University of Louisville
UAB
#23 Volleyball Beats UAB, Moves to 10-1
October 05, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2001
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Sonja Percan had 26 kills to lead No. 23 ranked Louisville to a 3-1 win over UAB in Conference USA volleyball action.
Louisville, now 10-1 and 5-0 in C-USA won 30-21, 30-26, 27-30, 30-15. UAB falls to 6-9 overall and 0-6 in the league.
"Our hitters stayed hot and it was enough to keep them at bay, " said Leonid Yelin, U of L's head coach. "Anytime you hit .350 for a match, things should be going your way."
In the first game, after taking a seemingly safe lead at 18-9 on a Lesley Drury service ace, the Cardinals had to beat back a Blazer rally. Out-scoring U of L 10-4, the Blazers came back to pull to 22-19. Hampered by blocking and serving errors, the Blazers lost momentum and the Cardinals won 30-21. Drury led the Cards with four kills, no errors on eight attacks. U of L outhit UAB .321 to .027.
Game two was marked by big momentum swings. Louisville used a seven point run to go up 10-4 and then scrambled during a six-point UAB run that tied them at ten. See-sawing back, the Cardinals scored seven unanswered points to go up 17-10. Four consecutive points by UAB capitalizing on U of L errors brought the Blazers back to within three at 17-14. At that point, UAB stayed close, calling time out at 27-23 to try to chill Cardinal hitting. Louisville got to game point but UAB had a block and an ace by Amber Sorensen to stave off the final point, but was called on a back row attack to fall 30-26. Percan had 10 kills on 16 attacks in the second game alone, helping U of L to a .390 hitting percentage.
In the third game, UAB never allowed a Cardinal run, never trailing by more than three points and then taking the lead for good at 25-24. UAB hitting had heated up to .356 with Kristi Lee leading the the way for UAB with seven kills.
In the final set, Louisville chugged out to a 10-4 lead and kept the Blazers at bay. The Cardinals kicked their blocking into gear ... At 24-13, the Cardinals reeled off five straight points to get to match point. Two Cardinal errors gave UAB two points and a service error by Kristi Lee gave Louisville match point.
Drury had 13 kills and no errors on 24 attacks to hit .542. The Blazers were led by Karen Boyd's 15 kills.
