WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

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Bulls Drop 3-1 Match to Huskies

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo volleyball team dropped a 3-1 match to the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies Friday night in Alumni Arena. Game scores were 30-18, 30-18, 28-30 and 30-20. The win puts Buffalo at 11-18 overall and 3-12 in the Mid-American Conference while NIU improved to 15-16 overall and 7-9 in the league.

Katie Weekley

The Huskies dominated games one and two, winning each by identical 30-18 scores to take an early 2-0 lead in the match. Kate McCullagh led NIU with five kills in game one, and she added four kills and three blocks in game two. Corinne Walsh had five kills on six attempts in game two to add to the Huskies' attack.

Game three went back and forth and was a one or two-point game for most of the last half, including ties at 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25. Back-to-back kills by junior Brandie Clark (Medicine Hat, Alberta/Medicine Hat) and senior Katie Weekley (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) were followed by back-to-back kills by Walsh and McCullagh to knot the score at 27-27, and Weekley and Walsh then traded kills for a 28-28 tie. Sophomore Sarah Streib (Baldwinsville, NY/Baker) then hit a kill and combined with junior Lauren Burd (York, PA/Central York) for a block that ended the game at 30-28 in Buffalo's favor to keep the match going.

McCullagh (six kills) and Walsh (five kills), however, got the Huskies back on track in game four, leading them to an easy 30-20 win to end the match at 3-1. Walsh finished with a match-high 20 kills while McCullagh added 18 kills and five blocks. Libero Gina Guide had a match-high 16 digs, and setter Jenny Dziubla finished with 48 assists, five kills, seven digs and three blocks. The Huskies hit .270 in the match compared to Buffalo's .094 and they had 12 team blocks compared to the Bulls' eight.

Weekley led Buffalo with 18 kills on a .394 hitting percentage while also adding four blocks. Junior Nikki Morzenti (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater) posted a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, and Streib added seven kills and 14 digs, just one shy of her career high. Senior Amy Brown (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) finished with 45 assists, nine digs and two blocks, both solo, and libero Lizaiha Garcia (Dayton, OH/Beavercreek) recorded a team-high 15 digs.

The Bulls are home again Saturday night in the regular season finale against Western Michigan at 7 pm in Alumni Arena. The 2005 Mid-American Conference Tournament begins Tuesday, November 15 with first-round matches at campus sites.