TicketsVALPARAISO, Ind. — The University of Cincinnati volleyball team notched its third sweep of the season, beating Oakland 3-0 on Sunday to close out the Popcorn Classic.
The Bearcats improved to 4-2, while Oakland fell to 2-4.
Cincinnati finished the tournament with a 2-1 record, sweeping both Valparaiso and Oakland. Its only loss came against Michigan, which won 3-0. Sydney Nolan (5.29 kills per set) and Kate Lijic (12.44 assists per set) were named to the Popcorn Classic All-Tournament team.
Sophomore Izzy Busignani recorded a career-best 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Lijic added 37 assists — she has posted 30-plus assists in all four matches this season — along with eight digs. Nina Scrucca had seven kills and seven digs, and Viktoria Ninova tallied 10 digs.
Cincinnati hit .382 as a team for 40 kills, while Oakland hit .143 with 19 attacking errors. The Bearcats also led in digs, 41-38.
Molly Reck led Oakland with eight kills and eight digs.
Busignani dominated the first set, hitting .875 with seven kills as the Bearcats led throughout. A service ace by Nolan pushed Cincinnati's lead to 7-2. Oakland clawed back to 15-10, but a 7-0 run — fueled by four straight kills from Busignani — put the set away as the Bearcats took it 25-13.
Cincinnati opened the second set on a 12-6 run following a Nolan kill, then extended the lead to 19-11 on a Busignani kill. Oakland answered with four straight points to close within 21-18, but the Bearcats closed out the set 25-18 as the Golden Grizzlies committed four consecutive attacking errors.
An Andrea Simovski kill capped a 10-1 run to open the third set, giving Cincinnati an 11-4 lead. Oakland fought back, cutting the deficit to 13-10 on an ace, then reeled off five straight points after a Cincinnati service error to trail just 19-18. But a string of five attacking errors by Oakland allowed the Bearcats to close out the set 25-19 and secure the match.
// UP NEXT
Cincinnati will head to Morehead, Ky., for a two-match swing against host Morehead State on Sept. 10 and a neutral-site battle against Michigan State. Both matches will take place in Johnson Arena and be streamed via ESPN+.
// GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY
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