TicketsSept. 23, 2007
TAMPA, Fla.---The match-up brought back memories of both teams' glory days early in this decade as members of Conference USA. But in the end, it was Cincinnati coming out ahead, outlasting a much improved USF team in five games on Sunday afternoon at The Corral. The 30-27, 25-30, 30-17, 28-30, 15-8 triumph gives the Bearcats their fourth 2-0 league start in the last five seasons.
In recent years, the Bearcats have dominated the series with the Bulls, winning the last three in sweeps each time. This time, UC (10-4, 2-0 BIG EAST) dominated the deciding fifth game in finally putting away a USF squad that went 12-17 one year ago. USF drops to 8-3, 0-2 in BIG EAST play with the defeat. With one weekend of BIG EAST play in the books, the Bearcats find themselves in a five-way tie for first play in the league standings.
The Bearcats got 17 kills apiece from senior Jenny Custer and junior Jessie Nevitt on the afternoon, leading four UC players in double figure. Jessica Elley added 15 and Stephanie Niemer 14 in the winning cause. Cincinnati also got it done at the net, finishing with 13 team blocks, including eight by Nevitt.
"This match was a battle for sure," UC head coach Reed Sunahara stated. "We played really good for awhile then went the other direction for awhile. But I give our team credit, we made some adjustments, they responded and we got the job done."
Preseason all-BIG EAST selection Marcela Gurgel finished with 20 kills for the Bulls, but hit just .189. Kristina Fabris added 15 kills for the hosts.
Game one was a back and forth battle with USF staking a 13-9 lead on an ace by Mariana Thon. UC came back with a vengeance, however, using an 11-4 run to go in front by a 20-17 margin. The game would feature several tie scores until the Bearcats went up for good on a Gurgel service error at 27-26. A Fabris kill later drew USF to within 28-27, but a Custer kill and a Bull attack error handed the Bearcats game one.
Cincinnati seemed to hit for a high enough percentage, .308, to win game two, but it wasn't to be as USF hit .433 in evening the match at one. The Bearcats led many times during the frame, including a four-point edge early, but watched as the Bulls used an 8-1 run to get to 28-23. UC tried to stay alive with two kills by Niemer, but USF countered with a block and a Fabris kill for the 30-25 triumph.
The third game was never really in doubt as the Bearcats raced to leads of 11-5 and 18-11 to force two USF timeouts. Nevitt was a force for the visitors in the late goings, coming up with four kills and a pair of blocks in the dominating 30-17 Cincinnati win. UC continued its hot hitting in the frame at .361, while limiting USF to a .111 mark.
Game four was sloppy on both sides, but competitive until the very end. USF held the hitting advantage, .081 to -.044 in the game, but had to hold off a furious late run by the Bearcats to stay alive. USF led at both Cincinnati timeouts (17-13 and 27-23), but watched as the Bearcats marched back to make it interesting late. Out of the second timeout, UC scored four of five points to even the score at 28. Fabris gave USF game point with a kill and Gurgel ended it with a solo block to force game five.
The finale started close, but turned into a Bearcats' run away as UC sealed its first five-game match win of the season. A kill by Fabris brought USF within 8-7, but that would be the next-to-last point of the match for the Bulls. The Bearcats closed the day on a 7-1 run, with two of the points coming at the blocks, giving UC its fourth consecutive win over the Bulls.
Custer tallied her 22nd career double-double, adding 14 digs to her 17 kills. Jaime Frey also had 14 digs for UC. Freshman setter Annie Fesl had her third double-double of the year with totals of 59 assists and 13 digs.
USF's Fabris and libero Stephanie Augustavo led all players with 18 digs apiece. Alli Arbogast, the BIG EAST's second-best blocker had 12 for the Bulls, who finished with 22 blocks as a team.
The Bearcats, having played 10 of their last 11 contests on the road, will return home to start a five-match homestand next weekend. UC will host Marquette on Friday and Syracuse on Sunday afternoon.