University of Louisville
at Southern Miss *
Volleyball Clips Golden Eagles 3-1
October 25, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 25, 2002
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Bing Sun had 16 kills and two blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Southern Miss in Conference USA action.
U of L impoves its records to 17-3 and 6-0 in Conference USA with the 30-25, 30-20, 18-30, 30-21 win. USM drops to 13-10 and 4-3 in the league.
"We didn't expect their quickness and intensity," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "However, we were able to keep blocking and our hitting improved."
U of L has won 12 of its last 13 matches and eighth match in a row. The Cardinals had swept their last four opponents and won 14 straight games with their last game loss coming in the second game against DePaul.
In the first game, U of L fell behind early when the Golden Eagles flew out to a 10-6 lead. Louisville came back on four straight Eagle miscues to come within one at 11-10. USM went on a 5-1 run and forced Yelin to call timeout to regroup. The Cardinals responded with a 7-2 run to tie at 18. The two teams traded points until USM was able to string together four straight to lead 25-23. However, USM did not score again. Neither team was hitting with any accuracy, with U of L recording a .086 percentage to USM's .059. U of L outblocked USM 4-1.
Louisville came out of the gate quickly in game two when they took a 10-5 lead that featured a six-point run. Louisville added to its lead going up 14=8 on a USM service error. USM responded with four straight points but fell behind as Cardinal hitting heated up to .438. Sun came alive and had six kills on 11 swings with only one error. Louisville blocked USM four times to the Eagles' none.
After the break, USM started out strongly, taking a 7-2 lead that included a Nikki Tribble ace. The Eagles continued to pull away taking a 16-7 lead and precipitating a Cardinal timeout. Down 22-9, the Cardinals tried to cut into the Eagle lead by going on an 8-4 run sparked by five Sun kills. However, U of L's .093 hitting was not sufficient firepower to overcome the Eagles' .279.
It wasn't until 12-11 that the Cardinals took their first lead of the fourth game on a kill by Zaitseva. The Cardinals slowly pulled away from USM utilizing a 6-2 run. After a Southern Miss timeout, Benny Flynn and Sun starteed picking apart the USM defense.
Flynn ended up with 14 kills and six blocks. Stacey Mercer had nine kills and no errors and four blocks.
