University of Louisville
vs Florida<br>(NCAA Regional Semifinals)
Volleyball Falls to Florida in NCAA Sweet Sixteen
December 09, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 9, 2005
Senior Lena Ustymenko's 15 kills and nine digs were not enough as No. 8 seeded Florida beat the University of Louisville 30-28, 30-25, 30-22 in the NCAA Volleyball Sweet Sixteen match at the Omaha Regional in Nebraska.
"We tried as hard as we could," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "We left everything out there and our seniors were fighting like crazy to not end their career just yet."
U of L ends its season at 31-3 while Florida improves to 33-2 and will take on the winner of the UCLA/Nebraska match for the regional final Saturday afternoon.
U of L was outhit .219-.307 and outblocked 10-8.
"We are not used to playing teams with such good blocking and it was frustrating," said Ustymenko.
U of L started out tight in the first game, letting Florida out to a 9-5 lead early. The Cardinals fought back and tied at 12 and then took the lead at 15-14. The No. 4 ranked Gators went on an 8-2 run to go up 22-16. Florida built on the lead to go up 27-21 before Yelin used his second time-out. U of L regrouped and went on a 6-1 run and force the Gators to utilize both of their timeouts. Trailing by just one at 28-27, a kill by Rui Liu was not enough as Kisya Killingsworth and Angie McGinnis each had a kill to take the first game 30-28. The Cardinals were outhit .216 to .300, but had the blocking edge at 4-3. Ustymenko led the effort with seven kills.
"Florida is very athletic but we thought we matched up well with them size-wise. If we could have served better we could have run our offense better and been less predictable. As it was,l they were able to set up the double block," said Yelin.
Florida popped out to a 9-3 lead early in the second game. The Cardinals staged a comeback that took them within four at 22-18 and forced Wise to call timeout. The Gators responded with a 5-1 run to go up 26-19. Louisville used its last timeout trailing 27-21 and although it had a brief 3-1 run, it was too little too late as the Gators won 30-25 and took a two game lead into the lockerroom for the break.
"We had to play too many high balls and they were waiting on me," said Ustymenko.
After hanging close in the final game and being tied at 21, Florida went on a 9-2 run to take the match and deny the Cardinals a trip to the Elite Eight.
"We wanted to go further than we have ever gone before," said Yelin. "I thought this team could do it because we have such great chemistry so we are disappointed for the seniors."
Ana Yartseva had 12 kills and seven digs with Stephanie Marsh adding seven kills and four blocks to the Cardinal totals.
Florida was led by Marcie Hampton's 16 kills with Amber McCray adding 15 and Jane Collymore pitching in 10.
"Florida is a very athletic team but we feel we are too. They are good jumpers and they got their hands on a lot of balls," said Marsh.
