University of Louisville
vs. Ball State<BR>(NCAA First Round)
Volleyball Sweeps Ball State in NCAA First Round
December 06, 2002 | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 6, 2002
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Bing Sun had 18 kills and a career-high three solo blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a three-game sweep of Ball State in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament.
Louisville improves to 28-5 with the 30-24, 30-24, 30-25 win and will play Ohio State at 7 p.m. Saturday in St. John Arena. Ball State finishes its season at 25-8.
"The first match is always scary no matter who you draw because there is no margin for error or correction when it is single elimination," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "Once you have the first one, you can catch your breath, realize your kids are doing their job and focus on the opponents"
In the first game, both teams came out sharply and didn't allow the other to get more than one point ahead of the other. Louisville finally got a bit of an edge when the Cardinals went on a 5-1 run to go up 15-10. Bing Sun had four kills during the run. Ball State chipped away at the Cardinal lead and got to within four at 18-14 on a kill by Sarah Obras and drawing a timeout from Yelin.
"We may have been just a little bit jittery with a couple of people out on the floor who hadn't been to the post-season," said senior libero Sarah Drury. "But we calmed down and played our game." The Cardinals slowly pulled away getting to 25-18 powered by three Anastasia Zaitseva kills, an ace by Stacey Mercer and two Sun kills. Louisville got to game point on a Mercer kill and the win from a cross court kill by Sun. The Cardinals hit .300 with 18 kills on 40 attacks with BSU hitting .170.
"We had good ball control and at this level, that is key," said Yelin. "Our hitters can swing away when the pass is right to the setter and she can get it to them without scrambling."
In the second game, U of L jumped out to a 10-5 lead but Ball State cameback to within one with a four-point run when Obras aced U of L. The Cardinals built on their lead to get to 16-11 when BSU had two miscues and head coach Randy Litchfield had to use a timeout. Litchfield's Cardinals responded and closed the gap to three when Sun hit long. After a U of L time out at 19-16, BSU was able to get within one at 20-19 on an ace by Obras. Louisville reeled off four straight points at 24-19 including two straight block solos by Sun.
"With Jennifer (Craven) breaking her thumb, we tried to step up so she would have to set as little as possible," said Sun.
Litchfield had to use his remaining timeout to try to salvage the run. U of L outscored BSU 6-4 down the stretch for the 30-24 win. U of L hitting cooled to .220 but blocking came through. U of L had a 6-1 blocking edge at the break.
In the third game, Ball State used a six-point run to take a two-point lead at 10-8 after U of L was called for four hits. Yelin called timeout and U of L tied at 12, 13, 14, 16, and 18 before they scored four unanswered points and forced a BSU timeout. U of L scored the next two points and Litchfield elected to utilize his remaining timeout trailing 22-18. Ball State wouldn't give up, actually outscoring U of L 6-4 down the stretch but the Cardinals' lead was sufficient as U of L edged the MAC champion 30-25.
Mercer ended the match with 10 kills and an ace. Zaitseva had nine kills and eight digs. Setter Jennifer Craven had a match-high 41 assists and Drury had a match-high 23 digs.
