Volleyball Splits Two Matches Against Ohio

[dj_paige]

The UB Volleyball team was swept by the Ohio Bobcats on Friday night, then came back to take a 3–1 victory over the Bobcats on Saturday night. Buffalo is now 13–3 on the season and 3–1 in the MAC.

In the Friday night game, Buffalo led 12–11 in the first set, but Ohio went on a 6–0 run, including three aces by Ohio libero Sam Steele. But Buffalo eventually tied the set at 21, only to see Ohio outscore the Bulls the rest of the way 4–2. In the second set the Bulls fell behind 7–1, and Ohio would eventually win 25–18, as the Bulls committed 8 errors in the set and hit just 0.091, compared to Ohio's 0.344. Buffalo had a chance to win the 3rd set, taking a 22–17 lead, only to see Ohio cut the lead to 1 after a Buffalo service error and three straight kills by Ohio outside hitter Caroline Clippard. Still Buffalo took a 24–23 lead, only to see Ohio outscore Buffalo 4–1 the rest of the way.

The overall difference in the second set, and probably the whole match, was that Ohio served and passed better than Buffalo did. In addition, Buffalo was unable to stop Ohio's outside hitter Anna Kharchynska, a second team All-MAC performer a year ago, who finished with 17 kills. Ohio's other outside hitter Kam Hunt had nine kills and no errors. But Buffalo did manage to stop Ohio's 6–4 middle blocker Caitlin O'Farrell, first team All-MAC last year, and who has been Ohio's leading scorer so far this year, averaging over 4 points per set. On this night, O'Farrell had only 5 points all match.

The Bulls were led by senior right side Emma Gielas who had 13.5 points on 12 kills and 2 blocks. Senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská had 13 points on 12 kills and 1 ace. Fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh had 10 with 5 kills, 5 blocks and one ace. Leigh had 3 solo blocks, entering the match as the MAC leader in solo blocks by a wide margin. Junior setter Mandy Leigh (first team All-MAC last year) had 38 assists. Junior libero Maria Futey had 13 digs.

Play of the Match™: With Ohio leading 20–12 in set two, Buffalo senior defensive specialist Julianna Lopez served up a double stack of pancakes in a long rally which Buffalo eventually won. Ohio setter Tria McLean tried a left handed attack and Lopez dove and got her right hand under it, the ball ricocheted off Futey and Buffalo pushed it over the net. McLean tried the same attack, again Lopez dove and got her right hand under it, again the ball ricocheted off Futey and Buffalo send it over the net. Eventually, Abby Leigh sent the ball into the Ohio right back corner for a kill, and Buffalo fans waved their spatulas in the air! For those of you who might not know, when you get your hand under a ball and keep it off the floor that way, it's called a pancake.

In the Saturday night match, Buffalo took the first set 28–26 in which both teams hit exactly 0.375. But Ohio ran away in the second set taking the set 25–18, as Buffalo hit 0.211 while the Bobcats hit 0.395. It appeared that Ohio was certainly making an effort to get O'Farrell more involved in the offense, and after two sets, O'Farrell led all scorers with 11 kills, with just 1 error, and two blocks. She looked very much like an All-MAC Player.

In sets 3 and 4, Buffalo changed their serving taking Ohio out of its offense. Buffalo's blocking went berserk, and Buffalo's attacking was some of their best all season, and sets 3 and 4 looked like a highlight reel for the Bulls, as they won 25–15 and 25–14.

Buffalo switched their serving to include a large number of short serves and Ohio did not handle the short serves well. Short serves forces different players to return serve, or return serve from a less advantageous position; and often it takes the middle blocker out of the offense. (Some people, including me at times, think that serving is all aces and errors, but good serving shuts down the opponent's offense). Ohio, which hit a combined 0.385 in the first two sets, finished one kill above 0.000 in the last two sets. O'Farrell had only 4 kills in the last two sets, and picked up 5 errors, mostly on UB blocks. Ohio even switched O'Farrell to attack on the left or on the right, instead of the usual middle blocker positions, to no avail. As Buffalo continued to send short serves over the net, they ran up huge leads, and the only suspense on match point would be if Trebichavská would short serve or jump serve. Trebichavská sent a laser jump serve over (her first jump serve of the last two sets), and the Ohio defender was apparently not ready for the high velocity jump serve and shanked the pass into the fourth row of the stands.

As Ohio struggled to get their offense going, UB's block came alive and took advantage. After just 3 Buffalo blocks in the first two sets, Buffalo had 13 blocks in the final two sets. To put 13 blocks in two sets into perspective, Buffalo's previous high this year for a whole match was 10, and in the previous two seasons, Buffalo only once had more than 13 blocks in a whole match, that in 2021 against Troy when middle blocker Olivia DeBortoli had 9 blocks and the team had 17 blocks. Buffalo also had 11 solo blocks — the records on the UB web site go back to 2010, and in that time, Buffalo has never had 11 solo blocks.

Buffalo managed to hit 0.377 over the last two sets, making just 5 errors. The Bulls finished hitting 0.328 against Ohio's 0.223.

Mandy Leigh had 40 assists, with very accurate setting most of the match and especially in sets 3 and 4; and she had a .571 hitting percentage. Abby Leigh had 16 points, coming on 9 kills (with just 2 errors) and her season high 9 blocks, five of them solo. Her 5 solo blocks is also a season high. A year ago, Abby Leigh led the MAC with 32 solo blocks, she is up to 25 solo blocks already this year, and leads the MAC by 15 solo blocks over second place. Trebichavská had 17 points on 15 kills, 2 blocks and 1 ace. Freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin had 13 points, on 11 kills (with just 2 errors) and 2 solo blocks, the 11 kills ties her career high. Fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara had 12.5 points with 8 kills, 1 error, and 5 blocks (4 solo). Futey had 13 digs and Lopez had 10.

The Play of the Match™ belongs to Abby Leigh, a microcosm of the team's strong serving and blocking. At 22–13 in the third set, a tough serve by Futey was passed poorly. Ohio's McLean bumped the ball toward O'Farrell, whose attack was stuffed by perfect timing and position by Abby Leigh. But as I said, the last two sets were a highlight reel, it was tough to choose, and on the previous play, Trebichavská put on her anti-gravity boots, hung in the air, and then pushed a tip from O'Farrell down to the floor for a kill.

Mandy Leigh (L) and Abby Leigh

Other Stuff

Buffalo will next play Central Michigan at Alumni Arena, Thursday, October 5 at 6pm and against Eastern Michigan on Friday, October 6 at 6pm. Both matches are on ESPN+. CMU is 1–4 in the MAC and 7–9 overall. EMU is 2–14 and 0–4 in the MAC.

Attendance Friday night was 764, and on Saturday it was 578. Strong attendance for both games. I can't find recent attendance compilations on the UB web site, but I don't think UB has had a lot of 764 or greater attendances in the last few years.

We have talked about Mandy Leigh making a play called a pineapple, a push by the setter toward the opponent's back left corner when no defender is there. Tonight, Abby Leigh had a two handed push towards the opponent's empty back right corner which landed for a kill. I am not aware of a name for this particular kill, so I am going to give it a name and give Abby Leigh credit for a mango.

Buffalo coach Scott Smith and Mandy Leigh were interviewed after the match live by the ESPN+ announcing crew, the audio broadcast throughout Alumni Arena for the fans to hear. As far as I remember, this is the first time this has happened for volleyball. It happened regularly for basketball for the last few years. Interview: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cx1W-FAsjuc/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Friday night's ESPN+ color announcer was Kristin Carpenter Steadman, a former Penn State player. In 2010, Carpenter's sophomore year, Penn State found themselves without a setter, and Carpenter won the job despite the fact she had never been a setter before. All Carpenter did was set Penn State to a national championship that year. She would not be used at setter again in the rest of her career. Saturday night's play-by-play announcer was Jack Kreuzer, who also announces UB Women's Soccer on the Buffalo Bulls Broadcast Network, and he is the UB women's basketball radio announcer.

In 2011, I attended my first major conference volleyball match at Ohio State. They were playing #1 Nebraska that night. Ohio State was coached by Geoff Carlston, who is now the Ohio University coach. That night, Ohio State short served Nebraska in the 2nd set, and won that set. That night, Nebraska figured out how to handle the short serve, neutralizing the short serve and won 3–1; Carlston's Ohio University team tonight never figured it out.

Edited October 1, 2023 by dj_paige

[dj_paige]

Former Bull Andrea Mitrovic signs with the Polish club team in the city of Łódź, usually one of the top teams in the Polish league, and a team which has also qualified for the 2024 European Women's Club Championship (also known as the CEV Women's Champions League). Łódź is located in central Poland and is pronounced "voosh" (I think). Previously, Mitrovic had played in Turkey, and also plays for Team Canada.

Edited October 1, 2023 by dj_paige

[dj_paige]

Buffalo #66 in RPI, which I would think is the highest in program history. (But I don't know how to confirm that...)