For the UB women's volleyball team, this is it - the weekend to find out what they really have.
After finishing with only five wins all of last year, the Bulls have retooled their team with a new head coach and two freshmen starters, and it has paid off to the tune of an 8-7 record so far. Still, those are not conference wins. Buffalo has not won a Mid-American Conference match since Oct. 31, 1999. They are currently riding a conference losing streak of 43 straight matches.
UB hopes to break their streak Saturday afternoon when they take on the Marshall Thundering Herd at 3 p.m. in Alumni Arena.
So, are they ready for the MAC?
The university hopes so, which is why they hired new Head Coach Sally Kus. Kus brings an impressive college and high school record with her. She earned 794 wins in her 23 years just down the road from UB at Sweet Home High School. She came from Daemen College where she had a 92-54 record. UB's win over Niagara last week was her 100th collegiate victory. Along with her accomplishments, she brings a new attitude to the Bulls' volleyball team.
"It's a world of difference compared to last year," said MAC player of the week, junior Lindsay Matikosh. "We have a new attitude, we want to do good for her. We want to win for ourselves, but we want her to be proud of us".
"The kids feel more comfortable on the court this year," said Kus. "They can be aggressive. I want them to be comfortable and relaxed."
Matikosh is having another strong year averaging 4.59 kills per game, good for first in the MAC. Her 3.58 digs per game ranks fifth.
The addition of Kus, who is in the Western New York Sports Hall of Fame and is one of the biggest names in volleyball, has made recruiting easier. With this team's history of past failures, however, some conference wins in 2002 will ease the coaches' burden. With her local fame Kus has no trouble attracting Western New York talent, but she is still scouring the country for the players that will make her team a contender.
"Volleyball is a mid-western sport. We are an Eastern school," Kus said. "We are trying to attract impact players here."
At other schools freshmen have a year or so to develop, but at UB two freshmen have had a great impact already. Setter Amy Brown and middle-hitter Katie Weekley have stepped into starting roles and are key contributors on the team.
"Our setter graduated last year, and Amy has stepped right in as a stronger player," said Matikosh. "Both (freshmen) are very strong players."
Will this new attitude translate into wins against MAC opponents? It did not on Thursday night when the Bulls traveled to Akron and fell in three straight games.
"I hope our girls realize how tough our conference is," Kus said in an interview Wednesday. "Opening up with Akron will be a good match to start with. Akron has a couple of powerful outside hitters so we're going to have to block well and play good defense to win."
"They are probably our biggest rival, especially since (coach) Kus graduated from there," said Matikosh on Wednesday.
Akron, who was picked to finish second in the MAC East Division, may have been too much to handle for the youthful Bulls in their first game, but Marshall is a great match-up for UB. At 8-4 the Thundering Herd have a similar record. In the conference's preseason poll Marshall was ranked fifth and UB was ranked sixth in the East division.
Marshall also has a new head coach this year; Mitch Jacobs comes from Fairfield where he was 75-24. Both the Herd and the Bulls have struggled lately. Marshall was 6-21 last year, while UB was 5-23.
The Bulls are a team that could surprise some people in the MAC, and if they do, they will look back to spring workouts as a major reason.
"We were working real hard (this spring) while other teams were not," said Kus. "We were trying to accomplish a lot of things. We had such good team bonding, and it's showing."
