The Brescia Bearcats hosted the Mid-Continent Cougars on Tuesday night. In front of a packed house at the Campus Center the Bearcats took five sets to win. The match began with the Cougars taking the first set 18-25. The second set took extra points for the Cougars to win with the final score being 29-31. Assistant Coach Carry Brown told the ladies at intermission that, "a volleyball match was like a five round prize fight, if you get knocked down in a fight, do you just lay there and let the other fighter win or do you get up and fight back?"
This is just what the Lady Bearcats needed to refocus, and they went on to win the third set 25-20. "I was very pleased with how the ladies responded in the third set, this again showed me how much they are maturing as college volleyball players," said head coach Jerry Forbes.
In the fourth set the Cougars jumped out to an eight point lead, leading 4-12. "I took a time out and told the girls, they just punched you in the mouth. How are you going to respond?" said Forbes. "Are you just going to lie down and let them beat you or are you going to fight back?" The Bearcats responded with a seven to one run to close the gap to within two. During the run, middle blocker Alex Washington had two service aces. The Bearcats kept fighting and eventually tied the set up at 20-20. They then went on to win the fourth set with an unlikely kill by senior libero, Sarah Tanner, out of the back row.
In the fifth set the Bearcats jumped out to an 11-4 lead, remaining in control to win the final set 15-9. This gives the Lady Bearcats their third straight win in four days.
The Bearcats were led in kills by Kaylin Carpenter (14), Alex Washington (12), Kayla Rothrock (10), Paige Mingus (5), and Chelsea McFarland (5). Haley Root had a match career high 42 assists. The defensive effort was led by Sarah Tanner with 27 digs, Paige Mingus (16) , Erin Harper (12), Haley Root (8) and Sydney Seyffarth (7).
The BU Lady Bearcats Volleyball team will travel to the University of the Cumberlands on Friday and then visit Oakland City University on Saturday afternoon.
