Today the Bearcats took on Temple for Game 2 of the series versus the Owls as they were looking to avenge their first game of the series where they fell 3 sets to 1. The Bearcats were looking to bounce back and take one game of the series to clinch their spot in the AAC tournament next weekend. The Bearcats threw out the starters of Armania Heckenmueller, Shannon Williams, Alexandra Kwasnik, Adria Oliver, Maria Mallon, Sarah Norcom and Payton Frederick.
Set 1- The Bearcats found themselves in an early hole as they were down 5-1 as the Owls found a run right out the gate and the Bearcats knew they could be in trouble early if they didn’t find a way to end the momentum. The Owls controlled the set up until the set was 14-11 favoring the Owls until the Bearcats shot out a 9-0 run to take a 20-14 lead over the owls. That 9-0 run consisted of five kills by Shannon Williams as well as two service aces from Kerstin Ficker. This run really flipped the energy for the Bearcats and they never looked back. They took Set 1 25-19 and ended Set 1 on a 3-0 run to bring momentum into Set 2.
Set 2- The set was back and forth until the Bearcats went on 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead over the Owls. The Owls didn’t go away easy as they responded with a 4-0 run right back to tie this game at 10-10. Set 2 was filled of lots of energy as they exchanged point for point until the end. The game needed some extra points to decide the victor, but the Owls squeaked out a 30-28 set 2 victory over the Bearcats. The Bearcats were forced to settle with a 1-1 tie heading into the 3rd set.
Set 3- Set 3 started just like Set 2 as the Bearcats jumped out to a 7-5 lead over Temple before the Owls responded with a 4-0 run to take a 9-7 lead. The Owls never looked back as they had all the momentum as they had a total of 4 runs that assisted the Owls for 16 total points in that set as they recorded 4 separate runs of 4 points. The Owls dominated and took Set 3 25-16 over the Bearcats forcing the Bearcats to have to face adversity because they knew if they wanted to keep their season going they had to take this game and flip it to 5 sets to have a chance to play in the AAC tournament on their home court.
