University of Louisville
ST. JOHN'S
No. 7-ranked Volleyball Quiets Red Storm 3-1
September 25, 2005 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 25, 2005
Lena Ustymenko had 18 kills and a career-high seven blocks to lead the No. 7-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over St. John's in BIG EAST action Sunday afternoon in Cardinal Arena.
U of L moved to 11-0 on the season and 2-0 in the BIG EAST with the 30-28, 27-30, 30-21, 30-17 win. St. John's drops to 14-5 and 0-2 in the league. The Cardinals extended their home match winning streak to 22, although the previous 21 had all been by three-game sweeps.
"Once again I have to say it isn't easy being a big target that everyone is trying to knock off," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "Once again our seniors kept their composure until they sensed a change of momentum and then pushed through to the win."
U of L had some wildly shifting hitting performances, with a .000 in the losing game and a blistering .458 in the final game of the match. Cardinal blocking of 20 to SJU's 10, kept the Red Storm guessing and 11 SJU serving errors did not help their cause.
In the first game, U of L could not establish a lead of any sort, and actually trailed by as many as three at 10-7 on a U of L hitting error. The Cardinals battled back to tie at 13 on a block by Jennifer Hoffman and Nicole Bateman. After trading points, U of Ledged ahead to 24-20 on a Shameka Mitchell error but SJU would not go away. U of L got to game point on an Ustymenko kill but St. John's came back with two straight points to come to within one at 29-28. A service error by Anicia Wood doused the SJU comeback to give U of L the 30-28 win. of L just barely outhit the Red Storm .282 to .256.
In the second game, U of L's hitting tanked to .000 and SJU was there to take advantage. Leading 12-9, U of L had no answer for the SJU offense that saw the Red Storm slowly build to a 27-23 lead. The only signs of life came after SJU hit game point at 29-25 and the Cardinals managed to score twice on SJU errors rather than any offensive solution of their own. SJU went on to win 30-27.
The Cardinals seemed to regroup after the break and although SJU stayed close in the early going a 7-1 run to take U of L to 25-17 took the wind out of the Red Storm. The Cardinals outhit their opponent .289 to .075 in that set.
St. John's seemed to rebound early in the fourth game, taking a 6-4 lead but allowed an 11-2 run by the Cardinals to set the Red Storm back on its heels. The Cardinals hit a torrid .458 and had a blocking edge of five.
Hoffman ended the match hitting ..304 with nine kills and eight blocks. Svetlana Dukule, who missed the last four matches with an ankle injury came off the bench to notch six kils and four blocks. Nicole Bateman led with 11 digs.
St. John's was led by LaToya Blunt's 19 kills and four blocks. Hui Ping Huang had 15 kills and 10 digs while Shameka Mitchell added 12 kills and four blocks.
U of L takes on Tennessee at 7:30 Wednesday at Cardinal Arena.
