University of Louisville
Ohio
Volleyball Falls 3-2 to Ohio University
November 24, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2007
Svetlana Dukule and Jana Matiasovska combined for 30 kills and eight blocks but the effort fell short as No. 19-ranked Ohio University beat No. 23-ranked Louisville 3-2.
U of L drops to 22-7 with its fate in the hands of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee which will announce the pairings Sunday evening at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. OU moves to 26-5 with the 30-22, 30-23, 23-30, 22-30, 15-13 win and must also await an at-large bid.
"Our blocking didn't become a factor until the third game," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "This Ohio team rarely if ever loses at home and like us were fighting to keep playing this season and to get a good seed in the tournament."
The Cardinals outblocked the Bobcats 21.5-9 and outhit them .257 to .233. The Bobcats even had 12 service errors and 36 hitting errors but had 85 kills to the Cardinals' 62.
In the first game, Ohio took the lead at 4-3 and never trailed again. The Cardinals were outhit .432 to .276. The Bobcats aced the Cards twice and U of L was called in the net twice to complicate matters. Ohio won 30-22, after a 9-2 run to end the game.
In the second game, U of L fell behind 24-18 and burned their last time out but could no closer than six before falling 30-23. The Cardinals were outhit .333 to .256 and had no answer for OU's Ellen Herman and Melissa Griffin, who each had five kills for the Bobcats in the second frame.
A 7-1 run in the third game took Louisville up 16-11 and Ohio had already used both its timeouts. The Cardinals opened their lead to eight at 23-15 but had to call time out as OU scored three straight to come within five at 23-18. The Cardinals regrouped and went on a 7-4 run to win 30-23. U of L hitting stayed steady at .282 but OU cooled to .109. The Cardinals, the top blocking team in the nation, had six to the Bobcats' two. Jana Matiasovska led U of L with five kills with Svetlana Dukule adding four.
U of L built an early lead a 19-10, forcing Geoff Carlston to burn both his timeouts. The Bobcats regrouped and ran off six of the next seven points to come within four at 20-16 before Yelin called timeout. The Cardinals continued to pull away by as many as nine at 28-19. U of L got to game point on a kill by Justine Landi and a Jana Matiasovska winner gave the Cardinals the 30-22 win to force the fifth game. The Cardinals hit .312 to OU's .118 and outblocked the Bobcats six to two.
In the final frame, OU popped out to a 6-3 lead powered by four kills by Ellen Herman. The Cardinals battled back to tie at eight on three straight blocks by Lecia Brown. OU had two straight before the Cardinals reeled off four unanswered kills to go up 12-10 and force a Bobcat timeout. OU tied at 12 and 13 and got to match point on an error by Svetlana Dukule. After a Louisville timeout, OU scored the final point on a kill by Stephanie Blackburn.
