University of Louisville
MEMPHIS
Volleyball Tames Memphis Tigers 3-1
August 24, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 24, 2007
Rui Liu and Svetlana Dukule each had 11 kills to lead the University of Louisville to a 30-22, 28-30, 30-28, 30-24 win over visiting Memphis Friday night at Cardinal Arena.
It was the season opener for both teams in the first round of the Louisville Marriott East Invitational with Tennessee Tech winning the first match of the night with a 30-18, 19-30, 30-19, 27-30, 15-11 win over Coastal Carolina.
U of L hit .267 and outblocked the Tigers 11-2. The Cardinals struggled with their serving, committing 22 service errors but also had 11 aces, led by Samantha Dabbs' four aces. Lecia Brown led all blockers with five, with Liu adding four for the Cardinals. Memphis was led by Shelby Burton and Sarah Bury 14 kills each.
"It was great to have such a high level of competition to start out the season and get a good test," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin, who is now just four matches away from his 400th career win."
Justine Landi served for seven straight points in the first game to boost U of L to a 10-3 lead and the Cardinals never looked back. U of L hit .250 to Memphis' -.057 led by Jana's four kills.
Memphis used an 8-1 run in the second game to go up 22-16 and forced U of L to play catchup. The Cardinals finally tied at 24 and 27 but the Tigers scored three of the last four points to even the match score at 1-1 going into the break. Despite three aces, the Cardinals were hamped by .093 hitting in the 30-28 loss.
In the third game, Louisville took off to a 6-1 lead but had to fend off a furious comeback that saw Memphis take the lead at 14-13. The Cardinals scrapped to take the lead back at 22-21 which was their last lead until game point at 29-28. A kill by Matiasovska gave U of L the game at 30-28. The Cardinal blocking finally kicked in with U of L notching seven to Memphis' none.
The fourth game stayed close with the two opponents locking horns at 15. U of L went on a 7-2 run to go up 27-20. Memphis hung on with a 4-3 run but it was too little, too late as the Cardinals won 30-24.
SaturdayMemphis vs. Tennessee Tech 11 a.m.Louisville vs. Coastal Carolina 1 p.m.Coastal Carolina vs. Memphis 5 p.m.Louisville vs. Tennessee Tech 7:30 p.m.
