University of Louisville
HOUSTON
Volleyball Survives Houston Scare in Five-Set Nailbiter
November 08, 2013 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 8, 2013
For video highlights: Video
Senior outside hitter Emily Juhl had 17 kills to help the University of Louisville remain unbeaten at 12-0 in the American Athletic Conference as they held off a determined University of Houston in five sets, 25-17, 25-18, 13-25, 23-25, 15-6.
"Hats off to Houston for keeping their foot on the pedal and coming after us," said Louisville head coach Anne Kordes. "They were playing like they had nothing to lose. I am actually going to use them as an example for when we play in the postseason against a team ranked higher than us."
The Cardinals improves to 17-7 overall. The Cards hit .223 for the match, as Brooke Mattingly added 10 kills and Janelle Jenkins pitching in 11 kills. Maya McClendon and Katie George each had double-doubles for Louisville with 10 kills and 20 digs and 34 assists and 18 digs, respectively. Caitlin Welch led the Cards with 25 digs, including her 2,000th career dig, becoming the first player in school history to accomplish that feat. Houston was led by 19 kills and 12 digs from Sarita Mikals.
Louisville opened the match with four unanswered points to help them to an 8-3 lead. Houston closed the gap to 9-6 before the Cardinals used a 10-4 run to gain a 19-10 advantage. The Cards earned set point at 24-15 on a kill by Maya McClendon and U of L closed the set on a block by McClendon and Randi Ewing to win 25-15, their largest lead of the set.
The second set was tightly contested early on and Louisville took a 14-11 lead before going on a 7-0 run to earn a 21-11 advantage. Houston used a 6-2 run to close within 23-17 until a Cougars attack error helped Louisville win the set 25-18.
In the third, Houston jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. The Cougars kept Louisville off balance the entire set and took their largest lead at 21-9. A Houston block gave the Cougars the win 25-13.
Houston continued their momentum in the fourth as they gained an early 7-3 lead. Louisville battled back behind a 7-2 run to gain their first lead of the set at 12-11 on a block by Ewing and McClendon. Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way. They exchanged leads for the remainder of the set before back-to-back kills allowed Houston to win the set 25-23.
Two early kills from Emily Juhl helped the Cards race to a 6-1 lead in the final set. Houston battled back to get within 8-5, only to see Louisville go on a 7-1 run behind two kills and two blocks from Randi Ewing to close out the final set, winning 15-6.
"I was proud of how we came back strong," added Kordes. "Randi didn't have a ton of stats but she sparked a comeback for us. Her huge block to start the fifth set the tone for the rest of the set. Katie George came in and set a nice match."
The Cardinals return to action at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. as they face the University of Cincinnati.
