University of Louisville
Syracuse
Volleyball Squeezes Orange 3-1
October 26, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2008
Freshman outside hitter Gwen Rucker had 11 kills and five blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over Syracuse in BIG EAST volleyball action in Syracuse Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals moved to 6-3 in the league and evened its overall record to 10-10 with the 25-22, 16-25, 25-11, 25-18 win. Syracuse drops to 14-11 and 5-3 in BIG EAST play.
U of L hit .222 to SU's .084 and outblocked the Orange 16-8. U of L got 11 kills from Jana Matiasovska who also had five blocks and 11 kills from Justine Landi who had six digs and 17 assists. The Orangewomen were led by Noemie LeFebvre's 17 kills.
"Any time you can get a league win on the road it is great," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "It is the first time this year to come home with two wins from the road. I liked the way Gwen Rucker came out to play today and Rui Liu made some great plays on defense for us.
The Cardinals fell behind 12-3 in the first set and battled back to within three at 16-13 and forced a Syracuse timeout. The Cardinals were relentless and then scored seven straight points to get to set point at 24-21. Syracuse staved off set point once but a kill by Justine Landi tipped the game to the Cardinals 25-22. U of L ht .235 to SU's .095. The Cards outblocked the Orange 5-0 in that set. Landi led the way with five kills.
In the second set, the Orange came out hot and went up 11-2 early. The Cardinals finally came alive but a 5-0 run did little to erase the deficit as they still trailed 22-14. The Orange had two straight kills by Kacie MacTavish for the 25-16 win. U of L's comeback was hampered by .034 hitting.
In the third set, U of L went up 17-15 and never looked back, winning 25-11. The Cardinals hit a blistering .407 and had four blocks. Gwen Rucker led with six kills in that set.
In the final set, U of L used a 7-1 run to go up 17-9 and then held off a charging Orange team that came within five at 20-15.
