Today the Bearcats welcomed the East Carolina Pirates to Fifth Third Arena to kick off conference play. The Bearcats were looking to kick off conference play in the win column. They welcomed back preseason All-AAC selection Maria Mallon back to the lineup for the first time all season. The junior outside was a big part of the teams success back in 2019 when the Bearcats made it all the way to the Elite 8 as she recorded the game winning kill in Set Five to upset No. 6 Pittsburgh. The junior outside was highly missed in the first four games of the season and she stepped in today like she didn’t miss a beat.
Set One- Set One was all about Energy and runs, everyone knows how crucial runs are in the sport of volleyball. You could really sense the sense the energy the junior outside Maria Mallon brings to this team. She was the hot hand early as she had the Bearcats first seven attack attempts of the match. Having Mallon back in action really freed up the middles Adria Oliver and Alexandra Kwasnik. The Bearcats were firing on all cylinders early getting everyone involved from the outside Maria Mallon, middle Adria Oliver, outside Sarah Norcom and Madison Waters on the right side of the pin. ECU started hot with a 3-0 run which the Bearcats then answered with a run of their own to tie the game up at 10. ECU then broke off another 4-0 run to go up 14-10 before the Bearcats answered again to tie the set up at 14. The Bearcats pulled away in Set One when the game was 19-17 when sophomore defensive specialist Kerstin Ficker went on a 5-0 serving run that extended the Bearcats lead to 24-17. In that 5-0 run Ficker recorded two serving aces which sparked the run, her float serve really gave ECU trouble late in Set One.
Set Two- The Bearcats jumped out to a big lead early on behind Maria Mallon’s jump serve which was giving the Pirates defense troubles. The Bearcats were clicking and putting balls away. The Bearcats controlled the energy all set until ECU answered with a big 4-0 run to come back after being down as much as six to bring this game to 17-16. ECU kept the momentum going to lead 24-22 at one point. Bearcats weren’t going down without a fight. 24-22 outside Maria Mallon absolutely destroyed a ball to bring the Bearcats to 24-23, Mallon then proceeded to follow that kill with an incredible solo block to tie this game up. Unfortunately the Pirates rallied back to take Set Two, 26-24.
Set Three- The Bearcats got into a quick 3-0 hole to start Set Three, but Maria Mallon rallied off a serving run to tie it up at 3. Both teams were neck and neck tied up at 8, before ECU rallied off a 5-0 run to push the lead to 13-8 in favor of the Pirates. The Pirates jumped out to a 18-11 lead before the Bearcats found their groove late in set three behind a couple blocks from Madison Waters and Maria Tobergte. The Bearcats went on a quick 5-0 run on that span. They forced a crucial ECU side out to bring the score to 19-17. The Bearcats fought hard to bring this set back after a incredible effort trailing 7 early in the set to tie it 22 all. Peyton Frederick had a incredible one handed dig that set Mallon up for a beautiful cross court kill that sparked a three play rally which resulted in a Mallon kill (x2) and a service ace by Peyton Frederick. This sparked the energy and bearcats found the way to come back from the early deficit. The Bearcats led 24-23, but the game rallied back in fourth until Madison Waters put the match away with a kill so they could take Set Three, 27-25.
Set Four- The Bearcats kept the momentum early behind a kill and a block by middle Adria Oliver to start the set. The Bearcats were controlling momentum early before ECU went on a 5-0 run to take control of Set Four early leading 11-8. ECU jumped out to a big lead leading 17-10 behind a 5-0 run for the Pirates. The Pirates controlled the tempo until the Bearcats had a run of their own to bring the game to 18-14. They brought back another run of their own to bring this game to 19-19 after Maria Tobergte had a massive line shot kill, that was immediately followed up by a Kerstin Ficker service ace. The Bearcats had all the momentum as ECU was clearly flustered as they had a costly out of rotation penalty when the Bearcats lead Set Four, 23-22. This penalty allowed the Bearcats to put this set away shortly after behind an attack error from ECU’S outside hitter Sydney Kleinman.
The Bearcats are a fun, energetic team to watch I will say that. Junior outside Maria Mallon shined in her season debut and you can see how much energy she brings to the table. The junior showed why she was voted a Preseason All-AAC player after today’s performance. The outside can do it all, she plays terrific defense, smart with the ball in her hands, very dynamic in the serving game as her jump serve just causes a lot of problems for teams serve receive. Mallon has such a powerful serve you don’t see often in college volleyball, her jump serve is dangerous and can flip the narrative of a game very quick. The topspin serve stays right above the net and just drops very quickly on teams. Mallon is a very vocal leader on the court. The Bearcats were glad to have her back on the court for the first time all season as her presence on the court opened up many other options for the Bearcats especially middle blocker Adria Oliver. Along with Mallon, Oliver brings some high volume energy to the court and she communicates very well, every time the ball was in her hands today she put the ball away. The Bearcats were in control early after a big Set One victory, the Bearcats had all the momentum heading into Set Two before ECU found some momentum to stop the Bearcats and take Set Two. The Bearcats had a late push behind a big kill from Maria Mallon, followed by a solo block, but ECU just found a way to get the job done. The key for the first two sets was finding a way to keep the ball in Adria Oliver’s hands as she started the match with nine kills on 10 attempts in the first two sets. The Bearcats jumped down to big holes in both Set Three and Four trailing as much as 7 at point in both sets, but the Bearcats rallied back to win both sets. The Bearcats showed they can handle adversity in any set and their resiliency to come back and finish games. Set Three was a nail bitter to say the least. The Bearcats were gaining momentum late in set three that all started with an incredible one handed dig from sophomore Libero Peyton Frederick, which ended in a Maria Mallon kill. This led to a three play sequence of two kills by Mallon and a block by Adria Oliver. That three play span flipped all the adversity to the Bearcats after trailing as much as 7 to fight back and win Set Three to take a 2 set to 1 lead. The Bearcats trailed 17-10 late in Set Four which was looking like this match would go to five sets until the Bearcats flipped the script yet again. Volleyball is a game of runs and the Bearcats were looking to start one here and they did when Maria Mallon had a nice 4-0 run to bring this game to 17-14 followed by another run by Kerstin Ficker which resulted in 2 service aces and a big kill by Maria Tobergte to tie the set up at 19-19. The Bearcats found a way to get ahead in a neck and neck battle to the end but ECU had a few costly mistakes to end the match including a out of rotation penalty, followed by a attack error to end the set for a bearcats win 25-23. Overall this bearcats Volleyball team is very fun to watch, They bring High Energy and great communication every time they step on the court and it was known today. The Bearcats stat leaders for todays match were Maria Mallon who recorded a match high 21 kills, as well as a match high 21 digs. An Incredible double double for her first game of the season. Adria Oliver recorded 15 kills on 21 attempts for a hitting percentage of .571%, while recording three blocks. Madison Waters recorded 11 kills, Maria Tobergte had nine kills on one error. Setter Ashley Kozer dished out 57 assists while recording 13 digs on defense. Bearcats Libero Payton Frederick had 19 digs and one service ace. Defensive specialist Kerstin Ficker dominated in the serving game as she recorded a match high five aces . The Bearcats proved today once they are clicking on offense now that they are back to full strength they are a force to be wreck-end with between the combo of Maria Mallon and Adria Oliver at the net, also you throw Maria Tobergte, Sarah Norcom, Madison Waters, Dimitra Tziarli, Alexandra Kwasnik into the mix, the Bearcats are very deep at every position and have made it known early in the season. The Bearcats showed today why they were getting the recognition they deserved in the Top 25 voting that’s for sure. This is a very fun team to watch as they look to make another deep run this year coming off a hot 2019 season before going on a long pause due to covid. They have fought every challenge thrown at them and deserve to have the recognition they deserve.
The Bearcats will be back in action tomorrow for Game 2 of the series as they look to sweep East Carolina University here at Fifth Third Arena to kick off conference play.
