Louisville Volleyball in NCAA Tournament, draws Samford -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS, BULLDOGS SET FOR THURSDAY 6 P.M. MATCH

There probably wasn't much doubt that the University of Louisville Volleyball squad would make the field of 64 at all, the major questions were who would they play, where and when? 

On last night's NCAA Selection Show on ESPNU, the drama played out until the very end. Finally, the final regional was announced, we saw Western Kentucky hosting and playing Kennesaw St. and then Louisville flashed on the screen to be facing Samford. 

A 6 p.m. E.T. Thursday match on Dec 5th. at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green for UofL Volleyball. Win and advance to play there again at the interesting selection of Friday at 6 p.m. It seems there is a basketball game on Saturday in the arena, so Volleyball has to play Friday. The Lady Toppers are bringing in Arkansas for hoops on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The Cards gave WKU their only loss of the season back on Friday Sept 6th. in the LNFCU. A 3-1 set "W" for the Cards 25-18, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15. Before the cart gets too far in front of the horse, though...Louisville does have Southern Conference Tournament champion Samford to face first. The Bulldogs won the three-day event in Spartanburg, SC by beating The Citadel, Furman and East Tennessee State. 

Samford (24-5) has won their last 12 matches and went 15-1 in conference to win the regular season title as well in the Southern. They faced WKU in non-conference play and fell 3-0 in sets to the Hilltoppers. Other losses were against East Tennessee St., Northern Kentucky (who made the NCAA Tournament also) and Tulsa 

The main kill artists for the Bulldogs are Kelsi Hobbs (459), a 6'1" right side hitter who is a senior and sophomore Lauren Deaton (421), an outside hitter. Briana Holmes leads Samford in blocks with 128. Setting is the major job for Corinne Meglic (1260) and Emily Naubert is Samford's dig leader with 442. 


Where is Samford?  In Birmingham, AL. is the answer. No Louisvillians on the Bulldog roster but middle blocker Sierra Rayzer is from New Albany, IN. The junior played at Christian Academy (IN). 

Jeff McAdams was at the Selection Show viewing with the team and also got a few interviews after the selections. We have them at the bottom of  today's article. We'll also have more information later in the week about the bracket, Cards and WKU. 

A nice draw for Louisville, it would appear, for the first two rounds, but powerhouse Texas awaits if the Cards climb by Samford and (WKU/Kennesaw St.). 



-- Fans can purchase all-session tickets for $12 per ticket at WKUTickets.com 

-- Additional information on the tournament can be found at https://www.ncaa.com/championships/volleyball-women/d1

-- The bracket pairings can be printed from:  https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/print/volleyball-women/d1/2019 


Dani Busboom-Kelly on the draw: 

"We were excited to hear out name called. While we don't know much about Samford yet, we know they are good since they are in the field of 64. We won't have to worry about travelling and dealing with that, so, that is a huge plus for us. It will new new for us to play on the Thursday/Friday match in the first round but it is a quick turnaround for us."

Player/Busbooom-Kelly interviews on tournament: 

Tori Dilfer 

Aiko Jones

Dani Busboom Kelly 

paulie
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