TicketsSept. 3, 2011
DENTON, TEXAS - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team beat the University of North Texas Mean Green Saturday evening in straight 3-0 sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-15) to claim the tournament championship.
Senior Missy Harpenau (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mother of Mercy) earned MVP of the tournament after leading the Bearcats, and all players, with 18 kills and a .452 hitting percentage. She was just two kills shy of a career high with this number. Junior Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind. /Lawrence North) joined Harpenau on All-Tournament team after posting 10 kills and a .438 percentage and two block assists. Sophomore Emily MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind. /Yorktown) had a career high 4 aces in the match and a match high 9 digs. Freshman Caylin Mahoney (Fort Worth, Texas/Keller Central) ran the offense well with a match-high 40 assists.
Scott started the third set with two kills for a score of 3-1. A Mean Green timeout was called after the Bearcats continued to stay on top 8-3. Scott slammed down a kill on the 10-foot line for a score of 12-6. Mahoney set Junior Becca Refenes (Westland, Mich. /Lutheran Westland) with no block in the middle and Refenes got the kill for a score of 16-12. Refenes then teamed up with Mahoney for a block a point later 17-12. A Harpenau ace resulted in the last Mean Green timeout at 20-14. After a questionable line call, Scott settled the score with a kill at 22-15. The set and the match belonged to the Bearcats 25-15.
The second set started similar to the first with a tie score of 4-4. The score continued to go point for point until the Mean Green pulled ahead 9-7. MacIntyre recorded an ace and Refenes added a kill to keep the score close at 12-11 in favor of the Mean Green. The Bearcats clawed their way ahead 18-15. The Mean Green got two points, and then MacIntyre went on a serving run to force a UNT timeout at 22-17. Kills by Refenes and sophomore Juliana Behrens (Honolulu, Hawai'i/Punahou School) brought the Bearcats to set point, and then earned another to finish set two 25-18.
The Bearcats were sparked quickly in set one by a block from junior Emily Hayden (Louisville, Ky. /Assumption) and Scott block and a MacIntyre ace with a score of 3-3. The score continued to be tight as Harpenau added two kills to pull the Bearcats ahead 9-7. Three more points were earned as Hayden and Harpenau put two kills down and Refenes came up with a dig for a score of 12-7. The Mean Green fought back to decrease the Bearcats' lead 16-14 which lead to a Bearcat timeout. An overpass by the Mean Green was a gift to the Bearcats as Refenes slammed it back to the other side for a score of 20-17. Harpenau put down four more kills to bring the Bearcats the set win 25-21. In set one alone, she put down an impressive 8 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Head coach Reed Sunahara was happy with the championship, "We've proved ourselves over the last weekend. I thought the girls did a nice job staying focused and coming out to compete. Any time we can beat a ranked team is a big win. We did that with Oklahoma last night. We finished the tournament strong, hopefully this gives us momentum going into Hawai'i and we'll see what happens."
The Bearcats travel tomorrow for a long flight to Honolulu, Hawai'i. They will be there for a week until Thursday when they begin the Rainbow Classic against Pacific at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time.