TicketsBearcats Back On Track With Win At Wright State
DuPont leads charge with 24 kills
Contact: Shawn Sell
10/19/2004
Myanna Hellsten had a career-high 13 kills and a season-best nine blocks against Wright State. |
DAYTON, Ohio?Julie DuPont?s match-high 24 kills led four Cincinnati players in double figures as the Bearcats picked up a four-game win over Wright State on Tuesday night in non-conference collegiate volleyball action. The Bearcats were victorious by scores of 30-22, 30-23, 23-30, 30-25 in improving to 15-7 on the year.
Rachel Torblaa matched her season-high with 15 kills in the win, while Myanna Hellsten added a career-best 13. The latter, last season?s Conference USA Freshman of the Year, also tallied a season-high nine blocks. Senior Leslie Newell continued her string of solid matches by adding 10 kills and five blocks, while hitting .571.
?I think we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?We aren?t playing as well as I would like right now, but I am happy to come away with a win, its important to do that. We aren?t dominating the way we should be even though we show signs of playing well. We?ve just got to figure out what turns this team on and off in terms of playing the way we expect.?
The Bearcats came out of the gates smoking outhitting Wright State (3-17) .333 to .088 in game one. Despite UC?s hot start, the Raiders hung close, trailing by just four at 18-14. It was then that the Bearcats took advantage of five straight Wright State errors to open up a comfortable 23-14 cushion. Wright State got to within six points late in the game, but kills by Hellsten and DuPont and a Raider service error closed out game one in the Bearcats favor.
The second and third games saw the Bearcats playing from behind for the early parts of the frames. In game two, Wright State opened up a 13-6 lead that forced a Cincinnati timeout. But UC responded to the deficit by ripping off eight straight points to go ahead 14-13. The game remained close, as the scoreboard showed a 22-all tie late in the going. The Bearcats then went to work with another back breaking run, this one of the 8-1 variety that close out game two. DuPont carried much of the load down the stretch, registering three kills and a block. Hellsten added a pair of kills and a block during the spurt as well.
Down two games to none, Wright State came out with purpose in the third game, taking a comfortable early lead and then holding off the Bearcats later on. The visitors got within a point of the Raiders on a Torblaa kill that made it 19-18. But WSU pulled away from there, scoring 11 of the final 16 points of the game to close out the 30-23 win. Wright State rode a .471 hitting performance in the game to the win, while limiting the Bearcats to .205.
The fourth game was again a close battle and was tied as late as 19 apiece. But an 8-2 Bearcat spurt, highlighted by three DuPont kills and two by setter Noel Olson put UC in the drivers seat up 27-21. Wright State rattled off back-to-back points on kills by Vanessa Voreis and Alisha Kimbro to get within four, but a Newell kill and a DuPont ace set up match point for the Bearcats. The Raiders stayed in it with a kill by Sarah Poling and a block, but Newell?s 10th kill of the night ended the match.
Wright State?s hot hitting in game three pushed its final hitting number to .234, while the Bearcats finished the night at .282. Poling led three Raider players in double figure kills with 18, while Voreis and McKenzie Tiffin each added 11. Libero Taylor Gerlach led the Raider defense with a match-best 21 digs, while setter Nicole Scheltema handed out 49 assists.
A pair of freshmen with double figure digs paced UC?s defense. Erin Maldo recorded a career-best 14 digs in her first career start, while classmate Natalie Dossman added 12. Olson finished the night with 58 assists, while matching her career-high with three kills.
The Bearcats will be back in action on Friday night when they host Memphis in a Conference USA showdown. The Tigers enter the 7:30 p.m. contest with a 5-0 C-USA record and trail first place Louisville by just one-half game. UC, 5-1 in league play, will also entertain Saint Louis in a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday.