University of Louisville
Notre Dame
Volleyball Takes BIG EAST Crown
November 23, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 23, 2008
Jana Matiasovska's 21 kills and career high six blocks earned her BIG EAST Tournament Most Outstanding Player as she led the Cardinals to a 3-1 win over Notre Dame for the University of Louisville's second tournament crown in three years Sunday evening in Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals (18-10) earn the BIG EAST's automatic bid and will make their 11th straight NCAA appearance and their 19th overall with the 25-23, 28-26, 15-25, 25-22 win. Notre Dame drops to 16-14 for the season and will await an at-large bid.
The Cardinals were outhit .216 to .233 but had 14 blocks to Notre Dame's six. Matiasovska was joined in double digit kills by Justine Landi who had her third triple double with 11 kills, 23 assists and 10 digs to earn All-Tournament kudos. Lecia Brown, U of L's third all tournament selection had 10 kills and three blocks. Senior Rui Liu had six blocks. Lindsey Mango had a match-high 19 digs. Notre Dame was led by Justine Stremick's 18 kills and three blocks.
"This is such a great rivalry. We have all the respect in the world for Notre Dame and while neither of us had a great start to the season, we both got hot when it counted. This was a great win for our seniors and for our program," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin.
In the first set, Notre Dame was able to hold the lead until Jana Matiasovska got one of her seven kills to take the lead for the first time at 15-14. Notre Dame immediately tied and took the lead back at 16-15 on a Matiasovska error. The Cardinals did not get the lead back again until 21-20 on yet another Matiasovska kill. U of L scored on a block to get to 23-20 before Notre Dame scored twice, forcing a timeout by Yelin. Notre Dame was called for a lift to give U of L set point and then a service error by Frenchie Silva gave the Cardinals the 25-23 win. U of L outblocked Notre Dame 5-1 led by Rui Liu, who had three blocks. The Cardinals were outhit .139 to Notre Dame's .188.
The Cardinals carried the momentum over to the second set and popped out to an 11-3 lead but the Irish dug in and managed to take the lead at 14-13. NDU extended the margin to three at 23-20 on a kill by Kristen Dealy. U of L countered with a kill and a block by Tatyana Kolesnikova to bring the Cardinals within one at 23-22 and forced a Notre Dame timeout. Back out onto the floor coming out of the timeout, the Irish got to game point at 24-22 when U of L was called for being in the net. Matiasovska scored two straight and Rui Liu added a solo block to gain set point but a Cardinal serving error brought the Irish to within one at 25-24. The teams traded points but a kill by Justine Landi followed with a kill and an Irish hitting error gave the Cardinals a two set lead going into the break. Landi had the hot hitting hand for the Cardinals with six kills on nine attacks and no errors.
The Cardinals were routed in the third when they fell behind 10-4 early. Two Irish errors and a solo block by Matiasovska brought the Cardinals back to within two at 10-8. The Irish responded with a 7-1 run to go up 17-9. The Cardinals could not get any momentum going before falling 25-15. Hitting deserted the Cardinals, who hit .061 to NDU's .419.
In the fourth set, the Cardinals had a slight edge of three points a 16-13 right after the media timeout but the Irish used a 4-0 run to tie at 19. The Cardinals pressed on and powered by two consecutive Matiasovska kills, put U of L up 23-21. After Debbie Brown called timeout, the Irish scored on a Christina Kaelin kill but a service error by Stephanie Slatt of the Irish gave U of L match point. A big block by Rui Liu and Jana Matiasovska gave the Cardinals the championship.
