TicketsAug. 27, 2009
UC OPENS SEASON AT UTAH CLASSIC: Cincinnati begins its defense of its 2008 BIG EAST regular-season championship when it heads to Salt Lake City Aug. 28-29 for the Utah Classic. The tournament will be played on the University of Utah campus, and the No. 17 Utes welcome the University of California-Riverside and Arizona State in addition to the Bearcats. Tournament play begins at 7 p.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 28, when UC meets UC-Riverside, before Utah hosts Arizona State in the nightcap. On Day 2, UC takes on Arizona State at 2 p.m. EDT and then squares off with the nationally-ranked Utes at 9 p.m. EDT.
ABOUT THE UTES: Tournament host Utah welcomes back 10 returning letterwinners from last year's squad that went 26-6 and won a Mountain West Conference regular-season title. The Utes were recently picked to win the 2009 Mountain West Title when they edged out Colorado State by three votes in the 2009 Mountain West Preseason Coaches' Poll. Karolina Bartkowiak is the top returner for Utah after averaging 2.01 kills per set and 0.77 bps, while hitting .354 last season. An all-MWC selection last season, Bartkowiak was named to the 2009 Preseason All-MWC Team.
THE SERIES WITH UTAH: Saturday's meeting with Utah will be the first meeting between the schools.
ABOUT THE SUN DEVILS: Arizona State begins its second season under head coach Jason Watson after finishing with a 13-18 in 2008. Watson brought in the No. 25 recruiting class according to Prepvolleyball.com and combined with 11 returning letterwinners, the Sun Devils look to improve upon their eighth-place Pac-10 finish a year ago.
THE SERIES WITH ARIZONA STATE: Cincinnati is 0-2 against the Sun Devils all-time, including a 3-1 loss in Tempe, Ariz., in 2008. The other loss against ASU came in 2002 when UC fell 3-2 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
ABOUT THE HIGHLANDERS: After 40 years of coaching the women's volleyball program, Sue Gozansky stepped down after the end of last season and the Highlanders went out and hired Ran Larsen, who spent the last four years as the top assistant for the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team. Larsen inherits a team that finished 8-23 overall last season and 3-13 in the Big West Conference.
THE SERIES WITH UC-RIVERSIDE: Friday's meeting with UC-Riverside will be the first meeting between the schools.
UC PICKED TO FINISH IN A TIE FOR SECOND; NIEMER, FESL EARN PRESEASON HONORS: One year after capturing a share of the BIG EAST Conference regular-season championship, the University of Cincinnati volleyball team was picked to finish in a tie for second place in the 2009 BIG EAST Coaches' Preseason Poll, joining the University of Notre Dame with 178 votes. The University of Louisville was chosen as the preseason favorite with a 186 votes and the Cardinals earned six of 15 first place votes. Notre Dame garnered five first-place votes compared to four for UC. Last season, Cincinnati was picked third in the 2008 preseason poll. Cincinnati junior outside hitter Stephanie Niemer (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry) and junior setter Annie Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) represented the Bearcats on the all-preseason team. Niemer, who was a first-team all-BIG EAST selection last season, was one of four players to be unanimously selected to the all-preseason team, joining USF's Marcela Gurgel, and Louisville's Lecia Brown and Justine Landi. Fesl was a second-team all-BIG EAST recipient in 2008.
RECRUITING CLASS RANKED 29TH ACCORDING TO PREPVOLLEYBALL.COM : Cincinnati had its recruiting class ranked in the Top 30 in the country according to Prepvolleyball.com . The group of middle blocker Jordanne Scott, middle blocker Emily
Hayden, setter/right side Megan Turner, middle blocker Becca Refenes, and defensive specialist Karen Onuki give the Bearcats the No. 29 recruiting class for 2009. Scott, Hayden, and Turner all rank in the Top 150 on Prepvolleyball.com's Senior Aces list, led by Scott and Hayden, who rank No. 61 and No. 74, respectively. Head Coach Reed Sunahara has now brought in a Top 30 recruiting class for the second straight year after having his 2008 class ranked No. 15.
LOOK WHO'S BACK: UC returns six letterwinners from last year's BIG EAST Championship squad and of those six returners, there is just one senior in libero Jaime Frey. Juniors Stephanie Niemer, Annie Fesl, Lindsay Upton, and Julie Guenther are all entering their third season with the UC program. Niemer is a two-time all-BIG EAST performer that garnered first-team honors and Fesl was a second-team all-conference performer in 2008. Additionally, sophomore Missy Harpenau returns to her outside hitter position after having a solid freshman campaign where she averaged over 2.0 kills per game, 2.0 digs per game, and 0.60 blocks per set.
FOLLOW UC VOLLEYBALL AND HEAD COACH Reed Sunahara ON TWITTER: Fans can follow the Cincinnati volleyball team and head coach Reed Sunahara on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Cincinnativball and www.twitter.com/ReedSunahara.