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CINCINNATI - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team sent its seniors out in style with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-21) win over East Carolina University on Sunday afternoon in the team's home finale. Cincinnati celebrated the careers of seniors Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic), Jamie Netisingha (Westmont, Ill./Hinsdale Central) and Me'Ashah Nicholson (Shiloh, Ill./Belleville Althoff) in a postmatch Senior Day ceremony.
The Bearcats got large contributions from all seniors on Sunday. Nicholson led all players with 12 kills in the match and only two errors for a .467 hitting percentage. Lang collected a match-high 31 assists and 14 digs while Netisingha collected five digs in the match, moving her up two places in the all-time UC single season record book.
// Notables
- With the win, Cincinnati is now to 15-15 on the season and 7-11 in the American Athletic Conference while ECU falls to 15-14 and 6-12.
- With her 5 digs against ECU, Netisingha has a total of 524 digs on the year, moving her into fifth on the UC individual season record book. She is 36 digs behind Emmi MacIntyre who had 560 digs in 2011.
- Lang led the team in both assists (31) and digs (14) for her team-leading seventh double-double of the year.
- Freshman Cortnee Bowser (Kent, Ohio/Theodore Roosevelt) hit nine kills without committing an error for a .643 hitting percentage. She also added a team-high four blocks to her effort.
- All 11 players who saw action against ECU recorded at least one dig in the match, a feat the team has not accomplished since the first match of the season against Duquesne on Aug. 29. In addition to Lang's 14 digs, junior Morgan Allred (Carrolton, Texas/Hebron) (nine), freshman Macie Pifer (Euclid, Ohio/Beaumont) (seven), junior Emma Roberson (Brooks, Ky./Evansville) (five) and Netisingha (five) all had strong defensive games for Cincinnati.
- Cincinnati recorded nearly 20 more kills than the Pirates, topping ECU 49 to 28. The Bearcats also won the battle of assists (45 to 26), digs (5 to 43) and service aces (six to four). The teams tied with 7.0 blocks apiece.
// Set Breakdown
Set 1: UC 25, ECU 23
- The Bearcats broke a 16-16 tie with three straight points, including a kill by Nicholson and a block by Allred and Bowser, to go ahead 19-16 and force an ECU timeout.
- With the Bearcats serving for set point at 24-20, the Pirates recorded three straight points to get within 24-23 and push the Bearcats into a timeout.
- Out of the timeout, sophomore Ciara Hill (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) hit a kill down the line, assisted by Lang, to score the game-winning point at 25-23 and give UC a 1-0 match lead.
Set 2: UC 25, ECU 13
- The Bearcats put on a dominating performance in the second set, recording 14 kills with a .355 hitting percentage.
- Cincinnati enlisted three separate runs of at least three points, including a four-point run that included kills by Hill and Nicholson, to go ahead 18-10.
- A kill by Allred, a solo block by Hill and an ECU attacking error got the Bearcats to 25-13 for the set victory.
Set 3: UC 25, ECU 21
- The teams traded points until back-to-back kills by Hill and Lang put the Bearcats ahead 15-13.
- A UC attacking error re-tied the score at 19-19, but the Bearcats scored six of the last eight points, with kills by Nicholson, Hill and Allred, to win the set 25-21 and win the match 3-0.
- UC got four kills apiece from Nicholson, Bowser and Hill in the set.
// Up Next
The Bearcats close out the 2014 season with two matches on the road in the Sunshine State. UC faces UCF in Orlando at 5 p.m., on Wednesday, Nov. 26, and will head to Tampa to play USF at 2 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 28.
// Follow the Bearcats
For all of the latest information on Cincinnati volleyball, please visit GoBEARCATS.com. For up to the minute updates, follow Cincinnati Volleyball (@cincinnativball) and Coach Alvey (@CoachAlveyUC) on twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Facebook and Instagram.
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