Cards VB, FH gather road wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 #4 VOLLEYCARDS CORRAL MUSTANGS IN 4 SETS. 

It was a top 20 DI Volleyball matchup in Dallas on Sunday and the Louisville Cardinals got back to their winning ways with a four set match triumph over new ACC Conference member SMU. in California,  The Stick Cards closed out the regular season with a 6-2 triumph over Cal Davis. 

VOLLEYBALL

Anna DeBeer had 16 kills in the Cards win 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21. The Cards are now 9-1 in ACC play, 17-3 overall and in a three way tie for top spot in the conference standings with Pittsburgh and North Carlina.

SET ONE

The Cards used an early 6-1 run to grab a 10-6 lead over SMU and force the Mustangs to use a timeout. The timeout did nothing to quell the Cards early dominance , though, and UofL went on  a 7-2 run that had the visitors up 17-8 after a Charitie Luper kill. A PK kill created a 21-11 lead for UofL and the Cards got the 25-14 set win on a block from Cara Cresse and Sofia Diaz Maldonado. 

SET TWO

The two opponents were close early at 4-3 SMU, but the Mustangs went on a  5-1 run to take control at 9-4 after a Cardinals attack error. SMU still lead a 14-8 on a Natalie Foster kill and Louisville still trailed at 18-13 after a DeBeer kill. The Cards got with 23-20 on a SMU bad set, but the Mustangs took the set 25-21 on a Louisville serving error.

SET THREE

This set was also close early, with ties at 3-3 and 5-5 before Louisville went on a 7 -1 run to grab a 12-6 lead on a SMU hitting error. The Mustangs battled back to a 16-14 deficit on a Cards hitting error. but Louisville roared back to grab a 20-15 edge on an SMU hitting error. It was 22-20 Cards recorded the final three point...the f=inal coming when Louisville got the set win 25-20 on a block by Cresse and Luper

SET FOUR

The set was close early, too at 6-6, but Louisville went on a brief run to lead 10-8 on a DeBeer kill. SMU rallied to tie it at 10-10, though, and things were still close at 15-15 after a SMU block. A key 5-0 UofL run followed to give the Cards a 20-15 advantage, cculminating on a Cresse kill, and a Reese Robins kill ended set and match with the 25-21 win. 

FIELD HOCKEY

Meanwhile, in California, Louisville Field Hockey closed out their 2024 regular season with a 6-2 over homestanding UC Davis. 

The win snaps a eight game losing streak for Louisville and gives them a 1-7 mark in ACC play. 

Louisville was hot early and scored three first quarter goals...Lauren Masters getting it started early six minutes in with a follow up on a deflection, two minutes later Sophia Parker connected on a penalty corner, and with four minutes left in the quarter, it was Rylie Wollerton's turn, she was in front of goal to tap in a deflected shot on UC Davis' goalkeeper.

Louisvville increased the lead to 4-0 in the second quarter when Filippa Niebuhr got her first  goal of the year, off a pass from Tatum Kroon. A late second quarter Cal Davis goal created a  4-1 Cards advantage at the half. 

Louisville picked up two more scores in the third quarter, both off penalty quarters. Izzy Bianco tallied the first one and Masters got her second goal of the match about a minute later. 

UC Davis scored in the fourth quarter for the final 6-2 Louisville margin of victory. 

At 1-7 in conference the Cards are in the cellar of the ACC standings.  Above them, at 1-6, are California and Stanford. All those two would normally have to do have to do is win their final ACC regular season games to make the ACC Tounament. but since they are playing each other -- the winner grabs a spot and the loser ends up in a tie with the Cards for last place, Louisville did defeat Stanford in their lone regular season match, so one would assume the Cards would advance to #8 seed in the tourney if the Cardinal fall to the Golden Bears. Cal defeated Louisville in regular season and would make the tournament whether they win or lose to Stanford.