TicketsAug. 29, 2010
SAN DIEGO - In the championship match of the Aztec Invitational, the University of Cincinnati volleyball team fell short against tournament host San Diego State University, 3-0, Saturday evening at Peterson Gym. The loss was Cincinnati's first of the season as UC fell to 2-1, while San Diego State improved to 3-0.
Senior Stephanie Niemer led Cincinnati with 14 kills, hit .326, and collected 10 digs for her second double-double of the season en route being named to the Aztec Invitational All-Tournament Team. In addition to Niemer, junior Missy Harpenau also earned Aztec Invitational All-Tournament Team accolades.
In the first set, Cincinnati looked to have control as UC used a balanced attack to take a 17-10 lead. However, The Aztecs made a rally of their own and tied the set at 19. Two more ties ensued before a pair of San Diego State kills and a Cincinnati error helped the Aztecs take a 24-21 advantage. A Niemer kill briefly prolonged the set, but a kill by SDSU's Paije Pearson gave San Diego State a 25-22 come-from-behind opening-set victory.
Similar to the first set, the second set remained back-and-forth with Cincinnati holding on to a lead as late as 23-22 courtesy of a Niemer service ace. On their home floor, the Aztecs used consecutive kills to jump back in front, 24-23, before a block closed out a 25-23 second-set triumph that put UC in a two sets to none hole.
Out of the intermission, Cincinnati had its opportunities to get back into the match after taking a two-point lead late in the set at 23-21. Unfortunately for the Bearcats, consecutive attack errors knotted the set at 23 but UC remained resilient and used a kill from Niemer to give itself an opportunity to move the match to a fourth set. San Diego State responded with a kill, and forced consecutive UC attack errors to close out the three-set win with a 26-24 third-set win.
Harpenau joined Niemer as the only two UC players to register double figure kills with 11 and fell just shy of a double-double with nine digs. Freshman Emily MacIntyre led the squad with 14 digs.
The Bearcats have a quick turnaround and head up the California Coast to play UC Santa Barbara on Monday, Aug. 30, at 10 p.m. EDT.