Williamsburg, KY – Rebekah Fischer tallied a career-high 23 digs, while Mackenzie Koch posted a career-high 20 kills to lead the UC volleyball team 3-2 (25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 16-25, 15-13) Tuesday night in the UC Volleyball Gym.  With the win the Patriots improve to 22-11 overall and 7-6 in MSC play, while the Bears fall to 9-22 overall and 0-13 in conference play.  

Megan Jackson got the Patriots off to a fast start, notching a kill for UC's first point of the match.  That kill was Jackson's 750 kill of her career.  The Patriots remained in control and jumped out to 9-2 lead.  The two teams traded points until the score 18-13 when Cumberlands scored three unanswered points.  Pikeville went on a 5-0 to make it 21-18, however UC responded with a 4-1 run that included a pair of kills from Ashley Sobocinski to take the first set 25-19.

The second set saw seven ties in the first 14 points.  The Bears took four of the next five points to take a 10-8 lead, before Cumberlands responded with four straight points, including kills by Koch and Leah Crist. Both teams continued to battle as the match was even a couple more times with the final time coming at 17-17.  From that point the Patriots recorded four straight points to take a 21-17 lead. Cumberlands would eventually close out the set on a 3-0 run capped off by a Jackson kill to give Cumberlands a 2-0 lead.

Pikeville went on to win the third set 25-20 and took then fourth set 25-16 to force a decisive fifth set.  In the fifth set, the Patriots got back-to-back kills by Jackson and Lynsey Short to take a 2-1 lead.  The teams traded points until Pikeville's Noelani Simpson tallied back-to-back kills to give the Bears an 8-6 lead at the switch.  Pikeville extended their lead to 11-7, however the Patriots rallied as Sobocinski tallied a kill and two aces to spark a 6-0 run and give UC a 13-11 advantage.  Three points later, Short connected with Koch for the game-winning kill to give Cumberlands the set 15-13 and the 3-2 final.

Short finished with 48 assists, six digs, and four kills, while Jackson tallied eight kills.  Tara Routliffe lead all Patriots with 25 digs, while Fischer chipped in 23 digs, seven kills, and two blocks.  Sobocinski tallied 11 kills, 12 digs, and three aces in the match.
The Patriots will return to action Thursday, November 1, when travel to Portsmouth, OH to face Shawnee State in their regular season finale.  The match is slated for 7 p.m. with live stats available here.

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