The Bearcats found themselves in another early 3-1 whole before rallying back to tie this match at 5, before the Bearcats senior outside Maria Mallon rallied off consecutive service aces as here effective topspin serve was giving the Pirates a lot of difficulties in the serve receive game, as the Bearcats jumped out to a 7-5 lead giving them their first lead of the set. The Bearcats never looked back from there as they kept their foot on the gas and took a huge 15-8 lead after a 3 point run capped off with three straight kills from Abby Walker, Maria Mallon and Sarah Norcom. The Bearcats decided to have a block party late in the match as freshman Abby Walker started it off with a huge solo block, but Maria Mallon and Adria Oliver wanted to join the party as the Bearcats held a 19-10 lead over the Pirates after the blocks at the net. The Bearcats held on to win 25-15 in Set 3 to complete the sweep over the ECU Pirates.
The Bearcats were led by freshman Abby Walker who finished with a match high 13 kills, three service aces and one block. Sophomore outside Sarah Norcom finished with 12 kills, Kailea Carrier finished with eight kills, Senior outside Maria Mallon finished with eight kills, three service aces, eight digs and three blocks. Mallon moved up to 7th all time in service aces after her performance today as well.
Coach Alvey gave a lot of praise to the younger core of Abby Walker and Sarah Norcom after today’s 3-0 victory over ECU. “You mentioned two of our younger players, I think that is pretty cool, as Sarah being a sophomore, not getting much of a season her freshman year due to covid. As for Walker, you know Abby, just being by far one of the most elite freshman in our conference, she’s just a phenomenal athlete, in doing some things, think she’s only been here a really short time, as she arrived to Cincinnati in June. There production tonight was fantastic”
The Bearcats now sit at 18-9 on the season (13-6 ACC) will be back in action this Friday at 1 pm when they travel to Philadelphia to take on Temple as the Bearcats look to finish the season on a strong note as they look to make it 4 in a row as they close out the season.
