Down two sets to none, the Mountaineers fought back to defeat Cincinnati and extend their home winning streak to three matches.
West Virginia found themselves stuck in the first two sets due to their number of errors. With 34 attacks in each, the Mountaineers had seven kills and nine errors in the first set and nine kills and seven errors in the second. Cincinnati, meanwhile, had no issues offensively, finishing with a combined 29 kills on 63 attacks in the first two sets and just four errors in each.
After the 25-18 loss in the first set and falling 25-16 in the next, WVU minimized their errors to match Cincinnati’s power in the third. With 16 kills and one error, the Mountaineers outdid the Beacats’ .342 hitting percentage with .405. This effort, led by several players, allowed West Virginia to hold off Cincinnati, despite their seven point run, with a 25-21 victory in the third set.
From there, the Mountaineers kept the pressure on as DeLo began to target freshman middle Maddy McGath and junior outside hitter Hailey Green. The duo combined for 10 of the team’s 11 kills in the fourth set for the 25-23 victory.
Green and McGath scored seven of the team’s 15 points in the final set, leading the team to a .563 hitting percentage to complete the comeback.
Cincinnati dropped in their offensive success significantly in the match’s final two sets, finishing with 17 kills and 11 on 46 attacks in the fourth set for a hitting percentage of .13 and seven kills and four errors in 17 attacks in the final set for a percentage of .176.
With the loss, the Bearcats’ record has evened to 9-9 while the Mountaineers improved to 9-12. Despite the outcome, the heavily contested battle will continue between the teams on the volleyball team’s homecoming at 6 p.m. on Friday.
