Volleyball Falls To Kansas State In NCAA First Round
July 25, 2000 | Women's Volleyball
December 2, 1999
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Kansas State defeated Louisville 3-0 Thursday night in first-round action of the 1999 NCAA Volleyball Tournament in Fort Collins, Colo. The Wildcats won the three matches 15-1, 15-6, 15-10 and advance to Friday's second round of the Mountain Regional.
Louisville got off to a lethargic start in the first game, when they scored just one point, allowing the Wildcats out to a 11-0 lead. Kansas State hit a blistering .571 to Louisville's .077.
"We were not blocking well and you cannot let a hard-hitting team like K-State just swing away," said Leonid Yelin.
In the second game, the Cardinals let Kansas State out to an 8-0 lead before they got in gear and scored two consecutive points. Kansas inched up, taking an 11-2 lead. The Cards called a time out and then managed two more points on solo blocks by Lesley Drury and Kelly McClain. Trailing 13-4, the Cards scored their fifth point on a McClain tip. The Cardinals staved off game point with their sixth point but didn't score again.
"Kansas State struck me with their consistency," said McClain. "No matter what we threw at them, they snapped right back to their game plan."
The third game saw the Cards fall behind 9-2 before making a run sparked when McClain killed an over pass and then Lesley Drury and Jing Ding blocked for a point to take it to four points at 10-6. Ding dumped and then aced the Wildcats to edge even closer at 11-8 and forcing a KSU timeout.
However Louisville was outscored 4-2 down the stretch to end the match and their season at 19-12.
"We were not able to pass and that took us out of our game, " said Yelin. "We finally started passing in the third game and that was when we were able to score some points."
