University of Louisville
vs. Central Michigan<BR>(Indiana Tournament)
Volleyball Sweeps Central Michigan
September 21, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2002
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Outside hitter Bing Sun had 13 kills and two blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 30-19, 30-21, 30-21 sweep of Central Michigan in the 9:30 a.m. match at the Indiana Invitational.
U of L bumped up its record to 9-2 with CMU dropping to 3-8.
Accustomed to early morning practices, U of L was able to catch Central Michigan flatfooted, jumping out to a 13-2 lead. The Cards increased the spread to 23-10 on a two consecutive kills by Benny Flynn. U of L hit .464 to CMU's .158 with 15 kills on 28 attacks and just two errors. The Chippewas were outblocked 4-1. Stacey Mercer led the Cardinal offense with an efficient four kills on five swings.
"There are some advantages to practicing early," laughed Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "It definitely worked to our benefit this morning."
The Chippewas awoke in the second game and popped out to a 5-2 lead. U of L answered by going on a 5-1 run to go up 14-10 and force a CMU timeout. Leading 18-16 after an Anastasia Zaitseva service ace, Louisville embarked on an eight-unanswered-point run to build the lead to 26-16. A Mercer kill was good for the game point and give U of L a two-game lead going into the break. U of L hitting stayed hot with 19 kills on 34 attacks and just four errors for a .441 hitting percentage.
"We knew Central Michigan was no pushover. We saw them play a very competitive match against Indiana the night before and didn't want them to sneak up on us," said Yelin.
Louisville put the match away by putting together hot runs to build an insurmountable lead against the Chippewas. In the early going, U of L had an 8-2 run to go up 13-8 and then later a 10-2 run to bo up 27-16. A service ace by Candace Cogan at match point gave the Cardinals the win.
Freshman Lena Ustymenko joined Sun in double digit kills with 11. Fellow frosh Jennifer Craven had a season-high five aces and 38 assists at the setter position.
CMU was led by Emily Lovejoy's 17 kills and two aces.
Louisville will face Indiana at 7:30 p.m. this afternoon.
