Central Michigan Defeats UB Volleyball

The UB Volleyball team dropped a four set match at Central Michigan, losing ground in their attempt to make the MAC Tournament. The Bulls are now 4–9, with three teams (Kent State, Northern Illinois and and Central Michigan) tied at 5–8 for the last playoff berth. The good news for the Bulls is that their destiny is partially still in their own hands, with two remaining matches against Northern Illinois. There are 5 matches left in the season for the Bulls.

Buffalo sophomore outside hitter Milla Malik struggled during the first two sets. Although Malik is the team’s leading scorer for the season, Malik could only manage 2 kills (and had two errors) by the end of the second set, and this led to Buffalo dropping the first two sets 25–18 and 25–20.

Malik got hot in the third set and picked up six kills and just one error, helped by three kills each from junior middle blocker Courtney Okwara and freshman outside hitter Maria Futey. Buffalo won this set 25–20.

In the fourth set, Buffalo trailed 6–5 after a kill from Futey, and the Bulls didn’t pick up a kill in the next 8 points, falling behind 12–7. Although the Bulls would pull within 2, Central Michigan finished the set on a 6–1 run.

Buffalo’s serving was also a problem, picking up just one ace and 9 service errors, while the Chippewas had 8 aces and 8 errors. However, Buffalo out-blocked CMU by a large margin 11–5.

Okwara led the team with 11 kills, and also led the team with 7 blocks. Malik had 10 kills, while Futey and sophomore right side Emma Gielas each had 9 kills. Gielas also had 5 blocks. Malik and Futey led the team with 12 digs each, while junior libero Jenna Sonnenberg had 10.

Buffalo will play two home matches against Western Michigan this upcoming weekend, their final home matches of the year, on Friday, November 5 at 6pm and Saturday, November 6 at 4pm.