If you had told me that Buffalo volleyball would be tied with defending National Champion and pre-season #1 Penn State 13-13 in the first set, and trailing by only 1 point, 13-12 in the third set, I'm not sure I would have believed you. And yet, I saw it with my own eyes. In sets 1 and 3, Buffalo stayed relatively even with the Nittany Lions, until late in the set when the home team's talent and athleticism took over.

The first match of Blair Brown Lipsitz's coaching career began with a pre-game standing ovation for Lipsitz, a three-time All-American and four time national champion during her playing days at Penn State. And it ended with Lipsitz getting a big post-game hug from Penn State's long-time coach, Hall-of-Famer Russ Rose.

In between those moments, there seemed to be a lot of nervousness on both sides of the net. Buffalo senior setter Marissa Prinzbach opened the match with a service error, but shortly thereafter Penn State returned the favor and the teams stayed even up until 13-13 in the first set. Buffalo senior Akeila Lain and sophomore middle blocker put up a few points and some blocks, and Buffalo was aided by surprisingly weak performances by Penn State senior Megan Courtney (MVP of last year's NCAA Tournament) and Ali Frantti (AVCA National Freshman of the Year in 2014).

But eventually, Penn State's athleticism and power and speed took over. Particularly in the 2nd set, Buffalo had no answer for Penn State middle blocker Haleigh Washington (Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2014), who was relatively unstoppable on the quick set (which, by the way, puts Buffalo in the same category as every other team in the country that can't stop Washington, no shame there). In all three sets, Penn State's block was effective, and bothered the Bulls even when they didn't get their hands on the ball. It's not that Penn State was that much taller than UB, but they jumped much higher and were faster to the block.

In the third set, Buffalo got more kills from Lain and sophomore Cassie Shado, who were the Bulls top two scorers on the night. At times, Buffalo looked like a team that was playing well and playing even with Penn State. One particularly shining moment for the Bulls came midway through the third set when senior middle blocker Amber Hatchett made a perfect dig on a bullet from Courtney, Buffalo sent the ball over the net only to have Courtney send the same shot back at Hatchett, who made another perfect dig, and Buffalo would eventually win the point. Who says middle blockers can't play back row defense? Hatchett followed that up with a service ace. In fact, Hatchett recorded her first 3 career aces in this game.

At other times (in all three sets) Buffalo looked like a team that didn't know whose responsibility it was to hit the ball. One player would hit the ball up in the air and the rest of the team would look around to see who was going to hit it, and someone realized at the last minute that if they didn't jump in, the ball was going to hit the floor. Part of the problem stemmed from the fact that some players were playing positions that they had never played before. Both Hatchett and Lain had never played back row in college, and I don't think either of them had ever served in college. Lain also got several chances to attack out of the back row, none of which were successful.

Lipsitz, somewhat surprisingly, made no substitutions in the first set, and only two in the entire match. The remainder of the UB lineup was: senior Megan Lipski at outside hitter, freshman Valisha Watkins at outside hitter in sets 1 and 2 and freshman Raven Jordan at outside hitter in set 3, Tessa Ooyama at defensive specialist in sets 2 and 3, and libero Niki Bozinoski in all three sets. Also somewhat suprisingly, Lipsitz did not call a time out in the first set until the score was 24-18.

Notes:

• Buffalo's leading scorers were Lain with 8, Shado with 7, Lipski with 5 and Hatchett with 4. No other Bull had a kill.
• Penn State outblocked Buffalo 12-3.
• Bozinoski had 10 digs, Lipski had 9, but Lain, playing back row on a regular basis throughout the match, only had 3.
• Penn State, who led the nation last year in hitting percentage at .342, didn't reach that mark tonight, hitting .303. When Buffalo played Penn State in 2009, the Nittany Lions hit .709. Buffalo's hitting percentage tonight was negative.
• UB volunteer Assistant Coach Angie McGinnis-Hasseman gave birth two days ago. I don't remember if it was a boy or a girl.
• Penn State has sisters Kendall and Lainy Pierce, from Eden, NY, on the roster. Kendall, a senior, made her first career start at libero for the Nittany Lions. Lainy, a sophomore, did not play due to injury.
• Don Gleason, an assistant coach for the Bulls last year, is now an assistant coach at Stony Brook, whom the Bulls will face tomorrow.