University of Louisville
vs. Saint Louis<BR>(Conference USA Tourn.)
Volleyball Sweeps Saint Louis, Gains Championship Match
November 24, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2002
CHICAGO -- Senior Stacey Mercer had 10 kills, two aces and six blocks to lead the University of Louisvllle to a three-game sweep of Saint Louis in the semi-final round of the Healthy Choice Conference USA Volleyball Championship Saturday night at the DePaul Athletic Center.
Louisville advances to the conference tournament championship match for the sixth time with the 30-22, 30-22, 30-24 win. U of L posts a 25-4 record and is 2-3 in all-time tournament championship games with wins in 1998 and 2000. Saint Louis finishes at 21-10.
"Since Saint Louis was our only regular season conference loss there was no looking ahead to South Florida and the championship match," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "We played well at the net and started digging everything in the late going."
In the first game, U of L spotted the Billikens the first four points, before the Cards could come back and tie at nine. U of L had a seven-point string to go up 18-15 and force a Saint Louis timeout. U of L increased the margin to go up 23-17 on a pair of kills and a block by Stacey Mercer and SLU blew its final timeout. The Cardinals outscored SLU 6-3 down the stretch to win 30-20. The hot hitting of Louisville (.353) while out-blocking SLU 4-0. Anastasia Zaitseva had four kills including U of Ls first five points with three kills, an ace and a block to kickstart the Cardinals.
After leading 16-9 in the second game, Louisville had to stave off a Saint Louis rally that brought them within four at 18-14. After a U of L timeout, the Cardinals regrouped and built the lead to 27-21 and Marilyn Nolen used her final timout. U of L got to game point on a kill by Zaitseva and took the game on a service error by Saint Louis. U of L hitting cooled off a bit with 13 kills on 40 attacks and eight errors. Freshman Lena Ustymenko had to leave the match for a short time to get her knee retaped but returned and ended the match with 10 kills. The Billikens had four service errors and hit .125. Hunter had six kills to lead SLU. Louisville maintained its blocking edge with a 4-3 margin over SLU.
"We are all patched together but so focused no one wants to miss a single minute of the match," said Yelin.
In the third game, both teams stayed close until the Cardinals were able to string a four-point run to go up 16-13 and force a Saint Louis timeout. The Billikens responded with a four-point run of their own and then went ahead at 21-20, precipitating a Louisville timeout. Then the Cardinals went on a 10-3 run to win the game and match 30-24.
U of L hit .258 and out blocked SLU 10-6. The Cardinals recorded six service aces with Zaitseva recording three. Sun added 12 kills for U of L. Saint Louis was led by Colleen Hunters 17 kills.
