Volleyball Falls to St. John's in Five
September 28, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2008
Lecia Brown had 13 kills and eight blocks but it was not enough as the University of Louisville volleyball team fell 3-2 against BIG EAST rival St. John's Sunday afternoon in Queens.
U of L moves to 57 and evens its BIG EAST record at 1-1 with the 25-27, 17-15, 25-21, 25-23, 15-7 loss. St. John's moves to 11-6 and are unbeaten in the league in two matches.
"We played great, we just didn't have enough," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "We played great in the first game but they got us out of our system in the second. We came back in the third and fourth and played well. We just let them get out to too quick of a start in the fifth game and we didn't have time to come back."
Justine Landi had 11 kills, an ace and five blocks and Rui Liu came off the bench to hit .556 with five kills and four blocks. The Cardinals hit .134 but outblocked SJU 18-13.5. Kristie Wetterer had two aces and 11 digs for U of L. The Red Storm was led by Valeria Kovaleva's 20 kills and 14 digs.
In a tightly contested first set, U of L held a slender three point lead at 10-7 before Joanne Persico-Smith called a Red Storm timeout. U of L stayed ahead until SJU went on a 6-1 run to go up 17-15. SJU continued to built its margin and pulled to 22-18 forcing a U of L timeout. The Cardinals emerged from the timeout and scored two straight, SJU used its last timeout and then reached game point on a lift call on Jana Matiasovska. U of L tied on a Lecia Brown solo block at 24 and an error on SJU's Valeria Kovaleva took the Cardinals to game point at 25-24. The Red Storm tied at 25 and then scored the next two for the 27-25 win. Hardnosed defense by both teams kept the hitting percentages low, with .109 hitting by the Cardinals and .140 by the Red Storm. U of L outblocked SJU 5-3.
In the second set, U of L popped out to a 4-0 lead but quickly fell behind when the Red Storm tied at nine and used a 6-0 run to go up 18-12. But .059 hitting hampered any comeback by the Cardinals. U of L was aced three times and the Red Storm hit .241 to hang the 25-17 loss on the Cardinals and take a 2-0 set lead into the break.
After the break, U of L shot out to an 8-4 lead and never trailed. St. John's threatened late in the set when Valeria Kovaleva scored two straight to to within three at 23-20. Lecia Brown scored six of the Cardinals last eight points of the set to give the Cardinals the 25-20 win. U of L hit .273 to SJU's .000 and had five blocks to the Red Storm's two.
In the fourth set, U of L had a 6-0 run early to establish a 9-4 lead. SJU's used its last time out at trailing 16-11. The Red Storm had a 5-2 run after the timeout and then were nipping at the Cardinals' heels at 22-21. U of L had a kill from Anastasia Artemeva and Justine Landi and Rui Liu teamed for a block for set point and force a fifth game.
U of L got in trouble early in the fifth set when SJU's built a six point lead at 9-3. The Cardinals pulled to within two at 9-7 but then saw the Red Storm score the last six points unanswered.
U of L returns home from its 12-match road stretch for a match against Notre Dame Oct. 4 at 2 p.m.
