Cincinnati Suffers Five-Set Defeat to Texas Tech

CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati volleyball team suffered a five-set defeat to Texas Tech on Thursday night inside Fifth Third Arena.

The Bearcats move to 11-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big 12. Junior Carly Glendinning registered her fifth career 20-piece with a match-high 21 kills. She added her first double-double of the season with 11 digs.

Freshman Faith Frame posted her third career 20-dig effort to go along with seven assists. Freshman Lilly Gillespie added a career-high 16 digs. The Bearcats were plus-10 in the category (80-70).

Freshman Gretchen Sigman finished with eight kills, five digs and four aces in her first career start.

Zeta Washington had five kills on five attempts to give UC an 8-6 advantage in the first set. Back-to-back kills from Glendinning helped UC hold a three-point edge at the media timeout (15-12). The Red Raiders pulled within one before Sigman powered the Bearcats on a 7-0 run behind the service line. In total, Cincinnati ended the set on an 8-1 run to win it, 25-17.

Glendinning notched back-to-back aces, followed by a Washington kill to give UC a 7-5 lead in the second set. The Bearcats led by three at the media timeout (15-12). TTU fought back to tie up the game at 18-all. Cincinnati had three set point opportunities before Texas Tech ended the frame on a 5-0 run (26-24).

Cincinnati used a 6-1 scoring run to take a five-point lead in the third set (10-5). The Bearcats continued to pour on with a 3-0 spurt (15-7). UC rattled off four straight points to end the set, 25-13. The run saw a pair of kills from Sydney Nolan, a kill from Glendinning and an ace from Gillespie.  

The Bearcats jumped out to a 6-2 advantage in the fourth stanza. The stretch saw three blocks from Abby Walker. Texas Tech came back to take the lead at 17-16 and led by four after a 3-0 run (22-18). The deficit proved too large to overcome as Cincinnati dropped the set, 25-20.

Cincinnati trailed by two as the two teams switched sides (8-6). The Bearcats tied up the set at 12-all, but the Red Raiders scored the next four points to win the match (15-12). UC hit .154 with five attacking errors in the fifth stanza.