University of Louisville
OLE MISS
Volleyball Sweeps Ole Miss in Home Opener
September 02, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 2, 2011
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Arslanbekova Postmatch Interview
Lola Arslanbekova had a match-high 19 kills and a block to lead the University of Louisville to a 28-26, 25-19, 25-18 sweep of Ole Miss in the Cardinal Crowne Plaza Classic Friday night at Cardinal Arena.
"Lola Arslanbekova gave us offensive stability throughout the night," said U of L head coach Anne Kordes. "She was there taking care of business until the rest of the team settled down. With the first home match and a sold out arena, it can make for a lot of distractions. Ole Miss is going to be a great SEC team. We are excited to get the first win at home."
U of L (3-1) outhit Ole Miss .310 to .120 and outblocked the Rebels 7-1. Louisville survived 12 service errors but outdug Ole Miss 46-39. Ole Miss drops to 0-3, in its slowest start since 2003. Gwen Rucker had eight and six blocks for U of L. The Rebels were led by Allegra Wells' 11 kills.
The Cardinals got off to a sluggish start in the match, trailing 5-1 before coming back to tie at 13. The Rebels ran off four straight to push their lead to 17-14 and force a U of L timeout. U of L scrambled back, tying at 21 on a Arslanbekova kill. The teams traded points with Louisville calling a quick timeout trailing 23-22. An Ole Miss service error and a U of L kill took the Cardinals to set point at 24-23 and forced a Rebel timeout. But the teams traded points until U of L got another set point with an Arslanbekova kill. A miss by Ole Miss' Wells gave the first set to the Cards at 28-26. The Cardinals hit .235 in the first set with Ole Miss hitting at a .116 clip. Arslanbekova paced U of L with six kills on nine attacks and no errors. Neither team was impressive from the service line, combining for nine service errors. Rucker had two of U of L's three blocks.
U of L used an 8-2 run early in the second set to go up 12-8 and force Ole Miss to burn a time out to turn the tide. The Cardinals held the Rebels at arm's length, taking a 23-17 lead on a Gwen Rucker slide. Brooke Mattingly scored the set point with another slide and then put away another for the 25-19 win. Arslanbekova added six more kills. Rucker had three more blocks and three kills for the set. Ole Miss' hitting cooled to .028 in the set.
The Cards had a four-point lead at 10-6 early in the third set before Ole Miss ran off four straight to tie. U of L countered with a run of its own powered by three straight Emily Juhl kills to retake the lead at 16-12. Ole Miss had another four point run to come within one at 16-15 before Arslanbekova had four kills in a offensive push that took the Cards to match point at 24-16. Gwen Rucker had the winner for the 25-18 win.
Louisville is back in action tomorrow with two matches slated: 11 a.m. vs. Eastern Illinois (2-3), and 7 p.m. against Wichita St. (2-2) at Cardinal Arena. Wichita State swept EIU in the first match of the Classic.
