UB women’s volleyball (19-4, 9-2 MAC) defeated Ball State (12-10, 9-2 MAC) in back-to-back games this past Friday and Saturday. The games marked the Bulls’ second and third victories against Ball State in program history.
Ball State entered the games with a 28-1 all-time record against UB, but the Bulls flipped the script and swept the Cardinals, climbing into second place in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) standings. The sweep gave UB a 9-2 start to conference play, which is now the best start in program history. The Bulls have also recorded back-to-back 19 win seasons for the first time in their Division-I history.
Friday, four Bulls tallied over 10 kills for the first time this season. Fifth-year middle blockers Abby Leigh and Courtney Okwara, senior outside hitter Katrin Trebichavska, and freshman outside hitter Manoela Forlin had 16, 16, 13, and 12 respective kills that night. Leigh notched four aces and Tebichavska scored two.
Junior setter Mandy Leigh, had yet another standout night, with 60 assists, two aces, two blocks, four kills and 12 digs. Junior libero Maria Futey continues her solid season with 26 more digs and six assists, with graduate outside hitter Maurine Calande and Trebichavska logging 14 digs each.
Saturday started off with a bang, as the Bulls lost an exceptionally tight set, 35-33. UB picked up sets four and five by scores of 25-22 and 15-12, which completed the comeback from down 2-1.
Senior outside hitter Stacia Gollogly, Trebichavska, and Abby Leigh led the offense with 24, 19 and 16 kills. These kills were assisted by none other than Mandy Leigh, who tallied a season-high 74 assists as well as Trebichavska with four and Calande with three. Leigh was named the MAC East Setter of the Week, her sixth weekly honor this season.
The second-place Bulls will visit the MAC leader, Western Michigan (21-2, 12-0 MAC), on Friday at 6 p.m. and will try to hand the Broncos their first conference loss of the season. The game can be streamed on ESPN+.
The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com
Michael Scotto is an assistant sports editor for The Spectrum. In his free time he's either playing volleyball or catching up on sports.
