Volleyball comeback falls short against Georgia Southern in weekend opener before loss to South Carolina

If there’s any consolation in the third five-set loss in as many weekends for UB Volleyball, it’s that today’s loss to Georgia Southern is the closest yet the Bulls have been to finding their first win. After dropping the first two sets in similar fashion four straight-set losses already on the season, Buffalo gutted out a pair of narrow wins to prolong the match before ultimately falling 13-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 13-15.

It’s particularly nice to see a strong match in the weekend opener, even if Buffalo fell quickly 3-0 to South Carolina later in the afternoon and face another power-conference opponent tomorrow in Wake Forest.

UB featured a balanced attack against Georgia Southern, as six different Bulls, including setter Scout McLerran, had six or more kills. Defensively, Cassie Shado, Kristina Curcin, and Megan Wernette combined for 12 blocks and Hannah Watson totaled 22 digs.

The Bulls did well to fight back from a bad first set and even outhit Georgia Southern in the fifth set, but lost an 8-6 lead when the hosts built a 7-2 run in part on three Buffalo errors.

The loss to South Carolina was considerably more lopsided and expected given the Gamecocks are undefeated on the year, and USC topped .600 hitting in both the first and third sets. There’s not a whole lot to draw from stats alone in a rout like that, but Cassie Shado led the Bulls with seven kills on ten swings.

Volleyball finishes their weekend tomorrow with an 11:00 AM match against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons pushed South Carolina to five sets in the tournament opener before falling 3-1 to Georgia Southern this evening.