Baby Steps

As the UB Volleyball team looks to break their 45-match MAC losing streak, two difficult opponents make their way to Buffalo's Alumni Arena. Northern Illinois University will face the Bulls on Friday at 7 p.m., and on Saturday the Western Michigan Broncos will take on Buffalo also at 7 p.m. UB comes in losers of their last game at Kent State on Wednesday night.

NIU has a new coach this year, and several returning players chose to transfer, forcing the team to look to some new players. UB Head Coach Sally Kus feels that NIU does, however, have a slight psychological advantage.

"They walk onto the court and already have some points in their pocket because they won the conference last year," Kus said.

The past, however, is in the past. Conference championships from the year before mean little when the new season begins.

"We look to Northern, on paper, to be a big challenge, where realistically we should be able to stick with them," said Kus.

The NIU Huskies are the defending regular season and conference champions, but this season finds them at 1-1 in conference play. Ball State University recently ended NIU's five match winning streak with a 3-1 defeat in the Huskies' second conference game. Although the team is 8-6 overall, the Bulls have a slight advantage, as NIU is 1-2 when playing away from home.

The Huskies were picked fourth in preseason polls and return the league's top hitter, Rena Widboom, and the MAC Freshmen of the Year, Tera Lobdell. They, however, did lose several key players to graduation.

The Huskies still have a strong middle attack, and the Bulls will look to "center in on their middle" and continue to "spread our (Buffalo's) offense," said Kus. Junior Lindsay Matikosh (3.34 average digs) is the focus of many of the Bulls opponents. Her high stats encourage many teams to attempt to double block against her, allowing the team to work more combination plays.

Western Michigan comes to UB looking for its first conference win of the season. The Broncos were picked to finish third in the conference, but have started the season with losses to both Kent State and Central Michigan. Western Michigan returns one of the conference's top setters who was a second team All-MAC honoree, Ashley Ritter.

The Broncos, however, are not the major concern for the volleyball team. The team is focusing on one game at a time.

"I haven't even looked at (Western Michigan's) tape yet," said Kus.

The Bulls believe that by making baby steps each game and by setting several small goals, eventually they will be able to achieve more success. Kus foresees the team reaching its peak later in the year.

"We're definitely looking for our first MAC win. . We're really excited," said sophomore Molly Schrantz. The losing streak may exist somewhere in the back of the team's mind, and occasionally may even resurface from time to time in a game, but by learning from each game the Bulls hope to find increased success.