East Carolina University
Cincinnati
East Carolina Holds Off Cincinnati in 3-2 Victory
October 24, 2014 | Volleyball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina was solid at the net as the Pirates posted 16.0 total team blocks en route to a 3-2 [21-25, 25-21, 14-25, 25-22, 15-13] victory over Cincinnati Friday night. The victory marks the first time in program history the Pirates have defeated the Bearcats on the volleyball court. ECU is now 10-8 overall and 3-6 in the American Conference, while the Bearcats drop to 13-9 (5-5 American) on the season.
Despite falling behind Cincinnati in the first set, the Pirates fought to stay in the game and put together a rally in the fourth set to come from behind and force a fifth and deciding set.
"It was really exciting to win," Head coach Julie Torbett said. "Cincinnati is a very good team. I felt like we didn't play our best at times so we really had to step up our game and compensate for that. I felt like serving errors really plagued us as well as our serve-receive. When you can play just okay and beat a good team, imagine what you can do when you play really well."
East Carolina was led by freshman Natalie Montini's career-high 10 total blocks as she finished the contest with two solo blocks and eight block assists. She also added seven kills, one dig and one assist for 13.0 points.
"I think Natalie did a great job," Torbett said of her freshman middle blocker. "She finished with 10 total blocks. That's big time for a freshman coming in to do that."
In addition to Montini's 10 blocks, the Pirates had three scorers in double figures and a pair of double-doubles in the match. Sydney Darden notched a team-high 14 kills, while Ashley McRae collected 13 and Torre Blake recorded 10. Darden also registered 10 digs for a double-double, while Zarah Cecich tallied a double-double of her own with 42 assists and 10 digs. Junior libero Erika Figueroa paced the defense with a career-high 20 digs.
Cincinnati's Emma Roberson was an offensive prowess with a match-high 27 kills while hitting .370. She added eight digs and four block assists for the Bearcats. Morgan Allred (10 kills, 17 digs) and Madi Lang (49 assists, 13 digs) posted double-doubles, while Jamie Netisingha led the defense with a match-best 21 digs.
The Pirates struggled in the first set on offense as they hit -.021 with 11 kills and 12 errors. The Bearcats didn't fare much better with a .163 attack percentage. However Cincinnati managed to hold East Carolina's offense in check as the Bearcats led throughout the set and took game one by a score of 25-21.
ECU stepped up its game in the second set with 14 kills and five errors to hit .250. The Pirate defense put up 5.0 team blocks while the Bearcats were unable to collect a stop at the net. East Carolina battled Cincinnati through eight ties and three lead changes before taking a 17-15 advantage on back-to-back errors by the Bearcats. The Pirates forced Cincinnati into two time outs towards the end of the match and eventually put the game away, 25-21, on a kill off the hands of Darden.
Following the break in action, Cincinnati came out and hit .229 and limited East Carolina to a mere .062 attack percentage. The Bearcats went on a 7-0 run to put the set out of reach as the visitors took a 19-10 lead. The Pirates were unable to come back from the hole they dug themselves into and Cincinnati won the third set, 25-14.
The fourth set was very evenly matched as the Pirates hit .179 and the Bearcats hit .182. Offensively, ECU knocked down 13 kills, while Cincinnati posted 12. The two teams also matched each other with 11 assists each in the frame. Defensively, Cincinnati dished out 19 digs to ECU's 13, but the Pirates held the edge in blocks with 3.0 to the Bearcats' 2.0. The conference foes battled each other through 12 ties and six lead changes before the Pirates closed out the game on a 4-0 run to win, 25-22, and force a fifth and deciding set.
East Carolina took an early 5-1 lead over Cincinnati in the fifth set, however the Bearcats called a timeout and regrouped. Following the break in action, the visitors clawed their way back in contention and evened the score at 6-all. From that point on, the two teams traded points until the Pirates pushed the contest to match-point (14-11) on a kill from McRae. Cincinnati would not go quietly as the Bearcats cut the Pirates' lead to one (14-13), but Darden closed the book with her 14th kill of the night to end the game, 15-13.
The Pirates will be back in action Sunday, October 26, when they host Memphis at 1 p.m. at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum. Live stats and video will be available via ECUPirates.com.
