WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

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BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo volleyball team and head coach Sally Kus have announced their schedule for the upcoming 2004 season. The Bulls will open the schedule with a match at Syracuse on Wednesday, September 1 and then participate in three tournaments prior to the start of the Mid-American Conference slate on Friday, September 24.

The Bulls will take on Stony Brook, Texas-Arlington and Binghamton at the Western New York Tournament on Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4 during Labor Day weekend. The Bulls will also participate in tournaments at Montana State and James Madison during the month of September. At Montana State, UB will face Boise State, Dartmouth and Portland as well as the host Bobcats, and at James Madison, Campbell, North Carolina A&T and the host Dukes are on the schedule. Single matches against Canisius on Wednesday, September 8 and Niagara on Wednesday, September 15 will close out the non-conference schedule.

Buffalo's Mid-American Conference slate will begin on the weekend of Friday, September 24 and Saturday, September 25 when the Bulls play at Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan. That will be followed by a two-week, six-match homestand, beginning with the home opener on Friday, October 1 against Northern Illinois. The Bulls will also host defending MAC Champion Ohio, Kent State, Akron, Marshall and Central Michigan during the home stretch. Buffalo will then hit the road for four matches at Ohio, Akron, Ball State and Marshall before returning home to host Toledo on Thursday, November 4 and Miami (OH) on Friday, November 5 in the home finale. The Bulls close out the regular season at Kent State and at Bowling Green on Friday, November 12 and Saturday, November 13.

For the second season, all 13 MAC schools will qualify for the conference tournament, and first-round matches will take place on Tuesday, November 16 on the campus sites of seeds four through eight. Seeds one through three will receive a first-round tournament bye, and the quarterfinals, semifinals and final match will be on Friday, November 19, Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21.

"This season will be an exciting one for the UB women's volleyball team," said Kus. "With 11 freshmen and sophomores on the roster, our team will be young but exciting. Last year, the squad stepped up and performed at a higher level of play, and we'll have even more options this year. Our team is loaded with athletic leapers, and adding two liberos to the lineup will beef up our ball control. Aggressive consistency in play, quality first contacts and defensive fortitude will define playing roles. With a diverse non-conference schedule, we'll be ready to compete strongly in the MAC."

Click here to see the Bulls' complete 2004 schedule.

Kus has also announced that senior Molly Schrantz (Depew, NY/Lancaster) and junior Katie Weekley (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) have been named co-captains for the 2004 season. Schrantz, the lone senior on the 2004 roster, averaged 2.68 kills per game and led the Bulls with 3.11 digs per game last season. Weekley led the MAC and ranked 17th in the nation in blocks per game (1.49) in 2003 while also averaging 2.28 kills per game and leading the Bulls with a .225 hitting percentage.

The Bulls are coming off their most successful season in the Mid-American Conference in 2003 when they finished with an 11-20 overall record and a 5-11 mark in the MAC. The 11 wins marked the first time since the 1999 season (when they went 11-19 overall) that the Bulls reached double digits in the win column. In addition, their five MAC wins are the most league wins they have recorded in a season since joining the conference in 1998.