TicketsBearcats Fall At Home To Ohio
Hellsten lead UC with 11 kills
Contact: Shawn Sell
11/26/2004
Myanna Hellsten had a team-high 11 kills vs. Ohio. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Ohio put five players in double figure kills and limited Cincinnati to .115 hitting as the Bobcats picked up a four-game win in non-conference volleyball action on Friday night. The win is the 22nd in a row for the Bobcats, which allowed OU to set a school record for consecutive victories.
Ohio improves to 28-2 on the year by virtue of the 22-30, 30-19, 30-27, 30-12 victory. The Bearcats are now 21-11 on the year and will close the regular season tomorrow afternoon against Dayton.
Sophomore Myanna Hellsten led the Bearcats with 11 kills on .526 hitting, while Julie DuPont and Maria Pongonis each added 10. A key to the Ohio victory was limiting DuPont, the two-time Conference USA Player of the Year to -.058 hitting. DuPont did reach double figure kills for the 41st consecutive matche, while adding 11 digs for her 24th double-double of the year. Rachel Torblaa had seven kills, allowing her to go over 1,000 kills for her career.
The Bobcats were led by Julia Winkfield and Melissa Griffin with 15 kills each. Cincinnati-native Stephanie Blackburn reached double figures with 13 kills, while Ashley Elliott (12) and Holly Schetzsle (10) did as well. Blackburn?s sister, Michaele led all players with 26 digs.
?We came out strong, but we just couldn?t sustain the momentum,? said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. ?Ohio is a good team and they won the MAC for a reason. We had our chances tonight, but we didn?t take advantage of them.?
UC got the night off to a great start as two kills by Pongonis gave the home team an early 2-1 lead. The Bearcats took the lead for good on an Ohio service error to make it 3-2 and never looked back. The Cincinnati lead reached nine at 19-10 when DuPont dropped her first kill of the night. Ohio rallied to get back within five at 21-16, but it wasn?t long before Torblaa and DuPont combined for a block to once again make it an eight-point contest at 27-19. The visitors made one last push to get within 28-22, but a kill by a Hellsten and a DuPont/Hellsten block ended game one in UC?s favor.
Game two was another story as the Bobcats limited UC to .000 hitting in racing to the 30-19 win. The Bearcats tied the score at two early, but a 6-1 Ohio run gave the visitors a comfortable five-point lead. Trailing by five, UC put together a quick 4-0 spurt to claw within one at 11-10. Ohio responded with a 9-2 run that gave the Bobcats a 20-12 advantage. Leading by eight, the Bobcats scored four straight to build their lead to 12. Leading by 10, Ohio closed out game two on a kill by Griffin to even the match at one.
Following the break, the two squads engaged in a tight game three that featured 18 ties and seven lead changes. UC overcame a couple of deficits early in the game and rallied to knot the score at 20. From there, the teams traded points back and forth with a Briana Adamovsky service error tying the score at 27. But Ohio used a Schetzsle kill, a block and a Bearcat ball handling error to close out a 30-27 win.
Riding the momentum of a two games to one lead, Ohio dominated game four, easily winning by a 30-12 score. Ohio hit a match-best .441 for the game, while limiting UC to -.093. Hellsten carried the Bearcats during the game with four kills, three coming off of the sets of freshman Hannah May, making her first career appearance at setter.
The Bearcats set a pair of school records during the defeat, neither of which was of the positive. UC?s 88 total points was the lowest amount scored by the Bearcats since rally scoring was introduced in 2001. The Bearcats? 12 points in game four were also the fewest scored by UC in a non-game five in rally scoring.
Cincinnati will close its regular season on Senior Day tomorrow vs. Dayton. Action from Fifth Third Arena is set to get underway at 4 p.m. Following the match, seniors DuPont, Newell and Torblaa, along with team manager Ashlee Strete will be honored.