Pitt
Louisville
Hodnik Records A Double-Double Against Louisville
11/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2010
PITTSBURGH—Senior Allyson Hodnik recorded her first double-double of the season, despite the 3-1 decision the University of Pittsburgh women’s volleyball team dropped to Louisville this afternoon at Fitzgerald Field House. The Cardinals won the match with scores of 25-18, 25-21, 18-25 and 25-19.
Hodnik recorded 42 assists and 12 digs in the contest. With 402 assists this season, Hodnik has moved into seventh overall on the program’s all-time assists list with 2,087 sets to-date.
Senior Amy Town led the Panthers with 17 kills, while sophomore Alexa Campbell came off the bench and chipped in 10 kills.
Defensively, sophomore Margy Acton recorded 14 digs for the Panthers and senior Imani Harper tallied five blocks.
The Panthers out-blocked Louisville (16-6, 10-1 Big East) 9-8 in the match. Besides Harper, Town added four blocks and junior Kiesha Leggs chipped in two.
Pitt (11-16, 5-6 Big East) jumped out with a 6-0 run in the third set. That run included two kills, an ace from Hodnik and a solo block from Harper. Later, Campbell gave the Panthers a 12-8 lead in the game. The outside tallied three kills and two digs in the set.
As play continued, Pitt led 18-14 when Town recorded a kill. A few serves later, Harper attacked a long pass to give the Panthers set point at 24-18. After a Louisville sideout, Town recorded her game-leading eighth kill of the set to give Pitt the set at 25-19.
Senior Melanie Feldman and Acton recorded four digs, apiece in the set. The Panthers as a whole recorded 13 digs to Louisville’s nine in that game. Pitt also hit for .429 and held the Cardinals at .172.
In the opening set, Harper assisted on back-to-back blocks in the game. First, she teamed with senior Rachel Kalberer for a stuff on Louisville’s outside hitter. Then, she combined on a block with Hodnik on the right side of the net. The Panthers recorded three blocks in the first game.
Louisville only hit .143 and Pitt recorded 10 kills to the Cardinals nine. However, several serving errors proved to be costly for the Panthers in the set. Hodnik tallied an assist on all 10 of the Panther kills.
Next, the Panthers led 9-8 in the second set when senior Alyssa King set sophomore Michelle Walker for a kill in the game. Pitt led 11-9, but after a short Cardinal rally, the Panthers would hold on to their lead, 12-11, with a block from Leggs and Town.
Later, Pitt trailed by two, 21-19, in the set when Louisville took a timeout. The Panthers had just scored on a Kalberer kill from Hodnik. It remained a two-point contest when Kalberer recorded her fifth kill of the set, making the score 23-21. Louisville, however, would score on the next two serves and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Kalberer’s five kills in the set led the Panthers and tied a Cardinal for a game high. The Panthers defensive attack was well balanced, as three recorded three digs in the set.
The Panthers trailed 19-11 in the final game, but a 4-0 run would pull Pitt within four, 19-15, with a block from sophomore Jenn Katona and Kalberer. Harper kept the Panthers within four with a kill a few serves later (22-18). However, Louisville would win three of the next four serves to take the match 3-1.
Harper recorded nine kills, while Kalberer chipped in seven in the match.
Pitt faces Cincinnati at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6.
