University of Louisville
at Depaul *
Volleyball Blows by Blue Demons 3-1
October 02, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2004
CHICAGO -- Lena Ustymenko had 18 kills and three blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over DePaul in the Conference USA opener.
No. 21-ranked Louisville improved its record to 10-2 with the 25-30, 30-19, 30-16, 30-26 win. DePaul drops to 7-10 with the loss.
"There is no question we are a target in the league," said Leonid Yelin. "Everyone will have their best match against us. I give DePaul a lot of credit for staying right there in the match."
After tying at 12, DePaul went on a four point run that put the Blue Demons up 16-12. U of L countered with a four point run. The teams were tied at 17 when the Blue Demons went on a 10-2 run to take a 26-20 run. U of L tried to disrupt DePaul's momentum with a timeout but a pair of kills by Amy Holmes took DPU to a 30-25 win. U of L out-blocked the Blue Demons 3-0 but were outhit .227 to .263.
"Our blocking as been very important to our game this season," said Yelin, whose team has not been outblocked this season.
U of L regrouped and blew out to a 20-8 lead in the second game. DePaul scrabbled back but could get no closer than eight. Bing Sun had six kills and two blocks for the Cardinals, who hit a blistering .559 to DePaul's .268.
In the third set, U of L popped out to a 17-4 lead and never looked back. The Blue Demons could get no closer than nine at 19-10. U of L hitters had only one hitting error on 29 attacks with 15 being converted to kills. Chicago native Jennifer Hoffman had four kills on four attacks to lead the Cardinals. U of L outblocked Blue Demons 4-0 and outhit them .483 to .114.
The final set was much closer as neither team could build bigger than a three-point lead other than the final four point spread. With the score tied at 24, U of L went on a 6-2 run to win the game and match.
U of L had five hitters with double digit kills with Hoffman and Svetlana Dukule each adding 13. Sun had 12 with Ana Yartseva pitching in 10 wtih 12 digs and seven blocks. Liboro Candace Cogan had a career high 14 digs in the match.
The Cardinals travel to Milwaukee for a match against Marquette Saturday at 7 CST.
