TicketsNov. 26, 2005
LEXINGTON, Ky.---Cincinnati secured its 11th straight 20-win season and kept its NCAA Tournament at-large hopes alive with a four-game win over Kentucky in the regular season finale on Saturday night at UK's Memorial Coliseum. By scores of 30-27, 24-30, 30-25, 30-24 the Bearcats improve their 2005 record to 20-12 overall.
Senior Maria Pongonis led a balanced Cincinnati attack with a team-best 16 kills, while adding 18 digs for 22nd double-double of the year. Jenny Custer added 13 kills, Erin Maldo 12 and Myanna Hellsten 11 for the victorious Bearcats.
The Bearcats will learn their NCAA Tournament fate on Sunday, as the Selection Show will be broadcast live on ESPN News, beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Melissa Zenz paced the Cincinnati defense with 27 digs, with Natalie Dossman also reaching double figures with 11. Jessie Nevitt led the Bearcat blocking attack with four, while Custer and Hellsten each added three.
Kentucky (17-11) got a match-high 17 kills from Danielle Wallace, but UC limited the Wildcat standout to only .200 hitting. Amy Kapland had 12 kills and Melissa Popp 10 for UK. Kentucky's defense got eight blocks from Queen Nzenwa and 25 digs from SEC Defensive Player of the Year Jenni Casper.
Come from behind was the name of the game for the Bearcats in game one, as despite an early 4-3 lead, the Bearcats trailed for much of the frame. Leading by just one, UC saw Kentucky go in front by five on the strength of an 8-2 run that put the Bearcats in an 11-6 hole. Cincinnati would score five of the next six however to climb back to within a point of UK. The Bearcats would continue to fight throughout, scoring three straight to knot the score at 22. Back-to-back kills by Wallace put the hosts up two, but two straight kills by Custer and Pongonis once again evened the count. UC would then find itself down two one more time, but two Nevitt kills sandwiched around two UK errors put the Bearcats up 28-26. Kentucky drew within one on a Kaplan kill, but a kill and an error by Nevitt handed Cincinnati the 30-27 victory. UC got the night off to a solid start, hitting .294, while Kentucky finished game one at .241.
The second game got off to a tough start for the Bearcats, as they found themselves at an early 6-1 disadvantage. As they had done in the opening game, UC found itself down throughout, falling behind 19-13 before its first timeout. Out of the break, Cincinnati scored eight of the next 11 to get within 22-21. That would spell the beginning of the end for the Bearcats as Kentucky scored eight of the final 11, many on UC miscues to even the games at one apiece. The solid hitting of game one disappeared for both teams as Kentucky held an advantage of just .190 to .071.
Game three got off to a good start for UC as it took a lead of 6-3 on back-to-back Custer aces. UC still led at 9-5 on a Maldo kill, but a 6-0 UK run changed all of that as the Wildcats pushed into the lead. With the score knotted at 13, UC scored 9 of the next 12 to open a comfortable 22-16 margin. In the late stages of the going, Kentucky rode the hot hand of Wallace as she scored four of the Wildcats' last six points of the game on kill, the final one bringing the home team to within 27-25. But a Kentucky service error and back-to-back Maldo kills pushed Cincinnati ahead with a 30-25 win. UC hit only .145 in the game, but held Kentucky to .173 to secure the triumph.
The Bearcats got off to another slow start in game four, but recovered with an early 6-0 run that pushed UC in front 12-7. Cincinnati steadily pulled away from the Wildcats in game four, stretching the lead to as much as six on several different occasions. Custer got particularly hot down the stretch, notching all three of her game four kills late in the going to aid in the victory. Kentucky committed a trio of costly errors towards the tail end of the game and Custer's 13th kill of the night sealed Cincinnati's first win over Kentucky since 1976.