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With a three set to two loss Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament against the No. 21 Florida State Seminels, the Cincinnati volleyball team ended its 2011 season.

The Bearcats narrowly missed their first Sweet 16 appearance after losing to the Seminels with set scores of 25-23, 16-25, 25-20, 20-25 and 15-13.

Offensively, the Bearcats had four players post double-digit kills. Junior middle blocker Jordanne Scott led Cincinnati with 25 kills, while Becca Refenes, Missy Harpenau and Megan Turner posted 21, 14 and 10 kills, respectively.

In the first round of the tournament, the Bearcats defeated the Samford University Bulldogs three sets to two, with set scores of 25-17, 22-25, 25-16, 23-25 and 15-9.

Scott and Harpenau again led the Bearcats, with 19 and 13 kills, respectively. Harpneau also had a strong defensive performance, posting 19 digs to record a double-double.

Scott finished the season with a team-high 482 kills, while Harpenau finished with 458 kills and 407 digs.

Freshman setter Caylin Mahoney also had a strong season, finishing her rookie year with a team-high 1,501 assists.

Overall, the Bearcats finished their 2011 season 27-10 and 12-2 in Big East play.

Cincinnati started off the season slow with three-straight losses in the Northern Illinois Tournament, but rebounded with a win against rival Kentucky and three-straight wins in the North Texas Tournament to capture the tourney Cup.

The Bearcats also had a strong outing in the Rainbow Classic, where they went to the finals and lost to the home-court favorite No. 12 Hawaii.

After suffering two-straight losses in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge, the Bearcats rebounded with six-straight wins before losing their only Big East games against Seton Hall and Louisville.

Cincinnati closed out its regular season 10-1, with the one loss coming against Ohio University at Fifth Third Arena, which ended the Bearcats’ 48-match winning streak — the longest home winning streak in the nation.

Before losing to the Bobacts, however, the Bearcats captured the program’s first Big East tournament championship with wins against Villanova in the quarterfinals, Marquette in the semifinals and Notre Dame in the finals.