University of Houston
East Carolina (C-USA Tournament)
Cougars Win Round One
11/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2004
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Playing in the opening match of the Conference USA Tournament in Louisville, Ky., the No. 8 seeded Cougars knocked off the No. 9 seeded ECU Pirates in straight games, 30-18, 30-23 and 31-29.
For the second straight season, the Cougars will meet up with the No. 1 seeded team in the tournament in the quarterfinals. This season that team is nationally ranked Louisville (24-2, 13-0), who comes into the match at No. 21 in the AVCA CSTV/USA-Today poll.
"We've never been eliminated in the first round of the tournament," said Houston head coach Bill Walton. "We were able to keep that streak a live today."
Houston is now 12-6 all-time at the C-USA Touranment, and remains undefeated against the Pirates with a perfect 5-0 record against the team.
Leading all players in the match was junior Kariny Ritter who tallied 14 kills on 28 attempts with four errors and a hitting percentage of .357. Sophomore Becca Sartori also came up big for Houston with 12 kills and zero errors on 21 swings, for an attack percentage of .571.
"Kariny and Becca were strong throughout the match," said Walton. "It was also nice to get Mary Cates back, who helped get us off to a good start."
 Senior setter Mirela Vasconcellos led all players with 45 assists in Houston's win.  | |
"We decided to go with the senior for the tournament," said Walton. "I thought that Mirela did an excellent job for us today."
Defensively, the Cougars were led by junior libero Jaci Gonzalez, the C-USA Defender of the Year, who had a match-high 21 digs.
In Game 1, the Cougars came away with the 30-18 victory behind the hitting of Sartori who put up six kills while hitting a blazing .667, while senior Loure Dews and Ritter each chipped in four kills apiece.
Houston out hit the Pirates .425-.108 in the game, out blocked them 2-1, and recorded a 14-12 advantage in digs, on their way to taking the early 1-0 lead in the match.
The Pirates fired back in the second game, taking the lead from Houston at 12-13. Houston tied the match against at 15-all, but ECU caught fire going on a 5-1 run to the lead to 20-16.
Houston rallied together to go on an 8-0 tear that gave the Cougars a 23-20 lead. Relying mostly on the swings of McAnelly, who had seven kills in Game 2, Houston closed out the game with a 30-23 victory heading into the break.
Holding onto a 2-0 lead coming out of the break, Houston fell behind 3-6 early in the match, but fought back to tie the game at 9-9. On the ensuing rally, Sartori and Vasconcellos blocked an ECU attack attempt to take the lead at 10-9, to which Ritter followed up with a kill of her own to push the lead to 11-9.
Facing elimination, ECU fought to regain the lead and succeeded at 16-17 with a block by the Pirates' junior middle blocker Paige Howell.
Trailing 27-29, the Cougars needed a spark to avoid a fourth game. Houston got what it needed from a team effort, and clawed their way back to a 29-29 tie.
After a Ritter kill and an attack error by the Pirates' Erica Wilson, Houston closed out the match with a 31-29 win in the third and decisive game.
The Cougars now must face the top-seeded Cardinals in the quarterfinals. Last season the Cougars were in the same spot after defeating USF in the opening round, they then had to face No. 1 seeded Cincinnati.
As the No. 8 seed, Houston upset the Bearcats to move on to the semifinals of the tournament where they were defeated by Memphis in three games.
"Louisville is a great team," said Walton. "We'll be undermanned, so we'll have to play with a lot of heart, and will need Kelly and Loure to lead from the front."
No. 8 Houston and No. 1 Louisville get underway at 1:00 p.m. (EST) at Cardinal Areana with Live Stats available from Gametracker.
