University of Louisville
vs. Florida A&M<BR>(Georgia Tech Tournament)
Volleyball Rattled by Florida A&M 3-1
September 07, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 7, 2002
ATLANTA -- University of Louisville Bing Sun's 16 kills were not enough to hold off Florida A&M as the Cardinals lost 3-1.
The 30-28, 22-30, 30-25, 30-27 loss drops the No. 22-ranked Cardinals to 4-2 on the season. FAMU improves to 2-2.
Despite outblocking the Rattlerettes 14-7, the Cardinals suffered from a chilly hitting percentage of .212, including .158 hitting in the fourth game. The Cardinals had four hitters in double digit kills but the potent one-two combo of FAMU's Fiorella Junek and Andriena Ruiz took its toll. The pair combined for 43 kills and three aces.
"Give them credit, they had two hot hitters and they knew to get the ball to them and we didn't have an answer for it," said Yelin.
In the first game, Florida A&M used a seven-point swing to go from trailing 17-14 to its first lead at 20-17. Louisville answered with a 5-1 run and forced FAMU into a timeout to chill the Cardinals who had reestablished the lead at 23-21 on an ace by Jennifer Craven. FAMU came back with a 5-1 run of its own to go up 26-24 before Louisville called timeout. Louisville tied at 28 but a Cardinal miss and a dump by setter Mariel Portocarrero gave the game to the Rattlerettes. Louisville hit a frigid .104 in the
Louisville came back to win the second game by powering out to a 20-10 lead. Anastasia Zaitseva and Bing Sun generated 11 kills for the Cardianls, and the Cardinals continued to block well, widening the block margin to 9-3. The Cardinals' hitting improved dramatically to .429 with 17 kills on 35 attacks and just two errors.
After relinquishing the lead at 13-12, Louisville could not regain it in the third set. The Rattlerettes kept hammering at the Cardinals and despite five kills from U of L freshman Lena Ustymenko, won 30-25.
FAMU used a seven point run in the last game to establish a 11-6 lead and Lousiville never got closer than two when they trailed 27-25 on Lena Ustymenko kill. The Ukrainian freshman had 14 kills for the match. FAMU fought off a Louisville rally and reeled off the final three points for the win.
Anastasia Zaitseva (14) and Stacey Mercer (11) joined Ustymenko and Sun in double digit kills for the Cardinals.
