CINCINNATI, Ohio (SMU) – SMU's streak of seven straight wins ended with a 3-0 loss at Cincinnati Sunday (25-21, 26-24, 25-23). The Bearcats maintained their spot at the top of the American Athletic Conference standings, improving to 9-1 in league matches and 17-5 overall. SMU dropped to 14-6, 7-3 in The American.

Hannah Jacobs led SMU with 12 kills. Freshman Jadyn Bauss finished with 10 kills, reaching double figures in her last three matches played. SMU finished with 10 blocks, while Cincinnati had just five, but the Bearcats outscored the Mustangs 52-39 on the attack. Jordan Thompson scored 28 kills, getting 51 of Cincinnati's 119 attack attempts.

Montana Watts finished with a match-high 13 digs, and Lily Heim assisted on 35 of SMU's kills. The Mustangs hit .245 as a team, putting up a .433 attack percentage in the third set, but Cincinnati posted a .286 hitting percentage in the win.

SMU narrowly missed avoiding the sweep, losing 25-23 in the third set. The Mustangs led the majority of the set, which featured only one lead change. The score was tied six times in the set, but three were in the first few points. Cincinnati came back to tie the score again at 19-19, the first tied score since 4-4. Jacobs followed a Kaylyn Winkler kill to give SMU a 22-20 advantage.

After a Thompson kill for the Bearcats, it appeared SMU would maintain a two-point lead, but Heim was called for stepping over the mid-court line during the set, giving the point to Cincinnati, 22-22. Thompson scored kills on three of the next four points to end the match, 25-23.

The Bearcats led 22-13 in the first set before SMU mounted a comeback run.  The Mustangs scored on eight of the next 10 serves, cutting the lead to three, 24-21. However, the gap was too large to overcome as Thompson scored her eighth kill of the set to end it, 25-21.

SMU forced extra points in the second set, but Cincinnati never relinquished the lead, taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a 26-24 win in the set. The Mustangs fought back from a four-point deficit twice during the set. First, the Mustangs trailed 9-5 before cutting the lead to one, 12-11. Then, Thompson responded with a kill before serving back-to-back aces for a 15-11 lead. Again, SMU battled back, scoring four of the next five points to cut it to 16-15. The Mustangs rallied to tie the score for the first time in the set at 23-23, but could not capture the lead.

The Mustangs play at Memphis Friday night before returning home Sunday to face UCF in Moody Coliseum.