University of Louisville
Villanova
Volleyball Beats Villanova 3-1
October 14, 2007 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2007
Svetlana Dukule had 18 kills and four blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Villanova in BIG EAST volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
U of L improves to 13-4 and stays unbeaten in the league at 8-0 with the 30-20, 30-20, 26-30, 30-25 win. Villanova moves to 13-8 and 5-3 in the BIG EAST. U of L hit .329 for the match and outblocked the Wildcats 17-3. U of L had a season-high 10 aces with Rui Liu, Samantha Dabbs and Lindsey Mango each notching two. Liu led all blockers with 10. The nation's leading blocker, Lecia Brown had seven, adding nine kills. Villanova was led by Alona Cherkez's 24 kills and 19 digs.
Louisville came out swinging in the first game, connecting on .565 of their attacks to Villanova's .111. Svetlana Dukule led with seven kills on just nine swings. Jana Matiasovska added two aces and two blocks. A 9-3 run in the middle of the game broke up the lead for the Cardinals who got to game point at 28-16. Villanova scored four straight before setter Samantha Dabbs tipped one for game point.
Kristie Wetterer served for ten straight points in the second game as part of an 11 point run by the Cardinals that put them up 17-8. The Wildcats scrambled back to four straight to come within eight at 28-20 but a kill by Jana Matiasovska and Lecia Brown gave the Cardinals the 30-20 win and a 2-0 game edge going into the break. U of L had four blocks in the game.
Villanova used a 8-3 run in the third game and the Cardinals did not have an answer for Alona Cherkez who had nine kills for the Wildcats. U of L used both its timeouts and staved off game point at 29-25 but a kill by Kacy Sellers gave VU new life for the win. VU was powered by .349 hitting.
In the final game after a 6-0 run, U of L went up 18-14 but VU came back to take the lead at 23-22 before the Cardinals ran off three straight to go up 25-24. U of L scored five of the final eight points for the match win. Wildcat hitting went cold at .068 in the final game as Louisville block went up five times for points.
