This afternoon the Bearcats were looking to keep the momentum rolling coming off a huge 3 set to 1 victory over Florida State, they begin a gauntlet of a weekend vs two top ranked teams where they will start the day versus No. 10 ranked Pittsburgh, before taking on No. 7 ranked BYU later tonight. For those who don’t remember the last time the Bearcats took on the Panthers in the regular season was back in 2019 when the Bearcats, led by now Olympian Jordan Thompson defeated top ranked Pittsburgh to advance to the sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.
After a hard-fought weekend to kick off the season where the Bearcats fell to Dayton and Illinois State in consecutive matches versus two NCAA Tournament teams a season ago, the Bearcats were looking to keep the ball rolling and take on a very dominant Pittsburgh team in game one of the first day of the Utah Tournament, that is taking play at BYU in Provo, Utah. The Bearcats kick off the season with seven non-conference opponents who all made the NCAA Tournament a season ago in which is arguably the toughest non-conference schedule within the AAC.
“What is important is Dayton is picked to win their conference, Illinois State was picked to win their conference, Florida State we know is always tremendous within the ACC. I think we are always looking to get better; you have to play teams that will challenge you to get better and that’s important number one. two, you have to build a resume, playing these teams, the teams that we put together in the Tribute to #10 tournament never hurt you. If you get a win like we did over Florida State, that is a big boost, you lose to Illinois State and Dayton you learn from it, and it doesn’t hurt you because those two teams are going to go out and win a lot of matches this season. It was a really successful weekend for us.”
Stratings for the Bearcats- Payton Frederick, Abby Walker, Caroline Endres, Ligia Williams, Shaye Eggleston, Kailea Carrier, Maria Tobergte.
Set 1- The Bearcats got off to a huge start after Payton Frederick recorded consecutive service aces to start this contest as the Bearcats would strike first and take a 2-0 lead before the Panthers would call timeout trailing the Bearcats 5-3. The Panthers would respond with a 4-point run out of the timeout to take a 7-5 after a slow start. The Bearcats would see Pittsburgh gain some momentum as they took a 14-11 lead, before the Bearcats rallied off a 5-point run featuring kills from Abby Walker, Carly Glendinning, along with a statement solo block from redshirt Ligia Williams, who is continuing her hot start to the season after missing all of 2021 due to injury. The Bearcats would get the momentum going after a kill from Shaye Eggleston, followed by a Caroline Endres service ace sparked a 4-point run to give the Bearcats a huge 20-17 lead. The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas, as they took a 24-18 lead following another service ace from Payton Frederick, her third of the match, but the Bearcats would hold on after a late comeback attempt from the Panthers to win 25-20 after a huge kill by Carrier.
Set 2- The Bearcats would take an early 4-1 lead following 3 straight kills from Abby Walker, as Caroline Endres was looking to get the reigning freshman of the year involved to start the second set to get some early momentum following their set one victory. The Bearcats and Panthers would exchange point for point, before the Panthers would sneak out a 3 point run late in the set to give them a 22-19 lead following consecutive kills. Pittsburgh would hold on to win Set 2, 25-20 after rallying their momentum late in the set where they outscored the Bearcats 6-1 in the final 7 points.
Set 3- The Bearcats would find themselves with an early 7-5 lead behind service aces from Caroline Endres and Abby Walker, However, Pittsburgh would storm back and tie this set at 9, following kills from Serena Grey and Julianna Dalton. The Panthers would hold a 13-11 lead over the Bearcats before freshman Caroline Endres got the Bearcats momentum going following a Ligia Williams kill, Endres recorded consecutive service aces to give the Bearcats a 16-14 lead. The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas following a 3-point run to take a 21-16 lead as they hoped to pull away and take a 2 set to 1 victory, but the Panthers rallied back to pull within 1 where they trailed the Bearcats 24-23, but the Bearcats held tough following a kill from Abby Walker that would give the Bearcats a 2-1 lead over #10 ranked Pittsburgh.
Set 4- The Bearcats would be looking to put this one away and get a statement win to kick off the Utah Tournament versus a nationally ranked Pittsburgh team, however the Panthers weren’t going to let that happen as they looked to extend this match to a fifth and final set. The Bearcats would set the tone early leading 4-3, before the Panthers rallied off a 5 point run to take an 8-4 lead. The Panthers would extend their lead to as much as 8, but the Bearcats knew if they wanted to sneak out a very huge win, they had to go now where they rallied back after a 5 point run sparked the momentum behind a huge block from Shaye Eggleston and Abby Walker, Caroline Endres did a fantastic job finding ways to get Abby Walker 1-1 at the net, where shed hammer home two kills and all of a sudden this was a 15-13 match. The Bearcats would tie this one up at 19, before the Panthers responded with a 6 point run to tie this match at 2 sets a piece.
Set 5- The Bearcats were looking to close the door, but Pittsburgh, a very tough experienced team would keep their foot on the glass and take Set 5, 15-5 after the Bearcats fell in a hole early, they just werent able to bounce back.
The Bearcats were led by Abby Walker, who had a game high 23 kills, 2.5 blocks. good for 26.5 points, Ligia Williams also had a huge day where she recorded 10 kills, three blocks as the redshirt freshman was looking to continue the hot start to her Bearcats career. Caroline Endres did a phenomenal job leading the Bearcats today in their first match of the day, as the freshman from Cincinnati wasn’t shying away from a big stage vs a top ranked Pittsburgh team as she finished with a career high 52 assists, four service aces, after controlling the Bearcats offense in a hard-fought battle on the road. Endres, is really stepping in for the Bearcats, it’s not easy for a true freshman to come in and make such an immediate impact controlling an offense versus seven teams that were in the NCAA Tournament a season ago, but Endres is embracing the challenge here to start the season. The Bearcats saw great defensive performances from Freshman Paige Pickering recorded 10 digs, as her and Payton Frederick really anchored the Bearcats defense in a 5-set battle with Pittsburgh as Frederick, recorded 11 digs. However, the Bearcats knew they would have to forget this one as they would move their focus to No. 7 BYU as they were set for a quick turnaround, as they looked to split the day 1-1.
