Tickets// FIRST SERVE
UC volleyball will be back on the court this weekend for three matches in the Redbird Classic hosted by Illinois State. Action will begin Friday night with a 5 p.m. matchup with Seton Hall. On Saturday, the Bearcats will face Dayton at 11 a.m. followed by the host Redbirds at 8 p.m.
// COME SEE US
The first five weeks of the season will see the Bearcats hit the road for their first 14 matches of the season. The 2017 home opener is set for Friday, September 29 at St. Ursula Academy. Tulsa will be in town for a 7 p.m. game. Cincinnati will remain home that Sunday, October 1 for a 1 p.m. match against SMU. After traveling for matches against UConn and Temple, the Bearcats will return to St. Ursula Academy on Friday, October for a 7 p.m. contest versus Houston and a 1 p.m. matchup with Tulane on Sunday, October 15.
// 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 GoRedbirds.com. Also, Saturday's second match against the host Redbirds will be aired live on ESPN3.
// #HOUSTONSTRONG
Hurricane Harvey has caused widespread flooding throughout the Houston area. The University Of Cincinnati Department of Athletics stands with our longtime partners at the University of Houston and the City of Houston during these tough times. Those wishing to help with relief efforts in and around the Houston area are encouraged to donate through the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Cincinnati-based Matthew 25: Ministries. Please visit any of those organization's web sites to see how you can assist.
// WEEKEND RECAP
• Cincinnati played in the Xavier Tournament, picking up its first win of the season and going 1-3 in the event
• The Bearcats opened with a 3-2 victory over host Xavier on Friday night
• UC then fell 2-3 to Texas State and 1-3 to Western Michigan on Saturday
• Both Carly Nolan and Jade Tingelhoff posted double-doubles in all three matches. Nolan finished the tournament with 62 kills and 52 digs while Tingelhoff had 145 assists and 38 digs
• Erica Kostelac and Maya Eller both had career-high performances in the win against Xavier. Kostelac finished with 20 kills and Eller had 25 digs
• Chrysanthi Stamatiou and Maya Muldrow both reached double-digits in kills against Texas State
// CAREER HIGHS
Numerous career-highs were reset in last weekend's Xavier Tournament. Maya Muldrow's 11 kills against Xavier was a career-best while Erica Kostelac and Maya Eller also posted new career-highs in Friday night's contest. Kostalec had 20 kills and seven digs while Eller finished with 25 digs. On Saturday against Western Michigan, Carly Nolan had a career-high 24 kills while Chrysanthi Stamatiou recorded a new career-high of 12 kills.
// HAPPY TO HELP
With her 28th and final assist in the match at #14 Kentucky, Tingelhoff recorded the 2,250th assist of her career. She is currently ranked fourth on the program's all-time rally scoring era assists ladder and ninth all-time.
// KNOW THE FOE: SETON HALL
The Pirates enter Friday with a 4-2 record on the season. They opened up the year by going 2-1 at the Oklahoma Invitational, beating the host Sooners 3-2, dropping the next match 0-3 against Colorado then winning the final match 3-0 versus Northwestern State. Last weekend, the team went 2-0 at home in the Seton Hall Classic with wins over Buffalo (3-2) and Rutgers (3-1). The Pirates most recently faced Princeton on Wednesday, losing 3-2 on the road. They are led by Abby Thelen who averages 3.76 kills and 2.72 digs per match.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. PIRATES
Cincinnati and Seton Hall have met eight times with the Bearcats taking six meetings. The two teams first met in 2005 and last faced each other in 2012. Cincinnati won the most recent match 3-2 at home. The two losses against Seton Hall came during the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
// KNOW THE FOE: DAYTON
The flyers enter the weekend at 4-3. They opened with a 0-3 loss against Cal Poly but then took down Northern Illinois 3-1 and High Point 3-1 to finish 2-1 at the Northern Illinois Holiday Inn Express Invitational. After that, Dayton faced Ohio on Tuesday, August 29, winning 3-1. Last weekend, the Flyers hosted Iowa State and Pittsburgh in the Dayton Invitational, dropping both matches 0-3. The team rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Miami (OH) on Tuesday, September 5, taking that match by a score of 3-2. Lauren Bruns leads the team with 3.54 kills per set this season, while Jane Emmenecker leads with 9.50 assists per set.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. FLYERS
Cincinnati and Dayton have met an even 44 times in history, with the Bearcats holding a slight edge, 22-21-1. The two teams first met back in 1973 and most recently matched up in 2013. The 2013 contest was won 3-0 by the Bearcats in Athens, Ohio. In 2012, the Flyers won 3-0 at home.
// IN THE REGION
When looking at the series records for the regional teams (Xavier, Northern Kentucky, Miami, Dayton and Wright State), the Bearcats hold an overall record of 95-63-1 all-time. When looking at each series, UC has recorded 22 wins against two different teams: Miami (22-14-0) and Dayton (22-21-0) with 21 wins against Wright State (21-11-0). After the win over XU Friday, Cincinnati now has 23 wins against XU, the most wins over any of the teams in the region.
// KNOW THE FOE: ILLINOIS STATE
The Redbirds sit at 2-4 through their first two tournaments of the season. Illinois State opened its 2017 campaign at the Hampton Inn & Suites Waco North Baylor Invitational where it went 1-2. The first match was won 3-0 over UC Santa Barbara. The Redbirds then lost 3-2 to No. 15 Florida State and 0-3 to host Baylor. Last weekend, Illinois State also went 1-2, this time at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic in St. Louis. The Redbirds took down host Saint Louis 3-0 then fell 1-3 to both Kennesaw State and UC Irvine. Jaelyn Keene leads the squad with 3.45 kills and 1.05 blocks per set.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. REDBIRDS
Cincinnati and Illinois State have met 15 times, spanning back to the first meeting of the two teams in 1973. The Bearcats are 3-11-1 all-time against the Redbirds. The two teams last met in 2009 with the Bearcats taking a 3-0 victory.
// DEBUTS
Five different players have made their debuts for the Bearcats this season, including three true freshman, one redshirt freshman and one junior transfer. The rookies that saw action in the first two matches of the season included Emily Azzara, Maya Eller and Chrysanthi Stamatiou. They joined Erica Kostelac (redshirt) and Jasmine Jones, a transfer from UNC Greensboro.
// NOLAN ON THE ATTACK
Through the first two weekends of play, Carly Nolan finds herself ranked in several statistical categories both in the conference and nationally. On a conference level, she is second with 4.25 kills/set and ranks second in points with a 4.62/set average. Nationally, her 12.20 attacks/set ranks 27th (leads the American) while her kills per set total ranks her 75th in the NCAA.
// MORE CONFERENCE RANKS
• Jade Tingelhoff ranks fourth in the league with 9.75 assists/set
• Erica Kostelac is 13th with 2.93 kills/set
• Maya Muldrow ranks tied for 15th with 0.88 blocks/set
• Maya Eller is 13th in the conference in digs with 3.17/set
// SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Speaking of the conference, the American Athletic Conference recently announced the fall broadcast schedule for the American Digital Network with Bearcats volleyball set to be aired live October 26 when UC travels to Dallas to face SMU.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// 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.
// 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 final weekend tournament of the season awaits the Bearcats next weekend at the Michigan Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich. UC will face NC State and Milwaukee on Friday before closing out the event with an evening matchup with host Michigan on Saturday night. Conference play will begin Friday, September 22 at USF.
UC volleyball will be back on the court this weekend for three matches in the Redbird Classic hosted by Illinois State. Action will begin Friday night with a 5 p.m. matchup with Seton Hall. On Saturday, the Bearcats will face Dayton at 11 a.m. followed by the host Redbirds at 8 p.m.
// COME SEE US
The first five weeks of the season will see the Bearcats hit the road for their first 14 matches of the season. The 2017 home opener is set for Friday, September 29 at St. Ursula Academy. Tulsa will be in town for a 7 p.m. game. Cincinnati will remain home that Sunday, October 1 for a 1 p.m. match against SMU. After traveling for matches against UConn and Temple, the Bearcats will return to St. Ursula Academy on Friday, October for a 7 p.m. contest versus Houston and a 1 p.m. matchup with Tulane on Sunday, October 15.
// 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 GoRedbirds.com. Also, Saturday's second match against the host Redbirds will be aired live on ESPN3.
// #HOUSTONSTRONG
Hurricane Harvey has caused widespread flooding throughout the Houston area. The University Of Cincinnati Department of Athletics stands with our longtime partners at the University of Houston and the City of Houston during these tough times. Those wishing to help with relief efforts in and around the Houston area are encouraged to donate through the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Cincinnati-based Matthew 25: Ministries. Please visit any of those organization's web sites to see how you can assist.
// WEEKEND RECAP
• Cincinnati played in the Xavier Tournament, picking up its first win of the season and going 1-3 in the event
• The Bearcats opened with a 3-2 victory over host Xavier on Friday night
• UC then fell 2-3 to Texas State and 1-3 to Western Michigan on Saturday
• Both Carly Nolan and Jade Tingelhoff posted double-doubles in all three matches. Nolan finished the tournament with 62 kills and 52 digs while Tingelhoff had 145 assists and 38 digs
• Erica Kostelac and Maya Eller both had career-high performances in the win against Xavier. Kostelac finished with 20 kills and Eller had 25 digs
• Chrysanthi Stamatiou and Maya Muldrow both reached double-digits in kills against Texas State
// CAREER HIGHS
Numerous career-highs were reset in last weekend's Xavier Tournament. Maya Muldrow's 11 kills against Xavier was a career-best while Erica Kostelac and Maya Eller also posted new career-highs in Friday night's contest. Kostalec had 20 kills and seven digs while Eller finished with 25 digs. On Saturday against Western Michigan, Carly Nolan had a career-high 24 kills while Chrysanthi Stamatiou recorded a new career-high of 12 kills.
// HAPPY TO HELP
With her 28th and final assist in the match at #14 Kentucky, Tingelhoff recorded the 2,250th assist of her career. She is currently ranked fourth on the program's all-time rally scoring era assists ladder and ninth all-time.
// KNOW THE FOE: SETON HALL
The Pirates enter Friday with a 4-2 record on the season. They opened up the year by going 2-1 at the Oklahoma Invitational, beating the host Sooners 3-2, dropping the next match 0-3 against Colorado then winning the final match 3-0 versus Northwestern State. Last weekend, the team went 2-0 at home in the Seton Hall Classic with wins over Buffalo (3-2) and Rutgers (3-1). The Pirates most recently faced Princeton on Wednesday, losing 3-2 on the road. They are led by Abby Thelen who averages 3.76 kills and 2.72 digs per match.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. PIRATES
Cincinnati and Seton Hall have met eight times with the Bearcats taking six meetings. The two teams first met in 2005 and last faced each other in 2012. Cincinnati won the most recent match 3-2 at home. The two losses against Seton Hall came during the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
// KNOW THE FOE: DAYTON
The flyers enter the weekend at 4-3. They opened with a 0-3 loss against Cal Poly but then took down Northern Illinois 3-1 and High Point 3-1 to finish 2-1 at the Northern Illinois Holiday Inn Express Invitational. After that, Dayton faced Ohio on Tuesday, August 29, winning 3-1. Last weekend, the Flyers hosted Iowa State and Pittsburgh in the Dayton Invitational, dropping both matches 0-3. The team rebounded with a 3-2 victory over Miami (OH) on Tuesday, September 5, taking that match by a score of 3-2. Lauren Bruns leads the team with 3.54 kills per set this season, while Jane Emmenecker leads with 9.50 assists per set.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. FLYERS
Cincinnati and Dayton have met an even 44 times in history, with the Bearcats holding a slight edge, 22-21-1. The two teams first met back in 1973 and most recently matched up in 2013. The 2013 contest was won 3-0 by the Bearcats in Athens, Ohio. In 2012, the Flyers won 3-0 at home.
// IN THE REGION
When looking at the series records for the regional teams (Xavier, Northern Kentucky, Miami, Dayton and Wright State), the Bearcats hold an overall record of 95-63-1 all-time. When looking at each series, UC has recorded 22 wins against two different teams: Miami (22-14-0) and Dayton (22-21-0) with 21 wins against Wright State (21-11-0). After the win over XU Friday, Cincinnati now has 23 wins against XU, the most wins over any of the teams in the region.
// KNOW THE FOE: ILLINOIS STATE
The Redbirds sit at 2-4 through their first two tournaments of the season. Illinois State opened its 2017 campaign at the Hampton Inn & Suites Waco North Baylor Invitational where it went 1-2. The first match was won 3-0 over UC Santa Barbara. The Redbirds then lost 3-2 to No. 15 Florida State and 0-3 to host Baylor. Last weekend, Illinois State also went 1-2, this time at the Marcia E. Hamilton Classic in St. Louis. The Redbirds took down host Saint Louis 3-0 then fell 1-3 to both Kennesaw State and UC Irvine. Jaelyn Keene leads the squad with 3.45 kills and 1.05 blocks per set.
// SERIES HISTORY: BEARCATS vs. REDBIRDS
Cincinnati and Illinois State have met 15 times, spanning back to the first meeting of the two teams in 1973. The Bearcats are 3-11-1 all-time against the Redbirds. The two teams last met in 2009 with the Bearcats taking a 3-0 victory.
// DEBUTS
Five different players have made their debuts for the Bearcats this season, including three true freshman, one redshirt freshman and one junior transfer. The rookies that saw action in the first two matches of the season included Emily Azzara, Maya Eller and Chrysanthi Stamatiou. They joined Erica Kostelac (redshirt) and Jasmine Jones, a transfer from UNC Greensboro.
// NOLAN ON THE ATTACK
Through the first two weekends of play, Carly Nolan finds herself ranked in several statistical categories both in the conference and nationally. On a conference level, she is second with 4.25 kills/set and ranks second in points with a 4.62/set average. Nationally, her 12.20 attacks/set ranks 27th (leads the American) while her kills per set total ranks her 75th in the NCAA.
// MORE CONFERENCE RANKS
• Jade Tingelhoff ranks fourth in the league with 9.75 assists/set
• Erica Kostelac is 13th with 2.93 kills/set
• Maya Muldrow ranks tied for 15th with 0.88 blocks/set
• Maya Eller is 13th in the conference in digs with 3.17/set
// SMILE FOR THE CAMERA
Speaking of the conference, the American Athletic Conference recently announced the fall broadcast schedule for the American Digital Network with Bearcats volleyball set to be aired live October 26 when UC travels to Dallas to face SMU.
PREVIOUSLY NOTED
// 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.
// 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 final weekend tournament of the season awaits the Bearcats next weekend at the Michigan Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich. UC will face NC State and Milwaukee on Friday before closing out the event with an evening matchup with host Michigan on Saturday night. Conference play will begin Friday, September 22 at USF.