University of Louisville
Utah
Volleyball Upsets #19 Utah in 3-0 Sweep
September 07, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 7, 2001
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Sonja Percan and Anastasia Zaitseva had 16 kills apiece to lead the University of Louisville to a three game sweep of No. 19 ranked Utah.
Louisville, 4-0, won 30-22, 30-17, 30-26. Utah falls to 3-2 after losing 3-0 to host Arizona in the first match at the Wildcat Classic.
"We controlled the ball and that let us control each game," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin.
In the first game, Louisville was able to overcome an early 9-4 Utah lead by scoring in bunches to win 30-22. The Cardinals outscored the Utes 11-3 in one stretch that saw them take the lead for good. Louisville kept their service errors to a minimum with just three in the first set. The hot hitting of .359 percent for the Cards was led by Anastasia Zaitseva's nine kills.
In the second game, Louisville tore out to a 17-5 lead before a pair of aces by Utah setter Kelsie Karchner, sparked a 7-1 run by the Utes. Louisville withstood the momentum swing and answered with eight points to Utah's two in the same time frame. A line shot by Sonja Percan punctuated the game at 30-17. Percan led U of L with five kills in the second set. The Cards outhit the Utes .452 to .182.
Facing a sweep, the Utes scrambled to stay close in the third game, never falling behind by more than three and leading 10-9 at one point. After leading 22-19, the Utes reeled off three straight points to tie at 22 and force a U of L timeout to regroup. The break did the trick as U of L outscored Utah 8-3.
"Utah is a scrappy team and if you let that frustrate you, they'll jump on that quickly," said Yelin.
The Utes were led by McKelle Stinson's 10 kills and one block. Lesley Drury joined Percan and Zaitseva in double digits kills with 11 kills and two blocks.
The Cardinals play No. 5 ranked Arizona tomorrow at 3 p.m. EST.
