TicketsAug 30, 2013
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 3 TENNESSEE (2-0) Rank: NR/NR |
Cincinnati, Ohio • Attendance: 733 |  0 CINCINNATI (0-2) Rank: NR/NR | ||||||||||||
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CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) decision to the University of Tennessee during the nightcap of the UC Invitational played in Fifth Third Arena. Freshman Mallory Blauser (Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock Christian Academy) led all Bearcats hitters with a career-high eight kills.
With the victory, UT advances to 2-0 on the season while UC falls to 0-2. Despite the loss, the Bearcats held Tennessee to just a .140 hitting percentage and forced 121 attacking errors from their opponents. The Bearcats finished the night with 34 kills, 34 assists, 57 digs and 6 blocks.
The Bearcats built a lot of momentum and jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the second game, thanks in part to three kills from Blauser. The lead extended to 11-6 following a block by freshman Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and junior Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) that forced the Lady Vols to burn a timeout. Tennessee worked to tie the score at 20-20 and the teams traded points until Tennessee pulled ahead on a pair of kills and took the victory 25-22. Blauser ended the set with five kills with a .300 attacking percentage while junior Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic) added 10 assists and four digs.
Tennessee captured a victory in the first game after a hard fight from the Bearcats. After finding itself down 19-11, UC rattled off four straight points to force a UT timeout with the score at 19-15. Cincinnati then used a kill by Hill and back-to-back Tennessee attacking errors to climb to within 23-21 and force yet another Lady Vol timeout. Two UC errors gave Tennessee ended the game at 25-21 and gave UT a 1-0 match advantage.
The Lady Vols used a 6-1 scoring run in the third game to propel them to a 25-19 victory. The win sealed a 3-0 match win for the Tennessee.
The Bearcats will close out the UC Invitational on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. when they match up against Morehead State in Fifth Third Arena. The Eagles suffered two defeats on the first day of the tournament and are also searching for their first victory of the season.
-GoBEARCATS.com-