TicketsVolleyball Takes Bearcat Invitational Title
DuPont named tournament MVP
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/4/2004
Julie DuPont was named MVP of the Bearcat Invitational for the second straight year. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Maria Pongonis had her first double-double of the year and Julie DuPont joined an exclusive club as the University of Cincinnati volleyball team picked up the team title in the 2004 Vernon Manor Bearcat Invitational with a 3-0 win over Kent State on Saturday night in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center.
Pongonis had match highs of 16 kills and 15 digs and DuPont added 14 and 10 as the latter picked up tournament MVP honors. DuPont also became just the fifth player in school history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her Cincinnati career. In addition, the win pushed the Bearcats home win streak to 17, matching the school record set from Sept. 7, 1999-Oct. 18, 2000.
UC improves to 3-0 on the year with the 30-15, 30-28, 30-22 win, while the Golden Flashes fall to 2-2.
?I?m proud of our team,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?They stepped up when they needed to and wrapped up a great weekend. You have to win the close ones and we have experienced players that have been there before. Our outside hitters were good tonight. They kept us in the game and really opened things up for our middles.?
Myanna Hellsten, who earned an all-tournament honor along with Rachel Torblaa, added 12 kills on a match high .688 hitting. UC?s double setter combo of Noel Olson and Jenny Custer dished out 25 and 21 assists, respectively.
The Bearcats started the night on the right foot, outhitting Kent State .353 to -.059 and rolling to the 15-point win in game one. Kent State took an early 3-1 lead but four straight Bearcat points pushed the home team ahead. The Flashes evened the score at seven, but a 13-3 Bearcat run put the home team up 10 and forced a second Kent State timeout. After the stoppage, Kent State got three straight points, but UC scored nine of the last 11 points, including four Pongonis kills, to close out the frame.
In the second game, the Bearcats went ahead for good after KSU knotted the score at 10-10. Five straight UC points forced a Kent State timeout and from there the Bearcats opened a lead of as much seven at 21-14. But the Golden Flashes went on to produce a 13-5 run that tied the game at 27 apiece. UC set up game point with a Pongonis kill and a Torblaa-DuPont block and closed it out two points later on a Kent State error.
The third and final game was a fight throughout, featuring 13 ties and seven lead changes. The two squads battled early with Kent State holding onto a 10-7 lead. The Bearcats finally took the lead with a 9-1 run that made the score 26-19. Down the stretch, UC rallied around Pongonis as her three kills wrapped up the match.
By the end of the match, the Bearcats had hit a season-best .339, while limiting Kent State to .143. Danielle Holt led the Flashes with 11 kills, while setter Anne Butts had 26 assists.
The Bearcats will go for home win streak mark of 18 when they conclude a four-match home stand on Tuesday night against Miami (Ohio). The match is scheduled to get underway at 7:30 p.m.
All-Tournament Team
Lindsay Stalzer-Bradley
Jocelyn Teoh-UMBC
Ruth Ladurner-Schnitzer-Kent State
Danielle Holt-Kent State
Rachel Torblaa-Cincinnati
Myanna Hellsten-Cincinnati
Julie DuPont-Cincinnati (MVP
Team Champions-Cincinnati
UMBC 3, Bradley 0
The Retrievers picked up their first win of the season with a three-game sweep of Bradley on Saturday night in Fifth Third Arena.
Emily Berman and Jocelyn Teoh led UMBC with 12 kills each, while Christine Skala registered a match-high 23 digs. Kent State got 22 kills from Lindsay Stalzer and 12 from Kaitlyn Brenner.