Cards fend off Cats’ Game 3 comeback attempt to complete sweep
|
(Sept. 5, 2000) — The University of Kentucky volleyball team got blitzed on September 5 by the deadly efficient offensive attack of theLouisville Cardinals in game one of the intra-state tilt and the Cards dominated en route to a 3-0 sweep in the 2000 homeopener for the Wildcats at Memorial Coliseum.
U of L cruised to a 15-4 win in game one thanks to errorless hitting combined with less-than efficient attacking by the Cats.
UK competed much better in game two, but could not pull closer than three points in the late going and dropped the game15-10. The Cats then fell behind 12-4 in game three before drawing within 14-12 as a result of some sloppy play by theCards and the continued dominance of UK middle blocker Megan Weiskircher. Despite the solid rally by the Cats, U of Lpersevered to take the game, 15-12, and complete the sweep.
|
“The production from our players was just not there again today,” UK head coach Jona Braden said. “What we didn’t do wastake care of the ball from the defensive side, which is surprising for us. We’re more capable than what we showed today.”Louisville has swept the Cats in the last two meetings between the two teams, but had not swept UK on its home floor sinceSept. 30, 1998. UK still holds a decided lead in the all-time series with U of L, 26-15.
“You have to give U of L credit because they came out firing from the opening serve and had a real solid offensivegameplan,” Braden added. “But there were adjustments that our players need to make in response to their actions.”
While the offense for Kentucky (1-3) was struggling to find its rhythm in game one, the attack for Louisville (3-0) wasthe picture of perfection as the Cards hit at a .407 clip. Eleven kills were divided among five U of L players in the game. UKhad a negative hitting percentage (-.029) for the game as the Cats committed 10 hitting errors compared to posting just ninekills.
|
“We’re pretty inexperienced as far as playing together,” Weiskircher said. “They were just ready to play today and weweren’t all on the same page.”
Despite their inexperience, the fortunes improved for the Wildcats in game two as the team battled back for ties at 3-3and then 8-8. A rash of hitting errors halted UK’s rally and the Cards closed the game with a 7-2 run. U of L received five ofthose points as a result of errors by the Cats, but the powerful arms of Anastasia Zaitseva and Sonja Percan certainly madecontrolling the ball difficult for the home squad. The two Eastern Europeans combined for seven kills in the game and 16 inthe match.
|
Zaitseva, a freshman from Russia, had a team-high 11 kills and hit .207 for the match. Meanwhile, Percan, asophomore from Croatia, had five kills and hit at a .231 clip. Kelly McClain led the Cards with a .375 hitting percentage withseven kills. Weiskircher led the Cats in kills for the second straight match, hammering home a game-high 12 finishers whilehitting at a .308 mark.
The Wildcats started game three about as slowly as they did the opener of the match, but turned things around soonenough to put some sustained pressure on the Cards for the first time in the match. With UK down 6-1 in the decidinggame, junior setter Whitney Sample entered the match for the first time and provided the Cats with an offensive spark.Entering the day averaging 10.18 assists per game, Sample had a big hand in an 10-5 run by the Cats with seven assistsand a key block assist with April Barnhorst. But following a stalemate that resulted in seven consecutive side-outs, U of Lreached a game point that was just too much for the Cats to overcome.
|
The Wildcats will look to turn around their first 1-3 start since 1996 this weekend at the Buckeye Invitational. UK opensup with Illinois State on Satruday, Sept. 9 in St. John Arena at 5 p.m. ET. Depending on the result of that match, the Cats willthen play the winner or loser of the Ohio State/Toledo match that follows the UK/ISU match on Sunday afternoon.”Everyday I want us to get better,” concluded Braden. “Right now I’m trying to find that chemistry and mix. We’ll work ongetting it down more this week in practice and this weekend against some more tough competition at Ohio State.”
