TicketsOct. 28, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Cincinnati beat Notre Dame for the first time and handed the Irish just their 11th loss ever in BIG EAST play as the Bearcats earned a huge sweep on Saturday in Fifth Third Arena. The win propels UC into a tie for fifth in the league standings on the heels of the 30-20, 30-28, 30-22 triumph.
The Bearcats got 13 kills each from Jessica Elley, Myanna Hellsten and Jessie Nevitt in topping the Irish for the first time in six all-time meetings. Cincinnati improves to 16-5 overall and 6-3 in the BIG EAST, while Notre Dame slips to 13-9, 7-2 BIG EAST. The setback leaves Notre Dame's all-time BIG EAST record at a still impressive 149-11 in 11 seasons.
Freshman Jaime Frey had a monster performance defensively, setting a UC three-game record with 33 digs. The previous best of 24 was established by Trish Ladusaw in 2000. Frey's total also ties for the fourth highest total in school history regardless of match length.
Notre Dame was hurt by the absence of Adrianna Stasiuk, a second team All-BIG EAST performer last season and the most outstanding player at the conference championship in 2005. The Irish were limited to just .118 hitting, with freshman Christina Kaelin's 13 kills leading the way. Mallorie Croal tacked on 10 in defeat for Notre Dame.
"When we compete like we did today, we can be a pretty good team," UC head coach Reed Sunahara told the media following the match. "Notre Dame is a well coached team with tons of tradition, but give our kids credit; they played their hearts out today."
The Bearcats were a ball of fire at the outset, surprising the Irish with the first five points of the match to force a Notre Dame timeout. The visitors fought back to knot the score at seven, but an 8-1 run by the Bearcats caused the Irish's second stoppage of the game. UC would not be denied for the balance of game one, running away with the 30-20 decision. The stats weren't pretty after one frame; the Bearcats outhit the Irish by just .176 to .022.
Game two was more of what everyone expected as the stanza featured 21 tie scores and seven lead changes. Cincinnati was the first team to take a lead of more than one as a kill by Elley raised the Bearcat lead to 13-10. Notre Dame roared back to knot the score and were leading 17-15 when a 3-0 Bearcat spurt forced an Irish timeout. From there, the battle was on as the score teetered within two points all the way to the end. UC fell behind 27-25 on a kill by Kaelin, but came back to knot it up on consecutive kills by Nevitt and Hellsten. Another Kaelin kill put the Irish up by one, but Hellsten sandwiched a pair of kills around a Notre Dame error and the Bearcats had a two game lead heading into the break.
The third game showed flashes of the opener as UC raced to a 6-0 lead. Cincinnati controlled the pace throughout the game pushing the advantage as high as eight on a kill by Nevitt at 21-13. The Irish came back to cut the contest to 24-19, but would score just three more points UC closed out the 30-22 triumph. Nevitt saved her best for last, tallying five kills on .444 hitting to help the Bearcats to victory.
Danielle Herndon led the Irish defense with 22 digs, while Croal tacked 13 digs and six blocks onto her 10 kills. Noel Olson won the setter battle with 43, 13 better than the Notre Dame combo of Ashley Tarutis and Jamel Nicholas.
The Bearcats will try to stretch their win streak to four, returning to the court against DePaul tomorrow. Match time in Fifth Third Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Notes
- Series record: Notre Dame leads, 5-1.
- UC handed Notre Dame just its 11th conference loss in its 11 seasons as members of the BIG EAST.
- Jaime Frey set a school three-game record for digs with 33. The mark was also a career-best.
- Jessica Elley tallied the 12th double-double of the season and of her career.
- Myanna Hellsten's 35 attempts were a career-high.