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DALLAS - The University of Cincinnati volleyball team responded from a lackadaisical opening set to produce a competitive match, falling in a hard-fought 3-1 match (15-25, 25-22, 22-25, 24-26) to SMU in Dallas, Texas.
Senior Jamie Netisingha (Westmont, Ill./Hinsdale Central) led the Bearcats with a match-high 29 digs, one shy of her career high.
Offensively, junior Emma Roberson (Brooks, Ky./Evansville) paved the way, recording a match-high 20 kills to go along with five digs and two blocks.
SMU sits in third place in the American Athletic Conference standings with a strong 21-5 overall record.
// Notables
- With the loss, Cincinnati is now to 13-13 on the season and 5-9 in the American while SMU improves to 21-5 and 10-4.
- Netisingha's 29 digs means she has collected double-digit digs in all but two matches this season. She also surpassed the 20-dig mark for 11th time this season.
- Roberson's 20 kills means she has tallied double-digit kills in 21 matches this year.
- Sophomore Lindsey Dinkelacker (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Louis) tallied her first-career double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.
- Senior Madi Lang (Commerce Township, Mich./Florida Atlantic) produced 27 assists and 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, and fourth consecutive.
// Alvey's Additions
"We played a very hard-fought match" head coach Molly Alvey said. "I felt like we competed today from start to finish, you can see that by the scores. We definitely got better today. You could feel the competitive fight and overall, it was a really good match."
// Set Breakdown
Set 1: SMU 25, UC 15
- SMU doubled up Cincinnati at 19-8 before Coach Alvey called her second timeout of the set.
- Cincinnati scored four straight points, including kills by Roberson, freshman Christine Chandler (Milford, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) and Dinkelacker to cut the lead to 20-13, but a strong SMU kill by Abby Bybel ended the game at 25-15.
Set 2: UC 25, SMU 22
- Three straight kills from Roberson to open the game gave the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.
- Back-to-back blocks from the freshman tandem of Chandler and Maya Muldrow (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) put the Bearcats ahead 13-10 and a run of five straight points gave the Bearcats an 18-11 advantage.
- With the Bearcats holding a 21-14 lead, SMU rallied for six straight to get within 21-20, forcing a UC timeout.
- Out of the timeout, a kill by Chandler, a block by Bowser and Allred and another kill by Allred gave UC a 24-21 lead, while an SMU attack error won the set for the Bearcats at 25-22.
Set 3: SMU 25, UC 22
- The teams played evenly through the opening of the set until SMU scored off two UC attack errors to take a 13-11 lead and force the Bearcats into a timeout.
- While trailing 15-12, the Bearcats got back to even with three consecutive points off kills by Dinkelacker and Allred and a Mustang error.
- Kills by Bowser and Dinkelacker tied the score at 21-21 and a kill by Chandler made the score 22-22 before three straight points by SMU pushed the Mustangs to the 25-22 third-set win.
Set 4: SMU 26, UC 24
- The Mustangs took a 14-10 lead, forcing Coach Alvey into a timeout, but the Bearcats responded with four points out of the break to tie the score at 14-14.
- Back-to-back kills by Roberson and Bowser tied the score at 21-21 and caused an SMU timeout.
- Out of the timeout, SMU score two quick points off two UC blocking errors to take a 23-21 lead.
- A point later, SMU was serving for the match, but Cincinnati scored three points in a row off a Mustang service error and kills by Chandler and Bowser to tie the score at 24-24.
- A kill by SMU's Bybel and an unfortunate service ace off the net gave SMU the 26-24 win in the fourth game and a 3-1 match victory.
// Up Next
The Bearcats return to Fifth Third Arena for a pair of American matches next weekend. UC will host Tulane at 4 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 14, and will face Houston at 1 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 16.
// 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.
// Ticket Information
Season tickets for all 15 home matches can be purchased for as little $10. For more information, visit GoBEARCATS.com/tickets or call 1-877-CATS-TIX.
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