Bulls Tune Up For Regular Season With Blue & White Scrimmage

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo volleyball team continued preparations for its season-opener on  Friday with its annual Blue and White scrimmage, held Wednesday evening at the Ed Wright Practice Facility.  Despite some roster shuffling through out, the White team won all four sets.

For fans attending the scrimmage, it was their first opportunity to see the eight new players that were added to the roster in the offseason, joining the six returning members from 2010. For the coaching staff, it was their first opportunity to see most of these players in game-like conditions after nearly three weeks of preseason camp.

"Tonight was a great opportunity for us to see some people in different positions," said head coach Todd Kress. "I thought it was extremely competitive and that our newcomers really stepped up.  It was good to put them in a game-like atmosphere with their uniforms on and I thought most of them elevated their level of play.  Overall, I thought it was a big step forward in the process of us getting ready for Friday."

Highlighting the night was the play of the middles as sophomore Carissa McKenna had 10 kills and just two errors on 26 swings.  Freshman Alessandra Jovy-Heuser added nine kills and no errors, while Eleonora Jermilova added six kills.

Other newcomers with solid performances included Liz Scott, who had seven kills and just three errors, while adding 12 digs, four service aces and two blocks.  Sable Staller combined for seven kills and nine digs, while Chelsea Toth added three kills.  Kaja Schirmer also added 10 kills on 41 total swings.

Offensively for the returnees, Dana Musil had 15 kills and 14 digs, while Christine Fritsche added 13 kills and 11 digs.  Abby Niekamp added six kills and just one errors on 12 swings.  The White squad was run by sophomore Dani Reinert, who had 47 assists, five kills, seven digs and two aces.  The Blue team split its setting on the night with freshman Kayla Nagle running the show for the final two sets.  She finished with 18 assists, 12 digs and three aces.

Defensively, sophomore Kelly Svoboda had 28 digs, while sophomore transfer Sarah Horvath added 17 digs.  Jovy-Heusser also had six total blocks, a high for the night.

The Bulls will conclude preseason camp tomorrow before hitting the road for their opening weekend.  UB will have two matches on Friday, beginning with Seton Hall at 3:00 pm.  The Bulls will then face Colgate at 7:00 pm and again on Saturday at 4:00 pm.