Volleyball Swept By Cincinnati In C-USA Opener
July 25, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
September 14, 1999
CINCINNATI - Taking advantage of Louisville injuries, the University of Cincinnati beat the Cardinals for the first time in 10 years when they rolled 15-13, 15-9, 15-8.
The Cardinals dropped their conference opener and fell to 2-6 overall. Cincinnati improves to 6-1.
Louisville started the match with a new setter as freshman Sarah Drury got the call due to injury to her older sister, Lesley, who suffered a concussion at the Maryland Tournament. This moved current setter, Emily Roberson back to outside hitter.
Despite the changes, Louisville popped out to a 4-1 lead before the Bearcats ran off 10 straight points to go up 11-4. After a Louisville timeout, Louisville answered with four unanswered points to move to 11-8. Kelly McClain had three kills and a block to help edge the Cards closer after the Bearcats had reached game point. After denying UC game point five times, the Bearcats blocked Sonja Percan for the 15-13 win. The Cardinals actually hit a better percentage at .273 to UC's .209, but were unable to convert that edge to points.
"Our injury situation has us out of position with little time to adjust," said Leonid Yelin. "It is not what we wanted for our conference opener."
Cincinnati momentum carried over into the second set with an early 9-2 lead. Louisville struggled against a strong Cincinnati serving effort that included a pair of consecutive aces by Annie Gant for the eleventh and twelfth points. The Bearcats had seven aces overall with the Cards recording none for the match. Louisville made a short run to get to 14-9 and avoided game point five times before falling 15-9.
In the third game, Cincinnati runs had the Cards playing catch-up the whole game. They could get no closer than 8-6 before being outscored 7-2 down the stretch.
Louisville was led by Percan's 19 kills and 13 digs.
