One week removed from a five-game win streak, the Bengals dropped to 5-4 after a winless weekend in Ohio.

Coach Maria DePeters and the Bengals were put in a tough group after going undefeated the previous five matches. The four teams Buffalo State took on had a combined record of 29-4.

Friday presented matchups against two undefeated teams as the Bengals took on Case Western Reserve and Carnegie Mellon. Reserve proved to be as good as their record indicated in game one as the Bengals dropped the match three sets to zero.

The Bengals had 27 kills to Reserve’s 37, but the biggest factor in the match was likely the errors. Buffalo State finished with 25 in the match.

The second match of the night continued to give the Bengals struggles as they took on Carnegie Mellon. After dropping the first two sets, the Bengals fought to win the third set, 25-20. The attempted comeback fell short though, as Mellon took the fourth and final set, 25-15.

Despite two losses on the night, the Bengals had great play from middle hitter Kayla Pyc who had a combined 13 kills and 6 blocks. Outside hitter Hannah Renaldo also stepped up with 9 kills and 2 blocks.

Renaldo is taking the positives out of the loss and using the negatives as a learning experience.

“We played some really strong teams and we learned a lot from them so we just have to use what we learn and keep getting better.”

Saturday mirrored Friday as the Bengals fought hard, but got the same result as they were swept by Baldwin Wallace and Hiram University. The ladies improved as the day went on, as Rachelle Kelchlin and the Bengals went from 23 errors against Baldwin Wallace to 13 in three sets against Hiram. Kelchlin finished the weekend with 28 digs and 5 assists. She was named to the all-tournament team for the Bengals.

“We were put in a very hard pool this past weekend, and even though we didn’t come out on top, I thought we still showed progress in our play,” Kelchlin said. “We need to learn from their play and take it back to our conference.”

Winning, of course, is the key component to any competition, but being that there are more games to be played, the Bengals are saying all the right things and taking these losses in stride.

“The goal when we go to Ohio is to learn how to play against the best so we can come back to New York and win,” DePeters said. “I think we learned a lot this weekend and the girls know what level we need to strive for to be the best.”

Starting off undefeated after five games reflects the talent and hard work that this team has possessed early on in the season. With these four losses behind them, the Bengals can focus on the task at hand in handling the in-conference match ups.