TicketsBearcats Survive Memphis Showdown
UC tops Tigers in five games
Contact: Shawn Sell
10/22/2004
Rachel Torblaa tied her career-high with 20 kills in Friday's win over Memphis. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio?Cincinnati overcame a two games to one deficit and a Memphis match point in game five to score a thrilling five-game win over the Tigers on Friday night in Conference USA volleyball action. The Bearcats were winners by scores of 30-17, 22-30, 28-30, 30-22, 17-15 to improve to 16-7 on the year and 6-1 in C-USA. The victory also extends UC?s home court winning streak to 23, the third longest active streak in the nation. Memphis falls to 20-6 overall and 5-1 in league play with the defeat.
Julie DuPont led the Bearcats with a match-high 25 kills, while also recording 15 digs and five blocks and hitting .377. Rachel Torblaa matched her career-best with 20 kills on .359 hitting and also had seven blocks. Leslie Newell, the last of the Bearcats? three seniors added 12 kills with a .435 hitting percentage.
The fifth and deciding game of the evening was action packed from start to finish and saw Memphis charge to a 3-0 lead that forced a Bearcat timeout. The Tigers ran with the early momentum and built a lead of 7-3 before the Bearcats started to march back. Trailing 8-7 following a Torblaa kill, freshman Jenny Custer served two of her career-high four kills on back-to-back points to put the Bearcats ahead. Later, UC used a 4-0 run capped by a Torblaa kill to take a comfortable 13-9 lead. Memphis stormed back with three straight points to force a Cincinnati timeout, but a kill by DuPont set up match point for the Bearcats. The Tigers wouldn?t trail for long though as Nancy Nellans got a kill and a trio of Memphis players recorded a block to tie the score. Memphis got to match point when a Maria Pongonis shot sailed long, but were unable to take advantage as Nellans? potential game winner went out of bounds. UC got to match point again on a Tiara Gilkey error and sealed the dramatic victory on DuPont?s 25th kill of the night.
?On that last point, I think every one in the gym knew Julie was getting the ball,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?You have to take your hat off to our team. They never gave up and showed so much character. We fought hard and never gave up. Memphis is a good team and any time your down 2-1 and win that?s good.?
The Bearcats rode a hot start to a convincing 30-17 win in game one. UC held Memphis to .000 hitting in the first frame, while hitting .371 as a team. Cincinnati broke open an early 6-5 lead with four straight points before capping the game with a monster run to the win. Leading by a 14-12 score, the Bearcats scored 16 of the last 21 points of the game, with all five of the Tigers? points coming as a result of Cincinnati errors. Torblaa and DuPont came up huge down the stretch, carding four and three kills, respectively, with the former adding a block and an ace.
The second game was quite the opposite of the first as Memphis never trailed and took the 30-22 triumph. The Tigers rebounded from their slow start to hit .356 in game two, while limiting the Bearcats to .206. Memphis enjoyed a lead of as much as seven throughout the game and was never seriously challenged, finishing off the game on a Bearcat service error.
Cincinnati looked as if they would take game three as a Myanna Hellsten kill put the home team up 25-19 and forced a Memphis timeout. But the Tigers came out of the break with a vengeance, scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 28-27 lead. DuPont quickly retied the score at 28 with a kill, but a costly service error by Newell set up the unlikely game point for Memphis. Needing a point to avoid a 2-1 deficit, the Bearcats came up short as Tiger setter Heather Watts turned away a Bearcat shot. UC struggled to hit in game three, finishing at just .185, while Memphis hit .273.
The Bearcats played inspired ball in game four, holding Memphis to .098 hitting in evening the match at two games apiece. UC then took the lead for good with a 4-0 run that snapped a six-all tie. The Bearcats continued to build their lead throughout the game, reaching seven on several occasions. Up 26-20 Torblaa and DuPont met at the net for a block and two kills by the latter sandwiched around one by Hellsten gave UC the win and set up the drama of game five.
A total of four Tiger players reached double figures in kills as Gilkey and Ashley Liford paced the team with 18 apiece. Nellans and Nance each added 14. Gilkey tacked on team-highs of 19 digs and seven blocks, while libero Emily Steckel had 17 digs. Watts, the top-ranked setter in C-USA had a great all around game with 59 assists, 12 digs and six kills.
UC?s defense got a career-high 19 digs from Natalie Dossman, with Pongonis (11) also joining the freshman in double-digit digs. Noel Olson had a career-night, dishing out a personal best 62 assists and matching her career-high with 12 digs.
The Bearcats will try to keep the momentum of the dramatic victory going on Sunday, when they host Saint Louis in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. That match will get underway at 2 p.m.