Bulls Down Previously Undefeated Ball State

[dj_paige]

The University of Buffalo Volleyball team defeated Ball State on Friday night at Alumni Arena, 3–2. The Bulls are now 18–4 and 8–2 in the MAC. It was Ball State's first MAC loss and they stand at 9–1 in the conference. Buffalo had not defeated the Cardinals since 2010.

Buffalo came back from a 16–12 deficit in the first set to tie the set at 17–17, using a kill and an ace by senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská. After a Ball State point, a kill by freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin and back to back aces by fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh put the Bulls up by two. But the Cardinals tied the set at 20, only to see Buffalo run of four straight points on a kill by fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara, a kill from Forlin after an extremely long rally, an ace from Mandy Leigh and a Ball State error. After two Ball State points, another kill from Okwara ended the set. Trebichavská had five kills in the set, and Buffalo's defense held Ball State to a hitting percentage of 0.065.

Buffalo took an early lead in the second set, and led wire-to-wire, eventually winning 25–18. Both team's offenses sizzled, with Buffalo hitting 0.513 and Ball State hitting 0.355. Each team only committed two errors. Trebichavská, Forlin and Okwara each had five kills.

The Bulls fell behind 4–0 and 11–3 in the third set eventually losing 25–19, while hitting 0.000. The rare bright spot for UB was when sophomore outside hitter Lauren Otten entered the match and connected on her first two swings.

Buffalo again fell behind in the fourth set 15–8, as the team's passing was weak, and this resulted in a lot of shots sent out of bounds. But then the passing tightened up and Buffalo would eventually have a match point late in the set. The comeback began when Otten had consecutive kills. A 5–0 run, in which Buffalo forced three Cardinal errors tied the set at 18, and in which on back-to-back plays senior right side Stacia Gollogly scored (one a solo block and one a kill). Still the Cardinals took a 24–22 lead, but then it was the Leigh sister's time to take over. On three consecutive plays, Abby Leigh scored a kill, each assisted by her sister Mandy, and now Buffalo had match point. But three Cardinal points sent the match to a fifth set.

The Bulls wasted no time in taking a lead in the fifth set. They ran out to a 5–2 lead, with two kills from Okwara and two from Forlin. The lead opened to 4 points, but Ball State freshman Aniya Kennedy scored on back to back kills to make the score 10–8. (Kennedy was the top attacker in the match with 22 kills).

Mandy Leigh followed with the Play of the Match™. Leigh took an off-target pass and scored on a behind the back no-look dump to Ball State's left front position, where there was no defender. Leigh has done this many times in her career, but we haven't seen this recently. To pull this off late in a tight fifth set showed a huge amount of confidence.

Forlin and Abby Leigh blocked Kennedy to make the score 12–8 and after a Ball State point, the Bulls finished with three straight points, ending on an ace by Abby Leigh, her 4th of the match. Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CypCAI1MYkI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Abby Leigh led the team with 22.5 points and season high for her, coming on 16 kills (with just 2 errors, hitting 0.438) plus five blocks and 4 aces. It was the third time in her career she has surpassed 20 points. Her career high is 26 points at Lehigh in 2022.

Okwara was not far behind in attacking, with 16 kills (and just 3 errors), hitting 0.481. Okwara entered the weekend with a 0.473 hitting percentage, second in the nation by 0.001 behind the leader. Trebichavská has 13 kills and 16 total points, including 2 aces and a solo block (but I thought she had two solo blocks, just saying...). Trebichavská also had 14 digs. Forlin finished with 12 kills.

Mandy Leigh set a new career high with 60 assists. Maria Futey had 26 digs, one short of her career high. Grad student outside hitter/defensive specialist Maurine Calande has 14 digs.

The Bulls face Ball State again on Saturday, 10/21 at 4pm at Alumni Arena (ESPN+).

Other Stuff

Otten had kills on her first 4 swings. Adding in her appearance against Akron earlier in the week in which she had 3 kills on 3 swings, that's a 7-for-7 streak for Otten. For the season she is hitting 0.418, a ridiculous number for an outside hitter, and only in one match has her attack percentage dropped below 0.300.

The big numbers from Abby Leigh and Futey came one match after they had milestones, as Abby Leigh surpassed 1,000 kills and Futey surpassed 1,000 digs. Since I put photos of Abby Leigh and Futey in the last writeup, it's late, I have to get up early tomorrow, so to save time here are the exact same photos, Abby Leigh first, then Futey.

If Buffalo defeats Ball State again tomorrow, both teams would have 9–2 records in the MAC, but the Bulls would hold the tie breaker.

Buffalo will have to face another undefeated team next weekend at Western Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by dj_paige

[Bluebird96]

I don’t watch much volleyball, but the success of this year’s team (coupled with football’s regression) has sparked my interest. Watched the first 3 sets on ESPN+ and these teams were very well matched.  Was happy to see that UB came away with the win after Ball St was able to come back from the 2-0 deficit and force the 5th set.

I didn’t believe what I heard when the announcers said early in the match that UB had only beaten Ball once in the last 29 matches.  Great job by the Bulls to prevail. Look forward to seeing if they can overtake Ball in the MAC standings with another win on Saturday.