University of Louisville
<B>SAINT LOUIS *</B>
Volleyball Bedevilled by Billikens
November 01, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 1, 2002
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Colleen Hunter had 25 kills and seven blocks to help lead Saint Louis to a 19-30, 34-32, 30-24, 30-24 upset of the University of Louisville in Conference USA volleyball.
U of L had won nine matches in a row and was undefeated in conference. The Cardinals are now 18-4 and 7-1 in Conference USA. Saint Louis improves to 17-8 and 7-2 in the league. The Cardinals have not lost at home since Oct. 12, 2001 for a 15-match streak.
The Cardinals were without left side hitter Lena Ustymenko, U of L's second leading hitter, who was sidelined by a wrist injury. Freshman Jennifer Hoffman and Candace Cogan shared her duties. Cogan had a team-high 12 digs and Hoffman had an ace, but the pair only had two kills between them. Ustymenko averages 3.14 kills per game. Bing Sun had her customary offensive output of 21 kills, nine digs and four block assists but the Saint Louis defense keyed on her and forced nine hitting errors.
"When you change just one player in the lineup from an injury, it changes so much," said Yelin. "Everyone is either trying to overcompensate or finds themselves out of position. And when you are the conference favorite you have little room for error because the conference teams play their best against you."
Louisville had a strong showing in the first game when they pulled out to a 14-4 lead and hit .375 with 18 kills on 32 attacks. The Cardinal block seemed in good shape with a 5-1 edge going to U of L led by Stacey Mercer's four.
Louisville seemed taken aback by the Billiken response in game two. The Cards let the Billikens score the first six points and had to burn a timeout to try to chill the streak. Saint Louis built the lead 12-5 and Louisville had to rally furiously to tie at 19. The score stayed close but went to deuce before the Cards fell 34-32.
Hunter took charge in the third game with six kills and helped SLU hit .293. Although the Billikens committed five service errors, Louisville's chilly .094 hitting could not generate enough points despite Sun's five kills.
In the final game, the score stayed close until Saint Louis went on a 5-1 run to go up 22-16 and force Yelin to call timeout twice more before falling 30-24.
Anastasia Zaitseva added 18 kills an ace and three blocks with Flynn addiing 12 kills. Setter Jennifer Craven had a match-high 51 assists with libero Sarah Drury recording 11 digs.
The Cardinals take on Memphis Saturday night at 7:30.
