Volleyball Knocks Off Cincinnati On The Road

Wednesday, November 22

Cincinnati, Ohio

1:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

21-11, 12-7

Cincinnati

13-18, 11-8

ECU

Cincinnati

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

November 22, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CINCINNATI, Ohio. – The ECU volleyball team won in Cincinnati for the first time in program history, downing the Bearcats 3-2 (25-22, 25-19, 15-25, 20-25, 15-11) at Saint Ursula Academy in an American Athletic Conference match.

Team Records: ECU (21-11, 12-7 AAC) | Cincinnati (13-18, 11-8 AAC)

Senior outside hitter Ashton Mares became the fifth player in program history to record 1,000 career kills and digs, finishing the match with 11 kills and 12 digs. Senior middle hitter Natalie Montini paced the offense with 19 kills and seven blocks while senior outside hitter Lael Ceriani recorded a career-high 21 digs. Sophomore libero Brandee Markwith was one of four Pirates in double figures in the dig column, ending up with 19. Junior setter Madison Clark also chipped in with 10 digs.

The Bearcats out-hit ECU .199 to .190, but the Pirates had the better of the digs (81-76) and total blocks (12.0-4.0). ECU also limited the home team to a .120 hitting percentage in the fifth set while notching five blocks in the 15-point decider.

Set One: The Pirates began to establish some breathing room midway through the first set, jumping out to a 12-8 advantage. The Bearcats would rally, eventually wresting the lead away and pulling in front 18-17. However, ECU put together a 4-1 run that gave the Purple and Gold the lead for good. Freshman right side Bri Wood put Cincinnati away with a kill on the left sideline as the Pirates claimed the opener by three.

Set Two: Like the first stanza, ECU started to separate itself midway through by taking an 11-7 lead. The offensive execution really began to heat up from there as a gorgeous kill by Mares put the score at 18-11. Cincinnati put a late string of points together, but it wasn't nearly enough to keep the Pirates from winning the set by six and taking a 2-0 match lead into the intermission.

Set Three: The Bearcats flipped the script in the third, building an 11-7 cushion. Cincinnati did not relent and extended the match to a fourth with the 10-point margin of victory.

Set Four: The fourth stanza was more competitive, but despite rallying within 19-18 late, ECU could not quite catch up and dropped the frame by five.

Set Five: The Bearcats pulled ahead early on, taking a 6-4 lead. However, the Pirate block began to take over and ECU started to dominate. Cincinnati called a timeout trailing 11-7 before the Purple and Gold clinched the victory on a kill by Montini.

News and Notes

The 21-win season for ECU marks the first time the Pirates have reached that number of victories in a campaign since 1982.
ECU improved to 2-11 against Cincinnati, last defeating the Bearcats in 2014 in Greenville before today.
The Pirates assured themselves of no worse than a fourth-place tie in the conference standings after getting selected to finish 11th in the preseason poll.
ECU played its third-straight five-set match, improving to 3-5 in those contests.

Up Next: ECU returns home for one final match in 2017, hosting Cincinnati Friday at 1 p.m. The Pirates will honor their five-member senior class immediately following the contest.