TicketsSunahara Gets Record Win In Bearcat Triumph
Pongonis leads charge with 23 kills
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/10/2004
Reed Sunahara became UC's all-time wins leader in Friday's victory over Washington State. |
LOS ANGELES, Calif.---Maria Pongonis had a career-high in kills and head coach Reed Sunahara became Cincinnati?s all-time winningest coach as the Bearcats won a hard fought four-game contest over Washington State on Friday during the Furama Hotel Invitational.
Pongonis went for a career-best 23 kills in the contest, while also adding 12 digs. The victory also gives Sunahara 102 wins during his UC career, one better than previous record holder Mike Lingenfelter. The win, UC?s first ever over a Pac-10 opponent, keeps the Bearcats? record perfect at 5-0, while Washington State falls to 0-5 on the year. UC dropped the first game by a 30-22 score, but recovered for wins of 30-23, 30-24, 30-24.
Julie DuPont and Rachel Torblaa also reached double figure kills, with 15 and 12, respectively. Three players joined Pongonis? in double figure digs, led by freshman Natalie Dossman?s match-high 17. DuPont tacked on 11, while Noel Olson added 10. Olson also handed out a career-high 49 assists in the win.
UC also established a new school record for service aces in a four-game match with 17. The previous best was 16 against Evansville in 1993. Torblaa led the Bearcats with a career-high six.
The Cougars got 15 kills from Kelly Rosin and 12 more from Jennifer Todd. The latter also led all players with five blocks. Megan Camp paced the Cougar defense with 13 digs, while Stacey Holbrook added 11.
?I told our team after the first game that they could just pack in, but they came back strong after that game,? Sunahara said. ?I thought our composure and poise was really good and we played well after that. I really thought Maria and Noel had especially strong games for us.?
The Cougars got off to a strong start, jumping to a 4-1 lead in the opening game. UC recovered to take a lead of 20-19, but that would be the final time the scoreboard would be in favor of the Bearcats for the duration of game one. WSU used a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead and burn both of UC?s timeouts. Down the stretch, the Bearcats could get no closer than to within five as the Cougars scored four of the last five points to close the 30-22 win.
Cincinnati avoided the rough start to game two as they roared to an 8-1 lead and never looked back. Leading 17-11, the Bearcats blew the game open with an 8-4 run and held off a late Cougar challenge to take the win. The Bearcats got to game point at 29-20 on a DuPont kill, but Washington State scored three straight points to get within six, but another DuPont kill closed out the frame.
The third game was close throughout, but saw UC take the lead for good with a 5-1 spurt that made it a 21-16 contest. Washington State tried fighting back at the end once again, but kills by Torblaa and Pongonis finished off the Cougar comeback.
The final game was more of the same as the Bearcats led for much of the stanza, but again had to hold off a late WSU charge. UC appeared to have the game well in hand, leading 27-17. But the Cougars had other plans, as they scored five straight points to close within five. Back-to-back kills by DuPont and Pongonis set up the first match point for UC. Washington State got two straight points to stay alive, but Newell?s seventh kill of the match closed out the first match of the tournament.
The Bearcats still have a pair of contests left to play this weekend, starting with a 12:30 p.m. PT match-up with host Loyola Marymount on Saturday. UC will wrap up the tournament, facing Miami (Fla.) at 5 p.m. PT.