TicketsVolleyball Wraps Up Successful Spring
Bearcats post 25-13 games record
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/8/2004
All-American Julie DuPont led the Bearcats with 5.29 kills per game this spring. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio?The defending Conference USA Champion University of Cincinnati volleyball team recently wrapped up a successful spring season at the Wright State Tournament in Dayton, Ohio.
The Bearcats won six of eight games at the spring finale, including sweeps of both Ashland and Morehead State. The tournament consisted of two games per match, with teams playing to 25 points. UC opened the event with 10 kills from Julie DuPont en route to a 25-21, 24-26 split with Toledo. DuPont added another 10 kills and Myanna Hellsten tacked on nine, as the Bearcats swept Ashland 25-14, 25-16 in match number two.
The day?s third match saw Cincinnati split with the host Raiders by scores of 25-19, 24-26. DuPont and Hellsten each totaled seven kills in the match-up with Wright State. In the final contest of the day, the Bearcats swept past Morehead State 25-20, 25-13, behind 10 more DuPont kills and six by Rachel Torblaa.
?I thought this was a nice way to wrap up our spring season,? said Bearcat assistant coach Stephanie Rosfeld, who once again coached the team in place of a recruiting Reed Sunahara. ?Overall, it was a good day, but we were a little disappointed with some of the results. The team did work especially hard that day, though.?
The Bearcats finished the spring with a games record of 23-12 in the four tournaments in which they competed. For the spring, UC hit .229 as a team, led by Hellsten?s .318 performance. DuPont led the Bearcat offense with 5.29 kills per game, while Maria Pongonis added 2.71. Torblaa averaged 2.09 kills per game and Hellsten boasted an average of 1.80 per game.
?I thought we got better as the spring went on,? said Sunahara. ?In a nutshell, it was a good spring, but we still have a lot of things to improve on. With the addition of the incoming freshman that we have, expectations are going to be very high for next year. I am very pleased with the way that we progressed this spring.?
Cincinnati, coming off a fifth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and a share of the C-USA crown will bring back nine letterwinners from that team. The Bearcats finished 2003 with a 27-6 record.