Yesterday, the Bearcats (10-19, 8-11 AAC) welcomed in the Temple Owls (10-20, 4-15 AAC) to Fifth Third Arena for Senior Day where the Bearcats would honor their five seniors for their contributions to the Bearcats volleyball program over the last 4-5 years. The five seniors include Kerstin Ficker, Payton Frederick, Maria Tobergte, Kailea Carrier and Madison Waters. Waters, Ficker and Tobergte were all members of the Bearcats historical NCAA Tournament run in 2019 where they went to the Sweet 16 after upsetting No. 2 ranked Pittsburgh in an incredible five set match.
The Bearcats are coming off a huge 3 set to zero victory over Eastern Carolina University behind a new season high as the Bearcats finished with a .438 hitting percentage on the match. The Bearcats were led by sophomore outside hitter Shaye Eggleston who finished with a game high 13 kills, while Carly Glendinning continued to make her case for freshman of the year with (10).
The Bearcats were looking to complete the season sweep after defeating the Owls in a five-set thriller 3 sets to 2 back on October 7th, in Philadelphia.
Starters for the Bearcats- Payton Frederick, Carly Glendinning, Shaye Eggleston, Caroline Endres, Kerstin Ficker, Kailea Carrier, Abby Walker.
Set 1- The Owls would jump out to an early 4-0 lead over following two huge kills from opposite hitter Peyton Boyd before Madison Waters got the Bearcats on the board for their first points of the game. The Owls would keep their foot on the gas as they took a 7-1 lead that forced the Bearcats to call an early timeout. The Bearcats would cut the deficit to three as Caroline Endres continued to get the middles involved early as Abby Walker would record three straight kills to flip the momentum. The Bearcats would take a 14-11 lead after two huge runs that consisted of eight unanswered points and the Bearcats were looking to strike early here at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats would keep their foot on the gas as their second run consisted of eight straight where they took a huge 18-12 lead over the Owls following a huge line shot kill from Madison Waters. The Bearcats would dominate and take set 1, 25-17 behind seven huge kills from Walker on just 11 attempts. The Bearcats were firing on all cylinders as they hit from a .433% clip in Set 1.
Set 2- The Bearcats would continue where they left off in Set 1 as they jumped out to a huge 4-0 lead after three straight kills from Eggleston, Walker and Glendinning, where Eggleston kept the ball rolling with a huge service ace before the Owls answered with a kill of their own. The Bearcats would force the Owls to call timeout aftera tremendous save by Tobergte kept the rally going which resulted in a Bearcats point following a Taylor Davenport attacking error to give the Bearcats a 12-6 lead. The Bearcats would take Set 2, 25-16 behind five kills from Carrier giving her (8) on the match on just nine attempts. The Bearcats were finding ways to terminate balls as they continued to hit from a /381% clip picking up where they left off Friday night vs ECU.
