October 24, 2009

Bulls Roll Past Eagles, 3-1

YPSILANTI, MI – The University at Buffalo volleyball team rebounded from a tough road loss on Friday night as the Bulls defeated Eastern Michigan, 3-1, Saturday night at the Convocation Center. The win improves UB's record to 14-9 and 5-5 in the MAC. The 14 wins and five MAC wins both tie UB school records since joining the conference in 1998.

The Bulls took the match 25-23, 25-19, 17-25, 25-20 as UB hit .215 for the match, opposed to .203 for the Eagles. After a close first set, the Bulls had one of their best offensive sets of the season in the second as they hit .425. UB took the 2-0 lead into intermission and was able to close out the match in the fourth after the Eagles won the third set.

"Tonight was a much improved effort by our entire team," said head coach Todd Kress. "It was great for the growth of our team to come back after not playing our best volleyball just 24 hours ago. I thought Marisa and Dani played very well and Lindsey had some huge serves. Those were the differences in the fourth set for us tonight."

UB was led by 20 kills from junior Marisa Hornbaker, who took 51 swings on the night. Dani Silvers had 17 kills, while Kelsey Luedersfinished with nine kills and just two errors on 19 total attacks. Kristin Bignell added five kills and a match-high seven total blocks.

Junior Lindsey Schlegel added five kills, a match-high 51 assists and four service aces, giving her 40 on the season. Schlegel also added 10 digs. Freshman Tori Beckman had a match-high 28 digs, while Hornbaker completed the double-double with 13 digs. The Bulls had 11 total blocks on the night, including six total blocks from Abby Niekamp, who also added four kills.

Eastern Michigan was led by 12 kills from Jennifer Schwartz and 15 digs from Haley Stein and Cassie Sowers.

The Bulls remain on the road Tuesday night when they travel to crosstown rival Canisius for their final non-conference match of the season. The match is set for 7:00 pm.