University of Louisville
Southern Miss
Volleyball Grounds Golden Eagles 3-0
October 26, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2001
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Lesley Drury had 13 kills an ace and two blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a three-game sweep of the University of Southern Mississippi in Conference USA volleyball action in Cardinal Arena.
The Cardinals improved their record to 15-4 and 9-3 in C-USA. Southern Miss drops to 7-14 and 2-9 in league play.
"When our hitting and blocking is that on, we are going to cause problems for our opponents," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "Our passing helped us distribute the ball evenly."
In the first game, U of L built an early lead and increased the spread as the game progressed. After getting off to a 10-point lead at 14-4 on a Sonja Percan kill, and forcing a USM timeout, U of L continued to gain momentum and led by as many as 18 before winning 30-15. The Cardinals hit a blistering .552 with 19 kills on 29 attacks and only three errors. USM hitting was ineffective with just 10 kills in 30 attacks.
"We were hitting on all cylinders in the first game," said Yelin. "Everything we tried, seemed to fall in for us."
USM seemed to rebound in the early part of the second game when they tied at nine. Louisvllle went on an 8-1 run andthen maintained a to point lead down down the stretch. The Cardinal hittingcame back down to earth with a .179 percentage, but the blocking came alive with seven blocks in that game alone. After two games, Drury was on a school-record setting pace with a .917 hitting percentage.
In the final game, the Golden Eagles stayed close, never trailing by more than five points. Louisville blocking disrupted the USM offense with six blocks in the final game. The win came on two consecutive points by Emily Roberson. Benny Flynn led all blockers with 10.
Percan ended up the match with 14 kills, two aces and 2 blocks to add to the winning effort.
Southern Miss was led by Nicki Tribble's eight kills.
The Cardinals return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cardinal Arena.
