This Saturday the Bearcats (1-7) travel down the road to Cintas Center where they will take on the Xavier Musketeers (5-3) in a crosstown battle. A battle between two phenomenal programs with a tremendous amount of success over the last couple seasons are back in what is an annual crosstown match that dates all the way back to 1973, where the Bearcats lead the all-time series 27-12, including five of the last six meetings dating back to 2017. The Bearcats are led by head coach Molly Alvey, who is entering her 10th season at the realm for the Bearcats as she holds an all-time record of 6-4 vs the Musketeers. The Musketeers are led by head coach Christy Pfeffenberger, who is in her 8th season at the realm after taking over the Musketeer program in 2015.
The Bearcats are off to a slow start to kick off the 2022 season as they sit (1-7) on the season, but if you take a deeper look at their schedule to date, they have played seven NCAA tournament teams from a season ago, but in those four of those seven matches they went four and five sets with each team they have faced including a five-set loss to No. 10 Pittsburgh, and a four-set loss to No. 7 BYU. They also went 5 sets vs Illinois State to start the season, but fell just short in the 5th and final set where they would fall 15-12 to give the Redbirds a 3 set to 2 victories.
The Musketeers on the other hand are coming into this contest at (5-3) on the season, as I mentioned, but they have played some top-notch competition as well including a very tough Lipscomb team, where they fell 3 sets to 0 in the Louisville Tournament. The Musketeers also suffered a tough 3-0 loss to No. 9 ranked Purdue over the past weekend in the Louisville tournament as the Musketeers are coming off a tough hard-fought weekend where they will finish the week vs two tough in state rivals in Miami and Cincinnati. However, the Musketeers are looking to bounce back in the win column vs the Bearcats, after suffering consecutive losses over the weekend, as the last time the Musketeers came out victorious over the Bearcats was during the pandemic season dating back to the spring of 2021, where the teams split a two-game series, as each team won as the visiting team.
The opportunity to play a program that is right down the road, just over three miles apart is something you don’t get to see often within college athletics, which is what makes a match like this rivalry match more exciting due to all the nature and history surrounding the programs, the nature of the relationships the players have built with the other athletes from the opposing schools, this is what a college rivalry is about and it shows why the Xavier, Cincinnati rivalry is arguably one of the best rivalries in all of college athletics, not just highlighted by the basketball match up, but anytime these two prestigious universities get the chance to play it each other it’s a great opportunity to bring the community together as well, especially as seven student athletes between both respected programs are from the greater Cincinnati Area.
“It is a great opportunity to play a school that is just down the street, to have them at such a caliber program they are, it’s a great opportunity for us, a lot of players know each other as they have played club ball together, grown up with each other which makes things kind of fun, it’s getting better and better as the Big East gets, Cincinnati now recruiting for the Big 12 the level of play is getting higher and higher. It’s a really fun match,” said Xavier head coach Christy Pfeffenberger
However, the Musketeers have a sour taste in their mouth after suffering a 3 set to 1 loss to the Bearcats one year ago to date in what was a 4-set thriller last season that saw the first two sets get extended due to tremendous back and forth play between both programs, behind dominating performances from Maria Mallon and Shannon Williams who each finished with a match high 19 kills for the Bearcats, as well as 18 kills from sophomore Delaney Hogan for the Musketeers. However, the Musketeers were looking to come back for revenge this year, with the opportunity to do it on their home court for the first time with fans since 2019 due to the pandemic in 2020 that limited fans from coming to this annual crosstown match, and the Musketeers were looking forward to getting back at the Bearcats from last season, this time in front of their own fans.
“This is a special match as I am from Cincinnati, I want to play my best, compete at a high level, perform well for my family, and community, this is special for us players as Cincinnati is right down the road. I am still thinking of last year’s game, it was such a close game last year, as they held on to beat us in 4 sets, there’s unfinished business there, I just want to get back at them, show them what we are capable of doing. I want to get back at them after last year’s match,” said Xavier junior middle blocker Hunter Fry.
Bearcats sophomore Emme Madden, a former West Clermont standout, and Cincinnati native had the opportunity to go play the next level of her career outside of her hometown, but as she got older, the more she knew she wanted to stay home, play for her local hometown team, join coach Alvey and the Bearcats, as she is now in her second season in the red and black where she is coming off a huge freshman campaign where she recorded 30 kills, 978 assists, 251 digs, and 35 total blocks.
“I have always love Cincinnati, when I was younger, I had always thought I’d move away to play college volleyball, but as I got older and playing club, and high school volleyball here in Cincinnati, I had quickly realized I didnt want to leave Cincinnati, getting the opportunity to play at the University of Cincinnati, it has been a dream come true. I think when we play rivals like Xavier it is playing knowing I am wearing that C-Paw across my chest, playing for the University of Cincinnati is a big part of this rivalry, but I think this is an awesome opportunity, we are all very excited to go out and compete with programs that are very close to us, I think it makes it more of a rivalry, I think we are all excited to go out there and leave everything we have on the floor,” said Bearcats setter Emme Madden.
