Oct. 24, 1999
The University of Kentucky volleyball team dropped its rematchwith theLouisville Cardinals on Sunday, 3-0, in front of a boisterous crowd of 2,238 atthe Louisville Gardens. The Wildcats had claimed a 3-2 victory in Lexington onSept. 21.
Megan Weiskircher led the Cats in the match with 14 digs and AprilBarnhorst added six blocks, but UK was unable to establish any sustainedpressure as shown by the team?s .101 hitting percentage in the match. SeniorKatie Eiserman was held to a season-low six kills in the match as she hit -.132with 11 errors.
UK (11-10, 4-5 SEC) fell behind early in game one as the Cards poundedout a 9-0 lead. The Cats broke that drought by reeling off three straightpoints, but that was all they could muster in the game. Powered by the rightarm of Sonja Percan, the Cards took the game 15-3. The U of L freshman totaled10 kills for the match.
?We played so well against Florida, it was disappointing to see us comeout so slow today,? said UK Coach Jona Braden. ?We were not clicking welloffensively, but give credit to Louisville, they played a great match.?
The hits kept coming for U of L in game two as the Cards hit at a .455clip. After Louisville (11-9, 8-2 C-USA) jumped out to a 3-1 lead, the teamstraded points until the Cards went on a run that put them ahead 8-3. The Catsthen made a run of their own to draw within 11-9, but with the score 12-9, U ofL?s Kelly McClain put down three aces in a row to close out the game. McClainposted a match-high 13 kills on the day.
UK out-blocked the Cards 10-5 in the match, with most of the damagecoming in the third game when the Cats held a 6-1 edge. In the game, the Catsused the block to overcome a 5-1 deficit and grab their first lead of the matchat 11-10. Stephenie Taylor, Weiskircher, and Barnhorst combined for three blockassists a piece in the game as they temporarily shut down the U of L attack andbuilt a 13-10 lead. But the Cards got untracked and took the next four pointsfor a 14-13 lead. UK staved off one game point but U of L?s McClain ended thegame just as she did the previous one. Her sixth ace gave the Cards a 16-14game three win and a 3-0 sweep.
?We settled in and relaxed in game three and played more like we arecapable of playing,? said Braden. ?But we let things get away. They tookadvantage of some mistakes by us. We just couldn?t put the ball down (forkills) today.?
UK returns to its SEC schedule next weekend with a home-and-home serieswith the Tennessee Lady Vols. The teams play at Kentucky?s Memorial Coliseum onFriday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. before traveling to UT?s Stokely Athletics Centerfor a 2 p.m. ET match on Sunday, Oct. 31.
