TicketsCINCINNATI – Head coach Danijela Tomić earned her first win as bench boss of the University of Cincinnati volleyball team on Friday night with a 3-1 win over Wake Forest.
The Bearcats opened the 2025 season with a four-set victory over the Demon Deacons.
Cincinnati was paced by its veterans on offense. Sydney Nolan (21k) and Carly Glendinning (14k) were the two Bearcats with double-digit kills. It marked Nolan’s fourth career game with 20-plus kills. Glendinning added her eighth career double-double with 11 digs.
The Bearcats shined on the defensive end with 14 blocks, with seven and six coming from Brooke Crummel and Tatjana Simeunovic, respectively. The duo made their collegiate debuts in the match.
Setter Andi Spies and defensive specialist Ava Ledebuhr also provided strong performances in their Bearcat debut. Spies dished out 31 assists, to go along with six kills, eight digs, and three blocks. Ledebuhr tallied a team-high 17 digs on defense.
In the first set, Cincinnati went on a 6-0 run to jump out to a 12-6 advantage. Spies accounted for a pair of setter dumps during the run. Wake Forest responded with four straight points to force a UC timeout. Out of the break, UC scored five of the next six points to run away with the first set, 25-17. Spies had seven assists, four kills, two digs and two blocks in the opening frame.
Wake Forest took a 12-9 lead in the second set of action. The Bearcats pulled within one after a kill from Gretchen Sigman (16-15), but the Demon Deacons responded with three straight. Cincinnati then staged its comeback. The Bearcats scored five straight to take the lead at 22-21. A pair of late blocks from Simeunovic powered the Bearcats to the set-win, 25-23.
The third set saw six ties. The Demon Deacons held a one-point advantage at the 15-point mark (15-14). Trailing 22-17, UC pulled within two after a Crummel kill. The comeback fell short as Wake Forest took the stanza, 25-20.
The Bearcats used a 3-0 scoring run to take a 13-9 lead in the fourth set. A pair of kills from Nolan helped UC go up by four (16-12). Another 4-0 spurt allowed UC to run away with the set, 25-16, and match, 3-1.