Volleyball closes regular season with Kent State loss

Their regular season completed, UB Volleyball will look to Central Michigan and Ball State tonight to learn their specific fate in the MAC Tournament. The Bulls are in for the second straight year, but will need a Ball State win to take the seventh seed and their highest-ever finish in the MAC after losing their final three matches in sweeps.

This afternoon, the Bulls fell at the hands of Kent State, who are improbably in a battle with Ohio for the top spot in the East Division, 16-25, 17-25, 23-25. UB was mostly outclassed in the first two sets but put forth a stronger effort in the third, but couldn't force a fourth set even after an ace from Abby Beecher gave them a 22-21 lead.

For the third straight match, Buffalo struggled against a top-of-the-MAC offense as Kent hit .361 to UB's .167. Otherwise, the stats are roughly even as the Golden Flashes missed six serves while tallying only a single ace. Megan Lipski and Megan Wernette each totaled 8 kills for UB, but were the only two Bulls to hit over .200. Lipski also led the team with 15 digs. Niki Bozinoski once again played at libero, though Tessa Ooyama at least saw the floor today.

Buffalo finishes the regular season on a three game and nine set losing streak, but does match their all time MAC-best record at 6-10 (2013, 2014) and has a chance, pending CMU, of finishing seventh in the conference for the first time.

Regardless of that result, UB will play in the first round of the MAC Tournament next Thursday. As the #8 seed, they'd play at 5:30, while as the #7 they'd start at 7:30.

Right now, Miami is sitting #4 and would receive a bye into the second round, but the RedHawks are playing Western Michigan this evening. A WMU win would send the Broncos to #4 and knock Miami into the first round. If Ball State beats CMU, they not only send Buffalo to #7 but hold onto the #6 seed themselves.