TicketsOct. 4, 2009
CINCINNATI - Freshmen Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) and Megan Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) combined for 22 kills and hit .364 to lead the University of Cincinnati volleyball team to a 3-0 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena. With the win, Cincinnati improved to 3-0 in BIG EAST Conference play, while West Virginia fell to 1-3 in the conference.
Scott finished with a match-high 12 kills and added three blocks, while Turner added 10 kills, marking her third consecutive performance with 10-plus kills.
Six ties occurred early in the opening set, with the last at 8-8, before two WVU errors, a freshman Becca Refenes (Westland, Mich./Lutheran Westland) ace and a sophomore Missy Harpenau (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) kill placed UC in front 12-8. After a UC service error dropped the Bearcats lead to three points, 13-10, a junior Stephanie Niemer (Erlanger, Ky./St. Henry) kill started a six-point run that saw Cincinnati up its lead to nine points, 19-10. That nine-point margin stayed intact as UC took the first set, 25-16.
After a decisive first-set triumph, UC started sluggish in the second set and West Virginia opened up an 11-8 lead courtesy of four Cincinnati errors. The WVU lead reached as many as four points, 18-14, before kills by Niemer and Refenes sparked a UC comeback. Trailing by one point, 21-20, consecutive kills by Scott gave Cincinnati a 22-21 advantage, its first lead since leading 2-1. Tied at 23, a WVU attack error and a Harpenau service ace completed the comeback and gave the Bearcats the 25-23 triumph.
WVU jumped out to a 5-2 lead out of the 10-minute intermission before the Bearcats battled back to take their first lead of the set at 12-11. Tied at 15, a Mountaineer attack error precluded a Turner kill moving UC in front 17-15. After an exchange of side outs, another Turner kill followed by back-to-back West Virginia attack errors extended the lead to 21-17. Scott ended the match with consecutive kills, which sealed the 25-19 third-set triumph.
Harpenau posted a match-high 19 digs, falling one dig shy of her career high.
UC begins a four-match road swing on Friday, Oct. 10, when it travels to Notre Dame for a match-up on conference unbeatens. The match is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. EDT. Following the match against the Irish, UC plays at DePaul at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11.