Following the Buffalo State volleyball team’s last match, libero Chelsea Moore had a little more fun than usual in tracking the amount of digs she finished with.
That’s because every dig she had raised a little bit of money to help the fight against breast cancer.
The Bengals played host to Pitt-Bradford in a “Dig Pink” match Wednesday Night at Sports Arena, defeating them 19-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-19. It was a non-conference match.
Dig Pink is a national rally for breast cancer awareness that aims to raise money for the Side-Out Foundation, which in turn awards grants to medical research organizations dedicated to breast cancer research. Participating teams ask for donations from fans, who can donate a base amount or on a per-dig basis.
“When you ask for donations from people and they do it per dig, it’s a lot of fun figuring out how many digs you had in each match and knowing that it’s for money for breast cancer,” said Moore, who finished the match with 21 of the team’s 73 digs. Kelsey Bashore, Lauren Lysiak and Ali Vance all contributed double-digit digs as well.
The Bengals (15-18) got off to a slow start against the Panthers but got better as the match progressed. They lost the first set before coming back to take the next three.
“After the first set things got better,” Bengal’s head coach Maria DePeters said. “Our third and fourth sets were the best for us.”
Senior captain Paige Ottaviano and freshman Sam Parente each recorded 14 kills to lead the Bengals. Bashore had three blocks and a season-high 50 assists.
According to DePeters, the event was a good overall turnout but could have been better. She also noted that the team raised more money this year than it did last year, which is a sign of increasing awareness.
“The turnout was good in the aspect of parents and friends attending but it would have been nice to see more student-athletes here who really get into the games,” she said.
DePeters and the Bengals open the playoffs in the SUNYAC Quarterfinals tomorrow against Oneonta. The match begins at 3 p.m. and is at Cortland.
The Bengals finished second in SUNYAC West with an impressive 6-2 conference record. Oneonta, the third seed in the East, went 4-4 in conference play. Both teams were ousted in the quarterfinals last season.
“Oneonta is going to be some really good competition,” DePeters said. “You’re going to see a team that has been to the playoffs a lot more than we have and a team that doesn’t want to lose to this up-and-coming SUNYAC West team. So it’s going to be a good game.”
The Bengals are preparing for Oneonta just as they’ve prepared for all of their competition throughout the regular season — with hard work and attention to detail.
“We’ve been watching film and have been breaking down defense and offense,” Moore said. “Defensive players have been watching film on Oneonta’s offense and offensive players have been watching film on Oneonta’s defense.”
Bashore said the team will continue to put in extra work by starting practice early until the playoffs.
Regardless of what happens tomorrow, the Bengals can be proud of how their regular season went. The 6-2 conference record is the best the volleyball program has ever had at Buffalo State. The previous best record was 5-3.
“Everyone’s really proud of each other,” Parente said. “As a team, just doing it together, and being the first team from Buffalo State to finish so high — it’s definitely a huge accomplishment that we’re proud of.”
Despite the heightened expectations due to the record-breaking regular season, Bashore doesn’t believe that the team is nervous.
“I don’t think any of us are nervous,” she said. “We’re excited to play Oneonta. We’re expecting to win, and hopefully it turns out well.”
Tom Gallagher can be reached by email at gallagher.record@live.com.