Sonja Percan totalled 23 kills to lead No. 26 Louisville past Illinois State 30-25, 30-28, 23-30, 30-28 in the opening round of the Barker GMC Volleyball Classic at Redbird Arena.
Percan, a native of Croatia, was a one-woman momentum-stopper in game one, with five of her seven kills coming after Illinois State had scored. Megan OConnell and Abby Lewis had five kills each, but ISU had just 12 for the game.
Megan OConnell led the Redbirds with 14 kills, but the Cardinals, 1-0, out-hit Illinois State, 0-1, .256 to .191
ISU led 7-6 in game two after a Jonna Burchett service ace and the teams kept tradiing points until Louisville went on a 5-1 run to go ahead 18-14 on a Percan kill. ISU got no closer than two after that. After UL opened a 17-9 lead, the Birds battled back within 26-25 when Becky Webers tip finished a play which saw OConnell chase a ball into the Redbird Arena press row. B Corbins fifth kill of the game got ISU within 29-28, but Percan finished it with a cross-court smash.
Weber started game three with back-to-back service aces, Brandi Petelle--who played her first two college seasons at Louisville--added another and OConnell had three kills early as the Birds built a 14-8 lead in game three before the Cards scrambled back to tie at 23-apiece on Anastasia Zeitsevas service ace off the net. Lewis had the answer with a kill for point 24 followed by six service points, three on blocks involving Jenny Kabbes, who finished with a match-high 5 blocks and a career best 13 digs.
The Cards roared to a 9-1 lead in game four, but ISU didnt quit. The Birds chased the Cardinals until a Petelle dig set up a Christy Beyers smash out of the middle to tie it at 20-20. Corbin followed with a tool shot down the line to give the Birds their first lead of the game, 21-20. The Birds led 24-22, but U of L had enough to come back, holding ISU off 30-28.
I think a couple of more digs could have really changed this match, said ISU head coach Sharon Dingman.
This was also the first match of the new rally scoring system for both clubs and it received nice reviews from Dingman and senior B Corbin.
Rally scoring will give this sport a lot of parity, which is always a great thing for any sport, Dingman said.
Any team can beat anybody on any given day, said Corbin, who was playing left outside hitter for the first time in two seasons.
Dingman thought the match would help her team prepare for three more ranked teams on the schedule.
It was a good experience for us, said Dingman. We proved we could play in that kind of match.
In the first match of the tournament, Wisconsin-Milwaukee downed Missouri-Kansas City 30-21, 30-11, 30-26. The Panthers, 1-0, rode setter Lindsey Spodens six service aces to victory. Spoden had four aces in game one and served nine straight points in game two as Milwaukee had an 11-0 edge in aces.
Laura Dallenbach led a balanced UWM attack with 12 kills. Lindsey Zerr led UMKC, 0-1, with 9 kills, but the Kangaroos had more hitting errors (32) than kills (30).
The tournament continues with four matches on Saturday, including Illinois State vs. UMKC at noon and the Redbirds vs. UWM at 7 p.m. Louisville plays Wisconsin-Milwaukee at 10 a.m. and UMKC at 5 p.m.
