Volleyball Beats Bearcats

Thursday, September 17

Cincinnati, Ohio

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

6-3

Cincinnati

7-3

Louisville

Cincinnati

September 17, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Janelle Jenkins has 13 kills.

By: Nancy Worley

Janelle Jenkins had a match-high 13 kills, three aces and three blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 win over rival Cincinnati Thursday night in the Fifth Third Arena.

"We got a great match from our middles, who really stepped up," said Anne Kordes, UofL head coach. "Any time we run the middle well, I have to mention our passing because you can't have one without the other. I thought we were not sharp from the service line in sets one and two but after that we had some really nice runs in four and five when Erin Fairs ran off nine and Molly Sauer ran off five."

The Cards improve to 7-3 with the 25.20, 28-30, 25-11, 25-15 win. Cincinnati moves to 6-3 on the season. UofL hit .294 with 11.5 blocks and five aces. UC hit .126 but had 10 blocks. Both teams struggled from the service line, combining for 27 service errors.

UofL blew out to a 10-4 lead early in the first and then staved off a Bearcat rally that brought UC to within one point at 17-16. But three UC errors and two kills by freshman Jasmine Bennett helped power the 25-20 win. UofL hit .341 with a pair of blocks in the set.

Uofl took an early lead at 2-1 but lost it almost immediately and did not get it back until 24-23. The team traded points until finally the Bearcats outlasted UofL 30-28. That is the first set UC has taken from UofL since 2010 for a total of seven matches dating back to Oct. 16, 2010 when UofL won 3-c

The Cardinals came out focused and used a 10-0 run in the second set to go up 20-8. Out of timeouts, there was little the Bearcats could get going with their last three points actually coming on UofL errors. The Cards win 25-11 despite hitting just .179. UofL freshman Jasmine Bennett had three blocks in the set to pace the Cards.

UofL put an exclamation point on the final set went they used an 8-1 run to go up 17-7. The Bearcats were struggling from the service line and hitting .172, hampering their comeback efforts late. Aniah Philo had the final two kills of the match for the 25-15 win.

"It was an exciting match with the Bearcats, who have been our rivals throughout the years both in conference and non-conference situations. They rode in here on a nice streak and came in to take us down. You can always throw out rankings and record when you have that rivalry factor," said Kordes.

The Cardinals face intrastate rival Kentucky on Sunday in Lexington at 2 p.m. as Rivalry Week continues.