University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Volleyball Clipped by Cincinnati
October 18, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 18, 2008
Tatyana Kolesnikova and Jana Matiasovska each had 19 kills but it was not enough as the University of Louisville fell 3-1 at rival Cincinnati in BIG EAST volleyball action late Saturday night.
UC moved to 17-5 overall and 5-2 in the league with the 25-14, 25-14, 21-25, 25-21 win. Louisville falls to 8-10 and 4-3 in BIG EAST play. The Cardinals hit .243 and had six blocks. But seven blocking errors and being aced eight times did little to help. UC was led by Stephanie Niemer's 18 kills.
"They took us off the serve receive and they were serving so tough and unfortunately, it took us out of our system and forced us to play to to too many high outside sets. Nor did we serve aggressively so they stayed in their system," said U of L coach Leonid Yelin. "Only in third game were they out their system and we won. Then we fell back in serve receive and they made their move."
U of L struggled on serve receive in the first game, being aced four times. Falling behind 19-8 with 500 hitting by Cincinnati did little help matters. Although the Cardinals hit .320, they managed just one block. Tatyana Kolesnikova led the Cards with three kills and a block.
The Cardinals seemed to rally early in the second set, trailing by just two at 12-10. UC took advantage of Cardinal miscues to keep building their lead. Bearcats scored nine of the last 11 points in set two and hit .462 to win 25-14 and take a two-set lead into the lockerroom at the break. U of L hit .158 and were aced twice.
After the break, U of L fell behind 5-2 but took the lead at 9-8. UC tied at 17 and then retook the lead at 18-17 and forced a timeout by the Cardinals. U of L regrouped and ran off three straight, causing UC to use their first timeout. Coming out of the timeout, UC scored on two Cardinal errors but a Bearcat service error and a kill by Jana Matiasovska gave U of L the lead at 22-20. UC coach Reed Sunahara called another time out and Matiasovska connected for a kill right after the break. Two straight blocks by Gwen Rucker averted the sweep for the 25-21 win.U of L hit .184 in the set but it was enough as UC cooled to .091. Kolesnikova led with four kills and a block.
In the fourth set, U of L maintained a tentative lead early when it went up 7-5. UC went ahead for good at 12-11 but the Cardinals hung in to come within one at 17-16 on two straight Matiasovska kills. The Bearcats answered with five straight points to take a 22-17 lead. Two UC errors kept the Cards alive at 22-19. UC got to match point on a kill by Jessica Elley but U of L kept swinging, scoring two more on a block by Lecia Brown and a kill by Kolesnikova. Sunahara used his last timeout and Jessie Nevitt came out and got the final kill for the 25-21 win.
"With our struggles, two home wins were not enough to build confidence. We are doing everything we can to bring our level up. But it is a vicious circle, you can't win without confidence and you don't get confidence unless you win. But we will find a way," said Yelin.
