An important set of matches came for the Buffalo State women’s volleyball team this past weekend as they competed in their first SUNYAC contests. Coming in at 7-6, the Bengals hoped to take what they had learned in previous tournaments and use it as an advantage against their conference rivals.

The Bengals got off on the right foot on Friday when they took down Potsdam in three sets.

Senior Hannah Renaldo continued her dominating ways when she finished the match with 8 kills and 4 blocks. Starting off fast for the Bengals in SUNYAC play is very important. Learning how to adjust to each opponent’s style of play is a big part of a team’s success.

Other major contributors were seniors Jennifer Cecchettini, who managed to produce 24 assists in addition to 7 digs in the victory, and Rachelle Kelchlin, who registered 10 digs.

On Saturday, the Bengals took on the 13-2 Fredonia Blue Devils. It was the perfect challenge to see how the Bengals have developed as a team this season.

After falling in the first two sets to Fredonia, the Bengals showed resiliency as they fought to win the third set 25-22. Buffalo State would drop the fourth and final set and drop to 8-7 on the season.

Although the Bengals fell again on Saturday to Geneseo, the team played together and fought to the very end, never allowing Geneseo to run away with a set.

It never came down to the Bengals being entirely outplayed; a couple of breaks here and there decided the outcome of the match.

Buffalo State showed a lot of improvement and showed that they can be a force in this conference with a little more consistency. The Bengals received strong leadership and encouragement from two of the top contributors in Renaldo and Kelchlin.

Renaldo was proud of her team’s fight, but called for more consistency from the team.

“We definitely fought hard against these teams, but we need to find more consistency to get the wins,” Renaldo said.

Head coach Maria DePeters had a few specific things she wanted to see the team improve upon before the next slate of matches.

“We need to work on blocking, finding a balanced offense, and work on our serve-receive,” DePeters said.

Although there are things that needed to be fixed, assistant coach Leanne Maloney saw a Bengals team that looked better than they have all season.

“I think this weekend our team played the best they’ve played since the Cortland tournament,” she said. “This team has a ton of talent, we just have to tap into it 100 percent of the time on the court.”