Xavier junior libero Stevie Wolf, a Cincinnati native has a much greater connection to the sport of volleyball and this rivalry between Xavier and Cincinnati, as for people who don’t know, her older sister Sabrina, played two seasons for coach Alvey and the Bearcats from 2016-2017, so Wolf has been able to witness this rivalry up close and personal from both the fan aspect and now this time as a player as she enters her 3rd season for the Musketeers. For those who don’t know Wolf’s, younger sister Shaye, who is now a senior at Mount Notre Dame here in Cincinnati and just committed to play volleyball at Florida Atlantic University upon graduation, and now becomes the 3rd member of their family to play collegiate volleyball.
“It’s awesome, I grew up here in Cincinnati, having this culture surrounding me my entire life has been so special to represent that with the X. It’s always a fun match, our whole team gets super competitive, it’s such a fun event to get the opportunity to play in because it does mean so much to us when we do compete against those rivals,” said Musketeer junior libero Stevie Wolf.
You look around at the level of competition within the greater Cincinnati area when it comes to woman’s volleyball, and for these two teams to have the opportunity to come together and play each other on the collegiate level after seeing some familiar faces within the club level during their early stops of these young women’s playing career is something very exciting most of the young women between both programs have been looking forward to for quite some time as they have built those relationships off the volleyball court as well as they took place in some offseason open gyms together during their playing careers at the next level.
“We are so excited for this opportunity. I played club with a lot of the Xavier girls, so it’s fun, I have looked up to them my entire life, now I want to go after it with them, it’s really exciting to see how far their game has come, I’m really excited to show off what I can do now too,” said freshman setter Caroline Endres.
Bearcat’s senior Kerstin Ficker who attended Anderson High school, knows a great thing or two about this rivalry matchup as she is 3-1 in her Bearcats career, with the only loss coming during the 2021 spring season where the Bearcats split a 2-game series with the Musketeers. Ficker, is also one of the five seniors on this Bearcats roster, as she joins teammates Maria Tobergte and Madison Waters as the only other Bearcats to go 3-1 during her career vs the Musketeers heading into this match and has shown to be one of the veteran leaders of this very young Bearcats volleyball team.
“I think these are the two most look forward matches between Xavier and Miami (OH), we play this match every year, it’s about who is going to represent this city this year, being able to compete against people we know, just being able to represent our city is really exciting. I think it’s a great opportunity, every year we come out ready to go out the gate and give them the best game we can. I think the rivalry is something that defiantly brings out the everyone’s best game, its super exciting. The energy, excitement especially in a game like this, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Xavier is only three miles down the road, to have the opportunity to have some of our fans there, it’s great, weather we play at home or at Xavier, it always feels like the most fun match we play during the season,” said Ficker.
Players to watch for the Bearcats.
Setter Emme Madden- Madden, a second-year setter is coming off a season where she recorded 30 kills, 978 assists, 251 digs, and 35 total blocks during her freshman campaign, as she controlled the tempo for the Bearcats offense en route to leading the Bearcats to a 19-9 record a season ago.
Abby Walker- Walker, the reigning American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, is coming off a tremendous season where she joined elite company as she joined Jordan Thompson as the only two Bearcats to achieve such honors. Walker finished second on the team last season in kills where she recorded 286 kills, behind senior outside Maria Mallon. Walker is off to a great start to her sophomore campaign as she leads the team with 87 kills. Walker recorded a season high 23 kills on 45 attempts, good for a .400% hitting percentage in the Bearcats five set loss to No. 10 Pittsburgh back on September 2nd.
Caroline Endres– Endres, a first-year player has done a tremendous job controlling the Bearcats offense through their first eight matches of the season, and has been a dominant force for the Bearcats in many aspects between her ability to spread the ball around and control the Bearcats offense, the freshman also has dominated from the service line as she leads the team with 13 service aces, four of those came in the Bearcats five set loss to No. 10 Pittsburgh, where she also recorded a career high 52 assists.
Players to watch for the Musketeers
Delaney Hogan– Hogan, is coming off a season where she led the Musketeers in kills with (249), Blocks (91) and hitting percentage (.306). Hogan was named the Big East freshman of the year during the 2021 spring season. Hogan, a 6-foot Middle Blocker will be a huge factor for the Musketeers as she has recorded 40 kills in 5 matches this season and leads the team with 15.0 blocks.
Brooklyn Cink- Cink, a senior outside hitter who spent her last three seasons at Missouri State, transferred to Xavier in the spring of 2022, now leads the Musketeers in kills with 87, Cink, recorded a season high 17 kills in the Musketeers five set loss to Virginia back on September 2nd.
Carrigan O’Reilly– Senior setter Carrigan O’Reilly leads the Musketeer team, as the senior setter has done a great job spreading the ball around and controlling the Musketeers offense as she leads the team with 189 assists. O’Reilly also has recorded 53 kills as she is hitting .247% on the season, while also recording 13 blocks at the net heading into this contest.
The Bearcats will make the trip down the road to the Cintas Center for an early evening showdown with their crosstown rival Xavier with the opportunity to get back in the win column after losing their last five straight vs some very tough competition, but for the Musketeers on the other hand they will look to bounce back in the win column after their 3 sets to 0 loss vs No. 9 Purdue over the weekend.
