This Evening the Bearcats (6-16, 4-8 AAC) welcome in No. 23 Houston (22-2, 13-0 AAC) to Fifth Third Arena where they look to give the Cougars their first conference loss of the season as they kick off their annual alumni weekend. The Bearcats are looking at a weekend where they take on a very tough and talented Houston team, but also a very tough Tulane team on Sunday as the Bearcats look to get back in the win column after dropping their last two matches. The Cougars are currently first in the AAC as they are currently ranked just ahead of AAC foe UCF in the latest AVCA top 25 rankings.
However, it looks like the Bearcats will be without starting setter Emme Madden for this one and it will look to be freshman setter Caroline Endres running the offense here for the Bearcats.
Starters for the Bearcats- Caroline Endres, Payton Frederick, Kailea Carrier, Abby Walker, Avry Tatum, Shaye Eggleston, Carly Glendinning.
Starters for the Cougars- Morgan Janda, Kennedy Warren, Isabel Theut, Rachel Tullos, Kate Georgeiades, Abbie Jackson, Kellin Morin.
Set 1- The Bearcats would get the scoring started as sophomore outside hitter Shaye Eggleston would get the Bearcats on the board with a huge cross court kill and the Bearcats were bringing the momentum early after jumping out to a 4-2 lead over the nationally ranked cougars behind consecutive kills from Eggleston and a slew of errors by the Cougars. The Cougars would rally off a huge three-point run that would flip the momentum early, but the young Bearcats team would come out with all gas after Carly Glendinning ripped off three huge kills for the Bearcats as they quickly saw their 13-12 lead disappear after a three-point run from the Cougars forced coach Alvey and the Bearcats to call a timeout as they looked to reset and flip the momentum. The Bearcats would respond with a huge kill from Glendinning out the timeout, but the Cougars would respond with a four-point swing to take a 19-15 lead. The Bearcats responded perfectly with a huge momentum change after Glendinning recorded her fifth kill of the match and then followed up with a huge service ace, along with a huge kill from Eggleston on the outside, where Abby Walker and Kailea Carrier closed the block to force a Cougars timeout as they looked to slow the Bearcats down after establishing that momentum late in the set. The Cougars rallied back late to take Set 1, 25-22 where they were led by outside hitter Abbie Jackson who finished with a match high six kills on a .357% clip. The Bearcats were led by Glendinning who finished with five kills on a .231 clip.
Set 2- The Cougars would jump out to an early 3-1 lead following three straight kills to start the match and the Bearcats would respond to tie this match up at 6 before a huge solo block by Houston outside Abbie Jackson gave the Cougars a 7-6 lead. The Cougars would take a 12-7 lead after rattling off five straight forcing Bearcats head coach Molly Alvey to call an early timeout before the Cougars had the ability to build off that momentum and extend their lead. The Cougars would jump out to an 18-8 lead after rallying off another big run, their second 5 point run of the match and for everyone who knows the sport of volleyball knows how crucial those runs can be and the Bearcats knew they had to find a response after the Cougars went 10-0 in those two runs through the first 26 points of set two. The Bearcats would build momentum late after a huge rally where libero Payton Frederick stepped in the line of fire and recorded four straight digs late in the set to keep the set going before the Cougars would hold on and take set two, 25-16 and take an early 2-0 lead as they were looking to complete the sweep over the Bearcats.
Set 3- The Bearcats jumped out to an early 5-3 lead behind a huge kill and block from Eggleston before the Cougars responded with a four-point burst following consecutive kills from Warren and Abbie Jackson as the Cougars were looking to remain perfect and close the doors on this match here in Set 3 as they led 7-5 after a Bearcats early timeout. The Bearcats would rally back and tie this at 12, following a huge solo block by Glendinning on the outside to give the Bearcats a huge burst of momentum as they looked to avoid the sweep. The Cougars would answer immediately with another run this one consisting of four points, as they jumped out to a 16-12 lead forcing a Bearcats timeout. The Cougars would see their 20-16 lead erased after an attacking error started a huge momentum changing run for the Bearcats consisting of a kill from Walker and a service ace from Eggleston all of a sudden this was a 20-19 set just like that and the Bearcats were rallying back. The Cougars would prevail though and take set three 25-21 despite a late comeback effort by the Bearcats as the Cougars now improve to 23-2 on the season and remain perfect within the AAC.
Notables- The Bearcats were led by freshman outside hitter Carly Glendinning who finished with a team high 10 kills, as she has now recorded double digit kills in 12 matches for the Bearcats.
Shaye Eggleston finished with six kills on a .174% clip, while recording six digs and three blocks as well.
Abby Walker and Kailea Carrier each contributed four blocks in the teams 3-0 loss to Houston.
Payton Frederick contributed 10 digs as she continued to anchor the back line for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats (6-17, 4-9 AAC) will be back in action this Sunday at 12 pm when they welcome in Tulane (8-16, 3-10 AAC) to Fifth Third Arena as the Bearcats look to shake off a three-game losing skid and get back in the win column.
