Yesterday the Bearcats were looking to avenge Friday’s 3 set to 0 loss versus UCF in the first game of the series. The Bearcats were looking to get a big win at Fifth Third Arena for Senior Day as they honored their lone senior Ashley Kozer prior to the game. The Bearcats were looking to bounce back today and spilt the series to remain tied for first in the east division of the AAC conference standings. The Bearcats looked to through a different look here in Game 2 of the series as their starting lineup consisted of Sarah Norcom, Maria Mallon, Alex Kwasnik, Shannon Williams, Ashley Kozer, Adria Oliver and Payton Frederick.
Set 1- The Bearcats found themselves in a quick 3-0 hole as the Knights started out with kills from Nerissa Moravec and Mckenna Melville. The Bearcats quickly responded with a 5-0 run themselves that started with two attacking errors, followed by a kill from Sarah Norcom and a service ace from junior outside hitter Maria Mallon. The set was tied up 9-9 before the Bearcats went on a 6-1 run to take the lead. In that run the Bearcats recorded kills from Adria Oliver, Maria Mallon x2 and a service ace from Ashley Kozer. The Bearcats looked to keep the momentum moving as this run gave them a 15-10 lead which was their biggest lead of the match. The Knights found their grove just a few plays after to start a 4-0 run to take this set to 17-16 for the Bearcats. From there on out both teams were trading point for point until the set was tied up 22-22, The Knights found their run and finished Set 1 on a 3-0 run to take Set 1, 25-22. Sarah Norcom lead the way for the Bearcats in Set 1 as she had seven kills for a .500 hitting percentage in the first set.
Set 2 – The Knights continued their momentum right out of the gate as they ended set 1 on a 3-0 run before creating a 5-1 run to start Set 2. The Bearcats were looking to come back from a early run which they did when they started a 5-0 run to take a 8-7 lead over the Knights. In that run included three errors from the Knights, and kills from Maria Mallon and Adria Oliver. The Knights rallied back as it was point for point again unti lthis match was tied 11-11. The Knights found some momentum after back to back hitting errors from Sarah Norcom to take a 13-11 lead. The Bearcats got back to back kills from Norcom and Oliver to tie this set at 13. The Knights then capitalized on offense as they went on a 4-0 run to take a 17-14 lead following two kills from Makenzie Chambers and a kill from Mckenna Melville in that span. This run sparked the momentum for the Knights as they never looked back from here as they overcame some early adversity from the Bearcats and came back to take a 2 set to 0 advantage over the Bearcats. The Bearcats were looking to create some energy going down the stretch in Set 2 as Alex Kwasnik had two kills to give the Bearcats some momentum which was big at the time as the Bearcats were struggling finding away to keep the ball in play.
Set 3- The Bearcats started out hot here following Alexandra Kwasnik’s late momentum from Set 2 that carried over to start Set 3 as the Bearcats jumped out to a quick 3-0 start following a bad set call on UCF which was followed by back to back kills Kwasnik and Madison Waters. The Bearcats jumped to a 8-3 lead following a 5-1 run which looked really promising for the Bearcats their early, but then the Bearcats got into a rut as they allowed the Knights back in this set and go on a 9-0 run to take a 12-8 lead. In that run the Bearcats committed seven errors giving the Knights 7 of those 9 points. The Bearcats knew that they had to change the way they were playing after that run if they wanted to avoid being swept. The Bearcats couldn’t dig themselves out of that hole after that run as the Knights found their momentum and jumped ahead as many as 9 when they trialed 19-10. The 8-3 lead for the Bearcats were quickly erased as the Knights just took over and outscored the Bearcats 16-2 after that 8-3 lead to take the lead 19-10. The Bearcats fought hard to cut the lead as they cut the 19-10 lead to 19-15 following two kills from Maria Mallon as well as three UCF hitting errors, the Bearcats were looking to catch a long run at the right time. The Knights just pulled away to close the doors and sweep the Bearcats as they took Set 3 27-25.
The Bearcats looked to bounce back from the loss in Game 1 Friday to split the series potentially, but the Knights weren’t going to let that happen easily. The Knights dominated the game as they had their runs at the right time in all 3 sets. The Knights continued to keep the ball in play as they did in Game 1 of the series as they hit .485 in game 1, while hitting .247 today. The Bearcats hit for a hitting percentage of .078 on the match. Alexandra Kwasnik led the way for the Bearcats in today’s match as she hit .385 which was a team high for the Bearcats. The Bearcats just couldn’t find their game as they dropped 2 tough ones this weekend to the UCF Knights to fall to second in the AAC. The Bearcats were struggling to keep the ball in the court, but UCF is a very talented team so give them credit where credits due. The big stat of the night was the net play of the Knights as UCF senior middle blocker Nerissa Moravec had a match high 11 blocks, while UCF as a team had 15 blocks. The Bearcats improved in the blocking category from the first match of the series as Alexandra Kwasnik recorded the Bearcats only block in Game 1. The Bearcats had five blocks today which is a big improvement from Game 1. We have seen what this Bearcat volleyball team is capable of doing when they’re all on the same page connecting and firing on all cylinders. This team has multiple players who could go out and get a 10+ kill night weather it’s Maria Mallon, Maria Tobergte, Alexandra Kwasnik, Sarah Norcom, Adria Oliver, Shannon Williams, Madison Waters or Dimitra Tziarli this team is very deep at each position. The Bearcats team will bounce back from this tough series versus UCF as they prepare to take on Temple in two weeks.
Stat leaders for the Bearcats tonight included Sarah Norcom leading the way in kills with 11, Norcom also recorded four digs. Maria Mallon recorded nine kills, one service ace and eight digs. Alexandra Kwasnik had six kills and one block. Adria Oliver had five kills and three blocks. In her senior day Ashley Kozer recorded 13 assists, one service ace and three digs. Armania Heckenmueller had 15 assists, two digs and one block. Payton Frederick led the match with a total of 17 digs for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats volleyball program will be back in action in two weeks when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Temple University (8-5) (2-4 AAC) for a 2 game series to close out their regular season .
