TicketsNov. 5, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.---It wasn't pretty, but in the end it was a win as Cincinnati grinded out a three-game victory over West Virginia in BIG EAST volleyball action on Sunday afternoon. The Bearcats, now 19-6 overall and 8-4 in the BIG EAST were victorious by scores of 30-27, 30-25, 30-26.
Cincinnati trailed by significant margins in each game, but fought back, despite hitting just .163 for the match. Jessie Nevitt had a productive offensive performance, finishing with 12 kills on .522 hitting. Jenny Custer tacked on 10 kills and matched her career-high with 15 digs.
West Virginia, which slips to 2-27 overall and 1-11 in league play, got 11 kills each from Abby Tevis and Gina Cusanelli. The Mountaineers hit just .077 for the match.
"We played well enough to win," UC head coach Reed Sunahara said. "It's tough to play on the road and we were fortunate to get out of here with a victory."
The Bearcats got the match off to a very sluggish start, falling behind 10-4 early in the going. UC would respond to the deficit, scoring 10 of the next 13 points of the game to take its first lead at 14-13. West Virginia wouldn't stay behind for long, retaking the lead at 20-19 on a Bearcat service error. Cincinnati came back again however, scoring six of the next seven points to reclaim the advantage at 25-21. After a Mountaineer timeout, the hosts scored the next four points, two on kills by Cusanelli to tie the score at 25. Custer single-handedly put the Bearcats back on top, with a kill and an ace, but back-to-back kills by Kristina Gallahan and Cusanelli evened the game at 27. That would go down as WVU's final point, as two blocks, sandwiched around an Elley kill gave Cincinnati the right 30-27 game one victory. UC hit just .133 in the frame, but limited WVU to .051 in the victory.
Cincinnati was still tight in game two, needing a 4-0 spurt to take an early 11-10 lead. With the score knotted at 12, the Bearcats appeared to snap to life, scoring 10 consecutive points, three on Myanna Hellsten kills, to open a comfortable 22-13 lead. The Mountaineers wouldn't let the Bearcats put it in cruise control, though, as they scored six of the next seven to claw within 23-19. Nevitt took over the next portion of the game, recording four kills to give the Bearcats a 27-21 lead. After WVU got within three, Cincinnati closed it out with a kill and an ace by Custer and Hellsten's fifth kill of the match. UC's hitting woes continued, as it finished at just .146 for the frame, but so did WVU's which connected at just .074.
The final game was much like the first two with Cincinnati taking a timeout, trailing 13-9. Out of the break, WVU continued to control the action, leading as late as 22-19 when Tevis connected on consecutive kills. Behind two kills from Nevitt, the Bearcats reclaimed the lead for good, using a 6-1 run to pull in front 25-23. West Virginia climbed back to trail by only 26-25, but kills by Jessica Elley and Noel Olson sandwiched around a WVU error, put the Bearcats to game point. After a kill by WVU's Cusanelli, Elley connected on her eighth kill of the match to seal the 30-26 win for UC. The Bearcats hit a match-best .214 in the game, while WVU did the same at .119.
Hellsten led the UC defense with seven blocks, while Jaime Frey had a match-high 24 digs. Aurora Ebert-Santos led WVU's defense with 23 digs.
Cincinnati will wrap up the BIG EAST schedule next weekend, hosting a pair of matches. Georgetown will be the opponent at 3 p.m. on Friday, with USF coming to town for a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday.
Notes
- Series record: Cincinnati leads, 7-2.
- UC snapped its three-match road losing streak with the victory.
- Jenny Custer (seventh of season, 17th of career) and Noel Olson (sixth of season, 18th of career) both had double-doubles.
- Laurie Weber had a career-high with three service aces.
- Custer matched her career-high with 15 digs.
- Jaime Frey topped 20 digs in BIG EAST play for the eighth time in 12 conference match.