TicketsUC Spikers Roll To Sixth Straight Win
Bearcats close homestand with win over Wright State
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/9/2003
Laura Lauder tallied a career-high 17 digs, while tacking on 60 assists against Wright State. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---The Cincinnati Bearcats recovered from a slow start to set a new school record for fewest points allowed in a four-game match, rolling past Wright State on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.
Julie DuPont was once again phenomenal as the Bearcats picked up their sixth consecutive win to improve to 7-1. After recording just two kills in the first game, DuPont finished the contest with a match-high 28, while hitting .309. Rachel Torblaa added 13 kills on a .522 hitting percentage, while Maria Pongonis tacked on 11 kills. Defensively, a pair of Bearcats shined as Lindsey Garrison just missed a career-high with 25 digs, while Laura Lauder did register a career-best with 17 digs and DuPont tacked on 10.
After dropping the first game 30-27, the Bearcats bounced back with 30-18, 30-19 and 30-13 victories. The 80 points allowed by UC were 15 better than the 95 the Bearcats yielded on Aug. 31, 2001 against Wyoming.
?We saw Wright State on tape and they looked good,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?They came out and were really good and we just couldn?t stop their offense. But we made the right adjustments and settled down. Hopefully this will give us some momentum, but we still need more work. I think though, that we have gotten better with every match we?ve played.?
The Raiders were paced offensively by Eboni Kidd with 12 kills, while McKenzie Tiffin contributed 10. The Raiders also got 25 digs from libero Allie Smerz and 12 by Kelly Skaro.
Wright State (4-2) came out of the gates quickly, taking the first game 30-27 on the strength of a .333 to .293 hitting advantage. The Raiders led much of the first frame, leading by as much as four on three separate occasions. Cincinnati came back to tie the game at 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, before the visitors closed out the stanza. Wright State took the lead for good on an Alison Sipiorski kill and followed that up with an ace by Tiffin. After DuPont closed the deficit back to 28-27 with a kill, Nicole Scheltema notched a kill and closed out the victory on a Bearcat error.
Game two looked like it would be as evenly contested as the first as the score was knotted at two early on. But the Bearcats opened up the game with a 6-0 run to take an 8-2 edge. After a UC service error, Cincinnati ripped off 10 of the next 14 points to grow the advantage to 11 at 19-8.
Wright State made a move to get back into the game, scoring three straight points to trim the deficit back to eight. But from there, DuPont took over, scoring seven kills on the Bearcats? next 10 points as UC finished off a 30-18 triumph.
Following the break, the Bearcats continued to pour it on, holding Wright State to negative hitting in each of the final two games. The third game started just like the second, tied at two before the Bearcats ran off on another 6-0 run. Throughout the stanza, the UC lead grew to as much as 11 by game?s end. DuPont continued to roll, registering nine more kills in the game. The nightmare continued for the Raiders as they hit -.079 to .208 for the Bearcats.
The fourth and final game may have been the ugliest for the visitors as after trailing 3-2, the Raiders quickly found themselves down 11 after a 10-0 Bearcat run, highlighted by three straight Leslie Newell kills.
After Wright State broke the run, DuPont served eight straight points, including a pair of aces as UC took an almost unbelievable 21-3 lead. Following a Raider point, Torblaa hit for two kills and Leah Wissing, Pongonis and DuPont all added one as the Cincinnati edge grew to its biggest margin at 26-6.
Sunahara was forced to burn a time-out after Wright State responded with four straight points to make it 26-10. But kills by Torblaa, DuPont and Wissing and a block by Wissing and Myanna Hellsten closed out Cincinnati?s 30-13 victory.
Wright State?s offense reached its low point of the match in game four, hitting -.125 to finish at .079 for the match. The Bearcats carded a .262 effort for the finale to end at .284.
With the four-match homestand now complete, the Bearcats will turn their attention to the Miami Invitational on tap for this weekend in Oxford. UC will face the host RedHawks on Friday night at 7 p.m., before battling Hofstra on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.