Volleyball Falls to Buffalo in Final Day of Buffalo Invitational

Sunday, September 1

Buffalo, NY

3:00 PM

Army West Point

2-1,0-0Patriot

Buffalo

3-0,0-0MAC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Army West Point	16	25	12	7	1
Buffalo	25	21	25	25	3

Volleyball Falls to Buffalo in Final Day of Buffalo Invitational

September 01, 2024 | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Amy West Point Volleyball completed their weekend in Buffalo Sunday afternoon with their third match of the weekend. The Black Knights put up a fight against the tournament host Buffalo Bulls, but the home team held strong and sent Army away in four sets.

Match Recap
Army squad looked to capitalize on the momentum garnered from their five-set win over Oakland Saturday afternoon for their Sunday matchup, but the Bulls were the ones to hit stride first in the second contest of the day.

The two squad traded blows in the opening point of the match but after tying at 10-10, the Bulls proceeded to go on a 6-1 run with five kills and a service ace to Army's one kill from senior Kingsley Wallace to put up a definitive gap in the first set.

A ball handling error from Buffalo and two more kills from Wallace cut the lead to just two points before the Bulls could pull away once more.

As play continued, hitting errors fell aplenty on both sides of the net, but Buffalo's lead proved fruitful, and the home team claimed the first set of the match 25-16.

Army's squad refused to back down, however, and came out of the gates swinging as the second set began.

Kills from freshman middle Michelle Parker and junior outside hitter Chloe Murakami paired with attacking errors from the Bulls to put the Black Knights ahead 4-0 as the second frame went under way.

The Black Knights remained ahead of Buffalo for the remainder of the second set, notching powerful swings from Murakami, Wallace, and junior outside hitter Mackenzie Lynch to hold a 25-21 lead and bring the match tied at one set all.

Army's squad matched Buffalo step for step through the opening points of set three with lynch and Murakami combining forces for a trio of kills to give the Black Knights a 4-3 lead early in the set.

A 6-1 run for the Bulls put the Black Knights on their back foot, however, and a trio of errors saw Buffalo take a 14-6 lead as the match continued.

Army kills from Parker, Murakami, and Wallace chipped away at the difference but a 7-1 run pushed the Bulls to an 11-point lead with only three points between the home team and the third set.

Wallace hammered home another kill to bring the difference down to ten points, but a pair of Buffalo kills and an attack error from Army ended set three and put the Bulls ahead two sets to one.

The Black Knights looked set to repeat the previous day's performance as Buffalo committed a ball handling error and an attacking error in the opening points of set four, but the home team soon found their stride and regained the lead with a trio of kills.

The Bulls charged ahead with the momentum from that point on, putting up a 15-1 run to take a 20-5 lead in the match.

An attacking error and service error from Buffalo gave the Black Knights a chance to regain ground, but the squad could not find their groove and Buffalo claimed set four 25-7 to end the match.

Black Knight Bullet Points

Kingsley Wallace and Chloe Murakami earned placed on the All-Tournament team with their performances this weekend. Wallace totaled 33 kills with a .338 hitting percentage over the three matches while Murakami tallied 34 kills with 27 digs and three service aces.
Wallace and Murakami led Army's offence against the Bulls with nine and six kills respectively.
Juliette Myrick led the Black Knights' setters with 14 assists in the contest.
Mackenzie Lynch played a big role in the back row, picking up a team-high 14 digs with libero Ashli Alcala-Romero following with eight.
Wallace and Victoria Kasanganay delivered for the Army block, tallying two solo blocks each during their time at the net.

Coach's Corner
"We have to give credit to a very good and very experienced Buffalo team," commented Head Coach Alma Kovaci Lee. "Their international fifth-year outside hitter was incredible and hard to contain today. We learned a lot about ourselves during this game – when we are on we are very hard to beat. We will continue to practice tough so we can sustain that level of excellence for longer periods of time."

"We got a lot of good information out of this weekend and are proud of our girls for finishing second in the tournament and of Chloe [Murakami] and Kingsley [Wallace] for earning spots on the All-Tournament team," continued Kovaci Lee. "We are young and have more work to do, but we are eager and excited to practice and face our next three opponents in Saint Louis next weekend."

Up Next
The Black Knights will hit the road next weekend for the Saint Louis Invitational, hosted by the Saint Louis University Billikens over Thursday, Sept. 5^th-Saturday, Sept. 7^th. Army will first face tournament hosts Saint Louis at 6pm CT/7pm ET on Thursday, Sept. 5^th.

Follow Along
For complete coverage of Army West Point women's volleyball, follow the Black Knights on Twitter and Instagram at @ArmyWP_VB and online at www.goarmywestpoint.com.