Volleyball falls, 3-0, at Cincinnati

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Suffer Conference Loss At Cincinnati Friday

CINCINNATI, Ohio (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team suffered its first conference loss Friday night, losing 3-0 at Cincinnati. Lexi Nordmann led the Mustangs with 11 kills, hitting .550 without an attack error, but the sophomore was the only SMU attacker in double figures.

Jordan Thompson, the league's leader in kills averaging nearly seven per set, scored 22 to lead the Bearcats. Maria Mallon and Erica Kostelac also reached double digits.

Cincinnati (11-4, 2-0 The American) won 25-20 in the third set to end the match. The set was back-and-forth early, and SMU held the lead at 16-15. It was then that the Bearcats took control. Cincinnati scored the next four points to start a 10-4 run down the stretch.

Montana Watts had a match-high 18 digs, and the SMU defense posted six blocks, but Cincinnati finished with a .396 attack percentage. Hannah Jacobs scored eight kills for the Mustangs, and Brittany Adams added five.

Nordmann and Eva Linden combined for SMU's third block of the first set, capping off a 4-0 run to cut the lead to two, 20-18. It was the last point of the set for the Mustangs, as Cincinnati ended it with a 5-0 run to win the set, 25-18. SMU scored the first point on a kill by Nordmann, but 1-0 was the only lead SMU held in the set.

Cincinnati took a 2-0 lead in the match after once again using a late run for a 25-18 victory in the second set. Trailing by one, SMU scored four straight to take a 7-4 lead early in the set. It took just six serves for the Bearcats to erase the advantage, scoring on five of the six serves. The two teams essentially traded point to the 14-14 mark, but then Cincinnati began pulling away for the win.

SMU concludes the conference road trip Sunday at East Carolina at 1 p.m. ET/12 p.m. CT.