Field Hockey and Volleyball get Sunday Wins --MONDAY CARDNAL COUPLE

 

A good Sunday for a couple of Louisville women's sports squads, as #5 Cards Field Hockey went to VCU and emerged with a 3-1 win and #2 Louisville Volleyball defended the LNFCU with a four-set win over Georgia Tech. 

Let's look at them. 

FIELD HOCKEY RUNS BY RAMS 3-1

Louisville Field Hockey bounced back from Friday's loss at UVA with a 3-1 win at VCU. The rain from Hurricane Ian made things a little wet for both squads, but the Cards recovered from a slow start to outscore the home-standing Rams. 

Louisville's offense was slow-starting but their defense was solid, as the squads battled through a scoreless first quarter. The Cards got a penalty corner awarded with 9:41 gone in the second quarter, though, and Julie Kouijzer fired a shot past the VCU goalkeeper to put the Cards on top with a 1-0 lead. Aimee Plumb got the assist on the score. It was the Cards first shot on goal in the match. 

It looked as if that would be the lone score for the first half, but the Cards were awarded another penalty corner with 28 seconds left in the half. This time, it was Katie Schneider taking the shot and she fired one past VCU goalkeeper Sheridan Messier to give UofL a 2-0 lead. Mattie Tabor got the assist on the Cards second score. 

VCU cut the Cards lead in half with four minutes gone in the third quarter, but the Cards allowed no more scores for the Rams the rest of the way. 

Louisville picked up a third goal midway through the fourth quarter when Mia Duchars fired a shot at goal that was blocked. Aimee Plumb was there, though, to retrieve the blocked shot and fired it back at the goal with a reverse-stick shot for the match's final score. 

A good win for Louisville, in a game that was pretty much statistically even, except for the finally score. Both squads took eight shots, and each of them had six of those shots as shots on goal. The Cards goalkeeper Sasha Elliott had five saves, compared to Messier's three. 

Louisville goes to 9-2 with the win and will return to the road next weekend with a Friday trip to #17 Wake Forest and a Sunday visit to #14 Liberty. The Cards win broke a four-game VCU win streak and set the Rams record at 7-4. 

VOLLEYBALL DOWNS GA TECH IN FOUR SETS

(No, Jared did not show up at  the wrong facility Sunday.
It was the swim team's annual "shedding of the clothes" ritual.)

Maybe slow starts were the order of the day Sunday....as Louisville Volleyball dropped their first set to the Yellow Jackets but came back to take the final three sets in a 22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-21 win before a sold out crowd and clothes-shedding swim team in the LNFCU. 

Claire Chaussee had 16 kills for the #2 Cards and Elena Scott had a career high 26 digs to lift the Cards to 13-1 on the season, with a sparkling 4-0 ACC mark. Raquel Lazaro got the start and showed no ill effects with the ankle problem that sidelined her Friday, as she gathered 42 assists. 

The Cards looked a bit out of sync in set one and fell behind 5-3 early. Kills from Aiko Jones, Amaya Tillman and Nena Mbonu tied the contest up at 8-8, though. Tech, however, had amassed a 15-13 lead at the media break and stretched that out to 17-13, necessitating a Cards timeout.  Louisville tied it at 18-18 but Georgia Tech went from a 23-22 lead to score the final two points and pull of the 25-22 set win. 

Did that upset UofL? It sure seemed like it as the match progressed. The Cards trailed 7-4 early in set two, but they tied the set at 8-8 and then grabbed a 14-11 advantage. Louisville was just getting started and outscored the Yellow Jackets 11-3 the rest of the way. Aiko Jones had seven kills in the set and Ceci Rush had back-to-back service aces to even the sets at 1-1 with a lopsided 25-14 set triumph. That first set loss had become a distant memory. 

Louisville came out hot after the halftime break and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but GT rallied to turn the tables and take a 7-4 advantage. The Cards rallied to tie the set at 9-9 and then the squads bounced back and forth until the Ramblin' Wreck surged to a 15-13 lead at the media break. PK Kong helped spur a Cards rally with a block and kill to push them ahead 18-16 and force the Yellow Jackets to take a timeout. Tech battled back to trail by one at 20-19, and the Cards decided to stop the action and talk about it. After the pause, Jones had a kill for UofL and the Cards outpaced the visitors in points to take a well-deserved 25-20, with consecutive kills from Tillman and Chaussee closing out the set.. 

The Cards grabbed a 5-1 lead to begin the final, as it turned out, set and was up 8-5 before Tech rallied to tie things up at 9-9. Louisville and Tech battled to a Cards 15-13 edge at the media timeout. Louisville's defense and a Jones kill helped the Cards go up 20-16 after the media pause. GT had one last spurt in them and cut the Cards lead to 20-18. A  service error from the Atlanta institute and a Chaussee kill increased Louisville's lead to 22-18, though. A Jones kill made it 24-19 and Tillman ended the set and match with a kill to make it 25-20

A win before a national audience on ESPN and one that showed Louisville still had Georgia Tech's number.  Louisville did nothing to cause any doubt they shouldn't be #2 in the nation. #1 Texas swept Texas Tech in Lubbock to remain undefeated, so it's highly unlikely they'll lose the top spot in the standings

#2 Louisville begins a two-match road trip at Boston College on Friday  The Cards are atop the ACC with a 4-0 record, tied with Pitt and Syracuse. . 

(VOLLEYBALL PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

paulie