University of Louisville
PITTSBURGH
Volleyball Edged 3-2 by Pitt
October 04, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2009
University of Louisville freshman outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova's match high 24 kills were not enough as the Cardinals fell 3-2 to Pittsburgh in a tightly contested BIG EAST volleyball matchup Sunday afternoon in Cardinal Arena.
Pitt improves to 11-7 and 3-1 in the league with the 25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-12 win. U of L drops to 9-7 and 2-1 in the BIG EAST. U of L outblocked Pitt 11-7, led by Amanda Simmons' five and aced the Panthers four times. Joining Arslanbekova in double digit kills was Justine Landi, who had 12 and Gwen Rucker, who tallied 10. Pitt had 72 kills with four Panthers in double digit kills, led by Meagan Dooley's 22.
"It was a matter of a play here and a play there that made the difference in this match," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "We watched Pitt early at our tournament and even though we did not play them then, we knew they had all the ingredients to make a run in the BIG EAST."
After trailing by as many as five, Pitt chipped away at the Cardinal lead and took its first lead at 20-19 on a U of L miscue. The Panthers kept the momentum on their side by powering to a 5-1 run to end the set at 25-20. In the second set, U of L hit .452, led by Arslanbekova's eight kills. Down 15-10, U of L put together an 8-2 run to go up 18-17. The Panthers tied at 18 and 19 but U of L went 7-1 down the stretch foe the 25-20 win.
In the third set, U of L's 9-2 run to put the Cards up 19-15 may have come too early as Pitt responded with a 7-1 run to go up 22-20. U of L tied at 22 on a kill by Anastasia Artemeva but after the two teams tied at 23, a Meagan Dooley kill took Pitt to set point. A Justine Landi miss tipped the set to Pitt 25-23. In the fourth set, U of L built a slight lead early to go up 16-13, beore Pitt went on a 7-1 tear to take a 20-17 lead. The Cardinals responded with an 8-0 run for the 25-20 win. Arslanbekova had five kills in that set. In the final set, U of L had a slight 10-9 edge before Pitt had a 6-2 run to take the match.
U of L heads to DePaul Oct. 9 and then to Notre Dame Oct .11 for an ESPNU-televised match at 5 p.m.
