Bulls Split Two Five Set Matches at Toledo

[dj_paige]

The UB Volleyball team and Toledo played two eerily similar five set matches on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. In both matches, Buffalo lost the first two sets, then the Bulls won sets 3 and 4, and in both fifth sets, Buffalo fell behind early, and then later both fifth sets were tied at either 12–12 or 11–11. During these two heart-stopping matches, Cardiologists were handing out business cards to the fans at Savage Arena as the fifth sets progressed.

In the first match, the Bulls committed way to many errors in dropping the first two sets, during which UB never held a lead. Buffalo had more kills than Toledo, 34 to 22, but Buffalo gave the two sets away with a combined 18 attack errors, 8 service errors and two blocking errors. Buffalo managed to cut way back on the errors and won sets three and four, 25–22 and 27–25.

The Bulls fell behind Toledo 5–1 early in the fifth set, but went on a 6–2 run to tie the set at 7. Things remained close at 12–12, but then two Toledo errors put Buffalo ahead at 14–12. Two Toledo kills tied the set at 14, another Toledo error gave Buffalo a third match point, and then freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin scored a kill of the Toledo block to give Buffalo a 16–14 win.

In the second match, Buffalo kept their errors down, but the offense never really got moving, and Buffalo lost the first two sets. Buffalo's defense stiffened in the third set and the Bulls won 25–21. The fourth set was Buffalo's best of the two matches, as they hit 0.407 and won the set 25–15, with Buffalo using a lot of bench players to give the starters some rest.

In the fifth set, Toledo ran out to a 4–1 lead, but eventually the set was tied at 7. Buffalo moved ahead 11–8 only to see Toledo move back into the lead at 12–11, when the Bulls committed four straight errors. One was a service error, and the next three were simply balls hit out of bounds by UB. Fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara then tied the set at 12 with a quick attack out of the middle. Two more Toledo points gave them match point at 14–12. Buffalo's senior right side Stacia Gollogly scored a cross court kill, and then Toledo's Taylor Alt put the match away with a kill off the dig.

Buffalo is now 16–4 for the season, and their 6–2 MAC record has them tied for third place in the MAC with Toledo.

Buffalo's leading scorer in both matches was senior Katrin Trebichavská, with 21 kills in the first match and 17 in the second match. In the first match, Trebichavská picked up the rare 20–20 performance, adding in 20 digs, the team high. Trebichavská also had 5 aces in the second match, including three consecutive in the fourth set.

Senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská

Toledo's Alt was a big thorn in the Bulls' side in both matches, picking up 20 kills or more in each match.

In the first match, Forlin had 16 kills, her career high (her previous high was 11), and she added 2 aces. Okwara had 13 kills and 4 blocks, and fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh had 9 kills, 4 aces and two blocks. Junior setter Mandy Leigh had 57 assists, while junior libero Maria Futey had 16 digs and senior defensive specialist Julianna Lopez had 15 digs.

In the second match, Abby Leigh had 13 kills and just two errors, plus four blocks. Gollogly, who did not start had six kills on zero errors, plus three blocks. Mandy Leigh had 4 blocks, 12 digs and 45 assists, plus 4 kills with zero errors. Freshman middle blocker Tehya Shaw, who replaced Okwara in the 3rd set, had 3 blocks, her career high in brief playing time this year. Futey had 18 digs and Lopez had 12 digs.

Buffalo will host Akron at Alumni Arena on Tuesday, October 17 at 6pm (ESPN+).

Other Stuff

Okwara came into the weekend leading the NCAA in hitting percentage at 0.520. But its really hard to keep up that pace, and Okwara hit just 0.233 in the two matches combined, and her hitting percentage for the season dropped to 0.474, still an outstanding number, and still first in the MAC by a wide margin. Trebichavská's 45 aces leads the MAC, and she is third in the MAC in points per set. Abby Leigh leads the MAC in blocks per set, and solo blocks.

Buffalo entered the weekend with an RPI of 77, one of their best ever.

NCAA Volleyball news: Evansville and UIC played longest match ever in terms of elapsed time, 3 hours and 45 minutes. The fifth set ended 36–34 in favor of Evansville.

 

[Blue03]

Volleyball is in for a ride with their upcoming schedule. Next 4 opponents have a combined conference record of 27-5. 

[dj_paige]

Yes, that is true. We may be in for a bumpy ride. Or we may wind up on top of the MAC.