TicketsOct. 16, 2005
CINCINNATI, Ohio---Playing in front of a nationally TV audience and a season-high 551 spectators, the University of Cincinnati came up short in its upset bid against No. 6 Louisville on Sunday afternoon, falling in four games to the Cardinals. The match, which was broadcast live on ESPNU, saw Louisville win by scores of 26-30, 30-17, 30-26, 30-28.
Lena Ustymenko was sensational for the Cardinals (18-0, 6-0 BIG EAST), recording a career-high 29 kills on .413 hitting and adding 15 digs. Jessie Nevitt led Cincinnati (12-7, 4-2 BIG EAST) with a career-best 19 kills and hit .455.
In addition to Nevitt's career-topping total, UC also got double-doubles from Jenny Custer (17 kills, 11 digs) and Maria Pongonis (15 kills, 15 digs). Erin Maldo tacked on 11 kills for UC and Noel Olson had 56 assists.
Louisville's Jennifer Hoffman had 11 kills and four blocks, while teammate Ana Yartseva added 10 kills and eight blocks. Elena Pilnikova (36 assists) and Jennifer Craven (21 assists) split time at setter for U of L.
"I thought our kids played really hard, but our inexperienced showed at times," said Bearcat head coach Reed Sunahara. "Unfortunately, we made some mistakes at critical times and you can't afford to no that against the sixth-ranked team."
Cincinnati came out smoking in game one, scoring the first two points and later holding an edge of six at 17-11 on a Maldo kill. Louisville worked its way back into the game forcing a Bearcat timeout at 22-21 following a Yartseva kill. Out of the break, UC ripped off five straight to force a Cardinal stoppage at 27-21. The Cards continued to apply the pressure, scoring four of the next six, including two Ustymenko kills. But following a service error of her own, Custer sealed game one with her eighth kill to give the Bearcats a 30-26 win.
The Bearcats' hot hitting in game one (.366) didn't carry over to game two as the Cards shook off their slow start to pound UC. The home team started out good, leading 7-4, before a 10-1 U of L run put the Bearcats in a six-point hole. UC could get no closer from there, as it was held to .000 hitting in the convincing Cardinal victory.
At the outset of game three, the Bearcats roared to a 7-1 lead that triggered a Louisville timeout. UC found itself calling a timeout of its own at 15-13 as the Cardinals clawed back into the contest. Cincinnati was still leading at 21-16 when U of L burned its second timeout, but saw its lead shrink to 24-23 when the Bearcats called for their second break. Louisville tied the game at 25, then were leading by just one (27-26) following a Myanna Hellsten kill. But that would be UC's last point of game three as Ustymenko and Stephanie Marsh tallied kills, with the latter combining with Rui Liu on a block to push the Cardinals to a three-point win.
The fourth and final game was a sew saw battle that featured seven ties and five lead changes. Cincinnati controlled the action early, leading as late as 18-15. But a 5-0 Louisville run changed all that and put the Cardinals in the lead to stay. The Bearcats had one last push in them, however and got to 28-27 on a Pongonis kill. A Nevitt error set up match point for Louisville, but UC stayed alive on another kill by Pongonis. Needing just one more point, U of L went to its star and Ustymenko delivered her 29th kill to end the match.
After their hot start, the Bearcats ended the day at .181 hitting. Melissa Zenz ran her double figure dig streak to 19 with 20 digs, also reaching 20 for the ninth time this year. Maldo matched her career-high with four blocks, while Nevitt had three.
UC will continue its current four-match homestand on Tuesday night when in-state rival Wright State visits Fifth Third Arena at 7:30 p.m.