Today the Bearcats traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on the Temple Owls in their season finale. The Bearcats come in at 18-9 on the season, (13-6 AAC), but they also come in riding a 3 game win streak after deafeting Wichita State, Tulsa and ECU in their final homestand of the season over the course of the last week.
The starters for the Bearcats today were Maria Mallon, Abby Walker, Payton Frederick, Emme Madden, Kerstin Ficker, Adria Oliver and Molly Harrison.
The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead following two kills from Maria Mallon and a kill from Abby Walker. The Bearcats also had dominant serving to start the match as freshman Molly Harrison’s float serve was giving the Owls a lot of difficulties early, after recording an early service ace. The Bearcats took 9 of the first 10 points as they held a 9-1 lead, which forced the Owls to take an early timeout, to try to collect themselves after a dynamic start from the Bearcats. The Bearcats however, saw senior outside Maria Mallon exit the match early in Set 1 with what looked to be an injury to her right elbow, and the Owls caught a quick run shortly after the decorated outside was getting looked at on the sidelines, before Coach Alvey called a timeout to regroup. The Bearcats however, held their early lead and continued to dominate as they would hold on to win Set 1, 25-14. The Bearcats finished with 15 kills in Set 1, as Mallon and Adria Oliver led the way with three kills each.
The Bearcats looked to have Maria Mallon back after she exited the first set after she appeared to injury that elbow early in Set 1. The Owls jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in Set 2, after dropping Set 1. The Bearcats rallied back after a 5 point run to take a 9-8 lead over the owls, following three straight attacking errors from the Owls, and a huge kill by Kailea Carrier. The Bearcats would never look after that, as they dominated after takin another 5 point run to take a 14-8 lead over the Owls following five straight kills from Emme Madden, Abby Walker, and three kills from Sarah Norcom. The Bearcats would hold on to defeat the Owls 25-19 to take an early 2 set to 0 lead for the Bearcats following five kills from Sarah Norcom during Set 2.
The Bearcats and the Owls went back and forth before the Bearcats jumped out to a quick 5-3 lead following back to back kills from outside Madison Waters and setter Emme Madden recorded her second service ace of the match. The Bearcats went on another 5 point run to take a 14-6 lead that started with a kill from Madison Waters. Kerstin Ficker recorded two service aces in that time frame, as well as kills from Sarah Norcom and Abby Walker and the Bearcats were looking to finish this match in three straight sets. The Bearcats recorded another 6-0 run to take a 20-7 lead forcing the Owls to call a timeout as they tried to piece something together to avoid the sweep. The Bearcats held on to win Set 3, 25-13 to make it now 4 straight victories to close out the regular season, as they are on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament and will hope to get that bubble spot after today’s victory over Temple.
The Bearcats were led by freshman middle blocker, Abby Walker, as she finished with 11 kills, hitting .556% on the match. Sophomore outside Sarah Norcom also had a great day for the Bearcats as she finished with nine kills. Madison Waters stepped in and contributed for the Bearcats as she recorded seven kills, three digs and two blocks as well. Emme Madden did a great job spreading the ball on offense and getting everyone involved like she did versus ECU, as the Bearcats had another match where eight players recorded a kill. However, Madden finished off a great performance as she recorded 30 assists and 15 digs, for her 11th double double on the season. The Bearcats dominated from the service line, as Temple was really struggling in the serve receive game, as the Bearcats carved up six service aces on the day, three of them from freshman defensive specialist Molly Harrison, Emme Madden also recorded two service aces for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats finished the season on a 4 game winning streak as they improved to 19-9, as they currently sit on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament teams. However, if this was the final game of the 2021 season, it was a fun one as the Bearcats had an incredible season that included the likes of a 10 match win streak, a huge top 25 win at Notre Dame early in the season, as they handled a lot of adversity this season and still finished with a 19-9 overall record, (14-6 AAC). If it was the final game for the Bearcats wed like to give a huge shoutout to the five seniors, for their accomplishments during their volleyball careers as they have bring a lot of memories to Cincinnati over the last four years and we wish them nothing, but the best along their next journey in life.
