BUFFALO - The Burch Lady Bulldogs took the Buffalo Bison volleyball team down to the wire, but fell in two straight sets to their sectional rivals, 25-21 in both sets, last night in Buffalo.

The Lady Bulldogs dismissed triple-A Nitro earlier in the evening in two straight sets, 25-17 and 25-18.

"We played well," Burch Coach Jan Cisco said. "Against Nitro, our serves were good. Against Buffalo, we came within four points in both games and that's the closest we've ever come to beating them. Our girls played real well in both matches. The girls really wanted to beat Buffalo."

In the first match of the night, Buffalo beat Nitro in two straight sets.

Burch kept close with the Bison the entire match.

The Lady Bulldogs took a 20-19 lead in the first set against Buffalo, but the Bison went up 24-20 and, after Burch scored its final point of the game, Buffalo won on a spike.

In the second set, Burch and Buffalo traded the lead throughout.

The Lady Bulldogs took a 20-19 lead in the game, but Buffalo used a combination of Burch mistakes and a couple spikes to reclaim the lead and secure the win.

"I thought we played well, but we made a few mistakes that hurt us," Cisco said. "The girls played hard, but we committed a few costly mistakes."

The loss to Buffalo is the second this season, but, Cisco said playing so close with Buffalo last night should give the Lady Bulldogs some confidence heading into the sectional tournament. Should Burch win in the sectional, they could meet Buffalo again in the regional tournament.

"We played close with them and it's hard to beat a good team three times in a season," Cisco said.

The Lady Bulldogs will next play in the sectional tournament set to begin on Monday, Nov. 3.

A location for the sectional tournament has not been determined as of press time.