TicketsWisconsin Blocks Way Past Bearcats
UC losing streak reaches five
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/18/2004
Myanna Hellsten was named to the InnTowner Invitational All-Tournament Team. |
MADISON, Wis.---Playing in front of a crowd of 3,044 Cincinnati hung close for two games, but Wisconsin proved too much down the stretch as the Badgers swept the Bearcats in college volleyball action on Saturday night in the final match of the InnTowner Invitational.
The loss, UC?s fifth in a row came by scores of 25-30, 25-30, 20-30 and drops the Bearcats? record to 5-5 on the season. The five-match losing streak is Cincinnati longest since the team dropped five straight during the 2001 season. Wisconsin, which went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend improved to 6-2 on the year.
Blocking proved to be the key to the match as Wisconsin set a school record with 23.5 blocks, while holding UC to just four. Neither team hit for a good average as Wisconsin finished at .202 and UC came in at only .047. The Badgers were able to hold two of the Bearcats? top hitters Julie DuPont (-.050) and Maria Pongonis (-.379) to negatives for the match.
Rachel Torblaa led the Bearcat offense with 12 kills on .346 hitting, while DuPont added 10 kills. UC?s all-tournament team selection Myanna Hellsten, added seven as did Leslie Newell. The Badgers put just one player in double figure kills as Jill Odenthal had 10. But the Badger blocking was the key as five Wisconsin players had at least five, led by tournament MVP Shelia Shaw with nine and Odenthal and Jackie Simpson with eight each. Shaw is also a former high school teammate of UC?s DuPont.
Despite hitting only .180 in the first game, the Bearcats hung tight in a game that featured 15 ties and six lead changes. UC built an advantage of as much as three, the last coming at 13-10, but stayed close to the end of the frame. The Badgers took the lead on a block at 22-20, but back-to-back kills by Torblaa once again evened the contest. UC forced another tie at 23, but a DuPont error pushed the home team ahead by a 27-24 score and brought on the Bearcats? second timeout of the game. A kill by Newell out of the break got UC within two, but the Badgers scored the last three points of the match to close out game one.
The second game was nearly a mirror image of the first, featuring eight ties and seven lead changes. Cincinnati got ahead early, but last led at 11-10. The score was knotted at 12, when Wisconsin went on a 5-1 run that pushed them ahead to stay. The Bearcats got to within three on multiple occasions, the last on a Torblaa kill to make it 28-25. But a Bearcat service error, coupled with a Shaw kill brought game two to an end.
The third game was all Wisconsin as they held UC to -.171 hitting and blocked 11 balls in the frame. UC managed to go ahead at 10-9, but a 5-0 Badger spurt put Wisconsin in the driver?s seat. Wisconsin continued to pull away, reaching a double figure lead and never looking back in the 30-20 win.
The Bearcat defense got 12 digs from libero Lindsey Garrison in her first start of the year and 11 from Pongonis. Wisconsin libero Jocelyn Wack led all players with 15 digs in the contest.
UC will have a tall order in its attempt to snap its five-match losing streak, as they must next face No. 1 Minnesota on Monday night. The match from Minneapolis is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT.
All-Tournament Team
Myanna Hellsten-Cincinnati
Kelly-Anne Billingy-Marshall
Sarah Kirkwood-Virginia
Alexis Geocaris-Virginia
Jill Odenthal-Wisconsin
Marian Weidner-Wisconsin
Shelia Shaw-Wisconsin (MVP)