University of Louisville
Kentucky
Cardinals Fall to Wildcats
September 07, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 7, 2011
Lexington native Gwen Rucker led the Cardinals with sevens kills and two blocks but it was not near enough as the University of Louisville volleyball team fell to rival Kentucky 3-0 Wednesday night in Memorial Coliseum.
U of L falls to 5-2 with the 25-22, 26-24, 25-11 loss. The Cats improve to 6-2. U of L hit .051 for the match with four aces and five blocks. UK had three aces, 11 blocks and hit .207, led by Whitney Billings' 11 kills and four blocks.
"Yes, it is just one match but it is a huge match. When there is a rivalry match you can throw everything out the window," said Anne Kordes, U of L head coach. "Our defense struggled and that stopped us up."
U of L stayed even with the Wildcats in the early going of the first set with neither team leading by more than three points. After tying at 16, UK ran off five straight and Kordes called time out to try to break up the run. The Cards pulled within one at 22-21 on a Kaitlynn James solo block But the Cats got to set point and then James was blocked to give UK the frame. U of L hit .132 and had two blocks. Lexington native Gwen Rucker led with three kills and a block.
In the second set, after trailing early, U of L put together a four-point run to go up 18-17 and held off UK until the Cats were able to string three points together to go up 23-21. A kill by Lola Arslanbekova and then a UK miss put the Cardinals at set point. A hitting error by Taylor Brauneis and a UK block tipped the set to UK 26-24. U of L hitting was .065 and the Cards were outblocked 5-1. U of L upped its aggressiveness in serving and notched four aces in the set. UK connected on .165, with 16 kills to U of L's 10.
In the third set, U of L fell behind 9-5 and then further stalled as UK went on a 10-2 run to pull ahead 13-7. The Cards hitting deserted them and UK was able to hit over the Cardinal block. The Cats had a 9-2 run down the stretch for the 25-11 win.
U of L turns around and leaves Thursday afternoon for the Ohio Bobcat Classic where they play host Ohio Friday at 7 p.m.
