TicketsSept. 12, 2007
CINCINNATI---In front of a crowd of 912, Cincinnati hung with No. 2 Stanford for much of the night, but came up short in the end, dropping a three-game contest to the Cardinal on Wednesday night in Fifth Third Arena. The victory was far from easy for Stanford as it was victorious by scores of 30-24, 30-21, 30-20.
Cincinnati (7-4) got 12 kills each from Jessie Nevitt and Stephanie Niemer but couldn't overcome a .102 hitting percentage for the night. Jessica Elley added 11 kills, while setter Annie Fesl passed out 39 assists.
Stanford (8-0), ranked 10th nationally in hitting, did little to hurt that figure as it finished at .312 for the evening. Balance was the name of the game for the Cardinal as no Stanford player reached double figures in kills. Cynthia Barboza played just two games and led Stanford with nine kills. Stanford setter and Cincinnati native Bryn Kehoe paced the visitor's offense with 42 assists.
"I thought we competed hard, we just had some breakdowns at bad times," UC head coach Reed Sunahara said. "For the most part, I was happy with the way we played. It's always good to play a team ranked as high as Stanford. They are number two for a reason."
Game one finished with six tie scores and one lead change with Stanford finally holding off a late Bearcats' charge to take the win. The Bearcats took a 6-4 lead on a Jenny Custer ace and a kill by Elley, but saw Stanford bounce back with three straight to regain the advantage. After tying the score at eight, the Bearcats watched Stanford use a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead. UC would trail by as much as six, but a quick 4-1 spurt brought UC back within 27-24. Consecutive kills by Barboza and Erin Waller put Stanford in the driver's seat and the Cardinal ended it on a Bearcat error.
Stanford threatened to run away with game two, forcing the second Cincinnati timeout by the time the score reached 15-8. The Cardinal would go on to build a 12-point lead twice, the last coming at 24-12. Needing just three more points for victory, Stanford watched a resurgent Bearcat squad score four of the next five to make it 28-20. After the two teams traded service errors, Stanford went up 2-0 on another bad serve by the Bearcats.
Cincinnati struggled in game three, finishing with a hitting mark of -.021. Stanford raced to an early 7-2 lead, but the Bearcats bounced back to cut it to 9-8. Four straight errors, including two Stanford blocks, didn't help the Cincinnati cause as the visitors went back up by four. The Cardinal stretched their lead to 20-14, but Cincinnati scored five of the next six to force Stanford's first timeout of the night at 21-19. Out of the break, Stanford ripped off six straight points and eight of the final nine of the night to finish off the match.
Jaime Frey continued her strong play at the libero position, finishing with 18 digs in three games. Lindsay Upton and Elley led UC at the net with two blocks apiece. Stanford libero Gabi Ailes led all players with 21 digs, while Janet Okoogbaa, playing with a cast on her right hand, added six blocks.
UC now has nearly a week to prepare for its next match as it is idle until next Tuesday (Sept. 18). The Bearcats will open a busy week that night with a trip to IUPUI. The week also includes the start of BIG EAST play at Georgetown and USF.