Buffalo Bulls Volleyball Roundup: Time for the MAC Tournament

And you thought winning enough games was the hard part of getting to the postseason:

Buffalo to Rochester to Atlanta to Columbus to Athens, OH may not be the most direct route but at least we're making it to the MAC tourney

— tessa ooyama (@tessaooyama) November 20, 2014

It seems UB's volleyball team is safely in Athens and preparing for their first-round MAC Tournament match against Western Michigan, which will begin at 5:30 PM on Friday. Before that, though, the final volleyball roundup of the season:

Coming into last weekend and the final two MAC games of the year, UB was 4-10 in the conference and tied for ninth with Bowling Green. Only the top eight teams advance to the MAC tournament. Happily, as you already know, the Bulls did indeed wrap up that eighth spot, thanks to two wins behind the excellent play of freshman outside hitter Skyler Day.

On Thursday, Day stepped into a larger role due to an apparent wrist injury to junior Tahleia Bishop and led UB to a three-set victory over the Akron Zips.

Buffalo Bulls Volleyball: Bulls stomp Zips in straight sets to move to 5-10 in MAC play - Bull Run
Needing to win two games to match last season' 6-10 MAC record, the UB Volleyball took a big step towards just the third MAC Tournament appearance in program history with a three-set win over...

Bulls Sweep Zips In Final MAC Home Contest - Buffalo

Thanks to losses from both Bowling Green and Central Michigan on Friday, Buffalo only needed to top Toledo, the very worst team in the MAC, to cinch a spot in the conference tournament. With Bishop again sitting out but for a few points, the Rockets pushed Buffalo to a fifth set.

UB was 0-4 in fifth sets this year, but prevailed on Saturday, thanks to another double-double from Day, to finish in the top eight of the MAC for the first time in program history.

Buffalo Bulls Volleyball: UB squeaks past Toledo, into MAC Tournament - Bull Run
Tahleia Bishop was still slowed by a wrist injury, and the Rockets' Brooke Frazier had 24 kills on .611 hitting, but the UB Volleyball team was able to top the Rockets 25-23, 18-25, 25-21, 22-25,...

Bulls Down Rockets To Qualify For 2014 MAC Tournament - Buffalo

VB: Buffalo wins Two, Advances to MAC Tournament - Bull Run
The UB Volleyball team picked up two victories over the weekend, sweeping Akron 3–0 on Thursday night at Alumni Arena, and the winning a very hard-fought match 3–2 over the last place Toledo...

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For her efforts, Day was named UB Athlete of the Week:

Licata And Day Named Athletes of the Week - Buffalo - Bull Run

John and I spoke further about the volleyball team on our weekly Olympic Sports spotlight. I didn't go back and pull out timestamps this week, but try about 18 minutes:

UB Bulls Olympic Spotlight: Soccer Season Ends - Bull Run
Matt and John are live at 10:30 PM talking UB Olympic Sports

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That's pretty much it for the final roundup of the season - UB plays Western tomorrow at 5:30 PM. Amidst the basketball games and possibly rescheduled football game, we'll have writeups of their matches no matter what this weekend.

Go Bulls!