University of Louisville
at Illinois<BR>(NCAA Second Round)
Volleyball Falls to Illinois in NCAA Second Round
December 06, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 6, 2003
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Outiside hitter Melissa Vandrey had 16 kills and two aces to lead the University of Illinois to a 30-26, 30-26, 32-30 sweep of the University of Louisville in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship Tournament in Champaign, Ill.
U of L ends its season at 25-6 and Illinois, 26-6, advances to the regional in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
"Illinois played their game and we didn't play our game.It wasn't their blocking or their crowd, although they were both good," said senior Benny Flynn, referencing the crowd of 1,514 in Huff Gym. "We just didn't play our game. We didn't pass well so we just had to throw up up outside every time and that isn't hard to defend."
U of L was outhit .281 to .209 and outblocked 9-6. The Cardinals did notch eight service aces led by Percan's four. The Illini had a 9-6 blocking edge.
"They were tall and that helps in blocking but it wasn't so much them blocking us, as us not blocking them," said Percan.
In the first game, U of L fell behind by six early at 17-11 on a Cardinal serving error. The Cardinals scrabbled back to tie at 23 and again at 24 but were outscored 6-2 from that point on and never led. Illinois outblocked the Cards 4-1 and outhit them .300 to .263. The Illini held U of L's star sophomore Lena Ustymenko to .000 hitting with only three kills.
"Our block wasn't working and it wasn't too much fun out there constantly trying to just get the momentum going," said senior Sonja Percan.
The Illini streaked out to a 7-2 lead in the second game. The Cardinals mouted a comeback that saw them come as close as four at 23-18 on a Percan kill. But Illinois didn't waver and took the lead to seven at 28-21 on a kill by Rachel VanMeter.
"Falling behind five or six points in volleyball is very difficult in rally scoring. in the first two games, we let them have a lead and had to try to come back," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach.
The Illini got to game point at 29-23. Percan helped stave off defeat serving three straight points including an ace but the Illini went on to win 30-25. The Cardinals closed the blocking deficit a bit with two to Illinois' three. The Cardinals hitting cooled to .231 to U of I's .288. Vandrey had a hot hand with eight kills in the second set to lead Illinois. Percan, Sun and Ana Yartseva each had four kills apiece.
"I think the crowd may have rattled the younger players a little bit," said Percan.
In the third game, the Cardinals stayed close until the Illini manage to open a 24-18 lead on two straight U of L hitting errors. Down 25-19, the Cardinals managed to reel off six straight points and then tied at 26. U of I scored the next two to go up 28-26 and force a U of L timeout. A hitting error by VanMeter gave U of L the slightest of breathing room and a blocking error on Ilinois brought the score to 29-28. Percan scored an ace t otie at 29 and a block by Jennifer Hoffman and Bing Sun gave U of L its first lead at 30-29. But a kill by Shelly O'Bryan tied the game at 30 and a miss by Ustymenko and a kill by Vandrey gave the Illini the game and match.
"When you give them less options offensively, there is less to defend," said Yelin. "They got an emotional lift from their great enthusiastic crowd.
U of L was led by Ustymenko's 12 kills with Percan adding 10, four aces and 10 digs. Freshman Ana Yartseva had nine kills and 11 digs. U of I's Jessica Belter and Louisville native Shelly O'Bryan each added 10 kills.
