Over the weekend, the Bearcats volleyball team kicked off their season when they made the short trip up to Dayton, Ohio to play in the Dayton Tournament over the weekend. The Bearcats will played a span of three games in two days as they started by playing Dayton, followed by Texas State later the samye da. The Bearcats will then took on the reigning national champions Kentucky the following day. The Wildcats came in ranked No. 3 in the nation so the Bearcats had a tough weekend with lots of great competition.
The Bearcats showed a lot of fight, grit, and heart in Game 1 of the weekend as they rallied back from a 2 set deficit versus Dayton to come back and force 5 sets versus a very good Flyers team. The one thing I noticed was their grit and energy that Coach Alvey has instilled within this team as they were down 2 sets to 0 and found a way to come back and force 5 sets was very impressive especially after falling the first 2 sets 25-23 where they fell just short. The Bearcats showed early on they have a lot of depth as sophomore Sarah Norcom finished the match with 13 kills tying her career high as she hit for .222% for the Bearcats. The Bearcats are led by seniors Maria Mallon and Adria Oliver as they both had big games to kick off their 2021 season as Mallon recorded her first double double of the season where she recorded 12 kills, 11 digs. Adria Oliver had a big day as she put down 13 kills on 22 attempts, for a .545 hitting percentage. Oliver and Mallon are to big pieces for this Bearcats team as they have a great connection with senior setter Armania Heckenmueller as she Heckenmueller recorded 44 assists in her first match and controlled the offense for the Bearcats. Heckenmueller had a great start to her season not just on the offensive aspect of the game, she also led the Bearcats in digs where she recorded 16. The Bearcats ultimately fell in 5 sets (23-25) (23-25) (25-22) (26-24) (15-7) but it showed what they are capable of doing, especially in their first game of the season to come fight back from a 2 set to 0 deficit, it shows a lot of positive within this program.
