Game 2 vs Dayton.
Starters for the Flyers– Karissa Kaminski, Amelia Moore, Taylor Russell, Brooke Nichols, Alayna Yates, Anna Wuensch, Livie Sandt.
Starters for the Bearcats– Kailea Carrier, Carly Glendinning, Ligia Williams, Abby Walker, Avry Tatum, Payton Frederick, Abby Walker, Caroline Endres.
Set 1- The Bearcats started out with a big-time service ace from freshman setter Caroline Endres, the Cincinnati native with her 5th ace of the day, after recording four aces in game 1 versus Illinois State, was off to a great start in the serving game that gave the Bearcats the first points of the match. The Flyers would find their grove from the serving line early as Taylor Russell ripped off three straight aces, in a 4-point swing to give the Flyers an early 6-3 lead over the Bearcats. The Bearcats would take advantage of the Flyers errors, and tie this one up at 6, before taking a 9-7 lead following consecutive kills from Abby Walker and serving ace from Shaye Eggleston. The Bearcats would take a 14-11 lead following consecutive kills from Ligia Williams, as freshman setter Caroline Enders was doing at great job getting the ball in Abby Walker, and Ligia Williams hands early. The Bearcats would take a 18-14 lead over the Flyers, as Abby Walker was becoming a huge problem at the net, as she recorded five kills, to zero errors to start the match, for a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage, and the Bearcats were finding the seams early of the Flyers defense. The Bearcats were looking to utilize the Middle blockers early as Abby Walker and Ligia Williams combined for eight kills in Set 1, where the Bearcats lead the Flyers 20-19, which should free up Carly Glendinning, Kailea Carrier, and Avry Tatum on the pin shortly if they continue to have success out of the middle. The Bearcats would take Set 1 25-20 after a 4-0 run to end the set and behind dominating first sets from Abby Walker and Ligia Williams, Walker finished with six kills, no errors and two blocks, while Williams recorded three kills of her own to propel the Bearcats to a 1-0 lead over the Flyers.
Set 2– The Bearcats would take a 7-3 lead following consecutive kills from Carly Glendinning and a statement solo block from Abby Walker. Walker was having her own block party here at Fifth Third Arena after consecutive solo blocks, her 4th block of the match, Walker was continuing to prove why she earned that nod to the Preseason All-AAC team as the Bearcats would lead the Flyers 10-6. The Bearcats would rally momentum after Ligia Williams hammered one home, then followed up with two assisted blocks to give the Bearcats a 14-9 lead forcing the Flyers to call timeout as they weren’t able to get anything going offensively through the Bearcats dominant block up at the net. The Flyers would rally back and take a 20-18 lead over the Bearcats, before Avry Tatum stopped the Flyers 4 point run with a cross court kill. The Flyers would build off that late momentum and take set 3, 25-21 over the Bearcats and we would be tied up 1-1 heading into Set 3.
Set 3- The Flyers would jump out to a 6-0 lead over the Bearcats forcing Molly Alvey to call timeout early. The Flyers had consecutive kills from Amelia Moore and took advantage of the Bearcats errors and were looking to establish the momentum here early as they were looking to open this one up here at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats would chip away at the Flyers early lead, cutting the deficit to 2 where they trailed 10-8 after a flyer attacking error. The Bearcats would rally and take a 16-14 lead after a cross court kill from freshman outside Carly Glendinning, as the Bearcats were looking to build a run of their own and extend their lead down the stretch of Set 3. The Bearcats would take a 21-20 lead forcing the Flyers to call timeout after a huge block from Abby Walker gave the Bearcats some momentum as they were looking to finish out Set 3 in the win column. The Flyers would end up taking set three in a 26-24 victory, after a back and forth battle down the stretch.
Set- 4– The Flyers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead after a 4-point run, following kills from Karissa Kiminski and Taylor Russell, and consecutive Bearcat attacking errors, the Bearcats would find themselves in an early hole in a win or go home set. The Bearcats would look to fight back, as they cut the Flyer lead to as much as 3, where they trailed 13-10, but the Flyers would answer right back and extend their lead to 5 where they would hold a 15-10 lead over the Bearcats. The Flyers wouldn’t seem to look back after that sequence as they would hold on to win set 4, 25-18 over the Bearcats to take the match 3 sets to 1.
Overall, the Bearcats showed a dominant performance at the net, between Carly Glendinning, Abby Walker, Ligia Williams combined for 21 assisted blocks at the net, which is crazy, Walker and Williams each with 8. However, the Bearcats will look to bounce back this Sunday when they take on Florida State at 1 pm to wrap up the Tribute to 10 Tournament, in what is a very tough weekend to start the season, as all three teams made it to the NCAA Tournament a season ago. This is a very young Bearcats team, and now with the first two games under their belt they should be able to bounce back on Sunday, after falling to Dayton and Illinois State in two very hard-fought matches.
The Bearcats were led by Abby Walker who finished with a team high 14 kills, eight blocks, as well as Ligia Williams who had seven kills, seven blocks, and Carly Glendinning who recorded seven kills and five blocks of her own, as this young Bearcats team was looking to replace all lot of talent and veterans from a season ago, but they held their own ground with a very tough Illinois State and Dayton today. Caroline Endres a true freshman finished up game two versus Dayton with 38 assists and five assisted blocks and was really starting to settle in for the Bearcats and be the leader of the offense in that setter position. Bearcats’ libero Payton Frederick recorded a game high 17 digs and controlled the back line for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats now start the season 0-2 ,but will look to bounce back in the win column this Sunday, when they take on Florida State at 1 pm here at Fifth Third Arena.
