Set 3- The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 3-1 lead following kills from Carrier and Mallon, as the offense was starting to click for the Bearcats. The Bearcats jumped out to a 8-4 after a huge pancake save from Payton Frederick, that was ruled a kill on the court, but was overruled after a coaches challenge from Bearcats head coach Molly Alvey. That sparked a 5 point run, with Maria Mallon recording her second service ace of the match to give the Bearcats an 8-4 lead over the USF Bulls. The Bearcats continued to keep their foot on the gas as Abby Walker recorded her first service ace of the match. The Bearcats then had consecutive blocks from Madison Waters , and Adria Oliver to start it off, followed by Kailea Carrier and Adria Oliver on the outside pin, giving the Bearcats a huge 14-7 lead. The block party continued as Maria Mallon joined in for the party after a huge solo block to extend the Bearcats lead to 18-9. The Bearcats were just dominating at the net whether it was on offense or defense, as the Bearcats were terminanting most of their swings, limiting their errors, and making it extremely difficult to hit around their big blocks. The Bearcats took Set 3, 25-12 to give them a 2-1 lead over USF, as they controlled the pace of this match.
Set 4- The Bearcats jumped out to a 3-1 lead after consecutive service aces from libero Payton Frederick, as she recorded her 4th ace of the match. The Bearcats jumped out to a 8-5 lead following a kill from Madison Waters, her 9th kill of the match. The Bulls rallied back to tie this set at 10 after a 3 point run, sparked some momentum for the Bulls. The Bearcats jumped out to a 13-10 lead after a kill from Adria Oliver, followed by a service ace from Molly Harrison. The Bearcats got another ace from Payton Frederick, this time her 5th of the match, to give the Bearcats a 15-11 lead, forcing the Bulls to call timeout, as they were looking to create some momentum late in the set. The Bulls rallied back after a 3 point run to force a Bearcats timeout as the cut the lead to 2, at 16-14. The Bulls cut the lead to 1, trailing 19-18 before Madison Waters hammered home her 11th kill of the match, forcing the Bulls to take a timeout trailing 20-18. The Bulls had some late momentum, but the Bearcats held on to take a 25-20 victory, to win the match 3 sets to 1.
Overall, the Bearcats came out to a slow start, but then turned it around after Set 1. Madison Waters really changed the momentum for the Bearcats as she provided that spark the Bearcats were looking for as she recorded a team high 11 kills, on 18 attempts, while committing no errors, an incredible stat in the sport of volleyball, as she hit for a .611% on the match, while recording five digs, and three blocks. The Junior outside had a huge day for the Bearcats. The Bearcats really controlled the net on offense and defense as they, took advantage of all the errors by the Bulls, and turned them into 4-5 point runs to open the match up, as they held a 9 point lead in set 3 at one point. The Bearcats dominated all aspects of the game whether, it was serve receive or at the net. Libero Payton Frederick recorded a match high five service aces, as her float serve gave the Bulls, a lot of trouble in serve receive. Maria Mallon recorded yet another double double, as she recorded 10 kills, and a match high 25 digs, and five blocks, a huge day for the senior outside hitter. Kailea Carrier, also recorded eight kills, and three blocks for the Bearcats, as her block on the outside gave the Bulls a lot of fits on offense. The Bearcats ran a 6-2 offense for todays match, as Emme Madden, and Armania Heckenmueller did a great job controlling the offense for the Bearcats. Madden finished with 23 assists, Heckenmueller finished with 14. Abby Walker only had one kill, but she effected the game in many other ways as she recorded a match high six blocks, two service aces. Libero Payton Frederick finished with 12 digs on the match, as well. The Bearcats just dominated and played a complete match as they dominated all aspects of the game, especially the net play as they out blocked USF, 13-4 on the match, and that’s a huge stat that stands out.
The Bearcats now sit at 14-8, (9-5 AAC) after todays dominating win over USF. The Bearcats will be back in action this Friday at 7 pm, as they travel to New Orleans, to take on Tulane.
