Boston College Weekend Continues - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Preface

It's been a great extended weekend for Cardinal women's teams thus far.  In a weekend that has seen and will see multiple matchups against Boston College to conclude, the build-up included some huge wins as well.

Of course, we have covered these in previous days' coverage here on Cardinal Couple, but to recap.  Soccer knocked off Syracuse Thursday afternoon.  Then on Friday afternoon Field Hockey, with the biggest win in program history, knocked off the number one team in the country which was on a 47 game win streak and was two time defending National Championship, North Carolina.

Then we turned out attention to Boston College with Volleyball picking up the sweep Friday evening in Chestnut Hill.

Volleyball, Volume 2

Largely a repeat of Friday night, UofL Volleyball got the 2nd win in Chestnut Hill three sets to one (25-21, 25-14, 28-26, 25-16).  In the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday, I described the northern pod of volleyball play in the ACC as "the top teams in the ACC, plus Boston College".  To be clear, I give BC a lot of credit.

Jason Kennedy, at the helm of the Eagles for his 2nd year, has had an immediate impact on the team.  If you're recall the commentary last season, there was a healthy dose of, "Wow, Boston College is actually good this year."  At the end of that season, the team graduated a whopping six players, and is back again playing some pretty good volleyball in spite of it.  They're aren't at the top echelon of ACC or national play, but they aren't the doormat that we were used to seeing out of Boston.

Last night as well, BC just didn't give up.  UofL was pretty clearly the overall better team, but the Eagles fought back in a hard fought 3rd set to get the win holding the Cards to only hitting .100 in the set.  Lets also show some love for the Beantown crowd with .351 hitting in the 1st set.  They lost that set because they ran into a redbird shaped buzzsaw, with a stunning .500 hitting percentage for the Cardinals out of the gate.  UofL would also finish off the match with .444 hitting in the 4th.

Paulie has found a new favorite player in freshman Anna DeBeer, and not just because of the fun wordplay available for someone who likes a frosty cold one.  The love for the newcomer is understandable, with the Assumption product leading the team with 18 kills on 31 attempts, with only a trio of miscues (.484).

The A-team; Aiko, Amaya, and the Annas (DeBeer and Stevenson), really gave BC fits at the net with an impressive 13 solo blocks between them.

The story of the weekend and the night, however, was the solid play of Rachel DeMarcus.  The 5'7" setter was ready when her number was called and really showed us the skills she possesses in setting.  She will likely never been a major factor on the blocking side of the equation, and that proves a bit of a challenge at the D1 level, but she more than made up for it with her skills and precision.

Why is DeMarcus in the driver's seat?  Tori Dilfer didn't make the trip to Boston.  Why?  We don't have word, but there is some speculation that it might be Covid-19.  If that's the case, it could be several weeks before Dilfer is back with the team, and in this shortened season, we could be wrapping up the play for the fall by then.

In the meantime, let's sit back and enjoy the distribution from the Lexingtonian, DeMarcus.  She crafted an almost clinically precise attack spread, with 32 attempts for Aiko Jones, the aforementioned 31 for DeBeer, and 30 for Claire Chaussee.  Chaussee put in a good evening's work with a .333 success rate.

All in all, a very good weekend for the Volleyball Cards.

Next week, Syracuse comes to town.  Syracuse is....well...a bit of a head scratcher right now.  They knocked off Pitt, twice, last weekend, using all five sets in the 1st matchup, but then sweeping the Panthers in the 2nd.  Then this weekend, they head to South Bend and drop both matches against Notre Dame.  To be fair, Notre Dame is back to being the quality team that they traditionally have been, but I would've expected Pitt to be the more dominant team, here.  Pitt isn't playing this weekend, and will host Boston College next weekend.

Today's Card

Soccer and Field Hockey will both get their opportunity against the Eagles today.  Both playing here on Floyd Street, Soccer will kick it off at noon, with Field Hockey getting underway at 1:30.  You can catch Soccer on Raycom Sports Network, which typically means one of the Fox Sports Channels, and Field Hockey will be on the ACC Network.

Will the Cards be able to keep up their winning ways?  Field Hockey will be coming off the biggest win in program history that was the talk of Field Hockey coverage nationally.  Soccer had a fun romp against Syracuse.  Will both teams be able to maintain the level of play after good wins?  We'll see.

Paulie will be in attendance at Field Hockey, Case covers Women's Soccer and Jared will be the pool photographer for both, splitting his time between them.  And, of course, we'll have coverage of the results tomorrow.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The main squad was all on the line against yesterday, with Paulie, Jared, Case, and myself all checking in.

We were happy with the show, of course it always helps to have sports results to cover, and a good time was had.  Soccer, Field Hockey, and Volleyball were the main topics, as would be expected.

Check it out below.

JMcA