TicketsOct. 5, 2005
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Jenny Custer had a career-high 19 kills and two other Bearcats matched their personal bests as Cincinnati earned a key non-conference victory with a four-game triumph over Western Kentucky on Wednesday night in Fifth Third Arena. With a 38-36, 30-25, 30-32, 30-24 win, UC snapped the Lady Hilltoppers 14-match winning streak and improved to 10-6 on the year.
It was a match full of stellar performances for the Bearcats, who tied the school record for points in a four-game match with 128. In addition to Custer's new best, Jessie Nevitt and Myanna Hellsten matched their personal-highs with 18 and 14 kills, respectively. For the fourth time this season, the Bearcats again put all five of their primary hitters into double figure kills, with Maria Pongonis (14) and Erin Maldo (10) joining their aforementioned teammates. UC's .327 hitting performance also ranks as the squad's second-best outing of the season.
"We had a well balanced attack tonight, but our hitters need to continue to be more effective and more efficient," stated UC head coach Reed Sunahara. "Anytime we get all five of our hitters in double figures, it means Noel (Olson) is doing a good job distributing the ball."
The outstanding outings weren't limited to hitting, as Hellsten matched her season-high with eight blocks and Maldo matched her career-high with four. Melissa Zenz reached double figure digs for the 16th straight contest with 18, while Pongonis tacked on 14 for her 13th double-double of the year. Noel Olson dished out 59 assists in the win for UC.
Western Kentucky (18-2) got a great outing from Jessie Wagner as she led all players with 24 kills, while hitting .447. Megan Argabright tacked on 18 kills and Jenna Gideon had 10. Caron Blotch had 58 assists and 13 digs from her setter position, while Ashley Deignan led WKU with 14 digs.
UC got the night off to a slow start, falling behind 4-0 and still trailing by four at 23-19. The Bearcats crept back to tie the game at 26, only to see two straight points put the visitors into a 28-26 cushion. Cincinnati would be the first to reach game point, however, rattling off three straight to make it 29-28. From there, both teams would have numerous game point opportunities come up short until UC turned to the senior leadership of Pongonis for two straight kills to cap off a hard fought 38-36 win. Game one would end with a total of 15 ties and three lead changes and would mark the end of WKU's 39-game win streak.
The final stats for game two showed a dominating .290 to .088 hitting edge for the Bearcats, but the game was actually much closer early on. Trailing 14-10, the Hilltoppers used a 4-0 spurt to tie the game and force a Bearcat timeout. Out of the stoppage, UC scored four quick points of its own to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Cincinnati lead would reach as high as six at 22-16 and would shrink to as low as one on a Maldo error that made it 26-25. At that point, the Bearcats took advantage of two WKU errors, a kill by Olson and a block by Hellsten to tally the final four points of the game and take the 30-25 win.
Game three was another dogfight with a total of 20 ties and five lead changes. Both teams hit solidly in the frame, with WKU holding a .278 to .255 edge. UC hung around to the very end, but with the score knotted at 30, Argabright put down consecutive kills to make it a two games to one contest.
The fourth game was all Bearcats as they used an early 4-0 run to take a five-point cushion and a lead that would stay in the home team's favor. UC hit a stout .407 in the frame, led by as much as seven, than held off a late WKU push to finish off the win. The Hilltoppers battled to 29-24 on a UC error, but a WKU service error sent the student section into an uproar as the Bearcats closed out their 10th victory of 2005.
"We struggled a bit siding out early on, but then we really got locked in," Sunahara said. "When we needed points, our defense got some key blocks and our defense got better as the much went on. We beat a good team tonight. They were 18-1 for a reason."
The Bearcats will return to BIG EAST Conference action this Sunday with the program's first ever meeting with Seton Hall. Action from Walsh Gymnasium in South Orange, N.J. is set to get underway at 2 p.m.