Tonight the Bearcats welcomed in Memphis to Fifth Third Arena for the first game of the homestand this weekend. The Bearcats coming in at (6-4) (1-1 AAC) are coming off a 3-0 loss to UCF that snapped a five match winning streak. Memphis entered tonight (8-6) (1-1 AAC) were looking to come into Fifth Third Arena and ruin what could be a great start to the weekend.
The starters for the Bearcats tonight were Shannon Williams, Kailea Carrier, Maria Mallon, Emme Madden, Maria Tobergte, Adria Oliver and Julie Wittekind. Wittekind is making her first career start for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead following a Memphis attacking error and a Maria Tobergte ace, the Bearcats were looking to keep the rally going, but the Tigers on the other hand didn’t let that happen as they went on a quick 3-0 run to tie this set up at 4. The Bearcats answered right back with their own 3-0 run that started with a big kill for Maria Mallon. The Bearcats kept the momentum going as they had a big kill by Abby Walker, followed by back to back service aces and the Tigers were rattled and forced to take a timeout here early in set one. Memphis wasn’t shying away early as they rattled off a quick 3 point swing of their own to force Bearcats head coach Molly Alvey to call a timeout with the Bearcats leading 12-10. The Bearcats flipped the momentum though after the timeout starting with two kills from Shannon Williams and a huge block by Maria Mallon, the Bearcats were leading 17-13. Memphis was not going down easily though as they were continuing to put balls away to stay in this set, and fought back to tie it up at 19. The Tigers found their momentum late and went on a quick 4-0 run to take a 22-19 lead forcing Coach Alvey to call her final timeout of the set. The Bearcats came out of the timeout and got a big block from Maria Tobertge followed by a service ace from Abby Walker, her 3rd of the match, brought this set to 22-21 before Memphis went on a 3-0 run to take Set 1 25-21 over the Bearcats.
Just like the Bearcats did in Set 1 they jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead and they never looked back. The Bearcats got big momentum after Memphis had some early struggles keeping the ball in the court, the Bearcats capitalized off their mistakes. A big service ace from Kerstin Ficker started another run for the Bearcats. The Bearcats were keeping their foot on the gas as Abby Walker recorded her 4th Ace of the match, the freshmen’s float serve was really giving the Tigers a difficult time in serve receive. The Bearcats, then jumped out to a big 11-3 lead early in Set 2 as the Tigers were struggling to keep the ball in the court as that lead to a 5-0 run by the Bearcats before Miaya Smith got the Tigers on the board with their first kill of the set to cut the deficit to 11-4. The Bearcats just kept their foot on the gas and never gave up, following kills from Shannon Williams, Sarah Norcom, Abby Walker, the Bearcats extended their lead to 19-11 before Memphis called a timeout. The Bearcats on the other hand were going down swinging as the Bearcats had big time kills by Shannon Williams and Sarah Norcom to make the lead 24-14, before Abby Walker had an impressive solo block to seal the victory 25-14 in Set 2. The Bearcats dominated the net play in Set 2 as they were getting touches on just about every attack Memphis took causing a lot of problems at the net. The Bearcats are looking to keep the momentum heading into Set 3 tied 1 set to 1!
