University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Volleyball Sweeps Cincinnati, Gaines C-USA Tournament Final
November 18, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2000
Charlotte, NC -- Anastasia Zaitseva and Sonja Percan both had 15 kills to lead the University of Louisville to a three-game sweep of Cincinnati to gain the Conference USA Tournament finals. Louisville will face South Florida Sunday at 2 p.m.
Louisville boosts it record to 23-7 with the 15-9, 15-9, 15-10 win. Cincinnati finishes its season at 23-8.
"We were able to capitalize on some unforced errors. And that can be explained with two words -- 'conference tournament'. When every match can be your last, it can cause teams to play tight or it can cause them to have heroic moments," said Leonid Yelin, head coach.
In the first game, Cincinnati popped out to a 6-3 lead before two kills by Sonja Percan and another by Kelly McClain tied it at 6. The two teams traded points to tie the score at eight. The Cardinals then went on a 7-1 run to win 15-9. U of L hit .463 to UC's .250. Percan had seven kills in that game.
"We were able to stop Cincinnati from getting the momentum enough to pull away from us," said Yelin.
In the second game, neither team could pull away with ties at 1,2,3,5,7 and 8.
"These are two teams who are very accustomed to playing each other, there aren't any surprises when we play. So you have to work for every point," said Yelin.
Louisville was able put together a four point run to go up 12-8 with strong blocking. The Cardinals had five blocks in game two alone. Bonita Wise put down a ball for UC's ninth points. The Cards scored three points to seal the win.
"Our hitting stayed strong despite UC's great defensive ability. After the second game we were hitting .402 as a team," said Yelin.
In the third game, Cincinnati was late in returning to the floor after the break but got off to a running start on the Cards, going up 6-0. U of L showed some signs of life to score three straight only to be answered by Shauntel Miller's two straight kills for points to push the Bearcats up 8-3. UC committed a pair of errors which opened the door for the Cardinals who barged in, running off eight straight points to go up 12-8. However the Bearcats proved why they won the National Division, scratching back to 12-10. Louisville scored three straight, two on Cincinnati hitting errors.
Louisville hit .361 for the match to UC's .188 and out blocked them 12-9. Lesley Drury and Stacey Mercer added 12 and 10 kills respectively with Mercer adding 6 blocks.
