Buffalo, N.Y. — The Medaille College women's volleyball team competed in the Buffalo State Bengal Challenge on Friday, September 17 and Saturday, September 18. The Mavs faced Cazenovia College, Houghton College, and Alfred University, finishing the weekend with one win and two loses.

The Mavericks started off strong with a three-set win over Cazenovia on Friday (25-23, 25-19, 25-23). The Wildcats made the team work hard for the win. Newcomer Olivia Anderson (Mayville, NY, Chautauqua Lake) finished with ten kills and 20 digs, leading the team in both categories. Middles Chase Luebeck (Troy, IL, Triad) and Madison Kaczmarek (Akron, NY, Akron) played outstanding games with hitting percentages of .400 and .385, respectively. Adrianna Parsons (East St. Paul, MB, Miles Macdonell Collegiate) put up a team-high four aces and added 16 digs in the win. Haley Kennedy (Chestermere, AB, Chestermere) set her teammates up for success with 29 assists, also good for a team-high.

On Saturday, the Mavs played in their second game of the Bengal Challenge and lost in three sets to Houghton College 18-25, 15-25, and 16-25.

Parsons led all hitters with eight kills and one ace followed by Chelsea Prescott (Coupeville, WA, Coupeville) with four kills and 11 digs. Kennedy put up 14 assists and Anderson added a team-high 12 digs.?

In the third and final match of the tournament, the Mavs faced the Alfred University Saxons.

The Mavs got ahead early in the first set. It started with an attack error from the Saxons and went through five points. It went back and forth from there until a bad set from the Mavs changed the momentum in favor of the Saxons. The Mavs were playing from behind, and could not catch back up. They dropped the first set, 19-25.

In the second set, it was a hard-fought battle. The Mavs fell behind early on a four-point run from the Saxons. A service error and a bad set gave the Mavs their first points of the set. They creeped up from behind with kills from Prescott. A ball handling error started off a big rally for the Saxons. They created a huge lead, 17-9. The Mavs were not going to make it easy for them.
They went on their own rally when the Saxons hit 23 points. It started with a kill from Baylee Romano and some service aces. It still wasn't enough, and the Saxons took the set 25-22.

In the final set of the match, the Mavs found themselves in the lead early. The Saxons caught up at 4-4, and pulled ahead. It was a game of catch-up for the Mavs. They stayed behind, and dropped their last set of the day, 17-25.

Game leaders for the Mavericks were Parsons with five kills, Kennedy with 19 assists and three service aces, and Anderson with 19 digs.

The Mavericks will travel back to Buffalo State on Tuesday, September 21. The rematch will start at 7:00 p.m.