WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

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Volleyball Weekly Release

Jenna Mape

Bulls Earn First Win Over Zips

The University at Buffalo volleyball team put forth a strong effort for four games to earn a 3-1 victory over the visiting Akron Zips Saturday night in Alumni Arena, 28-30, 30-10, 30-27, 30-23. The win was Buffalo's second in its last three matches and its first ever over Akron in 18 meetings. The Bulls played just seven players in the match, with five reaching double digits in kills, five reaching double digits in digs and four collecting double-doubles. The highlights of the match were a 12-0 Buffalo run to start game two and 6-0 UB runs to end both game two and game four. Junior Jenna Mapé (Calgary, Alberta/Father Lacombe) led all players with 19 kills while also adding 18 digs, and junior Brandie Clark (Medicine Hat, Alberta/Medicine Hat) finished with 14 kills, a career-high 20 digs and four blocks. Senior Katie Weekley (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) contributed 13 kills and five blocks, and junior Lauren Burd (York, PA/Central York) added 11 kills and a match-high six blocks. Junior Nikki Morzenti (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater) (11 kills, 23 digs) and senior Amy Brown (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) (54 assists, 10 digs) also recorded double-doubles, while sophomore libero Lizaiha Garcia (Dayton, OH/Beavercreek) tied Morzenti for the team lead with 23 digs. The Zips hit just .094 in the match compared to Buffalo's .187 hitting percentage, and the Bulls had 12 team blocks compared to Akron's nine.

Katie Weekley

Bulls Drop Heartbreaker to Toledo, 3-2

Prior to Saturday's win over Akron, the Bulls dropped a heart-breaking 3-2 decision to Toledo Thursday night in Alumni Arena, 29-31, 24-30, 30-28, 33-31, 15-8. Six players reached double digits in kills in the match, three from each team, and the teams combined for a total of 32 blocks, 20 by Buffalo and 12 by Toledo. Mapé finished with a career-high 22 kills in the match to lead all hitters. Morzenti added 19 kills and 16 digs, and Weekley finished with 10 kills and a match-high 10 blocks, including seven solos. Burd added six kills and nine blocks, and Clark finished with eight kills, 15 digs and five blocks. Brown had 49 assists, four kills, 13 digs and two blocks, and Garcia had a match-high 29 digs.

Amy Brown

Nearing the 1,000 Mark

A few Bulls are nearing the 1,000 mark in key statistical categories as the 2005 season winds down. Brown currently has 975 career digs, while Weekley (969) and Morzenti (957) are both closing in on the 1,000 mark for career kills.

Back on Track

Mapé seems to have fully recovered from an injury that kept her out of five matches in the beginning of October. The junior has been back in the lineup for the last six matches. She averaged just 2.00 kills and 2.56 digs per game in her first three matches back but has averaged 4.23 kills and 3.69 digs per game in the last three. She is currently second on the team in kills per game (3.08) and fifth on the team in digs per game (2.37).

Up Next

The Bulls close out the regular season this week with home matches against Northern Illinois at 6 pm on Friday, November 11 and against Western Michigan at 7 pm on Saturday, November 12. Friday's match against NIU is a doubleheader with the UB men's basketball team taking on Gannon in an exhibition game following the volleyball match. The 2005 Mid-American Conference Tournament begins on Tuesday, November 15 with first-round matches at campus sites.