UB Volleyball Defeats Colgate in Exhibition Match

[dj_paige]

The UB Volleyball team defeated Colgate 3–2 yesterday, in an exhibition match at Colgate.

Colgate won the Patriot League championship last year and appeared in the NCAA tournament. They finished the season with an RPI of 66, and were predicted to win the Patriot League again this year. In addition, Colgate defeated Buffalo 4–1 in an exhibition match last year at Alumni Arena. No matter how you look at it, Colgate is a quality opponent.

Buffalo took the first two sets, both by scores of 25–20. Buffalo coach Scott Smith used lineups consisting of players who got regular playing time a year ago, plus grad transfer Maurine Calande. But for the third set, Smith went deeper into his bench, and used fewer established players, and Buffalo lost 25–22. Smith stuck with the deeper lineup for the fourth set, and this time Buffalo pushed Colgate into extra points, with the Red Raiders winning 27–25. And Smith continued with the deeper lineup in the fifth set. In that 5th set, Buffalo trailed 11–8, but there was no panic on the Bulls' side. After a timeout, the Bulls scored the next two points, and after a Colgate kill, the Bulls scored two more points to tie the set. At 13–13, Calande came up with a big kill, and then a stuff block by Abby Leigh finished the set and the match in Buffalo's favor. So the big picture is that Buffalo's regulars out-played Colgate, and when Smith went deeper into the bench, the rest of the lineup played roughly even against Colgate.

The Buffalo players who got regular playing time a year ago are known quantities, we know what they can do, and they lived up to and went beyond expectations. A very solid job by those players. So I'm not really going to talk about them (much). Instead, I'm going to discuss the new players, and the returning players who didn't play much a year ago.

Freshman setter Liv Gravatt entered the match to start the third set, and she looked nervous. Her sets early in the 3rd were way off target, and she picked up two ball handling errors. But as the third set wore on, and Gravatt continued as the setter in sets 4 and 5, her accuracy improved. Ball handling errors disappeared, and her now on-target setting was one of the reasons why Buffalo pushed Colgate to overtime in the 4th set, and one of the reasons Buffalo won the 5th set. Gravatt, who had 99 aces in her senior year at high school, did not pick up an ace, but her float serves caused Colgate a lot of problems (which also contributed to the results in sets 4 and 5).

Freshman defensive specialist Chloe Brown also entered the match in the third set, and served an ace on her first play on the court. Well, sort of. Colgate was called for an out-of-rotation error on that play, which goes into the scorebook as an ace. But other than that trivial accomplishment, how did Chloe Brown do? You would not know she was a freshman from her play against Colgate. She played libero in set 5 (she was a libero in high school), and really looked comfortable at that position.

Calande, an outside hitter, played well throughout the match, picking up 3 aces with her jump serve. Her jump serve isn't quite the same high velocity as teammate Katrin Trebichavská's, but still effective. She played all six rotations — most international players who play outside hitter or right side (Calande is from Belgium) have to be good at playing both front and back row because international rules are different than NCAA rules.

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Tehya Shaw missed last year because of a surgery, and certainly didn't play at the same level as Buffalo's other middle blockers Abby Leigh and Courtney Okwara (but really, what freshman plays at that level?), but you can see she has great potential.

It was an unfortunate day for sophomore outside hitter Lauren Otten, who played only sparingly a year ago. Otten took the court to start the 2nd set, landed awkwardly on the very first play (I didn't see what happened) and limped off the court. She did not return, and was still limping after the match.

Buffalo used four liberos in the match, junior Maria Futey in sets 1 and 2, senior Julianna Lopez in set 3, senior Hayley Montoya in set 4 and Brown in set 5. Montoya was brilliant in set 4, flying all over the court to get her hands on the ball, and usually made good passes. Montoya was another reason Buffalo nearly won set 4.

Montoya also gets credit for starting the Play of the Match™ in the 4th set. After a great diving dig by Montoya, Gravatt had to run to get to the ball, and on the run placed a perfect bump set in the air for senior Stacia Gollogly, whose cross court shot landed. Defense, transition, offense, teamwork.

Freshman setter Liv Gravatt, left; and senior libero Hayley Montoya, right

Other Stuff

Freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin was not with the team. I assume she still hasn't returned from playing in the U-19 Women's World Championships in Europe. Forlin plays for Brazil.

A few years ago, when Buffalo played an exhibition match at Colgate, it was 90º in the arena, but yesterday it felt air-conditioned in the arena (because it was a cool day, not because the arena has air conditioning), much more comfortable for players, coaches and fans.

Buffalo's first regular season matches are August 25th and 26th at Alabama-Birmingham. They will face the host team, plus Austin Peay and Florida A&M.

The career of Colgate's 6-7 middle blocker Hristina Georgieva could not have started in a more frustrating fashion. She missed her first year on the roster because of an injury. Her second year, she played briefly in Colgate's exhibition match at Alumni Arena but had no impact, played one regular season match and then was injured and sat out the rest of that season. This year, her third season on the roster, she has a concussion and so she could not play again. Too bad for her, and I was looking forward to seeing what she can do. But she did make it onto the court (sort of) in sets 4 and 5, as injured Colgate players were used as line judges, and so she becomes (possibly) the tallest line judge ever.

Q: Why can't fish play middle blocker? A: Because they are afraid of the net!

Video of the final point of the match is on my Instagram and Threads account, @dj_paige on both. I probably won't use Twitter/X much any more.

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by dj_paige

[dj_paige]

Eve Adams, Randolph, OH, commits to play volleyball at Buffalo

https://www.instagram.com/p/CwJKbJMOhd-

[UBinMD]

10 hours ago, dj_paige said:

The UB Volleyball team defeated Colgate 3–2 yesterday, in an exhibition match at Colgate.

Colgate won the Patriot League championship last year and appeared in the NCAA tournament. They finished the season with an RPI of 66, and were predicted to win the Patriot League again this year. In addition Colgate, defeated Buffalo 4–1 in an exhibition match last year at Alumni Arena. No matter how you look at it, Colgate is a quality opponent.

Buffalo took the first two sets, both by scores of 25–20. Buffalo coach Scott Smith used lineups consisting of players who got regular playing time a year ago, plus grad transfer Maurine Calande. But for the third set, Smith went deeper into his bench, and used fewer established players, and Buffalo lost 25–22. Smith stuck with the deeper lineup for the fourth set, and this time Buffalo pushed Colgate into extra points, with the Red Raiders winning 27–25. And Smith continued with the deeper lineup in the fifth set. In that 5th set, Buffalo trailed 11–8, but there was no panic on the Bulls' side. After a timeout, the Bulls scored the next two points, and after a Colgate kill, the Bulls scored two more points to tie the set. At 13–13, Calande came up with a big kill, and then a stuff block by Abby Leigh finished the set and the match in Buffalo's favor. So the big picture is that Buffalo's regulars out-played Colgate, and when Smith went deeper into the bench, the rest of the lineup played roughly even against Colgate.

The Buffalo players who got regular playing time are known quantities, we know what they can do, and they lived up to and went beyond expectations. A very solid job by those players. So I'm not really going to talk about them (much). Instead, I'm going to discuss the new players, and the returning players who didn't play much a year ago.

Freshman setter Liv Gravatt entered the match to start the third set, and she looked nervous. Her sets early in the 3rd were way off target, and she picked up two ball handling errors. But as the third set wore on, and Gravatt continued as the setter in sets 4 and 5, her accuracy improved. Ball handling errors disappeared, and her now on-target setting was one of the reasons why Buffalo pushed Colgate to overtime in the 4th set, and one of the reasons Buffalo won the 5th set. Gravatt, who had 99 aces in her senior year at high school, did not pick up an ace, but her float serves caused Colgate a lot of problems (which also contributed to the results in sets 4 and 5).

Freshman defensive specialist Chloe Brown also entered the match in the third set, and served an ace on her first play on the court. Well, sort of. Colgate was called for an out-of-rotation error on that play, which goes into the scorebook as an ace. But other than that trivial accomplishment, how did Chloe Brown do? You would not know she was a freshman from her play against Colgate. She played libero in set 5 (she was a libero in high school), and really looked comfortable at that position.

Calande, an outside hitter, played well throughout the match, picking up 3 aces with her jump serve. Her jump serve isn't quite the same high velocity as teammate Katrin Trebichavská's, but still effective. She played all six rotations — most international players who play outside hitter or right side (Calande is from Belgium) have to be good at playing both front and back row because international rules are different than NCAA rules.

Redshirt freshman middle blocker Tehya Shaw missed last year because of a surgery, and certainly didn't play at the same level as Buffalo's other middle blockers Abby Leigh and Courtney Okwara, but you can see she has great potential.

It was an unfortunate day for sophomore outside hitter Lauren Otten, who played only sparingly a year ago. Otten took the court to start the 2nd set, landed awkwardly on the very first play (I didn't see what happened) and limped off the court. She did not return, and was still limping after the match.

Buffalo used four liberos in the match, junior Maria Futey in sets 1 and 2, senior Julianna Lopez in set 3, senior Hayley Montoya in set 4 and Brown in set 5. Montoya was brilliant in set 4, flying all over the court to get her hands on the ball, and usually made good passes. Montoya was another reason Buffalo nearly won set 4.

Montoya also gets credit for starting the Play of the Match™ in the 4th set. After a great diving dig by Montoya, Gravatt had to run to get to the ball, and on the run placed a perfect bump set in the air for senior Stacia Gollogly, whose cross court shot landed. Defense, transition, offense, teamwork.

Freshman setter Liv Gravatt, left; and senior libero Hayley Montoya, right

Other Stuff

Freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin was not with the team. I assume she still hasn't returned from playing in the U-19 Women's World Championships in Europe. Forlin plays for Brazil.

A few years ago, when Buffalo played an exhibition match at Colgate, it was 90º in the arena, but yesterday it felt air-conditioned in the arena (because it was a cool day, not because the arena has air conditioning), much more comfortable for players, coaches and fans.

Buffalo's first regular season matches are August 25th and 26th at Alabama-Birmingham. They will face the host team, plus Austin Peay and Florida A&M.

The career of Colgate's 6-7 middle blocker Hristina Georgieva could not have started in a more frustrating fashion. She missed her first year on the roster because of an injury. Her second year, she played briefly in Colgate's exhibition match at Alumni Arena but had no impact, played one regular season match and then was injured and sat out the rest of that season. This year, her third season on the roster, she has a concussion and so she could not play again. Too bad for her, and I was looking forward to seeing what she can do. But she did make it onto the court (sort of) in sets 4 and 5, as injured Colgate players were used as line judges, and so she becomes (possibly) the tallest line judge ever.

Q: Why can't fish play middle blocker? A: Because they are afraid of the net!

Video of the final point of the match is on my Instagram and Threads account, @dj_paige on both. I probably won't use Twitter/X much any more.

 

 

Great synopsis. Thank you.