TicketsDuPont Career High Pushes Bearcats To Win
Senior registers 33 kills in four-game victory
Contact: Shawn Sell
9/25/2004
Julie DuPont had a career-high 33 kills against Butler. |
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.---Julie DuPont erupted for a career-high 33 kills on .450 hitting to help the University of Cincinnati volleyball team to a four-game win over Butler on Saturday at the Hinkle Fieldhouse. The win snapped a six-match losing streak for UC and improves its record to 6-6 on the year.
DuPont nearly missed a triple-double as she added 15 digs and seven blocks. Maria Pongonis added 11 kills and 16 digs for the Bearcats. UC was victorious in the match by scores of 30-20, 30-26, 21-30 and 30-22 to drop the Bulldogs to 6-7 on the year.
UC hit .265 for the night, snapping a three-match streak of sub-.100 hitting. DuPont, along with Myanna Hellsten had seven blocks, while freshman Natalie Dossman had 14 digs. DuPont?s 33 kills moved her into sixth place on the Conference USA career kills list and moves her within 77 kills of Becky Tenkman for the top spot in school annals.
Kali Carter led Bulldogs with 21 kills and a match-best 21 digs, while Areal Bienemy tacked on 14 kills for Butler. BU libero Megan Knightly had 14 digs, while Bienemy and Candice Washington each added five blocks.
?We needed this win really bad,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?The kids came through and played really well. We had two good days of practice and everyone was really upbeat. Julie (DuPont) had a big game for us and we need more that. She was on fire and just had a great match.?
Game one was all Bearcats as they rolled to a .429 to .140 hitting advantage in picking up the win. UC quickly turned a one-point lead into a 10-point cushion with a 10-1 run that put the Bearcats up 14-4. The Bearcats roared out to a 24-10 edge on the strength of an 8-1 run that featured two kills each by DuPont, Pongonis and Rachel Torblaa. UC got within two of wrapping up the game at 28-16, but had to withstand a 4- 1 spurt by the home team that didn?t end until Torblaa?s kill capped the game.
The second game was much different than the first as Butler outhit UC .200 to .178 despite falling 30-26. The stanza featured a total of 21 ties and eight lead changes and was close all the way up to a 26-all tie. But a pair of Bulldog errors and kills by DuPont and Pongonis sent the Bearcats into the break with a 2-0 lead.
The match?s third game was controlled mostly by Butler as they led throughout, opening up a lead of as much as eight on two different occasions. Cincinnati?s hitting woes returned for the game as they struggled to hit just .103 for the frame, compared to .351 for Butler.
?After the third game, we told the team they needed to refocus on the things that they could control,? Sunahara continued. ?They did that and were able to pull out the win.?
Now up just two games to one, the Bearcats came out focused in game four, racing to an 8-0 lead and never looking back. The Bearcats hit .361 for the frame as they rolled to the match-closing win. A block by Hellsten and Leslie Newell gave UC a 10-point lead at 28-18, but with its backs to the wall, Butler responded with three quick points that forced a Bearcat timeout. After the break, DuPont set up match point with her 33rd kill, but Butler?s Krystal Hendrix matched that with a kill of her own. Newell then came through with her eighth kill of the match to end the battle in the Bearcats favor.
Cincinnati will now return home for the first time in nearly four weeks when they face IUPUI on Tuesday in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. The match, which will get underway at 7:30 p.m., will be round one of the battle of the Newell sisters, as Leslie?s sister Carol is a freshman on the IUPUI roster.