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UB Volleyball finished out their weekend Saturday with a pair of losses to Northwestern and George Washington, but there's certainly something to look forward to next week, as in the finale Buffalo forced the Colonials to go the distance before dropping the match in five sets.
The morning match against Northwestern was UB's poorest showing of the weekend, a 14-25, 15-25, 18-25 straight-set loss in which the Bulls only led for three points total. Outside hitters Valisha Watkins and Rachel Sanks each hit in the negative while UB's defensive efforts allowed the Wildcats to hit .360 for the match.
Buffalo was much, much stronger in their faceoff against GW, winning the first two sets 25-22 and 25-16 to hit the break with a commanding lead. Valisha Watkins finished the match with 17 kills, but had 11 through the first two frames as UB's lead grew as large as 11 in the second.
George Washington controlled the third set, however, hitting a whopping .474 to UB's .048, before pulling away from a 15-15 tie in the fourth set to win the ugly frame 25-21 as each team hit below .100.
The Colonials had all the momentum hitting the decisive fifth set, and jumped out to a 7-0 lead, with three points coming on attack and serve errors from Watkins. The lead grew to 12-4 before UB managed something of a comeback, but the Bulls could only get as close as 14-10 before GW put the match away with a block on Rachel Sanks.
It helps to have five sets to amass stats, but this was certainly UB's best showing of the weekend in more ways thanone. In addition to Watkins' 17 kills, Cassie Shado finished with 10 and Kristina Curcin 9. Scout McLerran totaled 37 assists and 11 digs, where Hannah Watson led the team with 13. On the other hand, the Bulls were very clearly undone by something at the break, as they only hit .014 cumulative in the final three sets.
UB will look to build on this weekend and find their first win next Saturday in Pittsburgh, when they kick off a weekend of matches against Robert Morris, St. Francis, and Duquesne.