TicketsOct. 2, 2007
CINCINNATI---To qualify for the NCAA Tournament at season's end, the Cincinnati Bearcats are going to need to either win the BIG EAST Championship or piece together a strong resume that will earn them an at-large berth. On Tuesday night in Fifth Third Arena, the Bearcats put a signature win on that resume with a sweep of regional rival Western Kentucky. The victory stretches UC's win streak to six, marking the longest winning stretch the program has enjoyed since 2004.
The turning point in the evening's activities came at the end of game as UC erased a 27-26 deficit to win the game and take a two games lead into the break. Western Kentucky (15-4) couldn't recover from the Bearcat run as the hosts completed a sweep, improving to 13-4 along the way. The win was a good one for UC as the Lady Toppers hold a ranking of 33 in the latest RKPI ratings.
Junior Jessica Elley broke out of a recent slump to pace the Bearcats offense with 12 kills on a season-high .407 hitting. She completed a solid all-around performance with two aces, six digs and four blocks. Stephanie Niemer overcame a slow start to add nine kills, while Jenny Custer and Jessie Nevitt finished with seven each.
The Cincinnati defense was also strong, corralling two-time WKU all-American Megan Argabright. The junior did lead her team with 10 kills, but was held to only .172 hitting. UC turned back eight Western Kentucky shots with Nevitt recording a match-high six blocks. Jaime Frey was the leader on the backline as she had a team-high 14 digs. The Lady Toppers did little to help themselves, recording 20 service errors and yielding eight aces to the UC servers.
"I was hoping that we could avoid a letdown tonight since it wasn't a BIG EAST match and Western Kentucky is a good team," UC head coach Reed Sunahara said. "When we play good teams, we have to step up to the plate and play better. This was a good win for sure."
The Bearcats nearly led from start to finish in the opening game, pulling off a 30-22 victory. Clinging to an early 11-9 lead, UC scored three straight to force WKU's first timeout of the game. The visitors came back within three later on at 18-15, but saw Cincinnati score eight of the next 12 to go up by seven. WKU got to within 28-22, but consecutive kills by Custer ended game one.
Cincinnati dug an early hole in game two as an ace by Aquila Orr gave the visitors a 10-6 lead and caused a Bearcat timeout. The stoppage worked as UC reeled off five straight points to take an 11-10 lead. From there, nearly all of the game's 18 ties occurred, with WKU finally opening up a 26-24 lead on an Orr kill. UC came back to go up 28-27 on a near error turned kill by Nevitt, only to see WKU's Brittany Bowen bury a kill to retie the score. WKU then killed their chances with its 13th service error of the night and an Elley kill on the next play sent UC into the break with a 30-28 win.
The Lady Toppers never really seemed to get in the flow in the third game as they were outhit .300 to .091 en route to dropping a 30-16 decision. Leading 9-8, two Lindsay Upton aces highlighted a 4-0 Bearcat run that forced WKU's first timeout of the game. UC was relentless from there, building its first double digit lead (26-16) on another Western service error. Nevitt did much of the work to close the game, tallying a pair of kills and a block, while Elley punctuated the night with her 12th kill on match point for UC.
The Bearcats will have little time to savor the victory as they must prepare for a tough weekend of BIG EAST play. UC opens the set with sixth place Connecticut on Friday night, before 18th ranked St. John's visits on Sunday. The Bearcats and Red Storm, along with Louisville enter the weekend in a three-way tie for first place in the BIG EAST standings. St. John's and Louisville are also set to meet this weekend on Saturday afternoon in Louisville.