University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 28, 2004

Football

Marshall 48, UB 14

In its final meeting with Marshall as a member of the Mid-American Conference, UB fell to the host Thundering Herd, 48-14, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Saturday night. Marshall, known more for its defensive prowess this year, racked up 466 yards of total offense in the game. The Bulls' defense forced three Marshall turnovers, but the Bulls unable to capitalize on any of them.

Marshall quarterback Stan Hill completed 19-of-26 passes for 269 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Thundering Herd offense.

On its opening drive, Marshall marched 61 yards on seven plays and scored on a 1-yard plunge by Earl Charles. After trading punts, the Bulls tied the game with 8:32 left in the first quarter when Dave Dawson darted 83 yards, nearly untouched, for a touchdown. It was the longest run of the junior tailback's career and the fifth run of his career of over 50 yards. It also was the Bulls' longest rushing play in the Division I-A era.

The Thundering Herd responded by scoring touchdowns on their next two possessions to take a 21-7 lead.

With Marshall leading 35-7 in the third quarter, UB quarterback P.J. Piskorik found a streaking Matt Knueven for a 61-yard touchdown to close out the season. It was a career-long play for both players. Piskorik finished the game 10-for-22 for 101 yards a touchdown and an interception. The junior also ran for a season-best 55 yards.

UB racked up 202 yards on the ground, marking the third time this season that the Bulls ran for more than 200 yards in a game. Dawson finished the game with 102 yards on five carries.

Defensively, UB was led by J.J. Gibson, who had a career-best 14 tackles, a fumble recovery and an interception. Jeff Bublavi had nine tackles, including one tackle for a 4-yard loss.

Volleyball

Ohio 3, UB 0
Akron 3, UB 0

UB dropped a pair of matches on the road over the weekend. The Bulls are now 7-16 overall and 0-10 in the MAC.

UB opened with a 30-17, 30-15, 30-15 loss at Ohio on Friday. The Bobcats entered the match ranked seventh in the Mideast, according to the RichKern.com/AVCA Regional Rankings and 27th in the nation according to the USA Today/CSTV Coaches poll. UB was led by junior Katie Weekley with five kills and sophomore Nikki Morzenti with three kills and seven digs.

On Saturday, the Bulls fell to Akron, 30-20, 30-24 and 30-18. The Bulls hit just .031 in the match and committed 29 costly attack errors while recording just 33 kills on 127 attempts. For the second straight match, a UB player failed to reach double digits in kills. Freshman Tammy Jule led the Bulls with nine kills, while Morzenti recorded six kills and seven digs. Freshman libero Lizaiha Garcia had a team-high 12 digs, and Weekley had four kills and a match-high six blocks, including two solos.

The Bulls have lost their last 11 matches. They will play at Ball State tomorrow.

Soccer

MEN'S

Marshall 4, UB 1

UB dropped its fourth MAC contest of the season on Sunday, falling to the Marshall Thundering Herd, 4-1, at Sam Hood Field. The Bulls were not able to hold an early lead and lost for the seventh time in eight games.

Senior Cheick Diarra took a shot from 10 yards out in the 25th minute of play that found its way past the Marshall goalkeeper to give UB a 1-0 lead. The Bulls held that lead until a late first-half goal by Marshall tied the game at the half. The Thundering Herd scored three more times in the second half in its final regular season MAC game. Marshall will join Conference USA next season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Dan Bell had seven saves in the loss. Senior Mirnes Biscevic led the Bulls with four shots.

The loss brings the Bulls to 7-7-1 on the season and 1-3 in MAC play.

The Bulls will be back in action tomorrow for their final regular-season game, a home contest with Western Michigan at 7 p.m. at RAC Field.

WOMEN'S

UB 2, Marshall 1
UB 2, Ohio 0

UB scored two important victories at home: a 2-1 win over Marshall on Friday and a 2-0 whitewashing of MAC co-champion Ohio on Sunday.

In Sunday's match against the Bobcats, the Bulls (6-11-1 overall, 5-6-1 MAC) came out firing on all cylinders, and took the early lead when junior Erica Mincher found junior Natlia Crofut on the right side in the 21st minute. Crofut let a shot loose from just outside the goalbox near the end line and the ball trickled through Ohio keeper Michelle Meglaughlin's hands into the goal.

Eight minutes later, senior Jennifer Rounds took a shot from 25 yards out on the left side. The ball ricocheted off the right crossbar and came back to settle into the left side of the net. Senior Arielle Korczykowski assisted on the play.

In the second half, Ohio controlled possession, firing 15 shots to UB's six, but a stellar eight-save effort from goalkeeper Anna-Lesa Calvert helped preserve the Bulls' shutout. Calvert made 13 saves in the game.

Against Marshall on Friday, Korczykowski, who had missed the previous seven games due to injury, scored a goal in 27th minute to lead the Bulls to a crucial 2-1 victory. Korczykowski scored her third goal of the season off an assist Courtney MacVie. UB iced the game 88th minute when Lindsay Szafranski deposited a hard hit shot from the left side into the upper right corner of the net for a 2-0 lead.

In a game marked by physical play, five yellow cards and 26 fouls were called. With 1:01 remaining, a yellow card came back to haunt the Bulls, as Kassie Hollman took a direct kick from 15 yards that sneaked pass Calvert. However, it was too little, too late. The Bulls killed the remaining time to hang on for the win.

Tennis

Men and women post strong results at ITA Regional Tournaments

The men's and women's tennis teams were in action at their respective Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional tournaments with some strong results.

In the men's tournament at Virginia Tech, singles players Nick Zieziula and Mike Rockman scored first-round wins, while Rockman combined with Josh Liederman (to register a first-round doubles win.

Zieziula opened play with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Phil Charm of Brown.

Rockman, meanwhile, posted a 6-4, 6-2 opening-round win over Mhamed Mekaoui of Robert Morris. Both players were stopped in second-round play, but not without strong efforts. Zieziula faced Nikola Djordjevic of Hofstra, forcing tiebreakers in both sets. Zieziula was defeated 7-4 in the first tiebreaker and 7-3 in the second tiebreaker. Rockman also fell in straight sets to 10th-seeded Stephane Rod of Virginia Tech, 6-2, 7-5.

Rockman and Liederman scored a first-round doubles win with a 9-7 decision over the Boston College duo of Derrice Chou and Chris McCoy. They then were eliminated from the tournament by Mickey Gallagher and Reed Hagmann of Colgate, 8-1.

In the women's tournament, held in Philadelphia, freshman Andreea Novaceanu reached the second round following a come-from-behind, three-set win over Syracuse's Victoria Vayneberg, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, in Saturday's opening round. On Sunday, Novaceanu fell to fifth-seeded Olga Borisova of Virginia Commonwealth in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.

UB's doubles tandem of Kristen Ortman and Miglena Nenova was defeated 8-2 in first-round play by top-seeded Megan Muth and Amy Wei of William & Mary.

Crew

Bulls earn first medal at Head of the Charles Regatta

World Series play for the first time since 1986 was not the only major event going on in Boston over the weekend. The 40th Annual Head of the Charles Regatta, one of the most prestigious rowing events in the country, concluded on Sunday with the UB crew squad scoring its best-ever finish in the Collegiate 8 race.

UB finished fourth overall among 50 entries in the Collegiate 8 race featuring some of the top women's teams in the country. The Bulls completed the course in a total adjusted time of 13:17.745, just two seconds behind third-place West Virginia (13:15.854) and three seconds ahead of fifth-place San Diego State (13:20.170). A squad from the Minerva Rowing Club, the Dutch collegiate champions, won the race in 12:50.999 with Louisville finishing second in 12:57.577. The UB entry consisted of stroke seat Sandra Kisil, seventh seat Kali Spoto, sixth seat Corrine Blum, fifth seat Kasey Hansen, fourth seat Michelle Schwach, third seat Deanna Knighton, second seat Tara Celestini, bow seat Natalie Pugliese and coxswain Sher Briggs.

The fourth-place finish by the Bulls represented the team's best effort at the regatta and the first time a UB crew has earned a medal at the Head of the Charles. In 2002, the Bulls finished fifth in the Collegiate 8 race, while last season UB placed sixth. Medals are awards to teams that finish in the top 10 percent of the field.

The Bulls also fielded a squad in the Youth 8 competition, which included 51 entries. UB finished 14th overall in an adjusted time of 13:56.920, but sixth among college squads with Virginia (fourth), Brown (fifth), Radcliffe (sixth), Duke (seventh) and Boston University (11th) posting better times than the Bulls. A squad from Community Racing Inc.-Youth Program, a Boston high school squad, won the race in 13:07.580.

Swimming

WOMEN'S

UB 207, Siena 74

UB opened the season with an overwhelming 207-74 victory over Siena College on Saturday. It was the season opener for both teams.

UB won 12 events on the day with Kahla Walkinshaw and Jennefer Brankovsky winning three individual events apiece and Julie Marcotte sweeping the breaststroke races. Walkinshaw took both distance freestyle races, winning the 500 freestyle in 5:16.42 and the 1,000 freestyle in 10:39.48. She also added a victory in the 200 butterfly in 2:09.27. Brankovsky's victories came in three different strokes. She opened with a win in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.40, followed with a victory in the 200 backstroke in 2:14.39 and finished with the 100 butterfly victory in 1:00.65. Marcotte swept the breaststroke events, winning the 100-yard distance in 1:08.95 and taking the 200 in 2:27.92.

The Bulls also swept the one- and three-meter diving events. Tracy Hoover took the one-meter competition with 245.85 points for her six dives. Kimberly LaHaye took the three-meter event with a six-dive total of 227.70 points.

The Bulls were to host St. Bonaventure in the home opener last night in Alumni Arena Natatorium.

Basketball

MEN'S

UB picked to win MAC East Division by MAC News Media Association

UB has been selected to win the MAC East Division by the MAC News Media Association, the first time since joining the MAC in 1998 that the Bulls have been picked to finish first in the division. UB received 29 of the possible 37 first place votes.

UB finished second in the voting to win the MAC Championship game. Toledo received 19 votes to win the title game; UB received eight votes.

The Bulls also have been selected to finish atop the East Division by college basketball preview magazines Athlon Sports, Sporting News, Lindy's and Street and Smith's.

The Bulls will open the 2004-05 campaign at defending national champion Connecticut on Nov. 20. UB will face Fairleigh Dickinson in its home opener on Nov. 23.

In other men's basketball news, head coach Reggie Witherspoon was signed to a contract extension, keeping him at the helm of the Bulls' program through the 2008-09 season. Due to university policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

"Reggie's efforts in elevating the profile of our men's basketball program in Western New York and in the Mid-American Conference have been outstanding and I am pleased that we have been able to reach this agreement," said Bill Maher, interim athletics director. "The growth and interest in our program are a direct reflection of the work that Reggie, his staff and our student-athletes have put forth toward their goal of becoming Mid-American Conference champions."