University of Louisville
Michigan
Volleyball Falls to Michigan in NCAA First Round
November 30, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 30, 2000
Tucson, Ariz. -- The University of Louisville volleyball team bowed out of the NCAA tournament with a 3-1 loss to Michigan in the first round match at the University of Arizona.
Alijah Pittenger had 23 kills and nine digs to lead the Wolverines to a 15-12, 15-11, 2-15, 15-12 win over the Cardinals.
"Like every coach and team we wish that we had won, of course," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "We weren't able to do what we had been doing all season long enough to finish strong." In the first game, the Cardinals had to rearrange their starting lineup when leading hitter Anastasia Zaitseva was sidelined with a back problem.
"We put our freshman Benny Flynn in to cover Anastasia's position and everyone else played their positions as we had in the rest of our matches. The only change was that Kelly McClain swang from the left side," said Yelin.
Michigan built a 4-1 lead three of which came on Louisville errors. Lesley Drury killed an overpass and Kelly McClain had three straight kills and a solo block for a kill to take the first lead at 6-5 for the Cardinals. Alijia Pittenger spearheaded a four-point run for the Wolverines along with a Shannon Melka ace to regain the lead at 9-6 and forcing a U of L timeout. A pair of Louisville errors padded the Michigan lead at 11-7. The Cardinals answered with a five point run and retook the lead on a solo block by Flynn. The Wolverines gained game point on a pair of Louisville miscues and McClain was blocked for the game point. Both teams had healthy hitting percentages with UM owning a slight edge at .333 to .256.
"We came out aggressively and that was gratifying because that is the first time this year we used this line up," said Michigan coach Mark Rosen.
In the second game, the Wolverines roared out to a 7-0 lead but then allowed the Cardinals on an eight point run of their own to take the lead. After a Michigan timeout, the Wolverines tied it at eight on a kill by Pittenger. A kill by Lesley Drury and a Michigan miss pushed the Cardinals to a 10-8 lead. However, the Wolverines outscored them 7-1 down the stretch and won the game on a kill by Erin Moore.
"I really liked the way we finished strong in games one, two and four, it is a point we stressed all year," said Rosen.
After the break, Louisville took a 9-0 lead in the third game and Michigan was forced to utilize both their timeouts to try to stall the Cardinal momentum. The ploy didn't work as the Cardinals went on a 6-2 run to win the game 15-2. Michigan committed more errors than kills in to hit -.023. Louisville had 15 kills on 35 swings for a .286 hitting percentage.
"We just executed our game plan better in game three than the first two. Jing Ding, our setter, stepped up defensively and was covering the right side."
Michigan grabbed the momentum early in the fourth game to take a 7-1 lead. Louisville battled back with six straight points to tie at seven on a tip by Sonja Percan. The Wolverines reeled off five points to go up 12-7. A McClain roll for a point sparked a four point run and after an ace by Ding brought the Cards to within one at 12-11, Michigan coach Mark Rosen used his last timeout. McClain blocked Moore to tie at 12. The Wolverines scored on two blocks and a kill by Moore to win the match.
"We are used to playing smaller, all-around athletic teams like we see in Conference USA. Illinois was the last really tall team we played, I think our team was a bit affected by their height although it really shouldn't be a factor athletically but it can be mentally," said McClain.
McClain closed out her four year career as a Cardinal starter with a 16 kills, five blocks and 16 digs.
"It was the best match I ever saw Kelly play, " said Yelin.
Percan had 15 kills while Stacey Mercer and Lesley Drury added 14 and 10 kills respectively.
