Volleyball Stills Red Storm with 3-0 Sweep
October 03, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 3, 2010
Tanya Lukyanenko had 10 kills and a block to lead the University of Louisville to a 25-17, 25-21, 25-22 sweep of St. John's Sunday afternoon in Jamaica, N.Y.
The Cardinals hit .235 and recorded 10 blocks, led by Gwen Rucker's six. U of L raises its record to 8-5 and is 3-1 in the BIG EAST. St. John's falls to 13-7 and 0-3 in the league. Setter Taylor Brauneis had a career high four blocks and 23 assists. Kasey Heckelman came off the bench in the third set and contributed four kills and three digs.
"It was a close match and we need to get any road win we can," said U of L coach Leonid Yelin. Our block and defense again was strong and the outside hitters were battling."
In the first set, U of L used a 7-1 run to go up 16-10 and forced SJU to blow both its timeouts early. St. John's made a run at the Cardinals, coming within three at 18-15 but scored only twice after that as U of L rolled to the 25-17 win. U of L had five blocks and Tanya Lukyanenko had three kills. The Cards recorded five aces in the first set alone, three by Amanda Simmons.
The Cardinals won the second set 25-21 after being down 10-6 early. U of L tied at 10 and took its first lead at 18-17 and never trailed again. The Cardinals hit .235 to SJU's .122 and were paced by Lukyanenko's five kills.
In the third set, SJU was already out of timeouts after U of L spurted out to a 7-1 lead. Down as many as eight at 20-12, a one-woman comeback effort by Darlene Ramdin of SJU, brought the Red Storm to within three at 23-20. Ramdin had five kills in that run but Cardinals fought back for the 25-22 win.
