University of Louisville
at South Florida *
#19 Volleyball Sweeps South Florida
November 14, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 14, 2003
Sophomore Lena Ustymenko had a match-high 19 kills and two blocks to lead the University of Lousville to a three-game sweep of South Florida in Conference USA volleyball action Friday night in Tampa.
U of L boosted its record to 19-4 and 11-1 in Conference USA with the 30-26, 30-20, 30-27 win. USF drops to 11-19 and 5-7 in the league. The Cardinals were able to avenge last season's loss to South Florida when the Bulls beat U of L in the championship match of the conference tournament.
"South Florida lost two of the league's better players (Michele Collier and Ale Domingos) last year but that doesn't make them any less dangerous," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "They play with great emotion and we have to respect them always."
Inthe first game, U of L used a four point run to open a gapat 20-16 on a Lena Ustymenko kill. The score stayed tight with USF coming within three at 28-25 on a kill by setter Melayne Wootan. The Cardinals hit .373 to USF's .211. U of L reached game point at 29-25 on a Bing Sun kill. USF called timeout and managed another point before Sonja Percan closed the door with a kill down the line.
In the second game, USF did not help its cause by letting U of L jump to a 14-5 lead in the early going. When U of L built that llead to 20-9, Nancy Mueller called timeout. The Bulls could get only as close as eight at 21-13 on akill by Fran Pozzi. The Cardinals hit a blistering .483 to USF's .029 and had four blocks with junior Benny Flynn notching three. Flynn boosted U of L to game point but USF could score only twice more before a Sun kill took the Cardinals into the break up two games to none.
In the third game, the Bulls took their first lead at 18-17 on a Sonja Percan miss. U of L retook it at 22-21 on anUstymenko kill. South Florida scored twice to go up 23-22 but U of L took the lead for good at 24-23 on a block by Ana Yartseva. A USF miss took U of L to game point at 29-26 and Percan was blocked again to bring USF to 29-27 and force a U of L timeout. Sun ended the comeback with a kill from the left side.
Sun and Percan each added nine kills. South Florida was led by Shameka Mitchell's 16 kills.
