Bearcats Volleyball Claims Outright AAC Regular Season Championship

Cincinnati Bearcats women’s volleyball team swept Tulsa and claimed the outright regular season American Athletic Conference championship. Cincinnati finished AAC play 15-1 and overall 24-5 overall.

It is their first regular season championship since 2010, when they won the Big East with a 12-2 record.

Bearcats beat Tulsa without much resistance winning the first set 25-19 and then winning 25-18 and 25-12 to close out the regular season, in superstar Jordan Thompson’s final home game at Fifth Third Arena.

Thompson led the team with 18 kills. On Sunday, her first kill of the day was the 2,500th kill of her career. Thompson is now the 9th player all-time to reach 2,500 kills and the first D1 volleyball player to do so since 2004.

Regular season recap

• Bearcats ended the season on a 10 game winning streak
• Finished 10-1 at home
• Losses came at Pitt (who won the ACC regular season title), at Michigan State (in a Tournament, in which they won 2 of 3), at NKU, and the lone home loss came against Louisville (ranked 25th at time of loss, and finished 17-8)
• Beating Xavier is always a notable accomplishment
• The one conference loss came at Tulane, a disappointing 3-0 sweep. They were also swept vs Pitt
• Cincinnati went 2-0 vs UCF. Knights were AAC Champions in 2018 and Bearcats win on 10/4 ended their 26 game AAC winning streak
• 16 of the Bearcats’ 25 wins were 3 match sweeps
• In a win over UConn, Jordan Thompson recorded 50 kills, the most in a game since 1999

By the Numbers

• Jordan Thompson leads the country in total kills (615) and kills per set (6.34). She also owns the all-time Cincinnati kills record.
• Thompson leads the country in total points (677.5) and points per set (6.98).
• Armania Heckenmueller is second in the country in assists per set (11.96) and fourth in total assists (1,159).
• Thompson is fifth in country in total attacks (1,304).
• Thompson is second in the country in attacks per set (13.44).

What’s next

Cincinnati is seeking their fifth ever conference tournament championship. Their previous wins include 2011 in the Big East, 1999 in Conference USA, 1981 in Metro Conference, 1972 OAISW Championship

AAC Tournament is held at the home arena of the team who won the previous year, which is why this year’s event is being held in Orlando (next year’s tournament will be at Fifth Third Arena). Bearcats first game will be Saturday at 3:30 against the winner of #4 Houston vs #5 Tulane.

Both semi final games will be aired live on Facebook.

The Championship round will take place Sunday at 1:30 and will air on ESPNU. The other side of the bracket features #6 Tulsa vs #UCF. The winner will face #2 SMU.

Cincinnati has made the NCAA Tournament four times this decade (2010, 2011, 2016, 2018). Last year, they won their first round matchup against Illinois State and lost in round two against Marquette.