University of Louisville
Indiana
Volleyball Comeback Falls Just Short at Indiana
September 06, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 6, 2008
Justine Landi tied her career high with 20 kills and 14 digs but it was not enough as the Cardinals fell 3-2 to the host Hoosiers in the final match of the Indiana adidas Classic Saturday afternoon at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind.
Landi, who earned All-Tournament honors, also added three blocks in the 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 15-25, 15-12 loss. IU improves to 4-2 for the season while U of L evened its mark to 2-2.
"I liked how they played and how they dug down and battled back," said Leonid Yelin, who was without two senior starters. "Now we just need to learn how to close, how to push down the stretch, and who needs to step up and play well in critical parts of the match."
U of L outblocked the Hoosiers 11-4 and outhit them .255 to .213 but 12 Cardinal service errors hamstrung the young U of L squad. Tatyana Kolesnikova joined Landi in double digit kills with 17 kills and two blocks. Freshman Gwen Rucker had six blocks and five kills. IU was led by tournament MVP Erica Short's 21 kills.
In the first set, even .367 hitting by the Cardinals was not enough for them to pull away from the Hoosiers, who hit .400 themselves. The entire set was very tight with neither team able to lead by more than three. After 11 ties, the two teams were knotted at 23 before Erica Short took them to game point and a miss by Anastasia Artemeva tipped the set to IU.
The Cardinals were not able to capitalize on an 11-5 lead in the second set. Midway through the set, the Hoosiers went on a 7-1 run to tie at 16. The teams traded points before IU took a 20-19 lead and then outscored the Cardinals 5-1 down the stretch for the 25-20 win. Neither team was hitting particularly well, with U of L posting a .061 percentage and IU weighing in with a .194. Tatyana Kolesnikova's six kills in the set were not enough to keep the Cardinals' offense going.
The Cardinals battled back in the third set, hitting .314 behind the hot hand of Justine Landi, who had five kills. IU pulled out to a 7-1 lead in the early going but the Cards dug in an scraped together an 8-2 run and then kept coming back. Tied at 16, U of L then outscored IU 9-4 to take the set.
U of L forced a fifth game by building a 13-4 lead and outhitting IU .444 to .108. IU chipped away at the lead but it was too little, too late as the Hoosiers fell 25-15. The Cardinals had three blocks and Landi added six more kills to help out.
In the deciding set, a three point run gave the Hoosiers an 8-5 lead. IU got to match point 14-9on a kill by Erica Short but the Cardinals came back with three straight and forced a Hoosier timeout at 14-12. A Justine Landi serve landed just long to give the game and match to IU.
"We will get healthy and our young kids got a lot of playing time and their experience just gives us more people to put out on the court as the season moves on," said Yelin.
