CARDS VOLLEYBALL AVOIDS YELLOW JACKETS STING -- FIELD HOCKEY TODAY -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS GEORGIA TECH IN ATLANTA

Louisville Volleyball travelled to "the flats" yesterday -- Georgia Tech's name for their campus -- but was anything but flat in a three-set sweep of the Yellow Jackets. 

"The Anna's" were leading the Cardinals charge --middle blocker Anna Stevenson had 11 kills and five blocks and outside hitter contributed 12 kills and three blocks in Louisville's 25-15, 36-34, 25-23 sweep of the 11-3, 2-2 Tech squad. With the win, #3 Louisville goes to 14-0. 

It certainly looked like Louisville would have no troubles at all with the home-standing foe in O'Keefe Gym early on. The Cards jumped out early to a 8-4 lead and, after a GT timeout, proceeded to go on a 8-1 run to erase any doubt on who was going to win the first set. The Cardinals "A-Team" was outplaying a step-slow, hesitant bunch of "killer B's" and cruised to an easy, 10-point set victory. 

Georgia Tech, however, was not ready to be completely destroyed by the Cards powerful block and kill attack. The Atlanta school kept it close the entire set and looked to have Louisville on the ropes with a late 24-21 set lead. The Cards were able to tie it, though at 24-all and then a wild "score point, allow point" sequence started that pitted UofL's block capabilities against the GT strong kill game. Back and forth the two went, and, they eventually reached a 34-34 tie, 

Stevenson stepped up huge for the Cards at that point --  getting a kill to push Louisville into the lead and then combining with Tori Dilfer for a block that finally gave the marathon set to Louisville 36-34. The outcome produced the most points Louisville has ever scored (or given up) in the 25-point match era. 23 ties and 11 lead changes. A deserved halftime break for both after that "slug it out" fest -- but, the Cards had grabbed a 2-0 set lead against a Techster team that would not go away. 

Set three started with GT jumping out to a 4-1 lead. It was clear that the Yellow Jackets weren't ready to concede a sweep to Louisville, but the Cards came alive and threw a 6-0 run at Buzz and the Killer B's. Tech, however battled back to climb within one at 15-14 and made another late rally, cutting a Cardinals 22-17 lead to 24-22. Anna DeBeer made sure another marathon session wouldn't take place, though, taking a Dilfer set and sending it home to give Louisville point, set and match.

 

A hard-fought sweep for Louisville, which didn't come easily at all.  I'd speculate the Cards were probably overjoyed to leave the hot, high-school type setting and return home. Give Tech credit for showing up to support their Volleyball squad. There were 1200 jammed into the facility yesterday and theu were making enough noise for three times that number. The Cards will bring in a couple of very strong foes to the LNFCU beginning Friday Oct 8th, when 12-6, 2-2 Boston College visits and Sunday, Oct 10th., when former UofL Volleyball head coach Leonid Yelin brings his currently 14-2,3-1 Syracuse Orange to town for a 1 p.m affair. 

This Louisville squad is cool under pressure and has so many different weapons  Triple blocks From foes don't phase them, they simply find another way and source to attack with. Georgia Tech has a very good and definite NCAA Tournament participant roster that will likely be a headache for the rest of their ACC foes and could make some big noise come December. 

DANI BUSBOOM KELLY POST-GAME REMARKS: 

(via Twitter):  "It was a hard fought battle to get this sweep. There was some serious power on the court today...really enjoying this 2021 journey!" 

FIELD HOCKEY HOSTS RED HAWKS TODAY

We aren't used to Monday Field Hockey for the #3 Louisville Field Hockey flock, but the Cards will welcome in Miami (OH) today for a 7 p.m. match at Trager tonight on the ACC Network. 

Why the Monday match? It seems the red Hawks were engaged in a Sunday match in Oxford, OH -- entertaining Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons took a 2-1 win back to Winston-Salem with them yesterday -- dropping Miami (OH) to 6-7 record. The Red Hawks loss snapped a three-game win steak that saw them outscoring opponents 12-2

Just because the RedHawks are under .500 on the season doesn't mean they can be taken lightly. They had a very tough and competitive pre-conference slate that featured three BIG 10 ACC and three Big 10 squads -- a total of eight top 25 squad in all. 

Miami (OH) was picked as the preseason MAC favorite and is atop the pack with a 3-1 in conference record so far in 2021. They'll end the regular season hosting fellow Mid-American conference member Bellarmine, who is 1-9 on the season. 

Claudia Negrete Garcia leads the RedHawks with 10 goals on the season and Miami is outscoring foes 25-22 so far. Goalkeeper Isabelle Perese has started all 13 matches and has five shut outs. 

It'll be a homecoming for six RedHawks who played their high school hockey in Louisville. Sophomore Mary Kate Barbee, and freshmen Reese Wearren and Kennedy Vinson starred for Sacred Heart Academy, seniors Laurel Dortch and Taylor Curran are from Christian Academy grads and freshman Becca Kline spent her high school days at Assumption. 

Louisville won the last meeting back on March 22nd. 2-1 at Trager. The Cards have won the last 15 matches in the series. 

For Louisville, it pretty much breaks down to the Cards playing what head coach Justine Sowry likes to call  "Louisville-style" Field Hockey in order to get the "W".  Will there be "extra hockey" tonight? The Cards have gone double overtime in their last two wins (over Ohio State and Wake Forest). No stranger to challenges, the Cards have played six consecutive top 25 opponents in a row. 

This will be the Cards last appearance in Trager until Oct 29th. A five-game road trip awaits -- with trips to Michigan, Boston College, Northeastern, North Carolina and James Madison ahead. -- before Louisville closes out the regular season hosting Syracuse .

Have a marvelous Monday! 

paulie