University of Louisville
TENNESSEE
Volleyball Beats Rival Tennessee 3-1
October 16, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2007
Rui Liu had nine kills, three blocks and 18 digs to lead the University of Louisville to a 3-1 victory over rival Tennessee Tuesday night at Cardinal Arena.
"Three games in four days left us exhausted," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin, whose team beat Seton Hall and Villanova Saturday and Sunday. "It was good to play a rival because the rivalry helped get us the adrenalin that we needed to hold on for the win."
U of L improves to a 14-4 record with their 10th straight win. UT drops to 8-10 with the 30-25, 26-30, 30-18, 30-26 loss. The Cardinals continued their dominance at the net as the leading blocking team in the nation with 17 to the Volunteers' eight. In a match highlighted by long spirited rallies, U of L connected on .161 of its attacks, but managed to edge the Vols, who hit just .084. U of L had three hitters with double digit kills led by Jana Matiasovska's 15. Svetlana Dukule added 12 and Justine Landi pitched in 10. Lecia Brown led all blockers with 11, adding six kills.
"Rui Liu was filling every hole for us and passing very well on their short serves," said Yelin.
In the first game, U of L hit .250 with eight more kills than UT win win 30-25. After trailing by as many as six, UT came to within one at 24-23 but was out-scored 6-2 down the stretch. Lecia Brown and Sam Dabbs eatch had four kills to lead the Cards.
Tennessee used an 11-4 run in the second game to go up 29-24. U of L scored twice with UT at game point but missed long to end the comeback attempt and knot the game score at one going into the break.
U of L made a change at setter early in the third game when Elena Pilnikova came off the bench to spark a 10-1 run that put U of L up 15-8. The Cards strung together another five point run to put U of L up 25-15 and put the game out of reach as they cruised to a 30-18 win.
In the final game, U of L took its first lead at 22-21 in the midst of a 10-1 run and then held off the Vols for the win.
