University of Louisville
Cincinnati
Volleyball Takes BIG EAST Crown with 3-1 Over Cincinnati
November 22, 2009 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 22, 2009
Lola Arslanbekova had a tournament record 25 kills to lead the No. 4 seeded University of Louisville Cardinals to a 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20 win over No. 2 seeded Cincinnati in the BIG EAST Volleyball Championship for their third conference tournament title.
"It was a matter of the team making up their minds that they could do it," said U of L coach Leonid Yelin, who has led his team to the conference finals the last 12 consecutive years. "They believed and it really didn't matter what the seed was or who they had to play or how they had played them earlier this year. All because they believed."
Arslanbekova, who had been named Freshman of the Year, added First Team All-Tournament and Tournament MVP to her collection. Libero Lindsey Mango who had a match-high 18 digs, Justine Landi, who had 23 kills and Lecia Brown had six blocks and eight kills were all named All-Tournament.
The Cardinals hit .279 and outblocked UC 13-4. The Bearcats were the only team to outblock the Cards during the regular season. Gwen Rucker had five kills and six blocks. Maci Wachtel added 11 digs. The Bearcats were led by Stephanie Niemers 17 kills and three blocks.
In the first set, U of L was up early at 13-9 before the resilient Bearcats scrapped back to within one at 21-20 but were never able to wrest the lead from the Cardinals who took the set 25-22. The Cardinals were powered by five kills by Lola Arslanbekova. Lecia Brown was a force at the net with three blocks and four kills. Neither team was a threat from the service lines with no aces in the first set. UC hit .163 and was led by Assumption graduate Emily Hayden's five kills.
Despite a 6-0 run by Cincinnati early in the second set, U of L managed to tie at 18 and then go on a five point run to go up 23-18. Justine Landi had two straight kills for the 25-21 win. Landi had five kills in the sets to lead. Stephanie Niemer had four kills for the Bearcats. Both teams were hitting well below their season averages, with U of L managing .171 and UC just .106.
The third set was tightly contested as neither team was able to establish a strong lead . Finally, up 18-17, UC managed open the spread to three points at 23-20. U of L scored twice more to come within two at 23-21 before the Bearcats got to set point on a slide by Emily Hayden. U of L scored again on a Lola Arslanbekova kill but it was not enough as UC notched its first win at 25-22. Lola Arslanbekova had nine kills in the set. UC hit .417 led by Hayden's four kills.
U of L used .344 hitting in the final set to keep Cincinnati at arm's length, forcing the Bearcats to blow both timeouts to try and stall the Cardinal momentum. The Bearcats were within one at 20-19 but then were outscored 5-1 down the stretch.
U of L gained the automatic berth
