LOUISVILLE, Ky. (September 25, 2010) – The Rutgers volleyball team (7-7) opened BIG EAST play with a 3-0 loss at Louisville (6-4). The Scarlet Knights were paced by Stephanie Zielinski (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) who tallied 30 assists.

The first set saw the Cardinals get out to an early 7-3 lead. RU rallied to cut the lead to 12-9 but UL used a 10-3 run to break the set open eventually taking the first 25-17.

In the second, RU jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead. The Cardinals rallied using a 7-0 run of their own to take a 16-11 lead. The Scarlet Knights responded by taking three of the next four points to cut the lead to three before Louisville used another big run to close out the set, 25-16.

Louisville took a 6-4 lead to start the third set. Rutgers responded going on a 6-0 run to build a 10-6 lead. Following a timeout, the Cardinals went on a 5-1 run to knot the score at 11. From there, the squads played back and forth volleyball with neither team gaining a lead of more than two until Louisville pushed ahead 24-21. Rutgers rallied to cut the lead to 24-23 on a service ace from Alex Jones (Chesapeake, Va.) but Louisville closed out the set and match on a kill from Lola Arslenbakova.

Rutgers returns to action tomorrow when it travels to Cincinnati to face the Cincinnati Bearcats in a 2 p.m. matchup.