Cards Fall in Texas -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Drops 5-set Heartbreaker

In a match that was largely ruled by momentum, it seemed inevitable that the de facto home team would have the edge. Louisville fought hard against it, but when it came down to "don't allow a run" in the fifth set, the Cards couldn't quite get over the finish line. In a matchup that may be repeated in the NCAA tournament, Texas made their case to be the new #1 team in the land by dispatching of their fourth top-15 team of the season. Louisville suffered their first loss of the year by a final score of 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 22-25, 14-16.

Texas and Nebraska have both played a gauntlet of a schedule so far this season, and Louisville is just getting into the meat of their own. The Longhorns have defeated (rankings listed at the time) #12 Creighton (neutral), #8 Wisconsin (away), #6 Stanford (home), and now #4 Louisville in a home-leaning "neutral" match. Nebraska, on the other hand, has beaten #1 Pitt, #6 Stanford, and #7 Kentucky. All three of those matches are listed as neutral courts, but the first two were in the AVCA First Serve Showcase, hosted in Lincoln. It would be like if matches at the Yum! Center were listed as "neutral" for Louisville. 

The Cards continue their road trip after last night with a trip to Omaha for a tough weekend. Louisville faces the hosting Blue Jays on Friday night, followed by a scrappy Northern Iowa squad on Saturday and Rice on Sunday. Creighton is still ranked 18th, and although the results don't show super well for the other two teams, they've been very tested. UNI is 3-3 and have played #13 Arizona State and #11 SMU. Both of those matches were sweeps, but the Panthers just took down Iowa State Tuesday night. Rice sits at 2-3, but all three losses have been to ranked teams in Texas (A&M, UT, Baylor). The Owls took a set off of the Longhorns last week. 

Back to the match at hand, the final set played out much like the match overall. The Cards took a quick 5-0 lead in the first set before Texas brought things back to level at 12-12. A back-and-forth battle ensued, with Louisville ultimately coming out ahead. The second set was a very different story. This time it was Texas who took an early lead, stretching their advantage to 10-3. Louisville wasn't able to produce the run to bring themselves back into contention, leading to the most lopsided set score of the match. 

After halftime, Texas again jumped out to quick lead, pushing the score to 8-4 before Louisville reeled them back in. The Cards took a 10-9 lead, but an extended run by the Longhorns gave them a 16-13 advantage. Louisville rattled off a 7-0 run to put themselves ahead and build a bit of a gap on the back of a strong serving run by Hannah Kenny, which included two aces. Texas wasn't able to recover from the four-point gap, and the two teams traded points to the end of the set. 

The fourth was a series of runs early, but it looked to be all Texas after things settled down. Texas opened with four straight points, Louisville followed with another seven-point run, and Texas fought back with an extended 8-1 run to regain a 4-point lead. The Longhorns kept the Cards at arms' length until 20-17 when Louisville found some juice. The Cards fought back with some key blocks to bring the score to 21-20, but they needed a little bit more to get over the hump and couldn't find it. 

That set up the fifth. As I said, the fifth set was a bit like the entire match distilled down into a sprint to 15 points. Louisville got Kenny to the line early and she put together a quick three-point run to give the Cards a 4-1 lead. She tried to play fast while Texas was on their heels following a bad set, but a forced ball change slowed her pace, and her next serve went into the net. Texas owned the "second quarter" as it were, winning five points before Louisville could reach eight to change court. After the side-change, Louisville won three quick points to take an 11-6 lead. That set up what I mentioned to open the column: don't allow a run. 

As noted, though, this match in Dallas was a de facto home game for Texas. The Longhorn faithful were the largest contingent in an otherwise underwhelming crowd, and they flipped the script on the Cards. A 6-1 Texas run made two critical things happen. First, Louisville's lead disappeared. That one is obvious. Second, Louisville's confidence went with it. At the close of the fourth set and the beginning of the fifth, Louisville was buzzing. The team was excited, and players had fire in their eyes awaiting serves. The big Texas run sent all of that energy to the opposite side. Still, Louisville won the next point following their final timeout. Up 13-12, they sent Kenny to the line, which was quite encouraging given her performance through the night. Her serve was long. Dan Meske used a challenge, which made sense given how meaningful going up 14-12 would be, but it was also mostly an additional timeout. The ball was quite long. 

Once again, Louisville responded by winning the next point, giving them match point. Texas challenged a net violation, which was a shot in the dark and was, again, primarily a timeout opportunity. I found it annoying, but Meske did the same two points later after Texas took two straight points to set up their own match point. Louisville couldn't hold off Texas any longer, and the Longhorns turned an 11-6 deficit into a 10-4 run to win. 

While the final result is unfortunate, the match was about as close as it could be. Louisville was outscored overall by Texas 110-102. They lost the second set by nine points, more than the final deficit of the match. That's a tough pill to swallow, but it's the way things go. Louisville hit .150 and Texas hit .153. Louisville set their season-high in blocking with time left to play in the fourth set. This one came down to the wire, and while I'm not one for moral victories (especially if they coulda/shoulda/woulda been wins), there is a lot for Louisville to take out of this match. 

The Cards were led by Payton Petersen and Chloe Chicoine, who had 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Chicoine had just five errors, though, while Petersen had 13. Each had an ace. Cara Cresse and Kalyssa Blackshear continued their domination at the middle blocker and opposite hitter positions, particularly in the battle at the net. Each had eight kills and contributed heavily to Louisville's 19 total blocks. Blackshear finished with five assists (although I believe one should have been a solo), while Cresse had three solo blocks and 11 block assists. Nayellis Cabello finished with another strong night as a threat at the setter position with three kills and no errors on nine attempts and seven block assists to go along with her 38 attack assists. Four players had double digit blocks with Chicoine leading the way at 14, followed by Hannah Kenny and Kamden Schrand at 12 and Petersen with 10. Kenny and Ava Utterback each had two of Louisville's six total aces. 

The loss stings, but there's no time to dwell. The Cards are back in action on Friday with another late one. They'll take on Creighton at 9PM Eastern Time, and the match will be aired on FS1. 

Soccer Opens ACC Play with FSU

Louisville women's soccer will take their first ranking in a long time (#20 according to TopDrawerSoccer; receiving votes in the NCAA polls) on the road to open ACC play in a major test. The test won't be of Louisville's capabilities. We already know that they can play well and perform against quality teams on the road (Auburn is 4-2-1 and Vandy is 6-1; both teams undefeated at home except for Auburn's loss to Louisville). This will be a test of Louisville's confidence. The Cards followed their loss to Vanderbilt with an impressive non-conference homestand. The competition wasn't stellar, sure, but Louisville outscored their opponents 36-2 over the course of six games. They played difficult matches against Coastal Carolina and Dayton, and came out with 2-0 victories over both. They're riding a high. 

Enter the Seminoles. Florida State is ranked #7 in the country and have a chip on their shoulder after feeling a bit robbed by the result of last season's NCAA tournament. The Seminoles lost to 8-seed Vandy in penalty kicks and then watched the 2-seed from their region, North Carolina, go on to win the championship. FSU is 4-0-1 on the season, with the lone non-win being a curious 1-1 draw against Kansas in Lawrence. The Seminoles haven't played a very tough schedule so far, but their defense has been lights out. The single goal against Kansas is the only one they have allowed. They put up clean sheets against Florida, FIU, Stetson, and FAU, while scoring 19 goals in those matches. 

A result tonight would be huge for the Cards. A win would obviously be incredible, but coming away with a draw would be a major accomplishment. Louisville is 0-10 all-time against FSU, and now would be a great time to take their first point. The Cards have scored just five goals against the Seminoles in their matches, but this team has shown the ability to score. They'll need to be strong on the ball and get clean looks at the goal to score on this stingy FSU team, but too much aggression could be deadly. Disciplined defensive play will be key. The Cards have gotten away with some dangerous play against lower-tier competition, but FSU could make them pay. 

I'm excited for this one, and it gets underway at 7PM tonight. The match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case