Volleyball: Mountaineers Close Out Home Season
November 05, 2006 04:42 PM | General
November 5, 2006
BOX SCORE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University volleyball team took on Cincinnati in its last home match of the 2006 season this afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
The Bearcats (19-6, 8-4) took the match 3-0 (30-27, 30-25, 30-26).
West Virginia (2-27, 1-11) recorded five consecutive points to take a 6-2 lead early in game one. The Mountaineers maintained the advantage until Cincinnati, assisted by two kills from outside hitter Jessica Elley, tied the contest 13-13. Both teams exchanged points until the score was tied 27-27. The Bearcats rallied and registered three points in a row to take game one 30-27.
Behind 13-21 in game two, WVU took a timeout to regroup. The squad came back onto the court with new energy and quickly retaliated to close the Bearcats’ lead. With the aid of two kills from both outside hitter Abby Tevis and middle blocker Delie Marsonek, West Virginia then trailed Cincinnati by only five points (20-25). In a battle to the very end, it was a final kill from middle blocker Myanna Hellsten that propelled Cincinnati over WVU by a score of 30-25.
In an extremely close game three, kills from middle blocker Tammy Wolf, setter/outside hitter Gina Cusanelli, outside hitter Kristina Gallahan and Tevis helped the Mountaineers emerge with a 13-9 lead. After a quick timeout, Cincinnati battled back to tie WVU 23-23. A final kill from Elley concluded the Bearcats’ comeback as they won game three 30-26.
Cusanelli and Tevis led the Mountaineer attack with 11 kills each, the second-highest mark of the match. Libero Aurora Ebert-Santos contributed 23 digs in the contest, just two short of her personal best this season.
West Virginia will set off on a BIG EAST road trip next weekend to close its season. The Mountaineers will first take on DePaul at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. The team will then face off against Notre Dame at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 12.
