University of Louisville
vs Notre Dame<br>(BIG EAST Championship - Finals)
No. 7 Ranked Volleyball Falls in BIG EAST Final
November 20, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2005
Senior middle blocker Jennifer Hoffman's 16 kills and six blocks were not enough as the No. 7 ranked Louisville Cardinals volleyball team fell to Notre Dame 3-2 (28-30, 31-29, 30-21, 23-30, 15-8) allowing Notre Dame to capture the 2005 BIG EAST Championship title at the Kentucky International Convention Center.
The Cardinals record moves to 27-2. Notre Dame's title is its ninth in 11 years since joining the league in 1995. With the win, the Irish earn the conference's automatic berth to the 2005 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.
"For once it was our team who was playing emotionally and it was our opponent who was calmer and more poised," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "We were not creative offensively and I think we became predictable."
Sophomore outside hitter Adrianna Stasiuk was named the Most Outstanding Player for the tournament after posting 35 kills, 33 digs and 39.5 points in Notre Dame's three matches. In the finals, she had 18 kills and 13 digs. She averaged 2.92 kills, 2.75 digs and 3.29 points per game for the tournament.
The BIG EAST's 2005 Player of the Year Lena Ustymenko had 15 kills with just two errors for a .351 percentage. Freshman outside hitter Rui Liu had a career-high 12 assisted blocks to tie the school record and lead a U of L defense that out-blocked Notre Dame for the match, 19-15.
After an inauspicious beginning with each team trading service errors in the first game, both teams settled into their respective offenses and battled on even terms. With Notre Dame ahead, 10-9, Louisville put together a quick 7-1 run to take a 16-11 lead. The Cardinals had their largest lead of the game at 24-17 before the Irish stormed back with a 9-4 run to cut the lead to 28-26. Out of Louisville's timeout, Yartseva posted two kills to seal the 30-28 game one win. U of L hit .372 as a team while holding Notre Dame to .192. Both teams had four total blocks. Hoffman led Louisville's hitting with six kills in seven attempts and no errors (.857).
In the second game, Louisville jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead on the strength of four Ustymenko service aces. U of L led by as many as eight at 12-4, but Notre Dame answered with a 16-8 run to tie the game at 20-20. Notre Dame called a timeout when Louisville took a 27-25 lead. Out of that timeout, ND put up three points of its own to take a 28-27 advantage and force Louisville head coach Leonid Yelin to call a stoppage of his own. ND edged U of L, 4-2 from that point to take the second game, 31-29. That two-point lead was its largest for the entire game. There were no ties in the second game until the two teams were knotted at 18-18. After that, though, the two teams were even nine times. Notre Dame had a .265 hitting percentage with 21 kills, while Louisville hit .167.
Notre Dame defense forced Louisville to .000 hitting with 11 kills and 11 errors, the lowest percentage of the season in the third game. Louisville actually led by a 16-15 margin before Notre Dame put together a 15-5 run to win the game, 30-21.
Yelin moved his libero, Nicole Bateman, to outside hitter and moved Kristie Wetterer to libero for the fourth game. The Irish started hot with a quick 3-1 before the Cardinals outscored them, 12-6, to take a 13-7 advantage. Louisville would not relinquish that lead, despite having the deficit get as close to two, 18-16, before winning the game, 30-23.
Notre Dame led throughout the entire fifth game and took a five-point advantage at 8-3 before Louisville's Hoffman gave the momentum back to Louisville with a solo block. U of L had two more unanswered points to close the deficit to 8-6. Brewster powered Notre Dame to a 15-8 game five win after that with two kills and a solo block. The Irish had a .467 hitting percentage in the deciding set, while holding the Cardinals to a .214 mark.
Louisville had never been out hit by an opponent this season prior to Sunday's title match when ND hit .227 as a team and held U of L to a .205 percentage.
The Cardinals will play next Saturday and Sunday
Louisville still figures to garner a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and await the pairings announcement on Nov. 27 to see if they will earn an at-large bid to the tournament. The 64-team field will be unveiled between 2:30-3:00 p.m. live on ESPNews.
