University of Louisville
Hawai'i
Volleyball Falls 3-1 No. 16 Hawai'i
September 03, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2007
Svetlana Dukule had 17 kills with setter Samantha Dabbs adding 13 but it was not enough as the University of Louisville fell 3-1 to No. 16 Hawai'i in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic in Honolulu late Sunday night.
U of L falls to 3-3 on the year with UH improving to 3-2 with the 31-30, 30-28, 28-30, 30-24 win.
"I couldn't be more proud of the way we played," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "We made our adjustments with the lineup change and played with absolutely tremendous heart in front of a huge crowd against an excellently coached team."
U of L took the lead early in then first game and after tying at 13, the Cardinals did not trail they had actually reached game point. Rainbow Wahine won 31-29 after two hitting errors by U of L and a kill by Tara Hittle took the game from the Cardinals' grasp. U of L hit .173 to UH's .239. The Cardinals were led by Jana Matiasovska's five kills.
U of L fell behind 9-4 in the early going of game two and then chipped away at the UH lead , coming to within one at 21-20 and then tied at 27. The Wahine clawed back with a 4-1 down the stretch for the win and the 2-0 lead going into the break. U of L's hitting improved to .304 but the Cardinals were still outhit as UH posted a .362 hitting percentage. Svetlana Dukule paced the Cardinals in that game with nine kills.
In the third game, U of L was able to built a lead of six when they went up 13-8 in the early going. The Wahine powered back to within one with a 4-0 run at 13-12 before Yelin called timeout to try and thwart the comeback. Hawai'i tied at 23 and took its first lead at 24-23 before U of L went on a 6-1 run to get to game point. UH responded with three straight points but U of L slammed the door for the 30-28 win. Neither school hit impressively with UH turning in a .203 effort and U of L hitting just .136.
U of L stayed tight in the final game and surged to tie at 23 but were outscored 7-1 to give the Wahine the match.
Lecia Brown had six blocks as did Dukule to lead the Cardinals, who outblocked the Wahine 12-11. Lindsey Mango had a match-high 26 digs.
The Cardinals were without the serving and offense of starting right side hitter Justine Landi, who injured her back for all three matches on the island.
"It is difficult enough to spend all of preseason practicing with one line up and then have to experiment to find a new lineup against such tough opponents is no fun at all," said Yelin.
U of L heads to the Nebraska Player's Challenge where they will face New Mexico State and No. 1 Nebraska.
