University of Louisville
HOUSTON (C-USA Quarterfinals)
No. 1 seeded Volleyball Sweeps Houston
November 20, 2004 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2004
The No. 1 seeded University of Louisville volleyball team defeated a fiesty No. 8 seeded Houston Cougars squad 30-21, 30-24, 30-26 in quarterfinal action of the Conference USA volleyball tournament Saturday afternoon in Cardinal Arena.
"This is a conference tournament and like a playoff, one loss and your'e done," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "I think our players were a little more nervous than I thought they would be, but I give all credit to Houston. This was a completely different team today than the one we played at Houston. That goes to show how important everybody takes the tournament."
Lena Ustymenko led the Cards with 15 kills and Anastasia Yartseva added seven kill and 13 digs to pace U of L which improves it's record to to 25-2, and Houston falls to 9-21.
"Lena Ustymenko stepped up and got a bunch of kills for us and more importantly, led us in digs. We have our nervousness out now, we will look much smoother next match," he said.
Neither team could establish an advantage in the early going of game one with both teams trading points back and forth. By scoring three straight points, U of L was able to open up a 19-15 lead, the largest lead by either team in the match to that point, Houston was forced to use its first timeout.
Following the timeout, the Cards again scored three straight forcing the Cougars into calling another quick timeout. From there, U of L seized control of the first game and ended up outhitting Houston .381 to .109 in game one.
The second game was a back and forth battle until the Cards reeled off six straight points to take a 15-10 lead forcing a Houston timeout. After U of L built its lead to 22-15, the Cougars battled back to within 26-20, and U of L called timeout. Houston would get as close as 26-22, but the Cardinals closed out the game on a kill by Steph Marsh, one of 15 kills by the Cards in the second set.
After a sluggish start and tough play by Houston, the Cards trailed 10-8 in the early stages of game three. But then U of L scored seven of the next nine points to get back into it. The game would continue to be very close with neither team being able to estblish any momentum. Both teams would battle in a back and forth match until U of L took a 27-25 lead on a kill by Bing Sun. The Cards were finally able to put the game and match away after scoring three of the game's next four points.
U of L continued its streak of outblocking its opponents, this time outblocking Houston 7-3.
The Cards advance to the semifinal round tomorrow where they will play the winner of the Memphis/TCU match. Houston finishes its season at 9-21.
