FH/VB Split Close Matches -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Beats FSU in 5 Sets

Louisville volleyball hit the road to take on 21st-ranked Florida State last night and took down the Seminoles in a back-and-forth five set match. Louisville dropped the first before taking the next two and losing the fourth to lead to the tiebreaker. The Cards won the fifth set going away, 15-9. The victory was Louisville's fifth in ACC play, keeping them undefeated in conference, and it broke a 17-match home winning streak for FSU. The Cards take on FSU's travel partner Miami on Sunday at 1PM. 

FSU came out of the gates hot, hitting .417 in the first set en route to a 25-16 victory. Louisville hit just .200 with five errors, matching their high for the match, which they'd repeat in the third and fourth sets. Despite the higher error number in the third, Louisville still outhit the 'Noles .235-.207 in that third set. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Louisville responded to the opening punch from FSU with a .429 hitting percentage of their own in the second. They had just two errors compared to FSU's 8, which gave them a .182 for the set. Despite the hitting dominance, Louisville won just 25-21. They'd go on to win the third 25-21 as well. 

The match swung back in FSU's favor in the fourth, as the 'Noles outhit the Cards once more and inverted the score of the previous two sets, taking it 25-21 themselves. Neither team hit the ball out of the gym in the fourth, but FSU had enough juice. Part of what kept FSU so scrappy was the serving line. The Seminoles had nine aces compared to Louisville's four. They were also even at the line, matching the number of aces with the number of errors. Louisville was -11, as they had 15 service errors. Yikes. Those errors helped push the momentum squarely to FSU for the fifth set. After Louisville tied the fourth at 19, FSU had just one kill to score their last six points. Louisville had three attacking errors (including two of their nine blocks) and two service errors, including set point. 

FSU came out and won the first point of the fifth, but Louisville was about done playing games. At least, that's what they thought. The Cards won four of the next five points before FSU took three straight to regain a 5-4 lead. At the second time of asking, though, they were able to put it away. Louisville won the next four points to make the score 8-5 and alternated points until 11-9. All the past errors went by the wayside, then, and Louisville won the last four points of the match on four straight kills by Sofia Maldonado Diaz and Anna DeBeer. 

DeBeer led all hitters with 23 kills in the match (narrowly beating FSU's Audrey Koenig who had 22). DeBeer had six errors as well, but with 51 attempts, she finished with a solid .333 hitting percentage (outhitting the team's .295). Charitie Luper joined DeBeer in double figures with 12 and Sofi finished with nine. The Cards had two players finish with no errors, as PK and Reese Robins each had seven kills and hit over .500. 

Defensively, the Cards finished with one more block than FSU, picking up 10, all assisted. The Seminoles were keen to avoid Elena Scott, as Louisville's star libero had only 12 digs. DeBeer had a double-double with 11 digs and Luper narrowly missed it with nine. Elle Glock and Nayelis Cabello were each forced into five digs of their own. 

Louisville moves to 13-2 (5-0) on the season and they'll take a five-set road victory and run. That win is especially difficult in Tully Gymnasium, where FSU last lost on November 6th, 2023 to then 10th-ranked Georgia Tech. Louisville heads down to Coral Gables next, where they'll face the Hurricanes who are coming off of a five-set win themselves. Miami beat Notre Dame 3-2 last night to move to 11-5 (2-3). They've already played FSU twice and were shockingly swept by Virginia on the road last weekend. Tomorrow's match is at 1PM on ACCNX.

Field Hockey's Skid Continues with 2-1 Loss

Louisville field hockey brought in the top-ranked team in the land yesterday afternoon, and despite their best efforts, dropped their fifth straight match. Louisville was under immense pressure throughout the match but maintained a 1-1 tie until just under seven minutes remaining. UNC scored the game winner to move to 9-0 on the season and push Louisville down to 5-8. The Cards get no time to lick their wounds, as they hit the road for Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest tomorrow. 

Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Young has continued to split duties with Brandelynn Heinbaugh this season, and she has drawn difficult opponents. Young started the last two games and showed pretty well. Against UVA and UNC, Young played just under 60 minutes in each match as the Cards pulled the goalie, and she finished with a combined 11 saves and just three goals allowed. That's a combined save percentage of over 75%, which is pretty nice. Her season save percentage in 7.5 games is .694, which is still no slouch. 

As I mentioned last week, Louisville field hockey needs to find the offense. One or fewer goals per game isn't going to get it done against the quality competition they're facing. In addition to the lack of goals, Louisville isn't threatening much at all. The Cards were outshot 21-4 and 10-3 in on-target attempts. They gave up six penalty corner attempts and had just two. In the end, it was an incredible defensive effort that kept the match as close as it was. 

Louisville's lone goal in this one came as an equalizer in the middle of the second quarter. Chloe Plumb scored the unassisted effort, her fourth goal of the year. Other shots came from her sister Aimee, Chloe Cuzzupe, and Rylie Woolerton. 

UNC is very good, don't get me wrong. However, we've seen some real flashes from this Louisville team, and it seems like there should be more to them than what they've shown in conference play. The Cards have four games remaining and they'll have to win out to finish above .500. Three of those four matches are on the road, with the lone home match coming against a tough Duke team next Friday. They are back in action tomorrow against Wake at 1PM on ACCNX.

Other News and Notes

Louisville softball played two against Indiana last night as they continued their fall ball schedule. The Cards won the first game 5-4 on a walk-off single. Our correspondent had to leave midway through the second game so we've got no reporting on the final from Ulmer. Louisville athletics, as usual, are tight-lipped on the results of scrimmages, so let's just think positively and assume they won. Softball looks to be having fun and can hopefully break through once spring comes around. 

Louisville soccer is back in action at home tonight, but most of us will miss the rare Saturday evening event. The Cards are taking on Notre Dame, who is currently ranked 13th, and we'll hope to see an upset. Louisville has lost five of their last six but they've played pretty tough competition. After the brutal trip to Tobacco Road (losses to UNC and Duke by a combined 8-1 score), the friendly confines of Lynn Stadium will hopefully turn things around. Tonight's match is at 5PM and will be carried on ACCNX. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

There will be just three of us this week as Daryl and Jared are otherwise occupied. As has become a disappointing norm, we'll look forward to talking about volleyball and try not to spend too long commiserating about the others. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case