TicketsSept. 25, 2009
VILLANOVA, Pa. - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team began its defense of its 2008 BIG EAST Conference regular-season title on Friday evening and picked up right where it left off with a three-set win (25-15, 25-23, 25-23) at Villanova. Cincinnati (10-6; 1-0 BIG EAST) picked up its first road win of the season, while Villanova fell to 11-3 overall.
Junior Stephanie Niemer (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry) led UC with 13 kills, while freshman Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) impressed in her conference debut with 10 kills en route to a .474 hitting percentage.
UC got off to a tremendous start as three service aces by freshman Becca Refenes (Westland, Mich./Lutheran Westland) and a pair of kills by Scott helped the Bearcats sprint out to a 7-1 lead, forcing Villanova to burn an early timeout. A block by Niemer and Scott precluded consecutive Niemer kills, giving Cincinnati its largest lead of the set to that point, 13-4. Cincinnati continued to keep the pressure on and down the stretch, two kills by Scott sealed the 25-15 opening-set triumph for UC.
After a slow start to the second set, three kills by Niemer coupled with a junior Annie Fesl (Arlington Heights, Ill./John Hersey) service ace catapulted UC in front, 11-7, resulting in a Wildcats timeout. Three consecutive Bearcats points out of the timeout pushed the lead to 14-7, but Villanova crept back within three points, 17-14, courtesy of a four-point run forcing a UC timeout. Cincinnati's lead ballooned back to five points, before the Wildcats fought all the way back to take a 23-22 lead, its first lead since leading 5-4. Trailing by one point, UC went to Niemer and she delivered the set-tying kill, before a freshman Megan Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) kill and a Fesl service ace gave the Bearcats the 25-23 second-set victory.
Unlike the first two sets, the third set was tight from start to finish. Neither team took a lead of more than two points throughout the entire set. Tied at 23, the Bearcats went to their go-to player in Niemer and she delivered a kill to give UC match-point. During the next point, an attack error from the back row gave Cincinnati the hard-fought 25-23 win.
Defensively, senior Jaime Frey (Cincinnati, Ohio/Roger Bacon) paced the Bearcats defense with a match-high 12 digs.
The Bearcats conclude their six-match road trip on Tuesday, Sept. 29, when it travels to Dayton for a 7 p.m. match at the Frericks Center. Following the mid-week tilt with the Flyers, UC returns home for a pair of BIG EAST Conference matches against Pittsburgh and West Virginia.