dj_paige Posted November 21, 2023 Share Posted November 21, 2023 (edited) The UB Volleyball team was swept in the MAC Semi-Finals by Bowling Green. The Bulls had lost to the Falcons twice the previous weekend in the regular season; and Buffalo had also been swept by Bowling Green in last year's MAC Semi-Finals. The Bulls were the #2 seed this year, while Bowling Green was the #6 seed, but that didn't seem to matter. The MAC Semi-Final this year was eerily similar to the two regular season matches between these two teams a weekend ago, when the Falcon's first team All-MAC right side, Lauryn Hovey, simply was unstoppable. She had 26 kills in 4 sets against Buffalo in the first game a weekend ago, and 20 kills in three sets in the second game against Buffalo a weekend ago. In the MAC Quarter-final, Hovey score 28 kills in five sets against Ball State, and then against Buffalo in the MAC Semi-final, Hovey had 20 more kills and hit 0.571. It seemed as if the Bulls were ready for Hovey in the MAC Semi-finals. Buffalo was able to put well-formed double blocks in front of Hovey almost every time she attacked, but it simply didn't make a difference. Hovey went around the block, or over the block, or through the block, committing just 4 errors and scoring the aforementioned 20 kills. The Falcons were able to hit 0.434 as a team. It seemed as if they were passing in system 90% of the time, and that helped Hovey and all the other attackers. Buffalo struggled to take Bowling Green out of their offense. In the first set, Buffalo never led and lost 25–17. Buffalo passed poorly and hit 0.107 while the Falcons hit 0.550. Buffalo would pass and attack better in the next two sets, hitting over 0.300 in each, but the Falcons had a higher hitting percentage in each set. One of Buffalo's few leads of the night, and one of the only times Buffalo's serving took Bowling Green out of their offense, was in the second set when with BG leading 7–6 a kill from freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin pulled the Bulls within one point; and then strong serving by junior setter Mandy Leigh pushed the Bulls to a 9–7 lead. After Leigh served an ace, another tough serve by Leigh was passed poorly by the Falcons, and that resulted in one of Hovey's few errors of the night. Another tough serve led to a block by senior right side Emma Gielas and fifth year middle blocker Courtney Okwara, which finished the run, and Bowling Green called time out. Buffalo would stay ahead at 13–11 but then Bowling Green pulled away and won the set 25–21. Despite Buffalo hitting 0.355 in the third set, they never led and lost 25–21. Senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavská had 13 kills to lead the team, while Forlin had 10. Mandy Leigh had 33 assists. Fifth year middle blocker Abby Leigh had a team high 3 blocks. Buffalo's record is still a program best since joining Division I at 23–8, and 13–6 in the MAC. Buffalo appears to be in line for an automatic bid to the upcoming NIVC tournament, which they played in last year as well. Here are part of the selection rules for the NIVC tournament: "A team that is offered an automatic berth by the NIVC shall be the team that is a.) the highest-finishing team in its conference’s regular-season standings, and b.) is then not selected for the NCAA Tournament. The team’s overall record is not a criteria. For the automatic qualifying berth, the NIVC believes that a team’s conference record is a more fair comparison among teams within their own conference, and that the conference record should pre-empt overall records among teams from the same conference. The automatic qualifying team is rewarded with the AQ spot for its in-conference play." If I am understanding that properly, Western Michigan is the regular season conference champion, and if they get selected to the NCAA tournament (which seems very likely), then Buffalo is the highest finishing team in the regular season standings that is not selected to the NCAA tournament. The NIVC selection show will be on Sunday, November 26. Other Stuff Buffalo placed five players on All-MAC teams, the most ever for this program. First-team All-MAC: Abby Leigh, Mandy Leigh, Courtney Okwara, Katrin Trebichavská. All-MAC freshman team: Manoela Forlin. Edited November 21, 2023 by dj_paige 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dj_paige Posted November 21, 2023 Author Share Posted November 21, 2023 Forlin named to All-Tournament team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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