Volleyball Moves to 5–0 With Win Over Montana

[dj_paige]

The UB Volleyball team defeated Montana 3–1 (25–14, 25–20, 23–25 and 25–20) on Friday night at Alumni Arena, making their record 5–0 for the season. This is the first time they have started 5–0 since 2013. They will play Binghamton on Saturday, September 2 at 3pm at Alumni Arena.

The Bulls hit a season-high 0.345, as their middle blockers, Abby Leigh and Courtney Okwara both hit over 0.300 (as it seems these two always do). What changed in this match compared to previous matches was that Buffalo's pin hitters all hit 0.300 or better as well, with right side Emma Gielas hitting 0.474 (with 9 kills and zero errors), outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská hitting 0.316 with 16 kills and outside hitter Manoela Forlin hitting 0.304 with 11 kills; all of these pin hitters had by far their season high in hitting percentage. Trebichavská and Forlin both were able to generate kills on out-of-system balls, which just increases the effectiveness of the Bulls offense, as usually out-of-system balls result in weak attacks and do not result in kills.

Outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská

Buffalo ran away with the first set, hitting 0.440 while holding Montana to 0.160. In the second set, Buffalo fell behind 17–15, but then went on a 9–1 run to take the lead for good. That run included tough serving from libero Maria Futey and Gielas, and four points from Trebichavská, three coming on kills and one on a solo block. It also included one play where UB setter Mandy Leigh made three diving digs.

The third set was a back-and-forth affair, and was tied at 19–19, but then Montana pulled away. Both teams hit 0.333 in the set; and the Bulls made several mistakes during the set where they misjudged Montana attacks and serves, and chose to let them land instead of playing the ball, and the ball landed in by a foot or more.

Buffalo's defense stiffened in the fourth set, holding Montana to a 0.077 hitting percentage. The Bulls ran out to a 7–0 lead, the last point coming on an out-of-system kill by Forlin after a 30 foot bump set from Gielas. Later, a shoot set from Mandy Leigh to Okwara gave Buffalo a 12–4 lead, causing Montana to call their second and final timeout. While Montana closed the score late in the set to 22–20, Buffalo scored the next three points, two on Montana errors and then a kill off the block by Forlin to end the match.

Trebichavská led the Bulls with 20 points (16 kills, two aces, a solo block and two block assists), Forlin had 15 points, and all of Buffalo's front line had double digit points. Okwara had 4 blocks, while Abby Leigh, Gielas, Trebichavská each had 3 blocks. Futey led the team with 17 digs, her season high, while Mandy Leigh had 12 and Forlin had 11. Buffalo had a season high 10 aces, with Forlin leading the way with 4. Buffalo also had only 6 service errors, their best ace-to-error performance of the season. Mandy Leigh picked up 41 assists.

Other Stuff

Defensive specialist Hayley Montoya picked up a kill on an overdig, so she got to join the high-hitting-percentage party, hitting 1.000 for the match. It was her first kill of the season (so a season high!) She had five kills a year ago.

In 2013, when Buffalo started 12–0, their last non-conference match was against nationally ranked Ohio State, also undefeated, at Alumni Arena. Buffalo freshman Siena Wilder served an ace on the first point of the match, and Buffalo would never lead again. Buffalo failed to make the MAC tournament that year.

Late in the first set, Trebichavská hit the ball so hard that the dig went backwards and up into the rafters at Alumni Arena. I don't remember seeing too many digs travel up into the rafters. Needless to say, Montana couldn't chase the ball down, kill for KT.

As in the match the previous night against DePaul, Buffalo coach Scott Smith used only eight players in the match. Outside hitter Maurine Calande, a grad transfer student, had a boot on her left foot, and was unable to play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by dj_paige