The University at Buffalo women's volleyball team had a couple of impressive performances this past weekend at the four-team Duke Classic in Durham, N.C. at the Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Inside Cameron Stadium, the Bulls came from behind to triumph over Southern Illinois (27-30, 30-27, 34-32, 30-28), Friday evening by a score of 3-1. On Saturday the volleyball team folded against Duke, (30-18, 30-23, 30-18) losing 0-3, but bounced back for a score of 3-0, to defeat UNC-Charlotte (30-28, 33-31, 30-27), for their final match of the tournament.
Southern Illinois got off to a rapid start in the first game of the match Friday night against Buffalo. UB tried to hold off their opponent as they tied the game at 19, but the Salukis nudged ahead for a 30-27 victory. After the first game win, Southern Illinois seemed to be the weaker team, as the Buffalo Bulls ran away with the wins for games two through four, and finally winning the match 3-1.
"This game was a roller coaster ride, but a good match overall," said UB head coach Sally Kus. "The girls put in a great team effort, they all needed to work together to achieve the win."
Through the ups and downs of the match, many girls from the UB team put out good performances. Freshman Nikki Morzenti led Buffalo with 20 kills, 17 digs, and five blocks during the game, while teammates senior Lindsay Matikosh and junior Molly Schrantz both had 15 kills each. Senior Alexis Bouie had 12 kills, and sophomore Katie Weekley concluded with six kills, seven digs, eight blocks, and seven service aces. Weekley also helped the team to victory by having those six kills, two of them crucial game winners during Friday night's match.
After winning their first match on Friday, the Buffalo volleyball team was disappointed as they lost their second match of the tournament to Duke, 0-3, Saturday afternoon.
"It is very intimidating to go to Duke and play," said Kus.
But early on in the first game, Buffalo was building a strong 10-3 advantage over the Blue Devils. This was not enough to hold their competition, because after a Duke timeout, the Blue Devils regrouped and breezed past the Bulls taking 10 straight points, which included four aces from Duke freshman Laura Murphy.
"We did not play well against Duke," stated Kus. "After the first game the girls lost their confidence and their playing went down hill."
Even though they lost their match to Duke, there was still some stand out performances from the Buffalo team. Morzenti and Matikosh made the most kills for the team, 11 and 10 respectively. Sophomore Amy Brown also put in a good effort by adding 11 digs to the teams attempt to beat Duke Saturday afternoon.
The Saturday evening game against UNC-Charlotte proved to be much more successful for the Bulls. UNC-Charlotte fell to UB, 3-0. Going into the competition, Kus felt that the UNC-Charlotte team was possibly the strongest in the Duke Classic Invitational.
"I think Charlotte had the best all around team," said Kus. "The UB vs. Charlotte match was right down to the wire, so the win was really nice for us."
"Morzenti was steady and strong throughout the two-day tournament, and really pumped up her teammates for the match against Charlotte," said Kus.
Matikosh also had a great performance on the court by recording 12 kills and 16 digs, which was the highest amount of digs for the match. Bouie and Weekley also came back from their frustrating performances against Duke, Kus said, each scoring ten kills apiece. Amy Brown also did well with 40 setters and 11 digs altogether.
"The girls played very well this past weekend," said Kus. "We had more maturity and composure on the court this weekend than any previous competition."
Coming up this weekend, the Bulls (4-3) will be participating in the University of Central Florida Fall Invitational. Buffalo will be playing Central Florida, the hosts of the Invite, at 7 p.m. on Sept. 12.
On Sept. 13, UB will be playing Georgia Southern at 11 a.m. Central Michigan, a Mid-American Conference member, like Buffalo, will also be competing in the Invitational and will play UB on Sept. 13 as well, at 5 p.m.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
