TicketsOct. 7, 2012
CINCINNATI - Jordanne Scott led all hitters with 21 kills as the University of Cincinnati volleyball team topped Seton Hall 3-2 (25-20, 19-25, 24-26, 25-15, 15-13) on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats (6-13, 4-2 BIG EAST) outhit the Pirates (15-4, 3-3 BIG EAST) 72 kills to 59. They also recorded a higher hitting percentage, .226 to .217.
Cincinnati established a balanced offense throughout the match, and five players recorded double-digit kills. Senior Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) led all scorers with 21, sophomore Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) had a career-high 15, senior Becca Refenes (Westland, Mich./Lutheran Westland) had 13, freshman Amelia Wegman (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) had a career-high 11 and senior Emily Hayden (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) had 10.
Defensively, junior Emily MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) recorded a match-high 28 digs while Refenes added 16 for her fourth double-double of the year. The Bearcats recorded 9.0 blocks in the match, including a career-high eight block assists from Nicholson.
Senior Rachel Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Grand Valley State) contributed a match-high 47 assists for the Bearcats.
In the deciding fifth game, Cincinnati went on a three-point run to take a 7-6 lead. The Bearcats never looked back, holding their lead throughout the final game. On UC's third match point, Refenes ended it with a strong kill. It was the first five-set victory for the Bearcats this season.
Uc got on the board first to open the match with a 25-20 victory in game one. With the game tied at 10-10, the Bearcats employed five consecutive points, including back-to-back-to-back kills from Hayden to take a 15-10 lead and force a Seton Hall timeout. The lead grew to 21-14 on a block from Nicholson and Refenes and the Bearcats closed out the game 25-20 on a kill from Scott. Scott led all hitters with six kills in the game while the team recorded 19 kills and had a .350 hitting percentage.
Seton Hall picked up the game victory in the second, winning 25-19. Cincinnati found itself down 22-17 after four consecutive Seton Hall points put the Pirates ahead late in the game. The Bearcats recorded two more points off of two SHU errors, but a kill by Shelbey Manthhorpe ended the game at 25-19 and tied the match at 1-1.
The Pirates took a 2-1 match lead after game three when they won 26-24. Seton Hall jumped out to an 11-8 lead before three straight Bearcat points, including a block from Nicholson and Scott and a kill from Nicholson, tied the score at 11-11. SHU regained the lead and used a kill by Stacey Manthorpe to take a 20-15 advantage, but UC climbed back to within one at 23-22 after a Refenes kill. The Bearcats fought off two Pirate set points and tied the game at 24-24 on a kill by Wegman but a Seton Hall kill and a Cincinnati error gave SHU the 26-24 win.
The Bearcats evened the score at 2-2 after a decisive 25-15 victory in game four. With the score tied at 10-10, the Bearcats ran off four straight points to take a 14-10 advantage. Cincinnati received two kills from Refenes and Wegman and a Refenes ace during the run. After a SHU kill cut the UC lead to 17-14, the Bearcats rattled off six consecutive points, including four kills by four different players, to take a 23-14 lead. On game point, Refenes sent a kill over the net to give UC the 25-15 win. Scott recorded six kills in the game to lead the team.
The Bearcats will be back in action on Fri., Oct. 12 when they travel to Storrs, Conn. , to take on the University of Connecticut Huskies in a BIG EAST matchup. The next home match for the Bearcats is an Oct. 28 matchup against conference No. 17 Louisville in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. The match will start at 1 p.m.
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