Bulls Finish 2-1 in St. John's Tournament

[dj_paige]

Buffalo Volleyball comes to the end of their non-Conference schedule with a record of 10–2, after defeating Columbia and St. John's and losing to #16 Arkansas in the St. John's Tournament.

So how does this 10–2 record compare to a year ago? In 2022, Buffalo finished 8–4 in non-Conference play and the Bulls went on to tie the program record for most MAC wins, reached the MAC Semi-Finals for the first time ever, and advanced to a post-season tournament for the first time ever. This year's team, with mostly the same starting lineup as last year's team, not only has a better non-Conference record, but also a stronger strength of schedule. A year ago, the Buffalo strength of schedule was in the low 200s, while this year it is around 150. So, stronger schedule this year, and better W-L record. All good signs, coming after the team's best year ever in the MAC in 2022.

Buffalo was simply out-played by the nationally ranked Razorbacks. The Bulls struggled at returning serve, Arkansas having some very strong servers; and Buffalo did not serve well either. The Bulls wound up hitting just 0.143 (their lowest hitting percentage of the season) while Arkansas hit 0.396, and Buffalo did not score 20 points in any set.

Against Columbia, it was the Bulls who out-played the Lions, as Buffalo did not allow Columbia to score 20 points in any set. In fact, Columbia could manage only 9 points in the 2nd set and just 12 points in the 3rd set. The Bulls were so dominant that head coach Scott Smith emptied his bench, every single player on the roster appearing the match.

In the first set against St. John's, Buffalo started out strong, with three blocks in the first 9 rallies, but the block disappeared the rest of the set. In fact, not only did it disappear, but it resulted in many points for the Red Storm, as time after time their attacks went off the Buffalo blocker's hands and out of bounds. Add in occasional poor passing by Buffalo, and the first set belonged to St. John's 25–21.

The Bulls managed to tighten things up in the second set, reversing the score and tying the match at 1–1. Trailing 13–11, the Bulls put on a display of very strong serving, and they went on a 9–3 run to take a lead they would never relinquish. In that run, Buffalo got strong serving by grad student Maurine Calande and junior libero Maria Futey, each picking up an ace and forcing St. John's to take out-of-system attacks. Earlier in the set, with Buffalo trailing 10–7, they pulled even on a kill and then back-to-back aces by senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská.

In the third set, Buffalo again put pressure on St. Johns, this time with 5 blocks, four of them where fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara was involved. The Bulls also picked up four aces in the set, one by fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh, two by senior defensive specialist Julianna Lopez and one by junior setter Mandy Leigh. With the Bulls leading 16–15, Buffalo went on a 6–1 run to put the set out of reach, that run including two kills by senior outside hitter Stacia Gollogly and two blocks by Okwara. In the fourth set, at 11–11, Buffalo ran away scoring the next 8 points, opening up a 19–11 lead (with leading scorer Trebichavská on the bench, replaced by freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin). Mandy Leigh did a lot of damage from the service line, picking up an ace, and also did a lot of damage with her setting, leading to three kills by senior right-side Emma Gielas in that run. For the Bulls, it was their best set on offense hitting 0.409 while holding St. John's to their lowest hitting percentage, 0.143.

For the match, Trebichavská led the team with 15.5 (11 kills, 3 aces and 2 blocks), Gielas was next with 13 points (11 kills, 4 blocks) followed by Okwara with 12 points (9 kills, 6 blocks) and Abby Leigh with 12 points (6 kills, 4 aces and 3 blocks). Mandy Leigh had 38 asissts. Futey had 13 digs.

Plays (plural) of the Match™: not one play, but a great performance across the entire match by Gollogly, who let loose a barrage of out-of-system kills (6 by my count on 7 out of system swings). Out of system attacks are usually low percentage shots, but not on this night for Gollogly. The FloSports announcer Paige Band (great first name, don't you think?) interviewed Smith, and she quoted Smith as saying Gollogly in the past has not had a lot of confidence on out of system attacks, that was something they were working on. And you can understand that lack of confidence in some sense, as she has been the "Stacia-of-all-trades" playing all three front row positions in her 4 years at UB, and not playing a lot of time at any one position. Must be Smith and Gollogly are working on it effectively. Gollogly finished with a season high 9 kills of all types, not just out of system, and hit 0.333.

Senior outside hitter Stacia Gollogly. Photo credit: Mark DeBortoli

Other Stuff

Futey and Okwara made the all-tournament team.

Since Gollogly usually does not play back row, Smith made a lineup tweak and put Calande (normally an outside hitter) into the lineup to play just back row.

Across the entire tournament, Okwara had 17 kills and just 2 errors, on 31 attacks. She entered the weekend fifth in the NCAA and leading the MAC in hitting percentage. At the end of the weekend, Okwara now hitting 0.514 on the season. Her 0.420 at the end of last season led the MAC.

Buffalo opens the MAC schedule next weekend with matches at Kent State on February 22 (6 pm) and February 23 (4 pm), both streamed on ESPN+.

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by dj_paige

[dj_paige]

Courtney Okwara named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week.

 

Around the MAC: Bowling Green defeats Big Ten opponent Michigan twice!

[UBinMD]

1 hour ago, dj_paige said:

Courtney Okwara named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week.

 

Around the MAC: Bowling Green defeats Big Ten opponent Michigan twice!

I saw the once, why did they play twice? Was one in a tournament?

[dj_paige]

I think BG/Michigan scheduled back-to-back home and away matches on consecutive days. I had not previously seen teams do this.

[dj_paige]

Buffalo at Kent State this weekend. Kent is 4-7, losing to Niagara 3-0 and beating Canisius 3-2. No common opponent this year, but they did beat Cleveland State 3-2 this year, whom Buffalo defeated twice last year (3-0 and 3-1) and in spring volleyball.

Edited September 20, 2023 by dj_paige