TicketsAug. 24, 2012
CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team held tight but lost its season opener, falling 3-0 (23-25, 18-25, 20-25) to No. 10 Iowa State University on Friday in Knoxville, Tenn., as part of the ComCast Lady Vol Classic. Senior Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) led all players with 18 kills while junior Emily MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) recorded 16 digs.
"We played good volleyball today" said head coach Molly Alvey. "We looked good, we just need to work on producing more kills and serving tougher. Iowa State is a very good team. They have great ball control and a very good setter, which is hard to defend because they are working in their system the majority of the time. But overall, I am extremely pleased with the baseline of where we started the season. "
The Bearcats (0-1) opened the match strong, taking an early lead on the Cyclones (1-0) with an assisted block by senior Becca Refenes (Westland, Mich./Lutheran Westland) and sophomore Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff). They pushed their advantage to 15-9 on a kill by Nicholson, one of her career-high five in the match, before Iowa State tied the set at 22 apiece. ISU ended the first set with two straight kills for the 25-23 margin. Senior Rachel Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Grand Valley State) produced 14 of her 34 assists in the first set.
In the second set, Cincinnati matched Iowa State point-for-point to begin play. While trailing 8-6, back-to-back kills from Scott and Refenes tied the set, 8-8 and another assisted block from the Refenes/Nicholson duo gave the Bearcats a 10-9 lead. A scoring surge gave ISU a 24-15 advantage, but the Bearcats denied the Cyclones set point for three consecutive points. Refenes and Nicholson blocked an attempted kill from ISU's Rachel Hockaday and Scott sent a kill over the net to close the margin to 24-18 before Iowa State finally connected for the 25-18 set victory.
The third set was much of the same, with the Bearcats gaining the early advantage and giving the tenth-ranked team a tough fight. A kill by Scott gave UC an 8-7 lead, but back-to-back kills by Iowa State's Victoria Hurtt gave the Cyclones a lead that they ultimately would not relinquish. The match ended with an ISU kill and a 25-20 tally in the third stanza.
Overall, the Bearcats recorded 37 kills for a .171 attacking percentage. They also combined for 36 assists, 50 digs and nine blocks in the match.
UC will be back in action on Saturday with two matches to conclude the ComCast Lady Vol Classic. It will face No. 15 Tennessee at 10 a.m. and No. 12 Florida State at 5 p.m. The Tennessee match will be live streamed from www.utsports.com and live stats also will be available for both matches.
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