Women’s volleyball goes 1-1 against defending MAC champions

To kick off Mid-American Conference (MAC) play, women's volleyball (4-9, 1-1 MAC) traveled to Kalamazoo to face the reigning MAC champions, the Western Michigan Broncos (4-7, 1-1 MAC), in a doubleheader this past weekend. The Bulls were able to secure their first win on the road this season in the second match.

Their first meeting of the weekend took place on Friday night. Buffalo hit the ground running and put up a strong 6-2 lead in the first set, but after a close battle, the Broncos came away with the first set with a score of 25-19. Western Michigan kicked off the second with the lead when Buffalo was able to come back to tie the game at 11. Once again the Bulls couldn't push ahead of the Broncos falling 25-21. Buffalo looked to close out the win at 23-21 in the last set, but the Broncos were able to clutch the win ending the set 25-23, giving them the sweep over the Bulls. 

Standout performances came from three Bulls who racked up kills in the double digits. Fifth-year outside hitter and team captain Katrin Trebichavska secured the match high with13, while sophomore outside hitter/right side Manoela Forlin had 12, and sixth-year middle blocker Abby Leigh recorded 10.

The next matchup between the two took place on Saturday afternoon. The first set was a tight race, but Buffalo was ultimately able to pull away with the 26-24 win. The Bulls were able to secure the second set as well after a seemingly endless back and forth, with the score reaching 35-33. The third set started off with the Broncos leading 7-1, but the Bulls came back just as strong, securing their first on the road win with the sweep, and giving the Broncos their first conference loss since 2022.

UB volleyball will return to Alumni Arena to face Kent State (1-11, 0-2 MAC) in another doubleheader. The first match will take place on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m at and the second on Oct. 5 at 4 p.m.

The sports desk can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com

Editor's note: A previous version of this article erroneously labeled the Mid-American Conference as the Mid-Atlantic Conference. We apologize for this.