Buffalo Volleyball continues win streak with road win Akron

We knew going into tonight's volleyball match that Buffalo had improved drastically over the last few weeks and felt that tonight's match was a chance for the Bulls to inch closer to last year's total of six MAC wins. Through two sets, UB continued their upward trajectory with the strongest play of the year, and finished the Zips off in four, 25-19, 25-154, 15-25, 25-15

Everyone started strong for UB, but none moreso than Akeila Lain, who was a perfect 8-8 attacking to open the match. Madison Clark continues to improve match over match and sparked UB's second set victory by opening the frame on a six-point service run. She would finish with 45 assists.

There was no magic key to the match tonight. Each set was lopsided and featured few, if any, momentum swings. Buffalo's offense simply clicked at a rate we haven't seen this season other than a single set. Akron hit .138, which is usually good enough to keep things tight with this year's Buffalo team, but the Bulls hit .280 despite 11 third-set attacking errors.

Individually, Megan Lipski, Lain, and Valisha Watkins all had double digit kills for UB, while Lipski once again led the team in digs with 16. Megan Wernette and Cassie Shado each had eight kills - Shado on no errors - and six and three blocks, respectively. As a team, the Bulls only committed three errors in serve receipt, far fewer than the ten aces they surrendered to Akron a few weeks ago.

With the win, UB moves to 5-6 on the MAC season and is riding a three-match (road!) winning streak. Last year's Bulls, who we lauded for one of the best showings in MAC-era program history, did not win their fifth conference contest until the penultimate match. These Bulls have one more road match before returning home, as they'll take on Ball State Saturday evening.