WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

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Bulls End Regular Season With 3-0 Loss to Broncos

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo volleyball team ended the regular season with a 3-0 loss to visiting Western Michigan Saturday night in Alumni Arena, 30-26, 30-27, 30-22. The Bulls put up a fight against one of the Mid-American Conference's top teams, but the Broncos' balanced attack and tough defense helped them to the three-game shutout to end the regular season at 18-8 overall and 11-5 in the conference. The Bulls finish the regular season at 11-19 overall and 3-13 in the MAC.

Amy Brown

The Bulls led game one by as many as five points early on, 14-9, but the Broncos battled back to tie the score at 16-16 and 22-22. With Buffalo ahead 25-23, Western Michigan embarked on a 6-0 run that proved to be the difference. WMU's Jenifer Sulewski had two kills while the Bulls hurt themselves with three attack errors during the run.

Buffalo again led game two for the entire first half before the Broncos tied the score at 19-19. WMU later used a 3-0 run to go up 25-22 and then held on to the slim lead before ending the game at 30-27 on a service ace by Schea Fissel.

Game three started out close, but the Broncos gradually outdistanced themselves from the Bulls before putting the game out of reach with a late 5-0 run. Western Michigan finished with three players in double digits in kills and five in double digits in digs. Shaylen Jackson and Abby Gephart led the offensive attack with 14 kills apiece while Shannon Jackson added 10 kills. Libero Katy Duffy had a match-high 27 digs, and Kathryn Babcock added 16 digs and eight kills. Sulewski finished with 40 assists and 10 digs.

The Bulls were led by junior Nikki Morzenti (Safety Harbor, FL/Clearwater) with 11 kills and eight digs and sophomore Sarah Streib (Baldwinsville, NY/Baker) with nine kills and eight digs. Senior Katie Weekley (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) had a match-high four blocks, including two solos. Junior Lauren Burd (York, PA/Central York) had three blocks, two of them solos, and senior Amy Brown (Pittsburgh, PA/Mt. Lebanon) finished with 30 assists. Sophomore Lizaiha Garcia (Dayton, OH/Beavercreek) had a team-high 19 digs.

The 2005 Mid-American Conference Tournament begins on Tuesday, November 15 with first-round matches at campus sites. The Bulls, the tournament's 11th seed, will travel to Oxford, OH to face sixth-seeded Miami (17-10, 9-7 MAC) at 5 pm. The RedHawks won both regular season meetings between the two teams, 3-1 on October 7 in Buffalo and 3-0 on October 22 at Miami. The winner of Tuesday's match advances to the quarterfinals, which will be held at the SeaGate Centre in Toledo, OH on Friday, November 18.