TicketsOct. 11, 2005
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SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati volleyball team will be out for its third straight win when it returns to the court on Wednesday, Oct. 12, for a non-conference match at Morehead State. Action from Wetherby Gym is set to begin at 6 p.m. The Bearcats are coming off an upset win of Western Kentucky last week and a BIG EAST triumph at Seton Hall on Sunday to improve to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in league play. UC has won six of its last seven contests entering this week. The Morehead State match will also serve as UC's final tune-up for a battle with No. 6 Louisville on Sunday. MSU enters the contest 6-15 overall.
NOTES FROM SETON HALL:
- The meeting between the Bearcats and Pirates represented the first ever on the volleyball court between the schools.
- UC's .153 hitting was the team's third lowest of the year, topped only by an .088 showing at Hawai'i on Sept. 8 and a .131 performance at New Mexico State on Sept. 3.
- Jenny Custer's seven block assists were a career-high and Myanna Hellsten's eight block assists and nine total blocks were season-bests.
ABOUT MOREHEAD STATE: Morehead State enters Wednesday's play sporting a 6-15 overall record after winning in four games over Tennessee-Martin on Oct. 8. The Eagles have dropped 11 of their last 13 matches, including a sweep by BIG EAST member West Virginia. Laura Cox leads the Morehead offense with 3.72 kills per game, but the junior is hitting just .130 for the year. Ashley Doscher tacks on 3.29 kills per game for the Eagles. On defense, a total of five Eagles average over two digs per game, led by junior libero Johanna Thompson's 2.77. Morehead State ranks last in the Ohio Volley Conference in blocks per game, with Diana Zipp and Jessica Ayodele tops on the team at 0.56 per game.
NEVITT WINS BIG EAST ROOKIE AWARD FOR THIRD TIME: For the third time this season, Jessie Nevitt has been named the BIG EAST Conference Volleyball Rookie of the Week. Nevitt picked up the award after helping UC to an upset win over Western Kentucky and a conference win at Seton Hall. For the week, Nevitt averaged 3.50 kills and 0.88 blocks and hit .418. In the win over previously 18-1 Western Kentucky, Nevitt tied her career-high with 18 kills, while hitting .516. She added 10 kills with four blocks in UC's Sunday win at Seton Hall.
BALANCE, BALANCE: Balance has become the name of the game for the Bearcat offense of late as they have put all five hitters into double figure kills in three of the last six matches and four times total this year. In all three of the contests, Jenny Custer, Myanna Hellsten, Erin Maldo, Jessie Nevitt and Maria Pongonis have all reached double digits, with Pongonis (twice), Custer and Nevitt (once each) all taking turns as team-high honoree. In the four matches, UC is averaging 17.29 kills per game and hitting .272, while setter Noel Olson is averaging 14.12 assists per game. UC almost recorded the feat on Sept. 27 vs. IUPUI, but came up just short when Maldo finished with nine kills.
CONFERENCE KILLERS: Since the beginning of BIG EAST play, the Bearcats' offensive numbers have taken a vast jump up from the performance during the non-conference slate. A comparison of UC's conference vs. non-conference statistics:
Stat BIG EAST play Non-conference play
K/G 16.05 14.90
A/G 14.79 13.10
Hit % .231 .231
UC also has several players among the BIG EAST leaders in the conference-only stats. A summary of those players' performances follows:
- Noel Olson leads the conference in assists per game with 13.74.
- Jessie Nevitt is fourth in hitting percentage (.383). Nevitt also ranks 10th with 0.37 service aces per game.
- Melissa Zenz is fifth in digs per game with 4.63.
MOST IMPROVED: Sophomore right-side hitter Jenny Custer has been the team's most improved player thus far after a stellar start to her second collegiate season. This season, Custer is averaging 3.39 kills, 2.06 digs and 0.88 blocks per game, while hitting .276 and tallying the first six double-doubles of her career. Custer was at her best during the State Farm Bearcat Invitational presented by the Vernon Manor Hotel as she earned MVP honors. She turned in one of her most brilliant performances in UC's win over Western Kentucky on Oct. 5, recording a career-high 19 kills and hitting .484.
HOT HITTING: Jessie Nevitt contributed to UC's hot hitting in the Oct. 1 win over Rutgers with one of the top performances in program history. For the match, Nevitt hit .564, recording 18 kills with just one error on 26 swings. The mark represented the fourth-highest single match performance in program history. Annisa Blosser holds the record after a .793 outing in 1994.
THE NEXT QUEEN?: While she is still nearly 1,600 digs away from the school record, freshman libero Melissa Zenz may be the next UC player to challenge the program's "Queen of Digs," Trish Ladusaw. This season, Zenz has averaged 5.13 digs per game to rank third in the BIG EAST, and has 20-plus digs in eight of this year's 17 matches, including a career-high 29 twice. In recording 28 digs vs. Tulsa and 26 vs. New Mexico State, Zenz became the first Bearcat since Ladusaw in 2002 to total over 20 digs in two consecutive matches. Her eight 20-plus dig efforts are the most by a Bearcat since Ladusaw had nine in 2002.
STRONG AT THE NET: Redshirt freshman Jessie Nevitt has proven to be a force at the net during the 2005 season and she has twice written her name into the UC record books. On Sept. 3 vs. New Mexico State, Nevitt set a new mark with 11 block assists in a four-game match. Her 11 total blocks also matched the mark held by current Bearcat Myanna Hellsten and former UC standout Rachel Torblaa. Nevitt went one step better in UC's Sept. 20 contest at Marshall as she recorded 13 total blocks, setting a record for most in a five-game contest and most ever by a UC player. For the season, Nevitt is fourth in the BIG EAST with 1.39 blocks per game and has recorded at least five blocks in nine of 17 contests.
NEW LEADER: With the graduation of four-year mainstays Julie DuPont, Leslie Newell and Rachel Torblaa, Maria Pongonis has stepped forward as a team leader for the 2005 season. The only senior on the Bearcat roster, Pongonis leads the squad with 3.69 kills per game. Pongonis has reached double figure kills in all but one match this season, including a season-high 19 against Texas-Pan American, Tulsa and Rutgers and has also added 13 double-doubles. Pongonis has shown her defensive prowess by twice recording a career-best 23 digs, including in UC's BIG EAST triumph over Connecticut. She ranks second on the squad with 3.43 digs per game.
SCORING RECORD: The Bearcats' Sept. 15 match with Jacksonville State provided a memorable moment as UC recorded a 44-42 game two win over the Gamecocks. Since the inception of rally scoring in 2001, the 44 points scored by the Bearcats was the most a UC team had ever scored. UC's 104 total points in the match was also a school record for a three-game contest. Both of the previous highs (39 points in one game and 99 points for the match), occurred in UC's win over Wright State on Sept. 14, 2002.
HOME COURT HEROICS: Cincinnati has enjoyed a strong home court advantage since the opening of Fifth Third Arena in 1989. In the 16 years the building has been in existence, the Bearcats have posted a 132-52 (.717) record at home and are 67-6 (.918) over the past seven years. A handful of those contests have also taken place outside the Arena at both the former Laurence Hall and, more recently, at St. Ursula Academy. During the program's time in Fifth Third, it has enjoyed two lengthy winning streaks, including a school-record 23 match string that ended last season. At the time the streak was snapped, it represented the third-longest active streak in the nation. UC has currently won seven in a row at home dating back to last season.
MORE SCORING RECORDS: For the second time this season, UC reached a team scoring milestone, tying the previous mark for points in a four-game match in the Oct. 5 contest vs. Western Kentucky. Against the Hilltoppers, the Bearcats recorded a total of 128 points, matching the mark achieved on Sept. 29, 2001 vs. TCU. The mark was aided by a 38-36 UC win, along with a 32-30 loss.
AT THE CONTROLS: Junior Noel Olson has been solid in her second year as the Bearcats setter, ranking third in the BIG EAST with 12.46 assists per game. Earlier this year, Olson climbed to sixth on UC's career assists per game chart and moved into seventh on the total assists list, passing Carrie Smith on both. Olson is averaging 7.92 assists per game in two-plus seasons of action and has registered 2,368 assists to become just the seventh player in school history with 2,000 assists. Olson will next challenge for sixth on the assists chart, as her total is less than 300 behind Beth Herman's (1993-96) 2,638.