Volleyball Snags 3-2 Road Win at Cincinnati in Conference Opener

Wednesday, September 23

Cincinnati, Ohio

7:00 PM ET

University of Memphis

10-4, 1-0

Cincinnati

8-4, 0-1

Memphis

Cincinnati

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Volleyball Snags 3-2 Road Win at Cincinnati in Conference Opener

Sep 23, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Agomuo ties career high with 19 kills in victory.

By: Tammy DeGroff

CINCINNATI – The University of Memphis volleyball team (10-4, 1-0 American) got a 2-0 lead, but needed some fifth set heroics in a 3-2 road win at Cincinnati (8-4, 0-1 American), Wednesday. Down 13-8 and just two points from a Cincinnati win, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to steal the fifth set 15-13 and the match, 3-2.

"I thought our team showed our team showed great resiliency," Head Coach April Jauregui said. "We did a good job executing our game plan and staying aggressive when the game got tight."

The game was tight pretty much all night. Memphis took a 2-0 lead to the break, but over the course of the match, the score was tied 35 times, including 14 times in a third set that was won by Cincinnati, 25-23.

After Cincinnati won the fourth set, 25-21, to tie the match at 2-all, the two teams shared the lead again in the fifth set. The deciding set of the match was tied at five, six and seven before Cincinnati used a 3-0 run to take a 10-7 lead, forcing Memphis to take its first timeout.

The Bearcats would come out of that timeout and push their lead to 11-7 on a service ace. That lead would grow to 13-8 on a Carly Nolan kill, but a Bearcat service error, followed by kills from Oluchi Agomuo and Summer Morgan started the 7-0 Memphis run. Following Agomuo's 19^th kill of the match, which tied her career high, Cincinnati took a timeout. But out of the break, Morgan slammed down an overpassed dig, keeping the momentum on the Tiger side of the net. Following a Cincinnati attack error, Morgan downed her 13^th kill of the night to give Memphis to 14-13 lead and force a second Cincinnati timeout. A long rally out of the break on match point went Memphis' way, as a Cincinnati attack erred out of play, giving Memphis their first road win of the year in three tries.

Agomuo led all players with 19 kills, adding 16 digs and two blocks. Catlin Lilly and Morgan each added 13 kills, while Lindsey Purvis led the team with 23 digs. Sophomore setter Faith Myers led the team with 29 assists and four different players tallied double digit digs.

Carly Nolan led Cincinnati with 15 kills and Abby Williams added 22 digs in the Bearcats' loss.

"This was our first road win of the season," Jauregui said. "Cincinnati is a very good team. They are a young team and will only continue to improve. This conference is no joke. Every night will be a battle."

The battle returns to the Elma Roane Fieldhouse on Sunday, when East Carolina visits for a 1 p.m. match-up. Admission to the match is free and a clinic for youth in grades eight and under will be held after the match.