University of Louisville
at Southern Miss *
Volleyball Swoops In to Take Three from Southern Miss Eagles
October 31, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2004
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Lena Ustymenko had 17 kills, three aces and a block to lead the University of Louisville to a 30-19, 30-27, 30-25 sweep of Southern Miss in to stay undefeated in Conference USA volleyball action Saturday night in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The Cardinals are now 20-2 and 10-0 in the league. USM drops to 5-18 and 0-9 in Conference USA.
"Our hitters were on tonight," said Leonid Yelin, U of L head coach. "We were able to mix up our attack and keep them off balance."
U of L outhit USM .347 to .200 and outblocked them 11-4. The Cardinals are ranked No. 9 in the country in blocking and No. 6 in team hitting.
In the first game, U of L came out with a hot hand, hitting .389 and popped out to a 18-10 lead. After a Southern Miss timeout, the Cardinals continued to build their lead before winning 30-19. Lena Ustymenko and Bing Sun each had five kills apiece.
In the second game, neither team could keep the lead as the score stayed within two until the Cardinals went up 28-26 on a kill by Ustymenko, who also got two of the next three kills including the game point. U of L took a two-game lead into the break on the strength of .333 hitting. Southern Miss improved to .318 in hitting. Ustymenko had eight kills in the 30-27 win.
In the final set, U of L used an 8-3 run to build an 18-13 lead. Southern Miss managed to cut the margin to five at 25-20 and then staved off game point four times before falling 30-25.
Ana Yartseva, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation in hitting, had 11 kills and four blocks while hitting .600 for the match. Jennifer Hoffman, ranked No. 21 in the country in blocks had seven.
USM was led by Morgan Johnson's 12 kills.
