Tickets// FIRST SERVE
The 2017 volleyball season gets underway this weekend for the University of Cincinnati with the Bearcats hitting the road and heading to Lexington, Ky., for three matches in the Bluegrass Battle, including two matches Friday and one Saturday. The Bearcats, coming off a 2016 season in which they posted a 22-10 record and reached the NCAA tournament, will face #23 Utah at 1 p.m. and Arkansas State at 6 p.m. Friday inside Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum before facing the host and #14-ranked Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
// FOLLOW US
For up to the minute updates, follow UC Volleyball (@GoBearcatsVB) and Coach Alvey (@CoachAlveyUC) on Twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Facebook (GoBearcatsVB) and Instagram (GoBearcatsVB).
// GOING LIVE
Live stats will be available for all three matches this weekend through UKAthletics.com. Also, Saturday's match with the Wildcats will be streamed on the SEC Network+ through the WatchESPN app. Dick Gabriel and Kathy DeBoer will be the on-air talent during the broadcast from Lexington.
// LOTS RETURNING
Following a 17-3 campaign and runner-up finish in the American Athletic Conference last year, several members of the program were honored by the league with nearly all those honorees returning in 2017. Returning this year are Jordan Thompson, the AAC Player of the Year, Jade Tingelhoff, the AAC Setter of the Year, and Carly Nolan, who, along with Thompson and Tingelhoff, was named First Team All-Conference. The lone honoree not returning to reigning AAC Coach of the Year Molly Alvey's lineup is Second Team All-Conference Ciara Hill, who was a senior last year.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART I
During the 2017 season, the Bearcats will play their home matches at St. Ursula Academy's Gymnasium and Convocation Center, which is located just two miles from campus, while an $87 million renovation of Fifth Third Arena continues to progress. The Bearcats will play nine home matches this year with the first coming September 29 with Tulsa coming to town.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART II
Not only will the Bearcats play in a new venue, they also will play a new conference foe as the Shockers of Wichita State have joined the league this year. The teams met last year in a match at WSU with the Bearcats scoring a 3-1 victory. The match marked the first time the two programs had played one another and are now scheduled to meet twice this season (once in Wichita and once in Cincinnati). Similar to the Bearcats (11), the Shockers have made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2016 event, and have been selected to win the AAC this year, just three points ahead of UC in the preseason poll (see next note).
// PRESEASON HONORS
Heading into the season, the Bearcats are once again viewed as one of the teams to beat in the American Athletic Conference as the league coaches picked UC to finish second in a very close race with AAC debutante Wichita State. The Shockers received 116 points and seven first-place votes while the Bearcats tallied 113 points and the remaining five first-place votes. Individually, Thompson was a unanimous selection as the AAC Preseason Player of the year and joined both Tingelhoff and Nolan as preseason all-conference honorees with Tingelhoff earning a spot on the list as well.
// FACING THE TOP 25
This weekend, the Bearcats will face two teams that were ranked among the Top 25 in the AVCA Preseason Rankings, including #23 Utah and #14 Kentucky. Last year, UC played a pair of matches against Top 25 foes and fell in both, including at, #23 Western Kentucky and against #16 Florida State with the match against the Seminoles coming in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The last time UC downed a Top 25 opponents came in 2010 when the Bearcats upset #16 Kentucky, 3-2, in Cincinnati. The last time UC defeated a ranked team away from home came in 2009 when the Bearcats swept #16 St. Louis, 3-0, at a tournament in Illinois. The 2002 season saw UC score its most recent victory over at Top 25 team in their home venue after the Bearcats swept #25 Colorado State, 3-0.
// KNOW THE FOE: #23 UTAH
The Utes enter 2017 after posting a 20-12 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the Pac-12. Led by 28th-year head coach Beth Launiere, Utah advanced to the NCAA Tournament and fell in the first round at BYU in a 3-1 decision to UNLV. All four statistical leaders return this year, including AVCA Second Team All-American Adora Anae, who led the team with 4.70 kills/set and 5.22 points/set, both of which also led the Pac-12. UU was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 this year.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. UTES
Friday's match with Utah will be just the second meeting all-time between the two programs with the first coming in 2009 at Utah. That year, the #17 Utes scored a 3-2 victory over the visiting Bearcats in the third of three matches to open the 2009 season.
// KNOW THE FOE: ARKANSAS STATE
The Red Wolves are coming off a 25-8 season in which they posted a 15-1 record to win the Sun Belt Conference regular season title. As the top seed, sixth-year head coach David Rehr's team reached the final of the Sun Belt tournament, but were upset by second-seeded Coastal Carolina, 3-1, and did not earn an at-large berth into the national tournament. This year, ASU was selected to win the SBC West Division with Carlisa May, the 2016 SBC Offensive Player of the Year, Kenzie Fields, the 2016 SBC Freshman of the Year, and Jessica Uke each earn preseason all-conference.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. RED WOLVES
Friday's match will be the first in the series between UC and Arkansas State.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART III
The match with Arkansas State will be one of two this year against a team the Bearcats have previously never played. Oddly enough, the second team also is a member of the Sun Belt Conference: Texas State. The Bearcats and Bobcats will meet next week at the Xavier Tournament.
// KNOW THE FOE: #14 KENTUCKY
The Wildcats are coming off a 2016 season in which they posted a 23-8 record and went 15-3 in SEC play. Craig Skinner, in his 13th year at the helm of the program, saw his team reach the NCAA Tournament, traveling all the way to Seattle, Wash. The Wildcats downed Colorado State, 3-1, before falling to host Washington, 3-0. All four of the team's statistical leaders return this year, three of which were named to the preseason SEC All-Conference team. The Wildcats were selected to finish second in the SEC this year, finishing one point behind Florida in the voting, 139-138.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. WILDCATS
Cincinnati and Kentucky will meet for the 23rd time this weekend with UC trailing, 8-14, in the all-time series. Winners of the past two meetings, the Bearcats won the most recent meeting, a 3-0 sweep of the Wildcats in Lexington during the 2011 season. Prior to that, UC scored a 3-2 defeat of #16 UK at a match played in Cincinnati during the 2010 season, marking the last time UC has won a home contest against a ranked foe.
// SUMMER TOURS
During the summer, three with ties to the program were traveling overseas for competitions as members of the US Collegiate National Team program. Jordan Thompson, who was invited to the Team USA Tryouts, was selected to her second US CNT, this time joining a squad that would tour Thailand (May 9-30). Her selection came one year after she competed for the CNT in China with associate head coach Phillip White serving as an assistant coach. Two UC coaches also were in action this summer as head coach Molly Alvey was tabbed to lead the CNT-Europe squad while assistant coach Kevin Carroll served as an assistant with the team. The US squad made stops in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia before participating in the Global Challenge in Croatia (July 10-14).
// STRONG ACADEMICS
Following the 2016 season, several academic awards were bestowed upon the Bearcats, both as a team and individually. As a team, UC was one of 149 women's Division I programs to carry a 3.30 GPA or higher and was named an AVCA Team Academic Award recipient. Individually, 12 Bearcats were honored with AAC All-Academic honors, including Lise Alaiwan, Dasha Cabarkapa, Lindsey Dinkelacker, Ciara Hill, Erica Kostelac, Carly Nolan, Elly Ogle, Parker Shepherd, Jordan Thompson, Jade Tingelhoff, Abby Williams and Sabrina Wolf. To earn the honor, each individual maintained better than a 3.00 GPA throughout the academic year.
// SENIOR YEAR
Two players are entering their final collegiate seasons with the program. Those two seniors include Maya Muldrow (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) and Parker Shepherd (McKinney, Texas/McKinney Boyd).
// HELLO! MY NAME IS...
Seven new faces have joined the program this year, including four freshmen, one junior transfer and two new members of the coaching staff. On the court, the rookie class includes Emily Azzara (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy), Maya Eller (Concord Township, Ohio/Lake Catholic), Megan Kissel (Mason, Ohio/CHCA) and Chrysanthi Stamatiou (Thessaloniki, Greece/Hellenic College) and will join Jasmine Jones (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point), a junior that transferred in from UNC Greensboro. New the staff for 2017 is assistant coach Kevin Carroll and volunteer coach Jake Neiheisel.
LOOKING BACK AT 2016
// THOMPSON EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Following a stellar sophomore campaign, Jordan Thompson earned a pair of honors from the AVCA, including all-region before being tabbed a 2016 All-American. Thompson is just the eighth Cincinnati player to earn All-America accolades and only the third Bearcat to garner the national award as a sophomore. She was the first unanimous Player of the Year in American Athletic Conference history and was a unanimous pick to the all-conference first team for the second consecutive season. The right side hitter recorded her 1,000th career kill on Nov. 25, breaking a school and league record as the quickest player to 1,000 kills and the only person to reach the milestone as a sophomore. She ended the season ranked sixth in the NCAA with 4.92 kills per set, sixth with 5.50 points per set, eighth with 580 total kills and ninth with 648.5 total points.
// BEARCATS GRAB AAC HONORS
The American Athletic Conference handed out several honors to the Bearcats in 2016, including three major awards, including Jordan Thompson being named (unanimously) the 2016 AAC Player of the Year; Jade Tingelhoff earning 2016 AAC Setter of the Year honors; and head coach Molly Alvey being named the 2016 AAC Coach of the Year. Thompson and Tingelhoff were named AAC All-Conference First Team with Carly Nolan also earning the same honor. Ciara Hill was selected to the AAC All-Conference Second Team as well.
// NCAA RETURN
The Bearcats earned an at-large berth into the 2016 NCAA Tournament, making their first appearance since the 2011 campaign. UC was placed in the Gainesville, Fla., region and squared off with Florida State in the first round, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Seminoles. The selection to the tournament, UC's first as an at-large participant since 2010, marked the 10th time in program history the Bearcats have been part of the national event.
// THOMPSON OVER 1,000 KILLS
On Nov. 25, 2016, Jordan Thompson became the 18th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills when she did so in the third set of a 3-1 victory over Memphis. She broke a program and American Athletic Conference record as the quickest player to 1,000 career kills and the only player to ever reach the milestone as a sophomore.
// BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati recorded 18.0 blocks in a 3-1 win over Middle Tennessee State on Aug. 27 at the DISH Tennessee Classic. The total was the most for any UC team since November 16, 2007, when it tallied 18.5 blocks in a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame. Alison Kimmel earned a career-high nine blocks while Maya Muldrow tied a career best with eight. Elly Ogle (six), Ciara Hill (six), Jordan Thompson (four) and Carly Nolan (three) also got in on the blocking action.
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats will play three more matches away from home next weekend, but not away from the city as they will travel across town to play in the Xavier Tournament. It will be a battle for Queen City bragging rights Friday, September 1, as the Bearcats and Musketeers meet at 7 p.m. inside the Cintas Center. One day later, the Bearcats will play twice, meeting Texas State at 10 a.m. and Western Michigan at 4 p.m. with both matches also being played at Cintas Center.
The 2017 volleyball season gets underway this weekend for the University of Cincinnati with the Bearcats hitting the road and heading to Lexington, Ky., for three matches in the Bluegrass Battle, including two matches Friday and one Saturday. The Bearcats, coming off a 2016 season in which they posted a 22-10 record and reached the NCAA tournament, will face #23 Utah at 1 p.m. and Arkansas State at 6 p.m. Friday inside Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum before facing the host and #14-ranked Wildcats at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
// FOLLOW US
For up to the minute updates, follow UC Volleyball (@GoBearcatsVB) and Coach Alvey (@CoachAlveyUC) on Twitter. You can also find the Bearcats on Facebook (GoBearcatsVB) and Instagram (GoBearcatsVB).
// GOING LIVE
Live stats will be available for all three matches this weekend through UKAthletics.com. Also, Saturday's match with the Wildcats will be streamed on the SEC Network+ through the WatchESPN app. Dick Gabriel and Kathy DeBoer will be the on-air talent during the broadcast from Lexington.
// LOTS RETURNING
Following a 17-3 campaign and runner-up finish in the American Athletic Conference last year, several members of the program were honored by the league with nearly all those honorees returning in 2017. Returning this year are Jordan Thompson, the AAC Player of the Year, Jade Tingelhoff, the AAC Setter of the Year, and Carly Nolan, who, along with Thompson and Tingelhoff, was named First Team All-Conference. The lone honoree not returning to reigning AAC Coach of the Year Molly Alvey's lineup is Second Team All-Conference Ciara Hill, who was a senior last year.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART I
During the 2017 season, the Bearcats will play their home matches at St. Ursula Academy's Gymnasium and Convocation Center, which is located just two miles from campus, while an $87 million renovation of Fifth Third Arena continues to progress. The Bearcats will play nine home matches this year with the first coming September 29 with Tulsa coming to town.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART II
Not only will the Bearcats play in a new venue, they also will play a new conference foe as the Shockers of Wichita State have joined the league this year. The teams met last year in a match at WSU with the Bearcats scoring a 3-1 victory. The match marked the first time the two programs had played one another and are now scheduled to meet twice this season (once in Wichita and once in Cincinnati). Similar to the Bearcats (11), the Shockers have made 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2016 event, and have been selected to win the AAC this year, just three points ahead of UC in the preseason poll (see next note).
// PRESEASON HONORS
Heading into the season, the Bearcats are once again viewed as one of the teams to beat in the American Athletic Conference as the league coaches picked UC to finish second in a very close race with AAC debutante Wichita State. The Shockers received 116 points and seven first-place votes while the Bearcats tallied 113 points and the remaining five first-place votes. Individually, Thompson was a unanimous selection as the AAC Preseason Player of the year and joined both Tingelhoff and Nolan as preseason all-conference honorees with Tingelhoff earning a spot on the list as well.
// FACING THE TOP 25
This weekend, the Bearcats will face two teams that were ranked among the Top 25 in the AVCA Preseason Rankings, including #23 Utah and #14 Kentucky. Last year, UC played a pair of matches against Top 25 foes and fell in both, including at, #23 Western Kentucky and against #16 Florida State with the match against the Seminoles coming in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The last time UC downed a Top 25 opponents came in 2010 when the Bearcats upset #16 Kentucky, 3-2, in Cincinnati. The last time UC defeated a ranked team away from home came in 2009 when the Bearcats swept #16 St. Louis, 3-0, at a tournament in Illinois. The 2002 season saw UC score its most recent victory over at Top 25 team in their home venue after the Bearcats swept #25 Colorado State, 3-0.
// KNOW THE FOE: #23 UTAH
The Utes enter 2017 after posting a 20-12 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the Pac-12. Led by 28th-year head coach Beth Launiere, Utah advanced to the NCAA Tournament and fell in the first round at BYU in a 3-1 decision to UNLV. All four statistical leaders return this year, including AVCA Second Team All-American Adora Anae, who led the team with 4.70 kills/set and 5.22 points/set, both of which also led the Pac-12. UU was picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 this year.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. UTES
Friday's match with Utah will be just the second meeting all-time between the two programs with the first coming in 2009 at Utah. That year, the #17 Utes scored a 3-2 victory over the visiting Bearcats in the third of three matches to open the 2009 season.
// KNOW THE FOE: ARKANSAS STATE
The Red Wolves are coming off a 25-8 season in which they posted a 15-1 record to win the Sun Belt Conference regular season title. As the top seed, sixth-year head coach David Rehr's team reached the final of the Sun Belt tournament, but were upset by second-seeded Coastal Carolina, 3-1, and did not earn an at-large berth into the national tournament. This year, ASU was selected to win the SBC West Division with Carlisa May, the 2016 SBC Offensive Player of the Year, Kenzie Fields, the 2016 SBC Freshman of the Year, and Jessica Uke each earn preseason all-conference.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. RED WOLVES
Friday's match will be the first in the series between UC and Arkansas State.
// SOMETHING NEW - PART III
The match with Arkansas State will be one of two this year against a team the Bearcats have previously never played. Oddly enough, the second team also is a member of the Sun Belt Conference: Texas State. The Bearcats and Bobcats will meet next week at the Xavier Tournament.
// KNOW THE FOE: #14 KENTUCKY
The Wildcats are coming off a 2016 season in which they posted a 23-8 record and went 15-3 in SEC play. Craig Skinner, in his 13th year at the helm of the program, saw his team reach the NCAA Tournament, traveling all the way to Seattle, Wash. The Wildcats downed Colorado State, 3-1, before falling to host Washington, 3-0. All four of the team's statistical leaders return this year, three of which were named to the preseason SEC All-Conference team. The Wildcats were selected to finish second in the SEC this year, finishing one point behind Florida in the voting, 139-138.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. WILDCATS
Cincinnati and Kentucky will meet for the 23rd time this weekend with UC trailing, 8-14, in the all-time series. Winners of the past two meetings, the Bearcats won the most recent meeting, a 3-0 sweep of the Wildcats in Lexington during the 2011 season. Prior to that, UC scored a 3-2 defeat of #16 UK at a match played in Cincinnati during the 2010 season, marking the last time UC has won a home contest against a ranked foe.
// SUMMER TOURS
During the summer, three with ties to the program were traveling overseas for competitions as members of the US Collegiate National Team program. Jordan Thompson, who was invited to the Team USA Tryouts, was selected to her second US CNT, this time joining a squad that would tour Thailand (May 9-30). Her selection came one year after she competed for the CNT in China with associate head coach Phillip White serving as an assistant coach. Two UC coaches also were in action this summer as head coach Molly Alvey was tabbed to lead the CNT-Europe squad while assistant coach Kevin Carroll served as an assistant with the team. The US squad made stops in Italy, Slovenia and Croatia before participating in the Global Challenge in Croatia (July 10-14).
// STRONG ACADEMICS
Following the 2016 season, several academic awards were bestowed upon the Bearcats, both as a team and individually. As a team, UC was one of 149 women's Division I programs to carry a 3.30 GPA or higher and was named an AVCA Team Academic Award recipient. Individually, 12 Bearcats were honored with AAC All-Academic honors, including Lise Alaiwan, Dasha Cabarkapa, Lindsey Dinkelacker, Ciara Hill, Erica Kostelac, Carly Nolan, Elly Ogle, Parker Shepherd, Jordan Thompson, Jade Tingelhoff, Abby Williams and Sabrina Wolf. To earn the honor, each individual maintained better than a 3.00 GPA throughout the academic year.
// SENIOR YEAR
Two players are entering their final collegiate seasons with the program. Those two seniors include Maya Muldrow (Raleigh, N.C./Wakefield) and Parker Shepherd (McKinney, Texas/McKinney Boyd).
// HELLO! MY NAME IS...
Seven new faces have joined the program this year, including four freshmen, one junior transfer and two new members of the coaching staff. On the court, the rookie class includes Emily Azzara (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy), Maya Eller (Concord Township, Ohio/Lake Catholic), Megan Kissel (Mason, Ohio/CHCA) and Chrysanthi Stamatiou (Thessaloniki, Greece/Hellenic College) and will join Jasmine Jones (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point), a junior that transferred in from UNC Greensboro. New the staff for 2017 is assistant coach Kevin Carroll and volunteer coach Jake Neiheisel.
LOOKING BACK AT 2016
// THOMPSON EARNS ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Following a stellar sophomore campaign, Jordan Thompson earned a pair of honors from the AVCA, including all-region before being tabbed a 2016 All-American. Thompson is just the eighth Cincinnati player to earn All-America accolades and only the third Bearcat to garner the national award as a sophomore. She was the first unanimous Player of the Year in American Athletic Conference history and was a unanimous pick to the all-conference first team for the second consecutive season. The right side hitter recorded her 1,000th career kill on Nov. 25, breaking a school and league record as the quickest player to 1,000 kills and the only person to reach the milestone as a sophomore. She ended the season ranked sixth in the NCAA with 4.92 kills per set, sixth with 5.50 points per set, eighth with 580 total kills and ninth with 648.5 total points.
// BEARCATS GRAB AAC HONORS
The American Athletic Conference handed out several honors to the Bearcats in 2016, including three major awards, including Jordan Thompson being named (unanimously) the 2016 AAC Player of the Year; Jade Tingelhoff earning 2016 AAC Setter of the Year honors; and head coach Molly Alvey being named the 2016 AAC Coach of the Year. Thompson and Tingelhoff were named AAC All-Conference First Team with Carly Nolan also earning the same honor. Ciara Hill was selected to the AAC All-Conference Second Team as well.
// NCAA RETURN
The Bearcats earned an at-large berth into the 2016 NCAA Tournament, making their first appearance since the 2011 campaign. UC was placed in the Gainesville, Fla., region and squared off with Florida State in the first round, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Seminoles. The selection to the tournament, UC's first as an at-large participant since 2010, marked the 10th time in program history the Bearcats have been part of the national event.
// THOMPSON OVER 1,000 KILLS
On Nov. 25, 2016, Jordan Thompson became the 18th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills when she did so in the third set of a 3-1 victory over Memphis. She broke a program and American Athletic Conference record as the quickest player to 1,000 career kills and the only player to ever reach the milestone as a sophomore.
// BLOCK PARTY
Cincinnati recorded 18.0 blocks in a 3-1 win over Middle Tennessee State on Aug. 27 at the DISH Tennessee Classic. The total was the most for any UC team since November 16, 2007, when it tallied 18.5 blocks in a 3-1 loss to Notre Dame. Alison Kimmel earned a career-high nine blocks while Maya Muldrow tied a career best with eight. Elly Ogle (six), Ciara Hill (six), Jordan Thompson (four) and Carly Nolan (three) also got in on the blocking action.
// UP NEXT
The Bearcats will play three more matches away from home next weekend, but not away from the city as they will travel across town to play in the Xavier Tournament. It will be a battle for Queen City bragging rights Friday, September 1, as the Bearcats and Musketeers meet at 7 p.m. inside the Cintas Center. One day later, the Bearcats will play twice, meeting Texas State at 10 a.m. and Western Michigan at 4 p.m. with both matches also being played at Cintas Center.