Anne Kordes loved playing for Leonid Yelin.

But she hates coaching against him, even though her teams haven’t lost a single set to him and Syracuse since she became Louisville’s head coach.

This year’s Orange (7-11, 0-6 Atlantic Coast) will look to change that when it takes on the Cardinals (11-7, 3-3) at 7 p.m. Friday in the Women’s Building. Kordes has tremendous respect for her former coach and although Yelin downplayed the matchup, SU assistant coach Lana Dukule believes it means more to him than Yelin lets on.

As Louisville’s head coach from 1996–2010, Yelin won 366 games and made 14 NCAA tournament appearances. There, he coached Kordes from 1996–97 and Dukule for four years — making this weekend a homecoming of sorts.

“One of the greatest opportunities I’ve ever had is to play for someone with so much knowledge like Coach Yelin,” Kordes said.

Kordes added that Yelin has probably forgotten more about volleyball than most coaches can remember.

He learned to play volleyball in his home country of Uzbekistan, where he played for six years for the men’s national team before coaching both men’s and women’s volleyball on a national level for the country.

“There’s a whole international style out there,” Kordes said.

Yelin taught Kordes, a Louisville native and Cardinals setter in the mid-1990s, about different ways to set and serve.

When she arrived at Louisville, she thought of her job as simply getting the ball into the air, but Yelin taught her that she doesn’t just set the ball, she sets the offense.

He taught her that serving the ball is a lot like pitching a baseball — there are ways to hit the ball that gives it different spin to make the ball drop and move in different ways.

“People taught me in the United States and Yelin comes in with all this experience,” Kordes said, “and opened my eyes to all this other information out there.”

Now coaching a team of her own, Kordes incorporates Yelin’s international perspective into her coaching style.

Yelin, on the other hand, is tired of talking about Louisville volleyball.

Now that all his former players have graduated, Yelin said he doesn’t feel a big connection to the program he once led.

“I wouldn’t say it’s extra motivation for me. No. It’s just a game,” he said.

Nonetheless, a framed Louisville poster celebrating his 400th career victory still hangs in his office. And when talking about deficiencies in the Syracuse program, he often references things Louisville had, such as a better gym and more fan support.

Dukule doesn’t feel conflicted coaching against her former program either, but thinks Yelin downplays his feelings for Louisville.

“Obviously we want to do great against them,” she said. “Of course, everyone would feel something.”

With prior relationships tying together both benches, Syracuse looks for its first ACC win of the season and Louisville tries to improve on its first season in the conference.

After going 18-0 in the American Athletic Conference last season, the Cardinals are just 3-3 in the ACC this year and, like the Orange, in need of a shot in the arm.

“I don’t want to lose,” Kordes said. “But I don’t want my friends to lose.”

Published on October 16, 2014 at 12:05 am