TicketsVolleyball Scores Sweep Of Miami
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/12/2003
Leslie Newell hit .500 with 11 kills vs. Miami (OH). |
OXFORD, Ohio---The Cincinnati Bearcats used fast starts in each of the first two games to pick up a three-game sweep over Miami (OH) on Friday night in the first round of the Miami Invitational at Millett Hall. Julie DuPont led a balance offensive attack with 16 kills, while Leslie Newell had 11 with a .500 hitting percentage and Maria Pongonis added 10.
The Bearcats started off quick with wins of 30-23 and 30-22 in the first two frames, before closing out with a 30-26 triumph. The win runs the Bearcats? streak to seven straight and ups their record to 8-1 on the year. Miami slips to 3-5 with the defeat.
The defense was stellar for the Bearcats, led by Lindsey Garrison?s match-high 14 digs and Myanna Hellsten?s match-best six blocks. For the match, UC limited the RedHawks to just .102 hitting. Angie Zent led the RedHawks with nine kills, while Tara Buroker added eight.
?Miami is a hard place to play and Carolyn (Condit) does a good job with her team,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?But we came out with a win and that?s what we asked our kids for. It was a good win for us.?
DuPont started her assault of the RedHawks early, registering four kills as the Bearcats raced to an early 6-1 lead in game one, sparking a Miami timeout. Following a Cincinnati block, the home team ran off three straight points that trimmed the UC lead to three. The Bearcats quickly recovered though, as DuPont and Newell recorded kills and Pongonis and Hellsten combined on a block that pushed the lead to six at 10-4.
The Bearcat lead was at nine following a DuPont kill, before Miami went on a 7-2 run to get back to 19-15. Amy Pfohl and Melinda McCormick were both big for Miami during the run, with Pfohl getting a pair of blocks and McCormick a pair of kills.
Cincinnati bounced back though, scoring seven of the next eight, including a 5-0 spurt that grew the Bearcat advantage to 10 at 26-16. UC got the job done at the net with back-to-back blocks by Lauder and Torblaa and a pair of kills by Pongonis.
But as has been the case through parts of the 2003 season, the Bearcats had a difficult time in closing out a game they were leading late. Miami scored seven of the next nine points to force Sunahara to call a time-out with a 28-23 lead. Following the break, the Bearcats quickly closed out the win with back-to-back kills by Lauder and DuPont.
DuPont dominated the game one stat sheet, racking up seven kills and hitting .462. Pongonis was also solid with four kills on a .429 effort as UC hit .256 as a team. The RedHawks were limited to .125 hitting, getting three kills each from Kristen Walters and Pfohl.
Cincinnati started game two on a huge run, opening a 13-1 advantage to begin the frame. The Bearcats got a balanced attack during the early spurt, with Lauder, Noel Olson, DuPont and Hellsten each carding a kill and UC registering three aces, including back-to-back by Pongonis.
After UC?s lead grew to 13-1, Miami started to work its way back into the game with six of the next seven points. Following back-to-back kills by Newell, the home team answered with two points of their own to make it a 16-9 score. On the strength of two Torblaa kills, one by Pongonis and a Miami kill, UC took its lead back into double digits at 20-10.
Using an 8-4 run, Miami got back to within five, before UC came to life to finish off game two. Torblaa and Newell combined on one block while Torblaa and Lauder doubled up on another to highlight the run.
Game two wasn?t pretty from a statistical standpoint, as UC had just a .133 to .056 advantage hitting.
The third game saw UC in an unfamiliar position as they fell behind by as much as four early in the stanza. Down 10-6, the Bearcats put together three straight points to get to within a point. Following a RedHawk marker, the Bearcats ripped off five consecutive points, including a pair of kills by DuPont to retake a lead they would not relinquish.
Cincinnati built its lead to as much as six at 24-18, before Miami responded by scoring six of the matches next seven points to get back to within 25-24. After Sunahara used a timeout, Miami?s McCormick and UC?s DuPont traded kills to make it 26-25, Bearcats. The Bearcats then scored four of the next five on kills by Lauder, Newell, DuPont and Pongonis to close out the 30-26 victory.
UC found itself with its best hitting percentage in game three, hitting .278 to Miami?s .125. The Bearcats concluded the contest holding a statistical advantage across the board, including .229 to .102 hitting. The visitors also held an advantage on the blocks, by a 12-8 count.
The Bearcats conclude play in the Miami Invitational tomorrow at 1 p.m. facing Hofstra.