TicketsBearcats Score Sweep Of Charlotte
DuPont, Pongonis record 10 kills each in win
Contact: Shawn Sell
11/5/2004
Maria Pongonis had 10 kills and six digs in Friday's win over Charlotte. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Playing before a season-best home crowd of 605, the University of Cincinnati volleyball team got 10 kills each from Julie DuPont and Maria Pongonis during a three-game sweep of Conference USA rival Charlotte on Friday night in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. Game scores for UC?s 19th win of the season were 30-27, 30-20, 30-27.
DuPont and Pongonis were the only UC players in double figure kills as the Bearcats hit .277 for the night and improved to 19-8 on the year. The victory also ups Cincinnati?s C-USA record to 9-2, keeping them one-half game ahead of Memphis for second place in the league race. With a victory on Friday night over East Carolina, Louisville has wrapped up at least a share of the C-USA Championship and can claim the title outright with a Saturday win over Charlotte.
?The match really had a weird feeling to it,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?Both teams did some good things and we are just glad to come out on top. I thought we played well in game two and down the stretch in game three. It seems though that we tend to build a lead and then relax. We have to work hard on every point. Its hard for us to come back sometimes because we play pretty good teams.?
As would be the case throughout the night, game one had an interesting twist as the Bearcats were outhit by a .417 to .158 margin despite scoring the 30-27 triumph. UC started slow, falling behind early by a 4-2 score. The Bearcats finally took the lead for good when DuPont sandwiched a pair of kills around one by Myanna Hellsten to push UC up 8-6. Cincinnati led by just one at 12-11, when the Bearcats went on a 5-1 run that opened a five-point cushion. Charlotte came back to get within a point at 21-20, but a 6-2 Bearcat spurt put UC ahead five. The 49ers again clawed back, getting within 28-26 on an ace by Lisa Newell, the younger sister of Bearcat senior Leslie. After the ace, the Bearcats called a timeout and coming out of the break, the younger Newell?s serve sailed out of bounds setting up game point for the Bearcats. After Abbey Szlanfucht put down a kill, a 49er ball handling error ended game one. Despite being badly outhit for the game, UC capitalized on four 49er service errors, four ball handling errors and four of its own aces to score the win.
Game two was a whole different story as the Bearcats stormed to a 9-0 lead and never looked back, hitting .522 for the game. The home team built its largest lead of the game at 28-16 on a kill by Pongonis, before Charlotte cut the score back to 10. A Rachel Torblaa kill set up game point, but the 49ers took advantage of a Pongonis error and a Lisa Newell kill to get back to within nine. A kill by Pongonis then ended the game in the Bearcats favor.
UC had to play from behind for much of game three after scoring the first three points of the game. Leading by just one at 14-13, Charlotte used a Lisa Newell kill, a block and a Cincinnati error to open up a four-point lead. The Bearcats scored three of the next four points to get back within one, but weren?t able to knot the score until Torblaa?s kill made it 22-all. The senior middle blocker?s kill sparked a Bearcat spurt of 6-2 that put UC within three points of closing out the match. But Charlotte came back with three in row that forced a UC timeout along the way. After the 49ers evened the score at 27, UC ran off the last three points of the night to secure the victory.
The second round of the ?Battle of the Newell Sisters? went to Cincinnati senior Leslie, who is now 4-0 against her younger sibling. Lisa Newell had an outstanding effort for Charlotte (18-11, 4-6 C-USA) with 12 kills on .733 hitting. Szlanfucht led all players with 13 kills, surpassing the 1,000 career-kill plateau along the way.
Hellsten, who totaled a match-best five blocks, led the Bearcat defense. DuPont and Pongonis each added six digs for UC, while Charlotte?s Holly Kreyling, a native of Fort Wright, Ky., led all players with nine.
UC will be looking for its fourth straight win tomorrow night when they return to the court at Fifth Third Arena for a 7:30 p.m. match against East Carolina.
Game Notes
? The crowd of 605 was the largest to witness a UC match since 603 were in attendance for Cincinnati and Louisville on Nov. 9, 2001.
? Julie DuPont?s 10 kills allowed her to continue her streak of consecutive double digit kill matches. Her string of 36 is the sixth-longest active streak in the country.
? Leslie Newell is now 4-0 in her collegiate career against younger sister Lisa and 5-0 against her siblings overall. UC topped IUPUI and sister Carol earlier this season.
? Both Newell and Rachel Torblaa continued their march towards 1,000 career kills. Torblaa has 965 for her career, while Newell has 913.