University of Louisville
Saint Louis
Volleyball Beats Saint Louis 3-1 at Conference USA Tournament
November 16, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 16, 2001
HOUSTON -- Sonja Percan had 26 kills and five blocks to lead the No. 2-seeded University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over Saint Louis in the second round of the Conference USA Tournament in Hofheinz Paviliion.
Louisville boosted its record to 22-5 with the 30-22, 27-30, 30-24, 30-23 win. The No. 7 seeded Billikens ended their season at 13-14. The Cardinals advance to the semi-finals and will play the winner of the South Florida/Marquette matchup at 1 p.m. Saturday.
"With the first round bye, we were just a little tentative," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "There was so much at stake, one loss and you are gone. I think that was hanging heavily over our team."
To open the match, the Cardinals had to contend with the hot-hitting Colleen Hunter who had 10 kills in the first game. Fighting fire with fire seemed to be the answer as the Cardinals hit .465 with Anastasia Zaitseva and Sonja Percan notching seven and eight kills respectively with neither of them committing a hitting error. The Cardinals had to rely on the versatile senior, Emily Roberson, who had to switch from hitter to setter when Jing Ding was sidelined for part of the first match after getting the breath knocked out of her when she dove for a ball. Ding returned seamlessly and despite Hunter's furious solo comeback, won 30-22.
"I think both teams were nervous in the first game, " said Yelin. "It wasn't exciting for the fans to watch, but we hung in there."
Saint Louis, which upset U of L in five during the regular season, stayed close in the second game takiing the lead at 26-25 and forcing Yelin to call time out. Three straight Cardinal miscues took SLU to game point at 29-25. The Cardinals scored on a Percan kill and a block by Mercer to stave off game point twice. Hunter had a cross court kill to seal the win. Cardinal hitting plummeted in the second set to .100, although Saint Louis was only .182.
"I was having flashbacks to 1997 when we were seeded second and Saint Louis upset us in the first round right here in Houston," said Yelin.
In the third game, U of L popped out to a 5-1 lead and maintained the lead until Ding had to leave the lineup struggling with leg cramps. In that interval, SLU made up a two-point deficit and took the lead at 17-16 on a miss by Roberson. Ding returned to the floor at that point and sparked a 12-2 run to retake the lead and add a five point cushion. Losing 25-20, Saint Louis burned its final timeout, but rallied with four points, two by Hunter. Ding had two kills to take Louisville to 28-21. Drury had a kill and a Saint Louis miss ended the game 30-24.
Saint Louis was sluggish out of the gate in the final game, allowing the Cardinals to a 12-4 lead. The Billikens rallied to within two at 12-10 on a dump by setter Shana Swiney but couldn't contain the multiple offensive weapons of the Cardinals. U of L steadily pulled away and Zaitseva punctuated the match with a powerful cross court kill.
For the match, U of L had four players in double digit kills with Zaitseva picking up 21. Stacey Mercer and Lesley Drury added 13 adn 12 respectively. The Cardinals outblocked SLU 12.5 to eight. Drury led all blockers with seven. SLU's Hunter had a match-high 27 kills and three blocks.
