Just one month remains in the spring semester, and the Buffalo State Sports Round-up is looking to go out with a bang – and so are the Bengals. All five spring sports were in action this week, but not just any action for two of the teams – a chance to stamp their name in Buffalo State athletics lore was on the line. No need for a question this week, let’s get right to it.
Women’s Acrobatics & Tumbling:
The women’s acrobatics & tumbling team put a bow on the 2026 season with an extended weekend trip to the Lone Star State to compete in the National Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association (NCATA) DIII Tournament in Marshall, Texas. In the quarterfinals, the squad went head-to-head with top-seeded University of Mary Hardin-Baylor – a rematch from the Buffalo State Tri-Match two weeks prior.
The Bengals performed well in the opening half, which featured the compulsory, acro, and pyramid events, though they trailed 92.53-78.15 at the break. To start the second half, the Bengals stayed within striking distance with a 24.40 score in the toss event. The next event is where things got away from the team.
In the tumbling event, the Bengals earned a respectable 39.250 score, trying to inch closer as the final event loomed. However, Mary Hardin-Baylor went for the kill, earning a 51.225 score to severely dampen Buffalo State’s chances at a comeback. They put the finishing touches on the victory with an 84.06 score in the team event, besting the Bengals’ score of 70.91.
The Bengals were eliminated from the DIII Tournament by a score of 255.435-212.710, but their season wasn’t over just yet. On Friday night, they squared off with East Texas Baptist University for fourth place.
The score was as tight as can be following the first half, as East Texas Baptist held a 75.80-72.93 lead over Buffalo State. The match only got more nail-bitingly close from there.
The Bengals cut into the deficit in the toss event to open the second half, scoring 24.45 to East Texas Baptist’s 22.13. East Texas Baptist created breathing room for themselves in the ensuing tumbling event, taking a four-point lead into the final event of both teams’ season.
In the team event, Buffalo State topped East Texas Baptist’s 69.13 score…just not by enough. The Bengals’ score of 71.61 won them the event, but fell two points short of a fourth-place finish, falling 209.305-207.610.
This season didn’t go as intended for the women’s acrobatics & tumbling, finishing with a 1-7 record, but you can’t say they didn’t give it their ALL, down to the very last event. Everyone, be sure to congratulate the squad on another hard-fought season and continue the support into next season.
Softball:
The Buffalo State Bengals softball team lost four of six games last week, which was not up to their standard, and they knew it. They walked into this week with six games scheduled; however, the spring weather postponed Tuesday’s home opener series against Nazareth University, leaving four games for the team to pick up the slack from the week prior.
On Thursday, the Bengals traveled to Hamburg for an evening doubleheader against Hilbert College. They got to work early, driving home four runs in the second inning while junior Izzy Pezdek sat down five batters, allowing just a lone run, in her three innings of action. A two-run single by Natalie Burck revved up an extraordinary 10-run third inning for the Bengals, as everyone joined in on the fun. Three more runs in the fifth earned the Bengals the mercy rule win, 17-1.
The offense was still sizzling to start the second game of the doubleheader, scoring four runs in the top half of the first inning. After cooling down in the second, they were back to boiling in the third, adding two more runs. Back-to-back mercy rule finishes seemed to be in play…until the Hawks turned the tide.
In the bottom of the third inning, Hilbert’s offense finally picked up steam, bringing three runs across home plate, forcing the Bengals to look to their bullpen. The score remained steady through the fourth inning, but the action ramped back up in the fifth, as the Hawks’ bats got to freshman Danielle Palisin, scoring two more runs to force another pitching change. It was now a one-run game.
Sophomore Gianna Core pitched her way out of a jam to get the Bengals out of the fifth inning with the lead intact, and it paid off in the top of the sixth – Ashley Jedrich extended the Buffalo State lead to two, scoring on a wild pitch by the Hawks. Now pitching with some insurance, Core brought her best stuff to the Hawks, striking out two batters compared to just three hits to clinch the series sweep for the Bengals, 7-5.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bengals welcomed Fredonia to the Softball Field for their home opener series, “Battle By The Lake” style.
In the opening game, with the bats yet to wake up, pitching played the pivotal role – advantage Bengals. Izzy Pezdek was an unstoppable force on the mound, pitching seven shutout innings, striking out eight Fredonia batters, and allowing a single hit on 75 total pitches. She carried that success over to offense, as a Deme Kellogg base hit brought Pezdek home in the second inning to score the Bengals’ lone run of the game. A near-perfect game by Izzy Pezdek gave the Bengals a 1-0 win.
The team’s pitching excellence was showcased yet again in the second game, as senior Jean Rogers followed in Izzy Pezdek’s footsteps with a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits in the process. The bats were wide awake for the Bengals in this one, scoring four runs on 10 hits to clinch back-to-back shutout wins, capping off an undefeated week of softball.
We’d like to send a special shoutout to Deme Kellogg, who joined Buffalo State softball’s 100-hit club in the series sweep over Fredonia on Saturday. Congratulations, Deme!
This outstanding week displayed the softball team’s resilience and will to win, flipping the script entirely from last week. It made them an easy choice for this week’s Buffalo State Sports Round-up Team of Week honor!
The Bengals are BUSY next week, playing eight games in five days – Tuesday at home against Nazareth University (make-up games from postponement this week), Wednesday against Penn State Behrend on the road, and then Friday and Saturday back at home against SUNY Canton and Oswego State, respectively.
Men’s and Women’s Track & Field:
The men’s and women’s track & field teams had no downtime this past weekend, with groups competing in both the Brockport Invite and Bucknell Invite. The Brockport Invite doesn’t conclude until later today, so that will be saved for next week – the Bucknell Invite finished up on Sunday afternoon, meaning we’re going to jump into the results right now.
Natalia Sawyer was present at the Bucknell Invite, which meant a win could automatically be counted for the Bengals. She cruised to victory in the 400-meter hurdles, crossing the finish line before the one-minute mark at a time of 59.76 seconds. Bryan Honan finished in the top 10 in the hammer throw, reaching a distance of 54.61 meters.
Sidney Morris had a busy weekend herself, stepping on the track to compete in both the 400 and 800-meter runs. She finished with a time of 50.30 seconds in the 400-meter and 1:55.52 in the 800-meter. Pablo Ortiz also took part in the 400-meter run, finishing at a time of 51.23 seconds. Rounding out the weekend, Terrell Price raced both the 100 and 200-meter sprints, with his best outing coming in the 100-meter, finishing at 11.10 seconds.
As stated earlier, the squad wraps up the Brockport Invite today, and they’ll head back to the track next weekend for the Fredonia Invite.
Women’s Lacrosse:
Sitting at 8-2, undefeated in the SUNYAC, the women’s lacrosse team’s confidence was at an all-time high coming into this week. Oswego State and New Paltz – two formidable foes – stood in the way of the Bengals reaching double-digit wins, and for the first time all season, they faced some serious adversity.
The game week began on Wednesday night along Lake Ontario, and it was evident that things were not going to turn the Bengals’ way from the very beginning. In the opening minute, Oswego State’s Alexis Hill netted her first goal of the season to gain the quick advantage. In their man-down set, the Bengals found a way to get the game back to even with a goal…but it only went downhill from there. In the final seven minutes of the first quarter, the Lakers outscored the Bengals four goals to none, applying pressure to Buffalo State to find an answer.
When they couldn’t, Oswego proceeded to pour it on, capping the scoring streak off at seven – with 8:47 remaining in the second quarter, the Bengals trailed 8-1. At last, the Bengals found the back of the net, hoping to start their own scoring streak. That hope quickly, and brutally, washed away as the Lakers netted three more goals before halftime to take an 11-2 lead.
The Bengals were getting a taste of their own medicine, and it only got worse, as they’d go on to be outscored 3-1 in the third and fourth quarters to make the final score 17-4 in favor of the Lakers. This handed the Bengals their first SUNYAC loss of the year, while Oswego State took sole possession of first place at 5-0.
After some much-needed time to retool, the team returned home for a match-up with New Paltz in the Team Molly Game on Saturday morning. And the bad juju followed.
The Bengals got waxed in the first quarter – unable to score and unable to stop a relentless offensive attack by the Hawks. Heading into the second quarter, they faced a five-goal deficit. Vanessa Willick decided it was time to put the team on her back, scoring all three of the Bengals’ goals in the second quarter…which were unfortunately cancelled out by three New Paltz goals, keeping the game out of reach for the Bengals.
The squad desperately needed a jolt back to life, and they seemed to find it in the form of an opening-minute goal by Emilee Josker. But the sudden momentum shift was short-lived. The Hawks responded with five unanswered goals to finish the third quarter, putting the Bengals out with 15 minutes still left to be played.
The Bengals continued to fight until the clock hit triple zeroes, outscoring New Paltz 3-2 in the final quarter to make the final score 14-7. Back-to-back losses drop the Bengals to 8-4 and 3-2 in the SUNYAC.
There are only 12 days until the SUNYAC Championships commence, and the women’s lacrosse team has some work to do following this week’s struggles. Next week, they resume play from the third quarter at SUNY Morrisville on Tuesday – Buffalo State leads 14-6 – before heading to SUNY Oneonta to play the Mustangs on Wednesday, then close the week at SUNY Cortland on Saturday.
Men’s Volleyball:
TIME FOR THE AMCC CHAMPIONSHIPS!
The men’s volleyball team walked into the tournament as the top seed, having finished the regular season undefeated in the conference. Because of their seeding, they hosted their semi-final match, which brought Penn State Altoona to town for their third meeting of the season.
The first match between the Bengals and Altoona was all Buffalo State in a 3-0 sweep. The second meeting was a bloodbath – Altoona fought from two sets down to force a fifth and final set, but ultimately fell just short. Based on how the second meeting went, there was no telling what was going to go down in the Sports Arena on Wednesday night.
The opening set was a back-and-forth brawl – just how the Bengals like it. After 11 lead changes, the Bengals found themselves two points away from victory, and didn’t disappoint. A kill followed by an attack error on Altoona gave Buffalo State a crucial one-set advantage to open the match.
The second set went down the same path, though the Bengals found their edge midway through, going on a five-point rally to extend their lead from one to six. Altoona fought valiantly to climb back, but before they knew it, the set was over, and their season was on life support.
Desperate, Penn State Altoona fired the first shots of the third set, connecting on a five-point rally to take a 6-2 lead. Little by little, the Bengals battled back, finally coming through with a four-point rally to take the lead, 14-11. From there, Altoona ran out of gas, allowing the Bengals to waltz into the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship game with a sweep, winning the third set 25-18.
In Saturday’s championship game, the squad kept home-court advantage, as the two-seed Penn State Behrend came to fight for the conference title. In their only matchup of the season, the Bengals pulled off an improbable comeback from two sets down to win. They weren’t going to need that on this day.
The Bengals played like a team possessed in the opening set, overwhelming Behrend with their fluidity, winning 25-16. The second set was more of the same – the Bengals opened with a five-point run before completing another five-point run and a four-point run, and it was only the midway point.
They were making it look easy, and the scoreboard showed it, as the team put themselves one set away from a title with a 25-14 second-set victory.
If Penn State Behrend was going down, they were going down swinging, as they played neck-and-neck with the Bengals all through the third set. With the game tied at 21 apiece, two consecutive attack errors gave the Bengals the lead. Behrend stayed alive with a kill on the ensuing serve, but the Bengals followed with a kill of their own to reach match point. And on match point, the Bengals finished the job!
BACK-TO-BACK AMCC CHAMPIONS BUFFALO STATE BENGALS!
Dominant all season long in the conference, it felt inevitable that the Bengals would reach the mountaintop for a second consecutive season, and for that, they have created a first-time scenario for the Buffalo State Sports Round-up. For the first time since our inception back in September of last year, we are crowning TWO Buffalo State Sports Round-up Team of the Week winners. Congratulations to the men’s volleyball and softball teams on all their success over the last seven days!
Now, the squad makes the trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, for the DIII NCAA Tournament, where they will compete in a play-in game vs. New Jersey City University this Thursday night. Be sure to wish the team good luck on their journey!
Man, what a week! More hardware was added to the shelves at Houston Gym, and we’re hoping there will be more to come this spring. We’ll see everyone next week for another edition of the Buffalo State Sports Round-up.
