University of Louisville
vs. Murray State<BR>(UM/Pepsi Challenge)
Volleyball Beats Murray State at Michigan Challenge
September 06, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2003
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Sophomore Lena Ustymenko led the Cardinals with 23 points including 19 kills and three aces to turn back the Murray State Racers.
The Cardinals survived a scare from intrastate rival as the Racers took the Cardinals to five games before falling 3-2.
The No. 16-ranked Cardinals won 27-30, 30-24, 24-30, 30-25, 15-12 to improve their record to 2-3. Murray State, which has never beat the Cardinals since fielding a varsity team, moves to 0-2 for the season.
"This was not an easy team to beat," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "If we let our guard down for a second, they were right back in every game."
Louisville let Murray State race out to a 12-5 lead and had to battle back to tie at 16-15 and 20. MSU had a five point run all on Louisville hitting or blocking errors to pull head 27-22. The Racers got to game point on a lift call by U of L. The Cardinals staved off the MSU rally with a kill by Lena Ustymenko and Steph Marsh to pull to 29-27, but a Kill by Lilli Zhan tipped the game to MSU. The Cardinals hit just .163 to MSU's .326.
"We looked disorganized as we adjusted to their style of play," said Yelin.
The Cardinals regrouped behind the hot hitting hand of Ustymenko. During one stretch, the 16 year old outside hitter had five points in a row to put U of L up 11-7. In all, she had 12 kills on 18 swings with two aces and two blocks to account for 15 U of L points. She had been questionable as a starter after complaining of a stiff neck after the Texas A&M match. Murray had a short-lived lead at 21-20 when the Cardinals were called for a lift but the Racers but did not threaten again. The Cardinals won 30-24.
The Racers used big runs, including a 7-2 run to end the game to beat U of L 30-24 in the third set. The two teams tied 12 times and there was a match-high six lead changes. The Cardinals had four service errors and were out-hit .293 to .395.
The Cardinals started the fourth set by establishing an 11-6 lead and increased the lead to as many as seven after two different runs. U of L unleashed Anastasia Zaitseva, who had been the designated libero, and she responded with six digs and five kills in the fourth game alone. She had had 13 kills, 16 digs and a block for the match. The Cardinals outblocked the Racers 4-1 in that game as well.
In the final set, U of L tried mightily to shut the door on the Racers but weren't ready to scratch. U of L thought it had MSU on the ropes with a 13-9 win on one of Ana Yartseva's 12 kills. Murray answered with three straight points. But a Bing Sun kill and a net violation by MSU ended the match.
U of L had four players in double digit kills with Yartseva, Zaitseva and Ustymenko joined by captain Sonja Percan's 10.
U of L plays host Michigan Sunday at 1:00 in Cliff Keen Arena.
