East Carolina Falters At Cincinnati, 3-0

Wednesday, November 23

Cincinnati, Ohio

Noon

East Carolina University

15-14, 5-14American

Cincinnati

21-9, 16-3American

East Carolina

Cincinnati

November 23, 2016 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The East Carolina volleyball team fell to second-place Cincinnati in three sets (13-25, 22-25, 19-25) Wednesday afternoon in an American Athletic Conference match at Fifth-Third Arena.

Team Records: East Carolina (15-14. 5-14 AAC) | Cincinnati (21-9, 16-3 AAC)

Torbett's Take: "It was a tough loss to a tough team. We knew we would have to play really well and push them out of their comfort zone. That didn't happen. Ashley McRae scored at will despite a triple block as she and Natalie Montini were our only two consistent players today."

The Rundown: McRae tallied 10 kills and a .350 hitting percentage while Montini added six kills and a block. Senior setter Sabrina Gonzalez finished with 26 assists, nine digs and two aces. Carly Nolan put down 12 kills for the Bearcats to lead all competitors.

Cincinnati hit .286 in the match and limited the Pirates to a .049 percentage. The Bearcats out-blocked ECU 12.5 to 5.0 while East Carolina finished with a 43-41 advantage in the digs column.

Set One: Cincinnati jumped out in front 5-2 before the Pirates scored five of the next eight points to pull within one. A pair of blocks helped the Bearcats extend their lead to 14-9, prompting an ECU timeout. Cincinnati pulled away at that point, allowing East Carolina just four more points in the stanza.

Set Two: The Pirates put up a fight in the second frame, using three-straight Bearcat attacking errors to assume a 5-2 edge. The teams battled through a couple of ties before Cincinnati pulled ahead 16-13 following a block. East Carolina would net four straight from there, forcing the Bearcats to burn a timeout. With the score later tied at 20, Cincinnati was able to secure five of the final seven points of the set to win it by three and take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

Set Three: The third frame saw the teams battle back and forth to a tie at 10. A kill by Ciara Hill sparked a 6-2 Bearcat run that prompted a timeout call from the East Carolina bench. Cincinnati was able to hold off the Pirates in the end, stretching its lead to 19-13 before settling for the six-point victory.

Bits and Pieces: ECU fell to 7-7 in true road matches … Cincinnati now leads the all-time series 11-1 … The Pirates can secure their first winning season since 2006 by winning its season finale at Memphis … East Carolina held AAC Preseason Player of the Year Jordan Thompson to nine kills and a .161 hitting percentage.

Up Next: The Pirates will match up with Memphis on the road Saturday, Nov. 26, at 3 p.m. in both teams' season finales.