East Carolina University
7-5, 0-1American
Cincinnati
9-4, 1-1American
East Carolina Falls in Four Sets at Cincinnati
September 25, 2015 | Volleyball
CINCINNATI - The East Carolina volleyball team received three double-digit kill performances Friday night in the Pirates' American Athletic Conference opener as ECU dropped a 3-1 [22-25, 25-22, 10-25, 17-25] decision to Cincinnati. With the setback East Carolina falls to 7-5 overall and 0-1 in league action, while the Bearcats improve to 9-4 on the year and 1-1 in the American.
"We played better tonight [than last weekend]," Head coach Julie Torbett said of her team's performance. "Unfortunately we had 12 service errors and 24 hitting errors. The middles, Kierra Lee-Dunson and Ashley McRae, did a nice job as did Ashton Mares and Erika Figueroa. We just need more consistent play out of the remainder of the team."
McRae led the Pirates offensively with 14 kills as she hit .303 in the contest. She also added two total blocks and finished the match with a team-high 15.5 points. Lee-Dunson, along with Natalie Montini, added 10 kills to round out ECU's double-figure scorers and Lee-Dunson led the squad with a .308 attack percentage.
Adding to East Carolina's offensive efforts were Ashton Mares and Sabrina Gonzalez. Mares contributed nine kills and eight digs, while Gonzalez dished out a match-high 37 assists to go along with eight digs.
Figueroa led the defense with a match-best 22 digs. She has now accumulated 995 career digs in her four years in purple and gold and is just six digs shy of breaking into the ECU Career Record Book.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair between the two conference foes as East Carolina and Cincinnati battled through nine ties and five lead changes. The Pirates hit a steady .281 with 12 kills in the frame, while the Bearcats knocked down 18 kills en route to hitting .444.
ECU and Cincinnati kept the game close as the two teams found themselves deadlocked at 20-20 after a service ace from Mares. The Bearcats took a timeout to regroup and came out and took a 22-20 advantage. However, the Pirates stayed close and managed to pull within one (22-21) after a kill from McRae. Despite their efforts, the Pirates were unable to close the gap and the Bearcats won the first set, 25-22.
Having dropped the first set by just three, the Pirates were determined to win game two. East Carolina fought back from a 9-2 deficit early in the frame and tied the game at 22-22 after Montini knocked down three consecutive kills which forced a timeout by Cincinnati. Following the break in action, Montini continued her offensive attack and slammed a pair of back-to-back kills to give the Pirates a 25-22 victory.
East Carolina recorded 17 kills, with seven of them coming from Montini, in the second set. The Bearcats were limited to nine kills on .139 hitting by the ECU defense.
With the match tied 1-1, Cincinnati controlled the third set. The Bearcats took a 13-1 lead and never looked back as they hit .418 in the frame, while forcing the Pirates into a negative attack percentage (-.033). Cincinnati went on to defeat ECU, 25-10.
The Pirates fought back in the fourth game, but were limited to just .128 hitting after committing six attack errors in the frame. The Bearcats managed to tally 10 kills and hit .206 in the set as they took the game 25-17 and eventually won the match in four sets.
East Carolina heads to Memphis for a Sunday afternoon contest on Sept. 27 at 2 p.m., against the Tigers. Live stats will be available on ECUPirates.com.
