University of Louisville
Duke
Volleyball Bedevils No. 11 Duke 3-2
September 08, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 8, 2007
Lecia Brown had 13 kills and 13 blocks to beat No. 11-ranked Duke in a come-from-behind 3-2 win in the Ameritas Players Challenge Saturday night in Lincoln, Nebraska.
U of L broke a four-match losing streak with the 31-33, 29-31, 32-34, 30-25, 15-12 win. The Cards finished third in the Players Challenge and improved to 4-4. Duke falls to 5-2 after arriving at the Challenge undefeated.
Brown tied the school record with 12 block assists 13 kills and hit .478. Jana Matiasovska had a career-high 25 kills and four blocks, helping U of L to outblock Duke 23-8.
The Cardinals recovered from a sluggish start and took the lead at 21-20 after a 9-1 run. The Cards even got to game point at 29 and 31 before two errors by Samantha Dabbs gave the first game to the Blue Devils. U of L and Duke both posted lackluster hitting percentages with the Cards connecting on .109 and Duke at just .094. The Cardinals outblocked Duke 8-1.
In the second game, U of L had the lead until Duke finally snuck ahead 28-27. The Cardinals tied it up on a service error by Carrie DeMange. A kill by Rachel Moss gave Duke game point but a solo block by Lecia Brown evened it up at 29. Moss smacked another winner for game point and U of L was called for being in the net for the Duke win. U of L hit just .140 to Duke's .220 although the Cardinals did have four blocks to Duke's two.
The Cardinals fell behind 8-2 early in the third game before tying at 13 and then going up 16-13 on a 6-1 run. Duke scrapped back to a 28-26 lead and got to match point on a kill by DeMange. U of L answered with three straight to get to game point on a kill by Svetlana Dukule. Duke tied and then went up 31-30 on two straight by DeMange to get back to match point. Dukule put another ball away and Lecia Brown and Samantha Dabbs combined on a block to get to game point but a service error by Landi tied it again at 32. Dukule had another kill to get to game point and finally a solo block by Brown gave U of L the win at 34-32. U of L hit .333 in that game and had seven blocks to Duke's one.
U of L tied the match at two with a 30-25 win in the fourth game. The Cardinals powered out to a 15-9 lead but Duke kept chipping away coming within one at 25-24 when Justine Landi was blocked at the net. But the Cardinals dug their heels as Lecia Brown had two kills and block to boost her team to game point and then put one away deep for the win. She had six kills and three blocks to lead the Cardinals and U of L hit .273 to Duke's .086 as a team.
In the deciding game, U of L could not shake the tenacious Blue Devils and called timeout leading 12-10 to try to hold them at arm's length. The Cardinals got two straight kills by Dukule to win the match.
