Friday, Feb. 12

USF 3, Temple 2 (25-23, 21-25, 6-25, 26-24, 17-15)	Box Score
Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 0 (25-23, 25-23, 30-28	Box Score
Wichita State 3, Tulsa 1 (25-23, 28-30, 25-14, 25-18	Box Score
Houston 3, No. RV SMU 2 (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 23-21	Box Score
Tulane 3, Memphis 1 (24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 25-23)	Box Score

USF 3, Temple 2

The USF women's volleyball team (3-2; 1-0 American) opened American Athletic Conference play with a thrilling five-set victory over Temple (4-1; 0-1 American) Friday in The Corral in the Bulls' annual Ace Cancer game supporting the fight to end cancer.

USF jumped to an early lead by taking set one, but then saw the Owls take a close second set and heat up to claim set three before the Bulls rebounded with close victories in sets four and five for a 25-22, 21-25, 6-25, 26-24, 17-15 victory. USF improved to 3-5 overall in American Athletic Conference openers, downing Temple for the second straight year in the opening conference match.

The Bulls were led by freshmen Marta Cvitkovic (Rijeka, Croatia) with 23 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Makayla Washington (Tallahassee) posted 15 kills while hitting a team-best .407 and freshman Agata Plaga (Gizycko, Poland) returned from injury to post 10 kills and 14 digs. Junior setter Maria Idjilov (Republic of Moldova) added 55 assists and seven digs while sophomore Ally Barnhart (Lenexa, Kan.) had a team-best six blocks.

Temple jumped to a 6-1 lead in the first set before a pair of Washington kills ended a 6-0 run and made it 6-3. Temple led 8-4 when the Bulls reeled of a 7-0 run fueled by several Cvitkovic kills and a big Barnhart block to take an 11-8 lead. Temple ran off six-straight to take a 17-13 lead. USF tied it at 18 and then scored the last four points of the match to claim a 25-22 victory on a Cvitkovic ace.

The Bulls led 5-1 early in the second set and extended the lead to 10-4 before Temple mounted a four-point run to make it 10-8. USF extended the lead to 14-10 before Temple ran off five-straight points to take a 15-14 lead and the Owls controlled the set the rest of the way before posting a 25-21 victory.

USF struggled out of the gate in the third set and trailed 11-1 when Shepardson called her second timeout. The Bulls could never get going in the set, hitting -.250, and Temple took a -25-6 victory while hitting .500 in the frame.

A pair of Cvitkovic kills helped give the Bulls an 8-5 lead in the fourth set, but Temple rallied to tie it, 8-8. Kills by Plaga and Barnhart had the set tied again at 11. An Idjilov ace tied it at 19, but Temple scored the next two to take a 21-19 lead. A combo block from Barnhart and Plaga made it 22-21 and the Bulls trailed 24-23 following a Temple hitting error and Owls timeout. A pair of Plaga kills made it 25-24 USF and Washington gave the Bulls a 26-24 victory with her 13th kill of the match. The Bulls hit .271 in the set.

Cvitkovic's 18th kill of the match helped the Bulls to a 7-5 lead in the fifth set. With the set tied at 9, Cvitkovic again put the Bulls back on top with a kill and a Barnhart and Jac St. Cin (St. Petersburg) block made it 11-9. Following a timeout and with the teams tied at 13, Plaga posted her 10th kill of the match. Temple tied it again at 14. USF again took a one-point lead on a Washington kill. Temple tied it again at 15, but Cvitkovic's 23rd kill gave USF a 17-15 victory.

NOTABLE
• Marta Cvitkovic tied a career high with 23 kills on a career high 60 attacks.
• Makayla Washington posted a new career high with 15 kills.
• Agata Plaga, returning from an injury that caused her to miss the FGCU match, posted a career-best 14 digs.
• Masha Idjilov's 55 assists marked a new career high.

Cincinnati 3, East Carolina 0

The University of Cincinnati volleyball team swept East Carolina University 3-0 in an American Athletic Conference match, Friday afternoon inside Fifth Third Arena. 

Cincinnati (4-2, 2-0 AAC) rallied late in the third set to overtake ECU (1-2, 0-2 AAC) and post a 30-28 victory. The Bearcats totaled 45 kills with an average 15 kills per set and finished out with a .197 hit percentage. 

NOTES: 
Maria Mallon led the Bearcats in kills for the second-straight match. She gathered 13 kills and a .219 hit percentage, averaging 4.33 kills per set. She was also able to claim 11 digs, averaging 3.67 digs per set. This puts Mallon at 34 kills in two matches with a pair of double-doubles. 
Sarah Norcom snagged a pair of aces off of 14 service attempts, bringing her total to 4 on the season. 
Ashley Kozer continues to put the Bearcats on top with 35 assists, upping her season total to 268.
Adria Oliver secured 11 kills on 26 attempts and only two errors, giving her a .346. hitting percentage. 

SET BREAKDOWN 

SET 1: UC, 25-23
The Bearcats would start things off even with the Pirates through three. After a long rally, Oliver would secure a kill for UC and start its climb. An attack error on ECU would give the Bearcats a 12-7 lead and force a Pirates timeout. The Pirates would respond with a five-point streak including the first ace of the match by S'Mara Riley. The battle would press on and a service ace by Kerstin Ficker put the Bearcats back on top, 21-19 and forced another ECU timeout. UC would close out the first frame on a service error by the Pirates.

SET 2: UC, 25-23
The Pirates grabbed an early 4-2 lead over the Bearcats after striking first. UC slowly chipped away at the score until Maria Tobergte connected on an assist by Norcom, tying things up at 10. The Bearcats continued this streak, extending it to five points and an ace by Norcom. The Pirates quickly answered with three points of their own, where things remained even for the rest of the set. A kill by Kwasnik lined UC up for the set point, taking the second frame on a service error in their favor. 

SET 3: UC, 30-28
The conference battle pressed on into the third where things remained even through the entire set. The Bearcats snagged a brief lead early in the third off a service ace by Payton Frederick.  The Pirates would even things out at seven on a kill by Sydney Kleinman. Things remained balanced for the remainder of the set, with the Bearcats and the Pirates exchanging one-point leads throughout. UC claimed a 29-28 match-point lead over ECU on a kill by Mallon, taking the match after Kozer set Oliver up for the final point.

Wichita State 3, Tulsa 1

The Wichita State University volleyball team won its seventh straight match, downing the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, 3-1, Friday, Feb. 12, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The set scores were 25-23, 28-30, 25-14 and 25-18.

The Shockers, who improve to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in American Athletic Conference play with the victory, have tied their longest winning streak since 2017.

Sophomore Nicole Anderson posted her team-high third double-double of the season with a match-high 15 kills to go along with 10 digs and hit .308, while redshirt sophomore Brylee Kelly added 13 kills, leading Wichita State offensively.

Senior McKayla Wuensch posted 29 assists, sophomore Sinalauli'i Uluave added a career-high 23 digs, and freshman Lauren McMahon compiled a career-best four blocks, rounding out the WSU leaders for the match.

The Shockers outhit Tulsa (0-2, 0-2 American) in the contest, .199 to .112, and tallied advantages in kills (60-44), assists (56-42), digs (79-74) and service aces (9-4).

Kayley Cassady (12 kills), Roosa Rautio (39 assists, 13 digs), and Hannah Overmyer (24 digs) paced the Golden Hurricane in the match, respectively.

Houston 3, No. RV SMU 2

After holding a 2-0 match lead, the University of Houston Volleyball team battled its way through a five-set thriller to take down SMU by a score of 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 23-21) on Friday night.

With the win, the Cougars (5-1, 2-0 AAC) extend their winning streak to five, while the Mustangs (4-2, 0-2 AAC) drop back-to-back contests on their home floor for the first time since 2017.

Tulane 3, Memphis 1

The Tulane volleyball team (3-5, 1-0 AAC) defeated Memphis (3-2, 0-1 AAC) in four sets (24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 25-23) on Friday in the Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, winning its first American Athletic Conference match of the season.

"Our mentality was that we were 0-0 going into conference play," head coach Jim Barnes said. "Everything we learned prior to that was to prepare us for conference play. It's a short season, so every game really matters, and tonight both teams put it all out there. I'm proud of the way we came back, at times we dominated the match, and had to come back to win it. We saw just about a little bit of everything in that game."

Senior outside hitter Lexie Douglas led the way for the Green Wave's offense in the win, totaling 14 kills while also adding 10 digs for a double-double. Junior middle hitter Kayla Dinkins notched 11 kills while hitting .333 in the match, also adding nine blocks, while freshman right side hitter Anna Davis totaled 10 while hitting .375.

Freshman libero Sophia Ervanian earned a career-high 34 digs in four sets, followed by freshman outside hitter Mackenzie Martin with 18.

Also earning a double-double on Friday was junior setter Amanda Giardina, totaling 24 kills and 11 assists. Junior setter Taylor Henigsman also recorded double-digit assists, adding 22.

The first set marked a back-and-forth game, with 13 tie scores and seven lead changes. A 5-1 Memphis run put the visiting team ahead, 14-10, before a 4-0 run from Tulane tied it back up at 15-15. A solo block from junior right side Yvette Burcescu capped off a 5-0 Green Wave run to put the home team ahead, 23-20, before a 6-1 run from the Tigers finished it off at 26-24 to give Memphis the 1-0 match advantage.

Memphis jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the second set before three consecutive kills from Tulane sent the team on a 4-0 run to even the score at 5-5. No team had a lead greater than two points for the remainder of the set until a 3-0 run, sparked by kills from Dinkins and Douglas, put the Green Wave at set point to have a solo bock from Dinkins close it out at 25-20 and even the match at 1-1.

The Olive and Blue were ahead for the entire third set, taking a 4-0 lead to start and ultimately staying on top to take a 2-1 match lead. Kills from Davis and Dinkins kept the Green Wave rolling, putting the home team up by 10 at 20-10. A kill from Martin at set point ended the third, putting Tulane in the lead with a 25-16 set score.

The Tigers grabbed a 6-1 lead to start set four, staying ahead even when Tulane pulled within one at 13-12 on a 4-0 Green Wave run. A 7-0 Memphis run made it a 20-12 game and looked like it would be headed to a fifth set, until an 8-0 run from the Olive and Blue put the home team ahead, 23-22. Kills from Davis and Mackenzie gave Tulane its last two points, closing the match to give the Green Wave their first AAC win in 2021.