This evening the Bearcats (7-4, 0-1 XII) look to bounce back in the win column vs Big 12 foe Central Florida after the Knights rallied to defeat the Bearcats 3-1 in last night’s big 12 opener. The Bearcats were led by redshirt sophomore Ligia Williams, who finished with a team high 14 kills and five blocks on the match. The Bearcats had unlimited success from their middle blockers as Zeta Washington rattled off 10 kills, while Abby Walker finished with eight, as the trio combined for 32 of the Bearcats 47 kills in the first match of the series.
The Bearcats would see starting outside hitter Jadyn Bauss go down with a lower body injury that would leave her OUT for this match. Bauss, is currently 5th in the Big 12 as she averages 4.0 kills per set. However, Bauss is also 4th in the conference as she averages 0/53 service aces per set, and 4th in points as she averages 4.83 points per set for the Bearcats. Outside hitter Shaye Eggleston would also be unavailable for the Bearcats tonight due to injury so the Bearcats would be playing down two key contributors which isn’t ideal as they kick off conference play.
Final Stats
Carly Glendinning led the Bearcats with six kills, seven digs and two blocks, while hitting .364% on the match.
Outside hitter Elissa Alcantara also recorded six kills for the Bearcats on 15 attempts.
Middle blocker Zeta Washington had five kills along with five blocks as she continued to be a key piece for this Bearcats team.
Libero Carly Skrabak finished with a team high nine digs, while Katlyn Lefler recorded a team high 21 assists.
However, the Knights dominated behind the service line as they recorded nine service aces compared to the Bearcats two.
How it Happened
Set 1- The Knights jumped out to an early 8-6 lead following a three-point run that consisted of consecutive service aces forcing Molly Alvey to use an early timeout. However, the Knights weren’t fazed by the early timeout as they kept their foot on the gas to extend their lead to four at 10-6. However, the Knights just dominated from the start as the rattled off a four-point swing to take a commanding 17-9 lead forcing the Bearcats to use their final timeout of the set. Cincinnati would fall 25-14 as the Knights came out swinging recording 13 kills compared to the Bearcats 7. UCF hit .308 on the match and recorded four service aces, just like they did last night in the first match of this series.
Set 2- The Bearcats would take an early 5-4 lead following consecutive kills from Carly Glendinning and Zeta Washington. The Knights would rally back and regain the lead before Carly Glendinning came through with a huge service ace to regain the lead at 7-6. The Knights would take a 18-12 lead before the Bearcats came within three following consecutive kills from Glendinning that forced a UCF timeout as they led the Bearcats 18-15. The match wouldn’t get closer from their as the Knights would go on to finish the set on a 3-0 run and claim Set 2, 25-18.
Set 3- The Knights would take an early 4-1 lead after two huge solo blocks sparked a three-point run to give the Knights and early lead (4-1). The Knights would extend their lead to five (7-2) shortly after forcing a Bearcats timeout. The Knights would extend their lead to as much as 10 (13-3) after dominating the net, as they recorded six blocks in the first 16 points of the set. The Bearcats struggled to find momentum on the offensive end until late in the set following a five-point swing of things cut the Knights lead to six, (21-16). The Bearcats would rally and cut the Knights lead to two after a four put run. However, the Knights prevail and would defeat the Bearcats 25-22 to claim the match.
Up next for the Bearcats
The Bearcats (7-5, 0-2 Big XII) will be back in action next Saturday September 30th, when they travel to Manhattan, Kansas to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. A week off that could allow the Bearcats to get healthy as they quickly approach the gauntlet of their Big 12 Conference schedule.
