Volleyball Loses to Western Michigan

[dj_paige]

It was the dream volleyball match for the MAC. #1 Western Michigan (11–0) vs #2 Buffalo (9–2), late in the regular season, with playoff seeding on the line, and with two first team All-MAC setters. For Buffalo fans, it was even more of a dream, as the Bulls had never been #2 in the MAC this late in the season, and with the tantalizing future possibility of a possible #1 seed in the MAC tournament, and then hosting the tournament, both of which would be a first for Buffalo.

Things began very promisingly for the Bulls. In the first set, fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara (on her birthday) starred, picking up 7 kills and zero errors on 11 attempts, senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská had 5 kills, and the Leigh sisters hit a combined 0.714. Buffalo's passing was superb, leading to a 0.333 hitting percentage. The Bulls opened up a 19–12 lead, and then hung on to win the first set 25–23.

The Bulls opened the second set taking a 7–2 lead, forcing a WMU time-out. The Broncos would come back to tie the set at 11, and the rest of the set was closer than rush-hour traffic, no one opening a lead of more than one point until a WMU attack error gave the Bulls a 22–20 lead. Buffalo would pick up a set point opportunity on a WMU service error at 24–22, but they couldn't convert, and WMU went on a 5–1 run to take the set. Buffalo's hitting percentage during the second set was just 0.136, as the Bulls had trouble passing. WMU had similar difficulties and they hit only 0.167.

From that point on, the Bulls continued to struggle passing. A symptom of the Bulls' poor passing was the Okwara had 10 kills across the first two sets, but only 3 kills in the last two sets. Similarly, Trebichavská had 8 kills across the first two sets, but only 3 kills in the last two sets. WMU seemed to get their offense going at high speed, hitting over 0.400 in the 3rd set and over 0.300 in the fourth set. The Broncos took both the third and fourth sets by a score of 25–18.

Fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh, Okwara and Trebichavská each had 14 points while senior right side Stacia Gollogly had 13.5 points. Buffalo's outside hitters struggled terribly, all four outside hitters that were used hit 0.000 or worse. The rest of the team hit 0.391, led by junior setter Mandy Leigh at 0.444 followed by Abby Leigh at 0.435, Okwara at 0.375 and Gollogly at 0.357. Junior setter Mandy Leigh had 46 assists and 14 digs. Junior libero Maria Futey had 28 digs. Senior defensive specialist Julianna Lopez had 3 aces.

Other Stuff

Ball State defeated Kent State 3–0 to move ahead of the Bulls into second place in the MAC, with Buffalo now in third place (just one game ahead of Toledo and Ohio).

Gollogly faced only one blocker on most attacks, similar to the previous match against Ball State. It was the second straight match that Gollogly had double digits kills, after not reaching double digits previously in this season.

Futey's 28 digs is a new career high.

Buffalo plays at Northern Illinois on Saturday, November 28 at 5pm (ESPN+).