The volleyball team will go back to the drawing board before their Sunday afternoon match against the East Carolina Pirates. | Jonathan Valadez/The Cougar
Donning special pink jerseys to promote “Coogs for the Cure”, the women’s volleyball team (5-13, 0-7) was unable to stop Jordan Thompson and the Cincinnati Bearcats’ (11-7, 6-1) offense. The sophomore outside hitter totaled a game-high 18 kills.
“Cincinnati does a good job hitting hard…so they keep you on your toes and you can never get comfortable back there,” said head coach Kaddie Platt. “You’ve got to be aggressive minded and you’ve got to be in a defensive ready position to dig those balls.”
Platt decided to shake up the lineup, giving freshman outside hitter Faith Squier the first start of her career and she was rewarded with a team-high eight kills while hitting .350.
The San Antonio native started in place of freshman Meghan Duncan, who was out with a family emergency.
“She (Squier) did a great job this weekend when we were playing UCF and USF,” Platt said. “She earned it and it showed.”
The Bearcats came out of the gates strong, showing why they’ve won six straight. Cincinnati never trailed in a first set as they outhit the Cougars .478-.172.
The second set was closer, with the Cougars taking an early 4-1 lead before the Bearcats tied the match at 11. Cincinnati proceeded to go on a 5-2 run and their lead would never fall below three en route to a 25-21 victory and 2-0 lead heading into the break.
“Tonight’s game was a battle,” said junior setter Keandra McCardell. “We came out really strong and ready to attack Cincinnati, we just didn’t get the results that we were looking for.”
Things didn’t improve for the Cougars in the decisive third set when Cincinnati hit .483, cruising to a 25-16 victory to take the match 3-0.
McCardell and freshman Katie Krebs led the way for the Cougars with 15 and 16 assists respectively, with McCardell eclipsing the 500 assist mark for the third straight season. Now seventh all-time in Cougar history for career assists, McCardell is 263 shy of Donna Sellen for sixth place.
Volleyball will look to pick up their first conference victory of this season Saturday when they host East Carolina University in the Athletica/Alumni Center at noon. Volleyball won the last meeting between them 3-1 on Senior Night last season.
“We’ve got to keep up the fight and don’t back down no matter what,” McCardell said. “Just keep working hard that’s all we can do.”
