Volleyball Gets it Done in the Queen City

This one started off a bit rough for the Cards. They started out with a good lead, but Cincy cut it back down to within one point. The Cards went on to win 25-20, but I thought UofL looked a bit sluggish and flat. Despite that, they still managed to execute on plays fairly well.

After what was without a doubt a...let's call it "spirited"...set break speech by Coach Kordes, The Cards came out raring to play and looked like a new team. To be sure to avoid the out-of-substitution situation of the second set, Molly Sauer began serving for Tess Clark, leaving Jasmine Bennett in to serve instead. And, while Bennett probably isn't going to win us many points at the service line, she also didn't cost us any in service errors. The newly reinvigorated Kordes Krew cruised to an easy 25-11 third set win.
The fourth set was more of the same with the Cards playing good team ball, with Katie George feeding the hot hands...mostly Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkins...when possible, but also distributing the ball well to others to keep Cincy from being able to really key on one player. UofL claimed the fourth set, 25-15, and with it, the match.
So why did Jasmine Bennett get so much playing time? Well, Maggie DeJong, our other typical starting middle, didn't dress because of having had an injection of a healing agent that requires four days of not playing or practicing. She should be back in the lineup Sunday at Kentucky. Bennett took advantage of the situation and played well and even claims the highest hitting percentage of the night (seven on 12 attempts with only a single miscue for .500), but I expect she didn't take away the starting position from Maggie.
Other stats of note, Tess Clark had her usual big night with .474 hitting with 11 on 19 attempts and two errors. Janelle Jenkins hit .267 with 13 of 30 and 5 mistakes. Maya McClendon got 12 out of 31 with 5 mistakes for .226. And, OK, technically Katie George had a higher hitting percentage on a mistake free three of five for .600, but that's not really a fair comparison. The other hitting of note came from freshman Aniah Philo, who wasn't central to the offense, but was there when needed and came up with four key hits on 11 attempts and only a single miscue.

We saw Gabbie Wiley play a brief stint in the second set to bolster the then-floundering defense, and redshirt freshman Kali Eaken came in for some mop-up play in the fourth set to get a few minutes running the offense at setter.
Coach Molley Alvey continues to rebuild this Cincinnati team from an almost complete reboot of the program four years ago. They are playing respectable volleyball at this point and their 7-3 record reflects it. They aren't playing the cream of the national volleyball crop in the AAC and their non-conference schedule, but they are playing decent teams and getting better all the time.
JMcA
Win them while you can, Baby Birds. The Cats are waiting Sunday. Maybe Kordes should bring "Boobie" Pee-tree-no to the volleyball game. That way she'd have a loser already in attendance. Paulie, are coming up for ABUSE and humiliation Sunday in Memorial?
ReplyDeleteMatthew Mitchell for Governor
Care to compare common opponents through the season thus far in vball? We both dropped matches to Illinois...fair enough. But we've got wins over Creighton and Ohio...how about UK? No? 3-1 win by Ohio, and you got swept by Creighton? Huh.
DeleteSee ya Sunday.
Will be there. Take it easy on us Gov. A lot of people hurting today.
ReplyDeletePaulie