TicketsVolleyball Runs Win Streak To Nine
Sunahara earns 99th career win
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/16/2003
Laura Lauder moved into third place on the Conference USA career assists chart in Tuesday's win over Western Kentucky. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---In a match that featured 16 ties and seven lead changes, the University of Cincinnati volleyball team scored a key three-game win over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night to run its win streak to nine straight. The victory, which snapped WKU?s win streak at nine, runs the Bearcats record to 10-1 on the season.
Julie DuPont was once again the leader for the Bearcats, carding her ninth double-double of the year with 18 kills and 12 digs. The 18 kills move DuPont into seventh on UC?s career kills list with 1,145, passing Annisa Blosser. Setter Laura Lauder also had a milestone achievement, moving into third place on Conference USA?s career assists chart. Lauder?s 47 assists give her 4,905 for her career, passing former UAB star Abby Thatcher.
Maria Pongonis also stared for UC, totaling 13 kills and matching her career-best with 11 digs. Rachel Torblaa added 10 kills for the Bearcats, while Lindsey Garrison had 10 digs.
The win also gave UC mentor Reed Sunahara 99 wins for his career, just one off a career milestone.
The Bearcats opened the match with a 30-23 win, before scoring consecutive 30-27 triumphs to close out the victory and drop Western Kentucky to 9-3 on the year. Amanda Schiff led the visitors with nine kills, while Tracy May had a match-high 15 digs.
?We came out with a win and that?s what really mattered,? said Sunahara following the match. ?We still have a lot of improvement to do, but we are getting better every match. Western Kentucky is a great team that brought everyone back this year. This was a good win for us.?
The first frame was tied on four occasions early on before WKU pulled out to a 10-7 lead on a back-to-back kill and block by Jessie Wagner. The Bearcats responded to the adversity, though, by ripping off seven consecutive points to retake a 14-11 lead. Pongonis highlighted the run with a trio of service aces, while Torblaa threw down a pair of kills.
The Lady Toppers came back to tie the game at 14, before the Bearcats went ahead to stay, drawing out their advantage to as much as seven by game?s end. UC got diverse contributions in the second half of the game with Lauder, Pongonis and Myanna Hellsten each picking up a pair of kills.
UC took the first game despite being outhit by the Toppers by a .314 to .261 clip. DuPont led all players with five kills during the first game, while Amanda Cecil and Cynda Derbort each had four for Western Kentucky.
Game two was much of the same as the score was even late, before UC pulled ahead by the mid-point and then held on late for the win. After six ties and four lead changes in the first game, the second stanza featured six more ties and a pair of lead changes. With the score knotted at six, DuPont tallied consecutive kills to put the Bearcats ahead to stay. WKU got back with a point at 12-11, but Pongonis responded with four kills over the next five points to put Cincinnati back up by four.
The UC advantage grew to as much as seven at 22-15 as DuPont started to heat up with three kills. But the Toppers scored three straight to force a Bearcat timeout. Lauder?s kill 11 points later appeared to put Cincinnati in the drivers seat at 28-23. But on the strength of two kills and a block by Schiff, Western Kentucky staged a rally to get within 28-27. UC then rode the back of Hellsten as the true freshman registered a kill and combined with Leslie Newell on a game-ending block.
The game two stat sheet showed the Bearcats getting it done both offensively and defensively, as they held a .378 to .242 edge in hitting. DuPont added six more kills to her total, while Pongonis tacked on six more and Torblaa added four.
The deciding third game belonged to UC as they never trailed and were able to fight off four ties, with the last coming at 21 all. The Bearcats ran to an early 5-1 lead, only to see WKU score three in a row to get back to within a point. DuPont and Pongonis then shared the load with three kills each to push UC to its largest edge at 18-14.
The visitors were able to come back to knot the score three times courtesy of four Cincinnati errors and two kills by Schiff. But back-to-back kills by DuPont shifted the momentum back to the home team and forced a Western timeout. UC then led by three or four points for all but an instant as the visitors chopped the lead to 28-26. Lauder set up match point with a kill, but Schiff responded with a kill of her own. UC then closed out the match in fine fashion on DuPont?s 18th kill of the match.
UC unfortunately saved its worst hitting performance for game three, as they managed just a .200 clip to end the night at .273. WKU hit at a .257 clip in the final frame to finish just behind UC at .272.
The Bearcats will now prepare for an appearance at the Penn State Classic this weekend in State College, Pa. UC opens play on Friday with Brown, before tackling Robert Morris in the early match on Saturday. The highlight for the Bearcats will be a battle with No. 11 Penn State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.