VALPARAISO, Ind.\u00a0\u2014 The University of Cincinnati volleyball team notched its third sweep of the season, beating Oakland 3-0 on Sunday to close out the Popcorn Classic.<\/p>\n
The Bearcats improved to 4-2, while Oakland fell to 2-4.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati finished the tournament with a 2-1 record, sweeping both Valparaiso and Oakland. Its only loss came against Michigan, which won 3-0. Sydney Nolan<\/a> (5.29 kills per set) and Kate Lijic<\/a> (12.44 assists per set) were named to the Popcorn Classic All-Tournament team.<\/p>\n Sophomore Izzy Busignani<\/a> recorded a career-best 15 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Lijic added 37 assists \u2014 she has posted 30-plus assists in all four matches this season \u2014 along with eight digs. Nina Scrucca<\/a> had seven kills and seven digs, and Viktoria Ninova<\/a> tallied 10 digs.<\/p>\n Cincinnati hit .382 as a team for 40 kills, while Oakland hit .143 with 19 attacking errors. The Bearcats also led in digs, 41-38.<\/p>\n Molly Reck led Oakland with eight kills and eight digs.<\/p>\n Busignani dominated the first set, hitting .875 with seven kills as the Bearcats led throughout. A service ace by Nolan pushed Cincinnati’s lead to 7-2. Oakland clawed back to 15-10, but a 7-0 run \u2014 fueled by four straight kills from Busignani \u2014 put the set away as the Bearcats took it 25-13.<\/p>\n Cincinnati opened the second set on a 12-6 run following a Nolan kill, then extended the lead to 19-11 on a Busignani kill. Oakland answered with four straight points to close within 21-18, but the Bearcats closed out the set 25-18 as the Golden Grizzlies committed four consecutive attacking errors.<\/p>\n