University of Louisville
Cincinnati
#22 Volleyball Upended by Cincinnati 3-2
October 10, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 10, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Julie DuPont had 21 kills to lead Cincinnati to a 3-2 upset of No. 22-ranked University of Louisville in Conference USA volleyball action at Cardinal Arena.
Louisville, suffering its first loss in the month of October in 23 matches when, oddly, Cincinnati beat them on Halloween night in 1998. The Cardinals lost 30-24, 30-28, 24-30, 22-30, 9-15 and are now 6-1 in C-USA and 11-2 overall. Cincinnati improves to 9-5 and 5-2 in the league.
"We had a two-game lead on Cincinnati, but we started to move away from our strengths and play a different style than what works for us," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach.
Louisville popped out to a 9-3 lead in the first game and maintained a comfortable lead throughout the game. The Bearcats fought off game point twice but a Stacey Mercer kill ended the game at 30-24. The Cards outhit Cincinnati .364 to .303.
Louisville powered out to a 18-10 lead in the second game and then let Cincinnati go on a 10-5 run. After burning both its timeouts trying to regain the momentum, Louisville lost the lead at 27-26 but a block by Anastasia Zaitseva and a hitting error on Cincinnati took them to game point. Zaitseva crushed a ball cross court to give Louisville the game 30-28.
After the 10-minute break, the momentum swang over to the Bearcats. UC broke open a 20-11 lead, hitting .318 to U of L's .150. The Cardinals showed signs of life when they reeled off seven straight points and came to within four at 26-22. UC's final four points came from a DuPont kill, a Becky Stahl ace and two errors by Louisville.
In the fourth game, Louisville rebounded by going up 9-3 and forcing UC coach Reed Sunahara to call timeout. It proved timely as the Bearcats went on a 11-4 run to tie at 14. They took their first lead at 15-14 on a DuPont kill and then slowly pulled away from the Cardinals, outscoring them 15-8 down the stretch. Louisville hit a lackluster .037 in that set to Cincinnati's .208.
Louisville couldn't get on track in the final set, falling behind 8-4 with four of those points for Cincinnati coming on U of L errors. Yelin used both timeouts to little avail as the Cards fell 15-9.
Louisville was led by Lesley Drury's 17 kills, 17 digs and three blocks. Zaitseva and Sonja Percan chipped in 16 and 13 kills respectively. DuPont ended the match with 21 kills and eight blocks.
Louisville is back in action Friday, Oct. 12 when Marquette visits Cardinal Arena at 7p.m.
