Tonight the Bearcats welcomed the Houston Cougars to Fifth Third Arena for a battle of second in the American Athletic Conference. The Bearcats are coming in 11-5 (6-2 AAC). while the Cougars are 16-4 (6-2 AAC). I expected this to be a high quality match as both are a top the standings within the American Athletic conference, However Houston has a few more games under their belt, I expect this one to be a hard fought battle to the end, as these two teams didn’t meet in the 2020-2021 spring season that was shortened due to the pandemic.
The starters for the Bearcats in tonight’s match were, Maria Mallon, Emme Madden, Abby Walker, Kailea Carrier, Payton Frederick, Shannon Williams and Julie Wittekind.
Set 1- The Bearcats started the scoring off after a Maria Mallon, but the Cougars answered right back with back to back service aces and that gave the Cougars a early 4-1 lead following a Emma Madden attacking error. The Bearcats rallied back to tie this set at 5 after back to back kills by Abby Walker, and a Madison Waters kill, the Bearcats flipped the momentum. The Bearcats then went on another 4-0 run after consecutive kills from Walker, Mallon, Madden, followed by a service ace from Abby Walker the Bearcats held a 9-6 lead. However, the Cougars weren’t going away, as they went on a 4 point run to take a 12-11 lead. The Bearcats had Houston within striking range, before the Cougars went on a 4 point run to extend their lead to 5, when they lead 18-13 over the Bearcats. A big block by Abby Walker, and Maria Mallon sparked a fire for the Bearcats as they responded with a 4 point run themselves that started with the big block by Mallon, and Walker, followed by a kill from Walker, and a block from Emme Madden and Abby Walker and this was a brand new set as the Bearcats now trailed 18-17. The Bearcats tied this set up at 19, before the Cougars found their momentum after leading 21-20, Houston went on a 4 point run to take Set 1, 25-20 over the Bearcats.
Set 2- This set started off back and forth as the Bearcats were looking to find some momentum early. The Cougars on the other hand, found a stride and jumped out to a 8-4 lead and the Bearcats were forced to call a timeout to stop the run. The Bearcats got their momentum after that timeout, as they jumped out to a 5 point run that resulted in five straight kills. Waters recorded two, Carrier, Mallon, and Walker, were all apart of the scoring for the Bearcats. However, Houston answered right back with 3 points of their own to take a 10-13 lead. The Bearcats fought back though to take the lead at 17-16 behind a huge kill followed by a crucial service ace from Maria Mallon to cut the deficit to 1. This sparked a change of momentum for the Bearcats and kept their foot on the gas to take a 17-16 lead. The Bearcats used that to create a 7 point run to take a 20-16 lead, as they were looking to even things up here at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats went on a 3-0 run to open their lead to 23-17 after back to back kills from Madison Waters. The Bearcats hold on to take set 2, 25-17 after Adria Oliver puts the final kill away for the Bearcats to tie this match up at 1 set a piece.
Set 3- The Bearcats jumped out to a big 2-1 lead after a huge kill from Alex Kwasnik, followed by a Payton Frederick service ace. This match went point for point, as the score was tied 7 times within the first 14 points, and it was all a matter of time before someone would jumped out and extend the lead. Houston did that when they went on a 3 point run to take a 10-7 point lead. The Cougars extended their lead to 17-12 before a kill from Kailea Carrier stopped the Cougars run. The Bearcats rallied back late in the set to cut the Cougar deficit to 1, after going on a 4 point run, forcing the Cougars to call a timeout and regroup here late in Set 3. The Cougars fight right back and took a 24-20 lead following, three consecutive errors from the Bearcats, and held on to go on a 4 point run to end set 3, to take a 2 set to 1 lead, after winning Set 3, 20-25.
