University of Louisville
at Marquette *
Volleyball Sweeps Marquette 3-0
October 04, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2002
MILWAUKEE -- Outside hitter Lena Ustymenko had 16 kills to lead U of L to a three-game sweep of Marquette in Conference USA volleyball action Friday night.
Louisville improved to 11-3 and 2-0 in conference play with the 30-20, 30-25, 30-25 win. Marquette drops to 9-5 and 1-1 in C-USA.
"We came up here and lost last year, so we know they play well at home," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "We were able to keep them from grabbing the momentum for any length of time."
U of L outblocked Marquette 9-5 and had seven service aces, led by Jennifer Craven's three. The Cards outhit their opponent .352 to .231.
In the first game, U of L seemed sluggish coming out of the gate. The Cardinals took their first lead at 11-10 and never trailed again. The Cardinals scored the final six points of the game with Stacey Mercer connecting for the final two points to put the cap on. Mercer had six kills on 10 attacks and the Cardinals hit .438 with 16 kills on 32 swings with only two errors. They also had four service errors to help their cause.
In the second game, U of L blew out to a 9-3 lead powered by Lena Ustymenko's seven kills. Cardinal blocking continued to be a factor with Benny Flynn recording four of the Cardinal's five in that game. After calling timeout when they trailed 16-10, the Golden Eagles rallied to pull within two at 19-17 on a kill by Agnieszka Niemcezewska. A Cardinal spurt of four unanswered points reasserted their hold on the game and U of L scored the final four points on a pair of MU errors and two kills by Ustymenko.
In the final game, U of L tore out to a 10-4 lead and forced a Marquette timeout. After trailing by as many as nine, the Golden Eagles rallied with four straight points to get them to within four at 25-21 causing Yelin to call timeout. Louisville got to game and match point but Marquette staved it off for twice before a Anastasia Zaitseva kill punctuated the match.
Louisville continues to get offensive support from more than one source with Mercer adding 10 kills and Zaitseva pitched in 12 kills and two aces. Flynn had seven kills and seven blocks.
Marquette was led by Theresa Coughlin's 15 kills.
U of L plays DePaul Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
