Volleyball In Top Five Showdown
Photos: Jared Anderson
The Louisville Volleyball non-conference finale has arrived, and it's a date that has been circled on the calendar of many across the volleyball watching community since the schedule was announced.
The Cards welcome in the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Yes, we pretty much all know the storylines by now. Louisville Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly grew up in the Lincoln, NE vicinity, played her college career there and won a national championship in the process. She returned there as an assistant coach, and was part of another national championship. Now she's hunting a national championship as a head coach, and has the opportunity to be the first woman to achieve that.
To say this is a big matchup would be an understatement, one of the biggest matches of the whole week in college volleyball. The Cards are ranked 4th and Nebraska is fifth ranked coming into this match, the same scenario as when the last time these two teams played, in Nebraska, when the Cards swept. As impressive as that is, it really can't be considered the biggest match of the week, as that title realistically needs to go to #1 Pitt's sweep of #3 Penn State Wednesday. It's been a week full of big matchups, including our win over Kentucky, Nebraska's upset of #2 Stanford, as well as Kentucky and Stanford matching up with the Card taking that win.
There is something else that boosts the visibility of this matchup, however, and it's hinted at by the 12:30 start time today. This will be the first regular season volleyball match aired on ABC. The "regular season" qualifier is needed as last year's NCAA Championship match (Texas over Nebraska) was aired on ABC.
A quick check of Ticketmaster seems to indicate that the lower bowl is completely sold out (a handful of tickets are available on the secondary market), and all of the side sections of the upper bowl are effectively sold out as well. Several other sections of the upper bowl have had significant sales as well. This looks to be the largest ever crowd for a volleyball match in the state of Kentucky, though it will almost certainly be surpassed in December when we host the Final Four.
As mentioned, the start time is 12:30, and the TV coverage is the ABC network, and we've heard the big storylines, but what about the matchup itself.
Louisville will need to make sure its rejuvenated blocking remains strong, avoid the 3rd set funk, and feed the middles as much as possible. The 6-2, or as I've been calling it recently to acknowledge Elena Scott's "secondary setter" ability, the 6-3 is expected to remain for the Cards. This let's us see both Sofia Maldonado Diaz and Reese Robins alternate on the right side, as well as both Elle Glock and Nayelis Cabello setting.
Nebraska will have similar keys, they'll want to serve aggressively to try to put us out of system to reduce the effectiveness of our middles in the offense, then depend on their blocking to slow down our left and right side hitters. Nebraska has the only player even in the discussion with Elena Scott for best Libero in the country in Lexi Rodriguez and they'll lean on her heavily to backstop the blocking. Typical of a midwestern team, they have lots of size and power that they'll try to bring to bear.
It should be a competitive match, and good exposure for the sport of volleyball overall. This is a statement, or at least a trial, by Disney, in their ongoing effort to find their best programming they can put forward to draw as many sports fans away from the NFL on other channels. No one expects volleyball to draw as many viewers as NFL, but Disney/ABC/ESPN is trying to figure out what gets them the closest second place margin.
Field Hockey - Battle of the Cardinals
The Field Hockey squad heads up I-65 (and a little of I-69) to Muncie, IN in the battle of the Cardinals.
The Louisville squad is expected to not have too much trouble with the Muncieites. The Ball State squad comes into the game with a 1-4 record with their only win over St. Louis, and that was in overtime. Losses came from St. Francis (2OT), Stanford, Indiana, and Kent State.
None of those are exactly powerhouse teams.
Louisville has been doing a bit better this year in getting goals off corner penalties, which has helped the offense be more effective, and they'll continue to look to spread the offense around, with nine different players having scored goals so far this year.
It appears that the game will be streamed from Ball State's streaming setup at:
https://ballstatesports.com/watch/?Live=1986&type=Live with game time set for a noon start which should give them plenty of time to play the game before any inclement weather arrives later in the day.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Just three of us for the CCRHP yesterday, but the discussion flowed well and we all mostly agreed on things, which is not always a given.
Soccer has had a bit of a mid-season break, and we talked about the implications of that, but then went on to discuss the improving outlook for Field Hockey, and then highlight the week of great matchups in volleyball (and not just for UofL!) and the significance of ABC coverage of today's match.
Check it out at:
or any competent podcast directory.
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JMcA
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