University of Louisville
Depaul
Volleyball Runs Off Demons
November 08, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2001
CHICAGO -- Sonja Percan had 23 kills to lead the University of Louisville to a three game sweep of DePaul in Conference USA volleyball action in Alumni Hall.
Louisville, now 17-5 overall, moves to 11-3 in league play with the 30-24, 30-24, 30-28 win. DePaul falls to 18-7 and 9-4 in C-USA.
Down 14-12, Sonja Percan had five straight points and Sarah Drury had two consecutive aces to go up 18-14 and force a DePaul timeout. Even after the break, DePaul let Louisville loose on a 5-3 run to go up 23-17 and DPU coach Dawn Dockstader used her second timeout. The Demons responded with a seven point run, but fell 30-24 when a hitting error ended the rally. Louisville hit .380 in thegame with 24 kills on 50 attacks.
"We had great ball control which sets up our hitters," said head coach Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach.
In the second game, DePaul stayed close until the Cardinals were able to sneak out to a four-point lead at 24-20 on a Sonja Percan call and precipitated a Blue Demon timeout. The Cardinals went on a 6-4 run to win 30-24 when Anastasia Zaitseva pounded one down to end the game. Cardinal hitting heated up to .391 with DePaul hitting .264.
In the final game, after tying at 14, U of L went on a six-point run, three which came on Zaitseva kills. DePaul, which was celebrating senior night, battled back to within on3 at 24-23v when seniors Melissa Nordine and Stephanie Bishop worked in tandem to chip away at the deficit. Yelin called time out and Louisville responded by getting to game point at 29-25. DePaul staved off game point three times but fell 30-28.
"We were mentally tough and stayed that way, throughout the match," said Yelin. "We didn't let them use their emotion from senior night against us."
Louisville hit .352 for the match and notched seven aces with Sarah Drury leading with three aces.
