University of Louisville
Notre Dame
Volleyball Beats Notre Dame 3-1
October 02, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2011
Lola Arslanbekova had 28 kills and 14 digs with an ace and four blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over Notre Dame in BIG EAST volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Notre Dame, Ind.
"It was a huge win, not just because Notre Dame is a good team but because it is a rivalry game and a road win," said Anne Kordes, U of L head coach. "Overall, I liked how we struggled together and then came together. I thought Taylor Brauneis did a great job of running a very unpredictable offense that was hard for them to defend and Lola was unstoppable from the left side. We need to work on eliminating our errors as we continue to go deep into our conference schedule."
U of L stays undefeated at 4-0 in BIG EAST play with the 17-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-21 win and moves to 12-4 overall. The Irish drop to 1-3 in the league and 8-6 overall. The Cardinals hit .283 for the match and overcame 12 service errors with 12 team blocks. Emily Juhl joined Arslanbekova in double digit kills with 13, adding six blocks. Tanya Lukyanenko had nine blocks. Brauneis had a match-high 56 assists.
The Irish caught U of L flatfooted in the first set, powering out to a 12-3 lead by using a 9-0 run. The Cards blew through both of their timeouts early, but were able to rally using a 7-2 run to get within six at 21-15 but .026 hitting did little to help the rally. The Irish hit .237 and had five blocks. Arslanbekova and James each had four kills in the set .
U of L used a 11-3 run midway through the second set sparked by five team blocks and seven kills by Arslanbekova. Cardinal hitting heated up to .519 with Emily Juhl and Tanya Lukyanenko each recording three blocks.
Arslanbekova added nine kills in the third set to lead the Cards to a 25-22 win. The Irish led 13-10 after blocking Arslanbekova twice in a row. Two consecutive kills and an ace by Juhl allowed the Cards to tie at 16. After trading points, ND went on a 3-0 run to go up 19-17 and forced a Cardinal timeout. The Cards tied at 20 and took the lead for good at 21-20 as Lola scored six of the last seven Cardinal points for the 25-22 win.
The Cards blew out to a 17-10 lead early in the fourth before the Irish dug in to come within two at 21-19 on two straight Arslanbekova errors. Juhl had a kill to get the Cards to set and match point but the Irish scored twice more and forced a Louisville timeout at 24-21. Juhl had a kill from the right side for the set and match point.
