Freshman Ciara Hill Records 11 Kills in Opening Match of UC Invitational

3 BUTLER (1-0) Rank: NR/NR	1ST 2ND 3RD 25 25 25 17 23 22 Box Score Final Stats Cincinnati, Ohio • Attendance: 303	0 CINCINNATI (0-1) Rank: NR/NR

STATS COMPARISON Kills 40 38 Errors 23 6 Total Attacks 126 97 Attack Pct. .135 .330 Assists 34 37 Digs 48 51 Blocks 2 29 Service Aces 3 3 TEAM LEADERS Hill/Wegman 11 Kills 10 Obert/Kyle Lang 32 Assists 30 Peterson Netisingha 15 Digs 11 Ruffolo Nicholson/Hill 1 Blocks 9 Randich Three tied 1 Aces 2 Randich

Aug 30, 2013

CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team dropped the season-opener 3-0 (17-25, 23-25, 22-25) against Butler University at the UC Invitational played in Fifth Third Arena on Friday afternoon. Freshman Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Il./Bolingbrook) kicked off her collegiate career with 11 kills to pace the Bearcats. The young Cincinnati team played four freshmen in the match.

Cincinnati's best chance to get on the board came in the second set when sophomore Amelia Wegman (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) tallied six kills. The game started positively for UC which got two straight kills from Wegman to take a 5-3 lead. The Bulldogs tied the score at 10-10 until two more Wegman kills put UC ahead 12-10. BU clawed its way back to tie the match at 23-23 before a kill and a block ended the set at 25-23 and gave Butler a 2-0 lead in the match. Junior Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic) added 13 assists to the Bearcats' effort in the game.

UC dropped the final set 25-22 to end the match, but they did not go down without a fight. After finding themselves down 17-15, the Bearcats employed a 5-point rally to come from behind and take a 20-17 lead. Hill had three kills during the run and paced Cincinnati throughout the game. The UC run forced Butler into two timeouts, but the Bulldogs charged back to score the final three points of the match and win 25-22 to end the match.

Butler jumped out an early 6-2 lead in the first set and never looked back. The Bulldogs won the opening stanza by a score of 25-17 despite four kills from junior Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill/Belleville Althoff).

Wegman and Hill each totaled 11 kills, tying a career high for Wegman and setting a career high for Hill. Nischolson contributed eight kills while redshirt freshman Alison Kimmel (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield North) added six. Lang dished out 32 assists, one shy of her career best while junior Jamie Netisingha recorded a career-high 15 digs.

The Bearcats will be back in action at 7 p.m. this evening when they continue the UC Invitational and host the Tennessee Volunteers in Fifth Third Arena. UT topped Morehead State 3-2 to open the tournament earlier this morning.

-GoBEARCATS.com-