AKRON, Ohio – The Buffalo Bulls volleyball team (5-9, 2-3 MAC) took down the Akron Zips (8-8, 1-4 MAC) on Tuesday evening in five sets, 25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 15-12. The Bulls have now won seven straight matches against the Zips.
Manoela Forlin led the offense for the Bulls as she recorded 23 kills with a .340 hitting percentage. Reese Collins was error free on the attack with seven kills on 15 attempts. Collins also added five total blocks setting a career high. Emerson Matthews tallied 11 kills with a career-high three aces.
Maddie Mitchell recorded her team leading fifth double-double of the season with 42 assists and 14 digs. Keira Kleiden had a team-high 17 digs to go with her three aces, tying a career high.
From the service line, Eve Adams had a career-high three aces.
Ava Kanj had a career night with six kills, six total blocks and a pair of digs.
Helping the Bulls in the win was Head Coach Scott Smith as he was successful on all four of his challenges in the match.
The Bulls outhit the Zips, .238 to .232, as the Bulls only finished with 55 kills as they forced 55 Akron errors. Both squads finished with 10 total blocks each.
SET 1
Akron finished with 10 more kills than the Bulls in the first set at 19-9 as the Bulls struggled to find a rhythm. There were 14 ties and 8 lead changes in the set. The Bulls overcame an early 6-1 deficit as they tied the set at 10. Both teams swapped points until the bitter end when Akron fought off set point and won the next two points to win, 27-25.
SET 2
Buffalo’s offense started to gain traction in the second as they outhit the Zips, .229 to .147. Matthews finished with seven kills in the set. The Bulls’ largest lead was five at 15-10, but was nearly erased as Akron came within one. The Bulls closed the set out at 25-21.
SET 3
The offense zipped through the Akron defense as they only had one attack error. Buffalo hit .371 with 14 kills on 35 attempts as they held the Zips to a .200 hitting percentage. The Bulls found themselves down, 12-9 but managed to tie the set at 16. Akron took an 18-16 lead before the Bulls went on a 9-3 run to win the set, 25-21.
SET 4
Akron tied the match as they hit .341 in the set with 18 kills to Buffalo’s eight. The Bulls tried to claw their way back down 21-14, but the Zips won, 25-20.
SET 5
In the final set of the night, the Bulls jumped to a 4-2 lead, but Akron cashed in on the next three points to take a 5-4 lead. Trailing 11-10, Buffalo closed the match on a 5-1 run. Mitchell was 3-for-3 on her attack attempts for the Bulls.
“We are proud as a program to fight through the ups and downs and get another gritty win,” stated Head Coach Scott Smith. “Akron has an incredibly fast offense, and we knew that would be a big challenge for us. We relied heavily on aggressive serving, and our blocking came alive at key moments. While a lot of the scoring happened on the left side for us, we had a lot of key positions step up and perform well!”
UP NEXT
The Bulls are back at home for a series against the Central Michigan Chippewas (4-13, 1-3 MAC). The #MACtion will start on Friday at 6 p.m. followed by Saturday at 4 p.m.
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