Bearcats claw their way to a victory over Wildcats

Alex Jensen, Staff Writer

Bearcats defeat Wildcats 25-20, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-14. It was a 3-1 match.

Kayla Magbaleta, ’19, when asked about the game said, “Overall it was the first game [conference] and we were probably really nervous and it showed on the court. We came into the gym all tense and we weren’t focused.”

“We didn’t have the right mentality going into our first conference game, but all-in-all I didn’t think we played that bad. Looking at the stats it looks horrible, but I think we did pretty good with a fairly new team, with fairly new players and for the first game,” she said.

The ‘Cats had a .028 hitting percentage in the first set, made up of 10 kills and 11 errors combined, divided by 36 total attempts. The second sets hitting percentage was .143 with 13 kills, eight errors and 35 total attempts.

Jamie Talbo, ’17, led the defense with 22 assists and 16 digs. Magbaleta, ’19, came in with 15 digs for the night. The team total in assists was 42 and in digs 67, the ‘Cats had a total of eight blocks for the night.

The third set of the evening went to the Wildcats, with a hitting percentage of .353, made by 16 kills, only four errors and 34 attempts

Taylor Petersen, ’19, led the ‘Cats attack with 11 kills, followed by Mackenzie Courtney, ’19, with nine kills. The team total for the night was 43 kills.

The Wildcats out battled by the Bearcats in the fourth set, having four kills, with 10 error, 39 total attempts and a hitting percentage of -.154, ended the night.

Molly McTaggart, ’17, said, “We didn’t play our best, which is disheartening. But we have two days to practice and get better for our match Saturday so hopefully we can make some improvements to our blocking and passing.”

Magbaleta, ’19, and Courtney, ’20, on emotions heading into Saturday night’s game against the University of Puget Sound Loggers, “Hungry and motivated and pissed,” Magbaleta said.

“We’re coming home with a ‘W’,” Courtney said.

Magbaleta, added, “We’re going in there hungry and motivated.”