TicketsNov. 9, 2012
CINCINNATI - Seniors Jordanne Scott and Emily Hayden each recorded career-highs, but it was not enough as the University of Cincinnati volleyball team fell 3-2 to Notre Dame Friday evening in South Bend, Ind. The Bearcats held a 2-0 match lead before the Irish stormed back to win in five sets.
"What it comes down to is that we executed a game plan extremely well in the first two sets and didn't to close the match" said head coach Molly Alvey. "We controlled the first two sets and Notre Dame made a lot of adjustments in the third set and we did not adjust well. We put on a blocking exhibition in early, but our blocking broke down a bit as the match went on. We also did not side out very well.
"I think that Emily Hayden struggled early but fought back to play a pretty solid attacking game" Alvey said. "She also contributed eight blocks for us. Overall, Jordanne played a pretty consistent match as well, leading our team with 22 digs."
Senior Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) led the Bearcats with 20 kills and led all players with a career-high 22 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Senior Emily Hayden (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) added 13 kills and tied a career-high with eight blocks and senior Rachel Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Grand Valley State) collected her third double-double of the season with 36 assists and 10 digs. Junior Emily MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) had 20 digs for the Bearcats while freshman Amelia Wegman (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) finished with a career-high six digs.
Overall, Cincinnati (10-17, 9-5 BIG EAST) recorded 56 kills and a .182 hitting percentage. The Bearcats tallied 70 digs and hit a season-low three service errors in the match. Notre Dame (20-6, 13-1 BIG EAST) had 65 kills and hit at a .227 clip.
With the win, the Fighting Irish remain atop the BIG EAST standings with one match left in the season. The Bearcats drop to fifth in the rankings, one game behind Connecticut.
Cincinnati opened the match with a 25-17 win in the first game. UC got off to a hot start, scoring the first five points behind three blocks. Hayden and Scott each connected on a solo block and teamed up for another to go ahead 5-0 and force a Notre Dame timeout early in the match. UC pushed the lead to 13-6 following three consecutive points, including kills by Scott and Hayden and another Hayden block, and held at least a four-point lead for the remainder of the game. A kill by senior Megan Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) gave the Bearcats the 25-17 victory. Scott finished the game with five kills, five digs and two blocks while Hayden added three kills and three blocks.
The Bearcats' lead grew to 2-0 after a 25-22 win in game No. 2. A kill by MacIntyre put UC ahead 17-9, but the Bearcats had to endure an 11-3 run by the Irish, which tied the game at 20-20. With the score notched at 22-22, Scott took over with back-to-back kills to give her team a 24-22 lead before a ND error gave Cincinnati the final score of 25-22. Scott finished the set with six kills for the Bearcats.
The Fighting Irish got on the board in the third game, winning 25-22. With the score tied at 12-12, ND went on a four-point scoring run to take a 16-12 lead. The deficit grew to 20-14 following a Notre Dame ace, and the Bearcats would remain behind through the rest of the set. A kill by Andrea McHugh gave The Irish the final margin of 25-22 and sent the match into game No. 4.
Notre Dame tied the match at 2-2 after winning 25-16 in the fourth game. With the game tied at 12-12, ND went on a 7-0 scoring run to take a 19-12 lead and never looked back. A kill and a block gave the Irish the final tally of 25-16 to end the game and send the match into a deciding fifth set.
Notre Dame finished the match strong in the fifth game, winning 15-8. The Irish jumped ahead 10-4 on a kill by Toni Alugbue and remained in steady control for the duration of the match. Cincinnati could only muster three kills in the game (two by Hayden and one by Nicholson) compared to 11 for Notre Dame.
The Bearcats will close out regular-season BIG EAST play on Sun., Nov. 11 when they travel to No. 11 Louisville. The match will begin at noon and will be played in Cardinal Arena on the UofL campus
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