Monday Cardinal Couple - Volleyball recap, Field Hockey Selection

Volleyball Sunday Recap

After an over-the-top-exciting match against Pitt on Friday, the VolleyCards got a bit of a breather yesterday against a middle-of-the-pack Virginia Tech team. The Cards got the sweep 25-21, 25-19, 25-19.

The first set was a good contest, and while there were only two lead changes, there were seven ties, and VT had the game tied at 18. The Cards got a bit of separation to end the set with the help of a couple of Hokie errors.

The second and third sets were all Cards, with UofL leading the whole way in both sets. A bit of a scary moment in the second set at 11-3 when VT outside hitter Lindsey Owens went down with an ankle injury. A major component to VT's play, the loss of Owens didn't help matters. While she did return to start the third set, it was only momentarily as she was clearly still in pain and wasn't able to play the rest of the match. The Cards were able to get significant separation in both sets and took the opportunity to play some players that don't usually get much playing time.

In the second set, freshman Jasmine Bennett came in for Maggie DeJong and immediately scored a kill, Kali Eaken then subbed in for Katie George. With a younger line-up on the court for UofL, VT was able to make a bit of a comeback, but not enough to put the game in jeopardy. Ashley Pettibone also made an appearance and got her first kill as a Card to finish out the second set.

The third set was similar. At 20-13, the crowd got to see Morgan Miller's play at setter and a bit more from Jasmine Bennett, who entered at 21-14. Again, with the lower experience levels on the court for UofL, VT was able to make a bit of a comeback, but again, the Cards were able to finish the set and match.

Tess Clark, who has been relatively quiet in recent matches, came on strong with .667 hitting with 8 kills on 12 attempts. The bulk of the offense came from Erin Fairs with 13 (.310), Maya McClendon on an error-free 12 for a whopping .500, and Janelle Jenkins with 11 (.320). Jasmine Bennett also ends up with a pretty nice stat line, on limited play, with an error-free 3 kills out of 6 attempts, which is an impressive .500. Erin Fairs picked up two service aces and two big solo blocks. Dependable as ever, Molly Sauer adds 16 digs to her total. Overall, the Cards hit a pretty dern good .378, although VT ended up .279, which certainly isn't terrible, particularly when they were on the losing side of the final tally.

The Cards head out on the road again, for what is certainly the toughest conference weekend of the season, with a visit Friday at 7pm to Miami, and on Sunday at 2pm at Florida State in Tallahassee. As we get deep into the season, a quick look at the ACC standings underscores the importance of this upcoming weekend. While the Cards are sitting as masters of their own destiny in 1st place, FSU is hot on their heels only a game out in 2nd. Miami has demonstrated why they are considered one of the better teams in the conference by sitting, tied for 4th with Pitt, only 3 games out.

Field Hockey Selection

Field Hockey will start off their NCAA tournament run with a challenge facing defending champions, and undefeated, UConn in Storrs. The game will take place on November 14th at 11:30am.

If the Cards can get it done against the Huskies, they will likely face Boston College, who UofL already holds a victory over, for a chance to get into the semifinals. The Eagles' first round opponent is Albany.

To further underscore the impressive achievements of ACC Field Hockey, all seven ACC Field Hockey playing teams got into the NCAA tournament. Also, while we've been saying that it's a 19-team tournament, it turns out that this year it's only an 18-team field. Of the four seeded teams, three are ACC teams, with Syracuse, UNC, and Virginia taking the first three seeds, and UConn getting the fourth.

Syracuse will face the winner of the Kent State/UMass play-in game, UNC gets the winner of Fairfield/Boston U., Virginia will play Delaware. The other ACC-involved matchups are a rematch of an early season game in Duke vs Stanford, and Wake Forest vs Michigan. The only game (excluding play-ins) not involving the ACC is Maryland vs Princeton.

Here's the team reaction: FH NCAA ANNOUNCEMENT


RADIO

Did you miss the latest broadcast of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR? No need to beat yourself up over it or fall into a lethargic state. We have the SoundCloud rebroadcast of most of it below. We're also currently looking for someone to remind the show engineer to make sure it's being recorded at the start. 

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO 1/2 HOUR 11/7/15


JMcA