TicketsSept. 10, 2013
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 3 WESTERN KENTUCKY (5-3) Rank: 21 |
Bowling Green, Ky. • Attendance: 845 |  0 CINCINNATI (0-7) Rank: NR | ||||||||||||
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BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-14) decision to No. 21 Western Kentucky University on Tuesday night at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky.
The Bearcats (0-7) were outmanned in almost every part of play on a night where the Hilltoppers (5-3) could seemingly do nothing wrong. Western produced a .459 hitting percentage on 42 kills and only hit eight errors on the night.
Cincinnati spread out its offense throughout the evening, with five players registering at least three kills. Sophomore Morgan Allred (Carrolton, Texas/Hebron) produced team highs with four kills and four digs. Freshmen Breanna Barksdale (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake), Mallory Blauser (Round Rock, Texas/Round Rock Christian Academy) and Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and sophomore Amelia Wegman (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) each added three kills to the Bearcats' efforts.
UC dropped the opening set by a score of 25-15. Blauser had three early kills to score the first three points for the Bearcats but the visitors could never manage to build momentum. WKU jumped ahead 6-3 following four consecutive points and the Hilltoppers scored multiple points at a time on seven occasions in the first game. Noelle Langenkamp's fifth kill of the game emphatically ended it at 25-15.
Western raced to a 9-0 lead to begin the second game, using a combination of kills, blocks, aces and UC errors to put the pressure on the Bearcats early. Freshman setter Kristin Conor finally ended the string of WKU points with a dump over the net for a kill, but it was too little, too late for UC. The Bearcats out-blocked the Toppers 3-2 in the game, including two by junior Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff), but were out-hit 13 kills to four en route to a 25-10 final score.
Allred collected three kills to pace the Bearcats in the final game but Western Kentucky closed out the match with a 25-14 score.
No. 21 WKU represented the second ranked opponent in as many matches for Cincinnati. The Bearcats dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 24 North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 7 as part of the Bobcat Invitational. UC has three upcoming matches against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the current ACVA poll.
UC's next competition will come in the way of the UC Invitational II, which it will host on Sept. 13-14. The Bearcats will welcome Navy, Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky to Fifth Third Arena to play a total of six matches. UC will kick off the tournament at 11:30 a.m. on Friday when it faces the Midshipmen of Navy. It also will match up against Cleveland State at 7 p.m. on Friday and Northern Kentucky at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
-GoBEARCATS.com-