TicketsSept. 20, 2013
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 3 DUQUESNE (6-5) Rank: NR |
Jenison Field House • East Lansing, Mich.
|  1 CINCINNATI (0-11) Rank: NR | |||||||||||||||
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CINCINNATI - Freshman Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and junior Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) recorded 12 and 11 kills, respectively, but it was not enough as the University of Cincinnati volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-13, 25-17) to Duquesne University on Friday evening as part of the Auto Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Mich.
The Bearcats registered 39 kills and dished out 38 assists while teaming up for 10 blocks and 38 digs on the day. Junior Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic) led the charge with 25 assists while junior Jamie Netisingha (Westmont, Ill./Hinsdale Central) paced the Bearcats with 12 digs and Nicholson led the team with seven blocks.
After falling behind 1-0 following the first set, the Bearcats got on the scoreboard with a 25-20 win in the second. The Dukes jumped out to a 3-0 lead but the Bearcats responded with five straight points, including three DU errors. Cincinnati scored in bunches throughout the set, tallying at least three points at a time on five occasions. UC got kills by four different players in the game, but it was a block by Nicholson and Lang that gave UC the 25-20 win. Nicholson totaled six kills, three blocks and an ace during the set to lead the Bearcats.
Cincinnati and Duquesne battled in the opening game and the score remained close until a late surge put the Dukes ahead 19-15. UC used two kills from Nicholson and a service ace from sophomore Amelia Wegman (Aurora, Ill./Rosary) during a 5-0 run to go ahead 6-2, but DU responded with five points of their own to take back the lead at 7-6. The score was again tied at 12-12 when Duquesne rallied off a 7-3 run to take its 19-15 margin and held the lead to a 25-20 victory.
With the score tied 1-1 after the intermission, Duquesne dominated its way to easy victories in the remaining two games. The Dukes took a 25-13 win in the third game and won the match on a 25-17 fourth set score.
Cincinnati will continue play in the Spartan Invitational with two matches on Saturday. The Bearcats will face the Eagles of Eastern Michigan at 10 a.m. and will be back to play the host No. 15 Michigan State Spartans at 7:30 p.m.
-GoBEARCATS.com-