Post Classifieds
Ladies win pair in final tune up before SUNYACs
By Aaron Garland
On October 30, 2012
By extending its winning streak to six games with two wins Saturday, the Buffalo State women's
volleyball team now has 25 wins on the year - the program's most since 2001.
In their final preparation before the SUNYAC Championships this weekend, the Bengals traveled to
Oberlin, Ohio for two matches, where they defeated host Oberlin and Ohio Wesleyan.
Head coach Maria DePeters felt the matches were an effective tune-up for playoffs, and she was
pleased with her team's play.
"I think (Saturday) was the best volleyball we've played as a team in the past two weeks," DePeters
said. "So I think it was not only great for our girls, for them to show up and find more consistency as a
team, but it was also really good competition."
Winning the matches also provides the team with added momentum heading into playoffs as the No. 1
seed.
"You don't want to go into playoffs having come off of a loss. So we took two wins, now we have all
week of practice to prepare for SUNYACs this weekend," junior Sarah Horvath said.
The Bengals (25-7/6-0 SUNYAC) cruised past Oberlin in the early match, sweeping them 25-12, 25-15
and 25-20.
Senior Sherrell McLean led the team with nine kills, and freshman Hannah Renaldo added seven more.
Junior Kelsey Bashore proved to be equally valuable on offense and defense, registering 32 assists to go
with 12 digs and two blocks.
The late match showed to be more of a challenge for Buffalo State. After going up two sets with wins of
27-25 and 25-16, Ohio Wesleyan roared back, winning the next two sets 25-19 and 27-25. The Bengals
prevailed in the deciding fifth set, 15-13.
"It was a really back-and-forth set and we had our good points and Ohio Wesleyan had there's, but
we outplayed them," DePeters said of the deciding set. "So it was great to see, and we've had a lot of
games go to five (sets) this year, so we have a lot of experience in it."
Horvath and freshman Jennifer Cecchettini led the Bengals' attack with 12 kills each. Horvath also
contributed a team-high 37 digs.
Horvath attributed her strong defense to just taking advantage of opportunities to make plays.
"(Against Ohio Wesleyan), they really just hit the ball at me a lot," she said. "And I've been working
hard on trying to get outside the block on defense to take away their cross-court shot, instead of hiding
behind the blocker where I get stuck sometimes. And I think I had that mentality all game."
Bashore had 45 assists and 29 digs, while junior Chelsea Moore added to her school single-season record
for digs, finishing with 33 of them.
McLean added to her strong first match performance, finishing with 11 kills and seven blocks. She was
named Buffalo State Athlete of the Week for her efforts over the weekend.
"(McLean) put down a lot of really good balls. She had some of the best hits she's had all season, or
in her career, (Saturday)," DePeters said. "She's always consistently strong for us defensively at the
net when it comes to blocking. She just gets the job done, whether it's defensively with blocking or
offensively with attacking.
Buffalo State will host the SUNYAC Championships in the Sports Arena starting with Friday's play-in
match and quarterfinals matches.
By virtue of winning the SUNYAC West Division for the first time with a perfect 6-0 conference mark, the
Bengals receive a bye to play in Saturday's semifinals for the fifth time in school history. They will take
on the winner of the New Paltz vs. Oswego quarterfinal match at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Bashore sees the bye as beneficial because the team has a chance to watch their opponent's tendencies
and make adjustments while having a break.
"It's great because you get to watch the team that you are going to play the day before," she said. "So
that's the biggest advantage that we have is getting to know our opponent with more of an intimate
level than just watching them on film, we get to actually watch them in-person."
Sporting the third-highest single season win total in program history, the Bengals look to make the
championship match for just the second time in school history. Their lone appearance in 1997 resulted
in a four-set loss to Cortland.
The conference championship match will commence at 12 p.m. on Sunday.
Finishing the regular season with many unprecedented accomplishments in relation to the program's
history, DePeters believes more success is in the Bengals' future.
"I think it says that we're a great team, and it says that we're going to be a great team for many years to
come," DePeters said.
Aaron Garland can be reached by email at garland.record@live.com.
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