University of Louisville
South Florida
#23 Volleyball Edges South Florida 3-2
October 07, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2001
TAMPA, Fla. -- Sonja Percan tied her own school record with 32 kills to lead No. 23-ranked Louisville to a 3-2 win over South Florida in Conference USA volleyball.
Louisville, now 11-1 overall, is undefeated in six C-USA matchups with the 30-28, 26-30, 30-32, 30-23, 15-12 win.
"This was a showcase of two of the best hitters in the conference," said Louisville head coach Leonid Yelin. "Sonja had 32 kills and Michelle Collier for USF were bothjust killing the ball."
In game one, the two teams stayed close with neitherteam leading by more than three points. Percan shouldered the majority of the Louisville offense with eight kills on 15 attacks. The Cardinals outhit USF .326 to .293.
In the second game, South Florida ran out to a 6-1 lead and kept it until 11-6 when Louisville called timeout. The Cardinals battled back and tied at 22. The Bulls answered with a 5-3 spurt to go up 27-25 and then outlasted the Cardinals to win 30-26. Percan and Zaitseva each had five kills in that set. Torrid hitting by the Bulls saw them notch 22 kills on 37 attacks for a .486 hitting percentage.
"You can't allow USF to grab any kind of lead and expect to come back easily," said Yelin.
Although the teams tied six times in the early going of the third game, USF did not take the lead until they went up 27-26. Louisville got to game point firs at 29-28 but a kill by Kelly Matthiasmeier tied the score at 29. A lift by Lesley Drury got USF to game point but a kill by Percan helped U of L avoid game point. U of L got the serve back but Collier scored on a cross-court smash to bring USF back to game point. A Louisville hitting error gave game three to USF.
In the fourth game Louisville led 8-3 in the early going and then had to beat back a USF comeback when they went on a 10-5 run to gain the lead at 13-12. Louisville went on a run of its own to go up 19-15 and forced a South Florida time out. The Cardinals hung tough and then reeled off the final five points unanswered to win 30-23.
After tying at 10, the Cardinals outscored the Bulls 5-2 down the stretch to win the final set.
Louisville had four players in double digit kills with Benny Flynn (11), Stacey Mercer (13), and Anastasia Zaitseva with 12 to join Percan.
