University of Louisville
JACKSONVILLE STATE<BR>UofL Courtyard By Marriott Tournament
Volleyball Beats Jacksonville State 3-1
September 04, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 4, 2004
Lena Ustymenko had 14 kills, two aces and11 digs to lead the No. 20 ranked-University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over Jacksonville State in the final match of the U of L Courtyard by Marriott Tournament. The Cardinals won 27-30, 30-25, 30-23, 30-25.
U of L won the tournament with a 3-0 record. Virginia was 2-1, Jacksonville was 1-2 and Loyola was 0-3. Becky Corb of Loyola, Abby Breit of Jacksonville, Sarah Kirkwood and Melissa Caldwell of Virginia and Louisville's Bing Sun and Stephanie Marsh were named to the All-Tournament squad.
"This match had a lot of competitiveness because as my former assistant coach, Rick Nold and I have a great friendly rivalry," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "Jacksonville played with a lot of emotion and kept pushing us. This will help us because as preseason No. 1 in our conference, everyone will want to play their best match against us."
In the first game, Jacksonville State to its first lead at 14-13 on a kill by Jessica Starck and then built it to 23-18 with timely hitting. U of L reeled off five points to tie at 23 and then the teams tied three more times before JSU had three unanswered points to win the game. The Gamecocks outhit U of L .306 to .283. JSU's Breit had five of her 16 total kills in the first set.
The Cardinals flew out to a 13-8 lead before Nold utilized his first timeout. The Gamecocks used small streaks to scratch away at the Cardinal lead until they tied at 23. The two teams traded points until U of L scored two in a row to go up 27-25 on a kill by Svetlana Dukule. Nold called a time out to chill the U of L server but the Cardinals won on a Bing Sun kill and a miss by Breit.
The third game mirrored the second, with U of L popping out to a 13-6 lead. JSU managed to trim the lead to 22-19 on an ace by Annie O'Connor. The Cardinals reopened the spread to 28-22 before JSU called its last timeout. Two consecutive Dukule kills ended the game. U of L outhit the Gamecocks .485 to .158.
The Gamecocks wouldn't go away in the fourth, building a 13-10 lead after a five-point run which forced a U of L timeout. The Cardinals regrouped and went on an 8-2 run to go up 18-14 and force a JSU timeout. Louisville seemed to have the game and match in hand at 25-16 but JSU clawed back to 28-23. They managed two more points before U of L put the match away 29-25.
U of L had two other players join Ustymenko in double digit kills with Marsh adding 11 and Sun 12. JSU was led by Abby Breit's 16 kills, two blocks and 15 digs. Starck added 12 kills and an ace to the JSU effort.
