University of Louisville
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<b>WESTERN MICHIGAN</b>
#17 Volleyball Busts Broncos 3-1
November 28, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 28, 2003
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Junior Bing Sun had 18 kills 17 digs and four blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over Western Michigan in the Conference USA/MACVolleyball Challenge Friday night in Cardinal Arena.
The No. 17-ranked Cardinals improve their mark to 23-4 for the season with the 32-30, 25-30, 30-23, 30-21 win. Western Michigan drops to 16-14.
"This is why we play during the break before the NCAA, to knock all the kinks out after the conference tournament," said LeonidYelin, U of L head coach. "I told them at the break that we can't just show up and expect to win. I challenged them and they responded with two games that are more typical of our way of playing."
Western Michigan was the first team to outblock the Cardinals in 15 matches, dating back to U of L's loss to Cincinnati on Oct. 10. The Cardinals normally average a 6.5 blocking advantage over their opponents and were outblocked 12-11.
U of L had to scratch out the win in the first game when both teams were not hitting well. The Cardinals hit .175 to WMU's .123. In the second game, WMU had an effective block and the Cardinals were outhit .359 to .224.
For the match, WMU had four hitters in double digit kills led by Carman Malone's 19. Joining her were Shaylen Jackson with 12 and Kristy Ramsey and Tinesha Tierney each pitching in 11.
"They were blocking everything in the second game and our hitters were not adjusting," said Yelin. "They really caused trouble for us in that game."
After the break, U of L came back with a hot hitting hand, posting a .459 hitting percentage and then rolled to the win in the fourth.
In all, U of L had three hitters in double digit kills with Lena Ustymenko and Percan adding 18 and 14 respectively.
Cincinnati swept Ball State 30-20, 30-24, 30-20 in the first match of the Challenge, putting the C-USA up 2-0 in the standoff. Cincinnati will play Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday with U of L squaring off against Ball State at 4 p.m. in Cardinal Arena.
