Rutgers University
Cincinnati
Rutgers Volleyball Falls Short Against Cincinnati
Oct 07 | Women's Volleyball
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (October 7, 2011) – After winning an inspired first set, Rutgers University dropped the next three to fall to the University of Cincinnati on Friday night at the College Ave Gym. RU drops to 4-3 at home this season and 5-3 when winning the first set.
The Scarlet Knights (7-14, 0-4 BIG EAST) came out on fire – just like in the match against Fordham – recording six service aces in the first frame to take the set, 25-22. Sophomore Sheridan Taylor (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) accounted for three of those aces.
The Bearcats (13-6, 5-0 BIG EAST) responded in the second with some adjustments in the service game, taking the set 25-17 to even the match and swing the momentum.
“Cincinnati made some adjustments and I thought our kids were a bit too aggressive and we had too many service errors,” said head coach CJ Werneke about the service game. “It is a fine line between being aggressive and executing. I think in the first game we came out focused and had the right mixture of aggressiveness and it paid off, but we made too many mistakes after that.”
Following the break, Cincinnati kept the momentum with wins in the third and fourth sets by the scores of 25-15 and 25-16, respectively, to win the match.
Sophomore Tiffany Regmund (Bryan, Texas) led the Scarlet Knights with 11 kills on the night. It was the fifth match of the season she notched double-digit slammers.
Junior Stephanie Zielinski (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) continued her consistent play at setter with 31 assists and 12 digs for her 10th double-double of the season and third in four matches. Senior Kallie Pence (College Station, Texas) led RU with 14 digs from her libero position.
“I think Cincinnati made some adjustments after the first set since we knew what they were going to do,” said Pence. “They mixed up their rotation and changed things up a bit. I thought our energy was really high throughout the match.”
Rutgers will be back in action of Sunday afternoon, welcoming three-time defending BIG EAST Tournament Champions Louisville to the College Ave Gym at 2 p.m.
