TicketsNov. 17, 2012
MILWAUKEE - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision (25-16, 25-16, 25-23) to the No. 1 seeded University of Louisville on Saturday afternoon in the semifinal round of the BIG EAST Championship in Milwaukee, Wis.
Senior Jordanne Scott (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North) finished with 9 kills for the Bearcats (12-19), who totaled 33 for the match. Junior Emily MacIntyre (Muncie, Ind./Yorktown) contributed 10 digs for UC.
Louisville (27-3) topped the Bearcats in most statistical categories, and finished the match with 50 kills and a .432 hitting percentage. Lola Arslanbekova, the 2012 BIG EAST Player of the Year, finished with a match-high 14 kills and seven digs.
In the third game, after falling behind 2-0 in the match, Cincinnati showed its fight, but could not come away with the win in the end. Louisville opened up a 7-4 lead but the Bearcats clawed their way back. A kill by senior Megan Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Waynce Central), a block by senior Emily Hayden (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) and Turner and two aces by sophomore Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) gave UC a 9-8 lead, its first score advantage of the match. The Bearcats received back-to-back kills from Refenes to expand their lead to 17-14 and force Louisville to call a timeout. The lead grew to 21-17 after a kill by Scott and a Louisville attack error. The Cardinals responded to tie the score at 22-22, and used a couple Cincinnati errors to win the game 25-23.
The Cardinals got on the board first with a 25-16 win in the opening game. Louisville took an early 10-4 lead after scoring six consecutive points, including four kills. The Louisville lead expanded to 21-11 following a kill by Kaitlynn James. The Bearcats tried to come back, using a Hayden kill and a UofL error to climb to within 22-15, but the run would stop there. Cincinnati was unable to handle a kill by Louisville that ended the game 25-16. The Bearcats never score more than two consecutive points throughout the game.
The Bearcats fought early but dropped the second set 25-16 to fall behind 2-0 heading into the intermission. After falling behind 8-6, Scott recorded a kill and a service ace by senior Rachel Rohlfs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Grand Valley State) tied the game at 8-8. After Louisville broke out a 12-9 lead, the Bearcats again tied the score at 12-12 following two Louisville errors and a block by Hayden and Turner. Louisville once again responded with three straight points to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. The Cardinals finished the game on a 9-2 scoring run, for the final tally of 25-16.
Cincinnati will finish the season with a match at Miami (Ohio) on Sat., Nov. 24 at 4 p.m.
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