University of Louisville
Kentucky
Volleyball Falls 3-2 to Kentucky
September 01, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 1, 2010
Lexington, Ky. Amanda Simmons tied a school record with 13 blocks and 12 block assists, but it wasn't enough as the University of Louisville volleyball team fell 3-2 to the University of Kentucky Wednesday night at Memorial Coliseum.
Simmons, a native of Des Plaines, Ill., joined Jennifer Hoffman, Rui Liu and Lecia Brown as the only Cardinals to record 12 block assists in a single match and joined Hoffman and Brown with her 13 total blocks.
The Cardinals took their perfect record on the road to Lexington for the first time since 2004 to face No. 16 Kentucky. Kentucky won 25-14, 19-25, 22-25, 27-25, 10-15 to improve its record to 1-2. U of L freshman Emily Juhl and sophomore Lola Arslanbekova each led the Cards with 12 kills. Freshman Caitlin Welch had an impressive outing as she led U of L with13 digs.
"I liked what I saw," said Coach Leonid Yelin. "I feel good... as much as I can losing to UK in Lexington. It shows the character of our team to hold on in the fourth set and then battle in the fifth."
In the first set, the U of L squad quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead before forcing UK to use their first timeout. After the break, the Cards took the next two points and eventually took a 10-3 lead. The lead grew to 20-11 after Lola Arslanbekova made a diving save to set up Amanda Simmons for a kill. The Cards cruised to take the first set by doubling UK in kills 10-5. U of L was led by Arslanbekova with three kills followed by Amanda Simmons and the Lexington native Gwen Rucker with two kills each.
The Cards began the second set in reverse from the first by losing six of eight points. U of L's deficit grew to nine despite Arslanbekova putting away two consecutive kills in impressive fashion. The Cards made a four-point run to bring the score within five forcing the Wildcats to take a timeout. However, the Cards were unable to maintain their momentum and dropped the second set 19-25.
It was a competitive start to the third set as the Cards exchanged points with the Wildcats. The Cardinals managed to take their first lead since the beginning of the second set 9-8 with the help of Artemeva tallying two kills and an ace. The Cards held the lead until they allowed to the Wildcats to scratch their way back to a 17-18 after a four point run. The Cards fought hard the remainder of the set getting within two, but came up short 22-25.
The Cardinals found themselves down 2-1 in sets hole when they entered the fourth set. The set was close early with the Cards being down 7-6. With a four point run, U of L managed to tie 10-10 and eventually took the lead at 13-12. The Cards then dropped six of eight points to put themselves in a three point deficit.
Not intimidated, the Cardinal squad continued to battle and eventually tied the set 22-22 after an Emily Juhl kill. Kentucky then took two straight points to serve for the match only to have Juhl come up with a huge kill to save the match. The Wildcats managed to have another opportunity to put away the Cards, but were denied once again. The Cards swept the Wildcats for three straight points and force a fifth set.
With all the energy from the previous set, the Cards carried it over the fifth when they jumped out to a 6-1 advantage. But the Cats dug in and powered by a rowdy crowd, made an impressive run by taking 14 of 18 points to end the Card's chances of an upset.
Next up for the Cardinals is Cal State Bakersfield in the Arizona Wildcat Classic on September 3rd.
