TicketsOct. 20, 2005
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SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati, which sits in sixth in the BIG EAST Volleyball standings, but is just two games out of first, hosts a pair of key conference matches this weekend when West Virginia and Pittsburgh visit Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats stand 13-7 overall and 4-2 in league play, trailing Louisville and Notre Dame who are tied for first at 6-0. The match-up with West Virginia (14-8, 2-5 BIG EAST) will take place on Friday (Oct. 21) at 7:30 p.m., with Pittsburgh (13-7, 6-1 BIG EAST) arriving for a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday. WVU enters the weekend in 11th place in the BIG EAST standings, while Pittsburgh is just one-half game out of first.
NOTES FROM WRIGHT STATE:
- Melissa Zenz notched double figure digs for the 20th straight match, spanning the length of her collegiate career. Her 23 digs vs. the Raiders pushed her over 20 for the 10th time this season.
- Maria Pongonis recorded her team-best 15th double-double of the year with 10 kills and 14 digs. Jenny Custer had her eighth of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs.
- The Bearcats extended their winning streak in the Wright State series to seven and hold a 19-10 edge in the all-time series.
- Jessie Nevitt led the team in kills for the fourth time this year, with a match-high 16.
ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA: The Mountaineers picked up a four-game non-conference win over Youngstown State this week to snap a three-match losing streak that featured conference losses to Marquette, Syracuse and Pittsburgh. WVU brings a 14-8 overall record and a 2-5 conference slate into Friday night's action. Offensively Stephanie Zolna and Kelly Mullins lead the West Virginia attack, averaging 3.92 and 3.12 kills per game, respectively. The defense is anchored by libero Aurora Ebert-Santos, who ranks second in the BIG EAST, averaging 5.24 digs per game. Julie Hockenson is the top player on the blocks for WVU, pacing the squad with 1.18 per game.
ABOUT PITTSBURGH: The Panthers, fresh off an NCAA Tournament appearance and slated to finish third in the BIG EAST season, find themselves in that spot entering the weekend, as they hold a 6-1 league record. Pitt is 13-7 overall and trails front running Louisville and Notre Dame by just one-half game. Prior to its trip to Cincinnati, Pitt will square off with Louisville on Saturday afternoon. Leading the Panthers this year is Diana Andreyko who is second in the BIG EAST with 4.99 kills per game. Gini Ullery has also been solid with 3.63 kills per game. On defense, libero Megan McGrane is the league's top ranked player in digs per game (5.37), while Jessica Moses adds 1.02 blocks per game.
BALANCE, BALANCE: Balance has become the name of the game for the Bearcat offense in 2005 as they have put all five hitters into double figure kills four times this year. In all four 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) 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.
IN-STATE SUCCESS: Since Reed Sunahara took over as head coach in 2000, UC has enjoyed great success against in-state rivals, holding a record of 16-5 (.762). Ohio State has been the Bearcats' biggest nemesis, winning all three contests. UC has been at its best against Dayton, winning all five meetings with the Flyers under Sunahara. A look at UC vs. the state of Ohio with Sunahara as head coach: Bowling Green (0-1), Dayton (5-0), Kent State (1-0), Miami (3-0), Ohio (0-1), Ohio State (0-3), Wright State (4-0), Xavier (3-0).
NEVITT HONORED BY BIG EAST AGAIN: Jessie Nevitt's season of accolades continued on Monday when she was named to the BIG EAST's Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season. In addition to the two honor roll mentions, Nevitt is also a three-time BIG EAST Rookie of the Week. Her most recent recognition came after averaging 3.86 kills and 1.00 blocks per game and hitting .511 in two matches. Included in the week for Nevitt was a career-best 19 kills vs. No. 6 Louisville.
DEFENSE, DEFENSE: After twice breaking school records for most points scored earlier this season, Cincinnati established a new defensive mark in its Oct. 12 win over Morehead State by allowing the Eagles just 46 points in three games. The total matched the effort of a Sept. 14, 2002 win over Austin Peay that set the mark for fewest points allowed in a three-game match since the inception of rally scoring. The -.044 hitting by Morehead also marked the second time this year UC had held an opponent under zero hitting (-.017 vs. Texas-Pan American, Sept. 2). The Bearcats backed up the Morehead effort by holding Wright State to .017 hitting on Oct. 18.
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 hitting .793 in 1994.
MOST IMPROVED: Sophomore right-side hitter Jenny Custer has been the team's most improved player this season with a stellar second collegiate season. This year, Custer is averaging 3.47 kills, 2.09 digs and 0.83 blocks per game, while hitting .278 and tallying the first eight 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. She also leads the team with 34 service aces and ranks sixth in the BIG EAST with 0.44 per game.
WINNING TRADITION: Cincinnati entered this season hoping to stretch its streak of 20-win seasons to 11 and achieve the feat for the sixth time under head coach Reed Sunahara. By virtue of the Bearcats' win over Western Kentucky on Oct. 5, UC earned its 10th win of the year, stretching that streak to 14 consecutive seasons.
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 133-53 (.715) record at home and are 68-7 (.907) 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.
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 16.22 14.98
A/G 15.04 13.24
Hit % .221 .233
UC also has several players among the BIG EAST leaders in the conference-only stats.
- Noel Olson leads the conference in assists per game with 13.78.
- Jessie Nevitt is fourth in hitting percentage (.398).
- Melissa Zenz is fourth in digs per game with 4.70.
- Jenny Custer is tied for eighth with 0.39 service aces per game.
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 1.36 blocks per game and has recorded at least five blocks in 10 of 20 contests.
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 5.19 digs per game to rank third in the BIG EAST, and has 20-plus digs in 10 of this year's 20 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. Zenz is also closing in on 10th place on UC's single season digs list as her total of 400 is just 16 back of Mindy Backus (1988) and Barb Mannix's (1990) shared mark.
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 3.60 kills per game. Pongonis has reached double figure kills in all but two matches this season, including a season-high 19 against Texas-Pan American, Tulsa and Rutgers and has also added 15 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 3.51 digs per game.
AT THE CONTROLS: Junior Noel Olson has been solid in her second year as the Bearcats' setter, ranking second in the BIG EAST with 12.66 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 8.12 assists per game in two-plus seasons of action and has registered 2,508 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 200 behind Beth Herman's (1993-96) 2,638.
UNFAMILIAR FACES: The Bearcats' move into the BIG EAST this year will give the squad a whole net set of rivals to meet up with. Of the 14 BIG EAST schools UC will face, three are new opponents (Connecticut, St. John's and Seton Hall). With the exception of Conference USA holdovers DePaul, Louisville, Marquette and South Florida, it's been awhile since UC has faced any of the new look BIG EAST members. A look at the last time UC faced each of the league schools prior to this season:
Georgetown 1990 W, 3-1
Notre Dame 2002 L, 0-3
Pittsburgh 1989 L, 0-3
Rutgers 1996 W, 3-0
Syracuse 1990 L, 0-3
Villanova 1991 L, 1-3
West Virginia 1995 W, 3-2