeated the Bulls twice in the regular season, with Buffalo losing in 5 sets in the first match and Bowling Green pulling off a sweep in the second match. In the first set against Ohio, the Bulls fell behind 16-9, their offense struggling against the large Ohio blockers. But in volleyball, the front row players either rotate to the back row or rotate out, and now the Bulls had the advantage against the shorter Ohio blockers. Buffalo went on a 12-3 run, to take a 21-19 lead, the first three points of that run coming from sophomore outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská, who picked up a block and two kills. With Ohio's taller front line now back on the court, they tied the set at 22. Buffalo picked up 2 kills, from fifth year outside hitter Cali Assaley and senior middle blocker Courtney Okwara. After an Ohio point, UB's junior right side Emma Gielas scored a kill to end the set in Buffalo's favor, 25-23. The disparity of the size of the Ohio blockers was not lost on Buffalo coach Scott Smith, who switched his rotation for the remaining sets so that when Buffalo had three front row attackers, they were facing Ohio's shorter blockers. This didn't pay off in the 2nd set, which Buffalo lost 25-22, after trailing by 6 late. The Bulls hit oly 0.171 in the second set. But the rotation change seemed to help in the rest of the match. Buffalo never fell behind by more than 3 in the third set, which saw 17 ties. At 23-23, a kill by Okwara and then a diving overpass by Ohio which landed just wide, gave Buffalo the set. The final play was challenged by Ohio, and after a long review, the call was upheld (most likely there was not a good angle to see if the ball was in or not). Buffalo hit 0.279 in the 3rd set, UB's best of the match so far. Buffalo pulled ahead early in the 4th set 5-3, and maintained a 2 or 3 point lead for most of the set. Each time Ohio made a small run, the Bulls responded, and the Bulls were never tied or behind. At 18-16, Buffalo went on a 4 point run, the first three of those points coming on blocks or kills by Abby Leigh, the final point coming on an ace from Trebichavská. Ohio went on their own short run of 3 points, but Abby Leigh responded with a kill and then an ace to give Buffalo match point, 24-19. After two Ohio points, a quick set by sophomore setter Mandy Leigh to Okwara resulted in a kill to finish the match. The Bulls hit 0.375 for the set, their best in the match. Trebichavská led the team with 19 points on 14 kills, 4 aces and 2 blocks. Okwara had a team-high 16 kills, and made only 1 attack error, for a 0.556 hitting percentage. She added 3 blocks and finished with 18.5 points. Abby Leigh was not far behind, with 18 points, coming on 11 kills (just 1 attack error for a hitting percentage of 0.435), 2 aces and a team-high 7 blocks. Mandy Leigh had 51 assists. Trebichavská had 14 digs and sophomore libero Maria Futey had 12. Notes: When Trebichavská served, both Leigh's placed their hands behind their head, probably to protect themselves from the high velocity serves from Trebichavská. Mandy Leigh was named first team All-MAC, and Abby Leigh and Okwara were named second team all-MAC. This is the first time that Buffalo has had three all-MAC awards in a season. Play of the Match: Ohio's 6-4 middle blocker Caitlin O'Farrell had a two inch height advantage over any of the Bulls players, and made good use of that height advantage and picked up 14 kills during the mtach. With the Bulls leading 17-14 in the fourth set, O'Farrell ran an unusual play, a middle slide (I think the only time during the match she did this), but Abby Leigh was ready for it and Leigh came away with a monster solo block. This caused Ohio to take their final timeout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_paige Posted November 21, 2022 Author Share Posted November 21, 2022 Post game celebration photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/ClOSWS3OLlW/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UBinMD Posted November 21, 2022 Share Posted November 21, 2022 That was a really good game. They struggled at times, but fought back. Then they gained confidence that you could visually see and closed it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_paige Posted November 28, 2022 Author Share Posted November 28, 2022 (edited) Despite the UB loss in the MAC Semi-Finals, 3–0 to Bowling Green (the eventual MAC Champion), Buffalo has been invited to play in the post-season NIVC tournament. Their first match will be at 4pm on Friday, December 2 at Boston College. https://ubbulls.com/news/2022/11/27/womens-volleyball-volleyball-earns-at-large-bid-for-national-invitational-volleyball-championship-tournament.aspx This is the first ever post-season appearance for UB Volleyball. Edited November 28, 2022 by dj_paige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChubbyHubby Posted November 28, 2022 Share Posted November 28, 2022 That's awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird96 Posted November 29, 2022 Share Posted November 29, 2022 Good for them! I’m not a die-hard volleyball fan but it was fun watching bits and pieces of some of their last few matches on ESPN+ and it’s always good to see well-coached UB teams competing for MAC championships in any sport! Go Bulls! 🤘 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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