The Bearcats lost one senior after the spring season earlier this year and that was setter Ashley Kozer. Kozer played a big role for the Bearcats offense in 2021 where she split time with junior setter Armania Heckenmueller. Kozer finished the spring season with 350 assists, 12 service aces, 94 digs, five blocks where she tallied 21.5 points for the Bearcats. People who know the sport of volleyball know how hard it is to lose their setter, as the setter controls the offense for the team and is basically running the show on offense. Kozer not only played a big role on the court, she also played a big role off the court in the locker room for many players within the Bearcats locker room as she was someone who played four years for three prestigous volleyball programs as she started her career at Loyola University in Maryland, Kozer then transferred to TCU where she played her sophomore season before finding her forever home at Cincinnati. Having someone with this much experience in the locker room in the sport of volleyball is fantastic and many teams would love to have a leader like her in the locker room, but she left the Bearcats program in a great place for people like Armania Heckenmueller and Emme Madden.
This time around for the Bearcats there will be some new faces within the program as the Bearcats welcome Emme Madden, Abby Walker, Ligia Williams, Julie Wittekind, Molly Harrison to the bearcats volleyball program. Coach Alvey is building something very special here at Cincinnati as she brought in 5 new faces ahead of the 2021 season that will look to play a big role for the Bearcats volleyball program in the near future.
The Bearcats are returning a lot of key pieces from the spring 2021 season as junior outside hitter Madison Waters looks to have a big season after a stellar 2021 where she recorded 112 kills. They also will have Maria Mallon returning for her senior season. The Chesterfield, Michigan native is coming off a fantastic 2021 season where she recorded a team high 124 kills, while recording 131 digs in 35 sets, as well as averaging 3.35 kills per set. Mallon was named to the 2nd Team All-AAC as well. In her first match of the season versus East Carolina University, Mallon recorded 21 kills, 21 digs which is incredible in the sport of volleyball. One thing to keep an eye on for Mallon is that she is only 164 kills, 311 digs away from joining the 1000/1000 club for the Bearcats where she would join some great company, as she would join former superstar and now Gold Medalist Jordan Thompson and Carly Norman and six others in that club.
