TicketsNov. 11, 2007
CHICAGO---Jessie Nevitt recorded the third-highest single-match hitting percentage in school history, helping Cincinnati sweep DePaul in its BIG EAST finale on Sunday at McGrath Arena. The victory allows Cincinnati to gain a tie for third in the final BIG EAST standings, with its conference championship seed and opponent to be announced later tonight.
Nevitt recorded 18 kills against just one error, hitting .680 on the afternoon as Cincinnati (18-10, 9-5 BIG EAST) was victorious by scores of 30-22, 30-21, 30-21. DePaul's season comes to an end at 7-21, 2-12 BIG EAST.
In addition to her 18 kills, Nevitt also had five blocks, helping the Bearcats to 11 blocks as a team. Nevitt was the only UC player to reach double figures in kills, but the Bearcats did get a career-high six blocks from Lindsay Upton and five from Jessica Elley.
Cincinnati got out of the blocks quick, racing to an 8-4 lead into a DePaul timeout. Out of the early stoppage, UC kept pouring it on, scoring seven of the next nine points as the Blue Demons took a second timeout trailing 15-6. A kill by Nevitt gave the Bearcats their first double-digit lead at 18-8, which proved to be UC's largest lead of game one. DePaul came back within six points when a Jacie Fiedler kill drew the hosts within 24-18. Down the stretch, Stephanie Niemer came up big, dropping three kills to help the Bearcats to a 30-22 win.
Game two was a bit more of a battle with seven tie scores, the last coming at 13. After a block by DePaul's Caitlin Callaghan and Kate Letcher knotted it at 13, Cincinnati scored three straight and seven of the next 10 to take a 20-16 advantage. Leading 24-20, the Bearcats closed the game out strong, using a 5-0 run, culminated by a block by Nevitt and Elley to reach game point. After a UC service error, Elley capped game two with her eighth kill of the day to send UC into the break with a two games to none lead.
DePaul started out game three strong as a Fiedler ace gave the hosts an early 10-7 advantage. The three-point deficit wouldn't last long as the Bearcats ripped off 10 straight points, the last two coming on Niemer aces to take the lead for good at 17-10. DePaul would draw within five points several times late in the going, but Cincinnati scored five of the last six points of the day, ending it on a Nevitt-Elley block to complete the sweep.
UC libero Jaime Frey had another big day defensively, leading all players with 19 digs. Jenny Custer and Annie Fesl added three blocks apiece, while the latter also handed out 39 assists.
DePaul got nine kills each from Callaghan and Charla Drabant, but the latter hit just .042 for the afternoon. Maureen Zigulich led the defense with 12 digs, while Kate Letcher had four blocks.
Notes
- Lindsay Upton's six blocks matched a career-high established two other times this season.
- Jessie Nevitt passed UC assistant coach Myanna Hellsten for ninth place on the career kills list with 1,084. Nevitt has 13 more than Hellsten.
- Nevitt's .680 hitting percentage was the third-highest ever recorded by a Bearcat, behind only Annisa Blosser (.793, 1994) and Shauntel Miller (.760, 2000).
- Jaime Frey took over eighth place on UC's single season digs list with 457. She passed Trish Ladusaw.
- After finishing the BIG EAST slate with 9-5 mark, UC has now won at least nine conference matches in 12 consecutive seasons.