TicketsORLANDO, Fla. — Sydney Nolan piled up 21 kills to lead Cincinnati past UCF 3-0 on Friday night and give the Bearcats their first Big 12 win.
The Bearcats improved to 8-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play. The Knights fell to 8-7 and 0-5. Cincinnati won 25-22, 31-29, 25-18.
Nolan hit .432 and had 20 or more kills for the fourth time this season. Nina Scrucca hit .480 with 13 kills, four digs and four blocks and Andrea Simovski added 12 kills and eight digs.
Andi Spies had a season-high 44 assists. Cincinnati also had a season-high 10 team blocks, led by Lilian Entenmann’s career-high six. Scrucca and Ligia Williams each had four.
Cincinnati had 57 kills and hit .388, compared with 50 kills and a .305 mark for UCF. The Knights had more digs, 48-45, but the Bearcats had more blocks, 10-7. Avah Armour led UCF with 19 kills, seven digs and three blocks while hitting .318.
Nolan and Scrucca each had five kills in the first set, when Cincinnati hit .400. UCF used two service aces to take a 6-2 lead, but the Bearcats answered with a 9-2 run, capped by a Scrucca kill, to go up 10-7. A Nolan block made it 18-13. UCF got within 24-22 before Williams ended the set with a kill.
The second set went to extra points. An ace by Simovski sparked a five-point run that put Cincinnati up 14-11, but a kill by UCF’s Kiki Horne tied it at 16-16. A block by Nolan and Entenmann gave the Bearcats match point at 24-20, but UCF rallied behind Armour’s kills to tie it at 24-24. Cincinnati failed to convert four match points, and UCF missed on one at 29-28 before the Bearcats finished the set with three straight points.
A Scrucca ace put Cincinnati ahead 11-7 in the third set, and a Nolan ace stretched the lead to 19-12. The Bearcats cruised from there.
// UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns to Clifton to host the Iowa State Cyclones on Sunday at 1 p.m. inside Fifth Third Arena. Iowa State is led by Rachel Van Gorp, who paces the Cyclone defense, leading the Big 12 with 4.54 digs per set. She was named to the conference's starting seven for the week, marking her second consecutive weekly honor.
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