Soccer Upsets, Volleyball Rolls - Monday Cardinal Couple

Soccer and Volleyball Both Win

(Jeff back with you on this Monday morning covering for a medical sidelining.  We send best wishes to Paulie.)

Soccer Upsets Cal

It was a game mostly played in the first half, with all of the scoring happening before intermission, before settling into a defensive set for the Cards with Cal pushing hard to find an equalizer, but not succeeding.  The Cards ended up victorious with the 2-1 win.

Mackenzie Geigle did the job in scoring for the Cards, putting both shots in the Cal net in the first half.  The first goal came about 13 minutes in with Geigle getting the play underway with a pass out to Brooke Dardano on the left side.  Dardano crossed the ball to the far post where Geigle won the foot race to be able to deflect it into the goal.

After Cal answered to tie the game within just a few minutes, the game settled a bit.  In the 42nd minutes, however Lee Brooklyn corralled a loose ball just outside the Cal box, passed it over to Geigle at the top of the box.  A quick settle, and a shot that angled off the far post and into the net got Geigle, and the Cards, their second, and ultimately winning, goal of the game.

Strong defense in the second half only allowed two shots on goal by the Cal pressure, and Erynn Floyd was there to collect both.  She had five saves in the whole game.

The Cards defied expectations and took three points in the standings off of a ranked team.  The last time that happened was at the end of last season, where the Cards got a 1-0 win over Duke, who was also ranked 25th at the time.

An encouraging result for Louisville, though I don't think it much changes the prospects for post-season play.  What it does do, however, is give the players on the team some more experience, and a taste of what winning against a good team is like, with hopes of building for the future.

Soccer will be back in action Thursday, welcoming Boston College to Floyd Street.  The Louisville squad will celebrate their seniors Thursday before the game.

Volleyball Cruises to Victory Over NC State

The Cabello/Cuebas family had almost two whole rows of people in attendance as the Cabello sisters, Naomi and Nayelis, squared off on opposite sides of the net in the Louisville vs NC State matchup.

Nayelis and Louisville came away with the three set sweep, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19.

The first set was not as close as the score would suggest as the Cards came out, apparently remembering last year's defeat in Raleigh and determined not to let the Wolfpack spoil their NCAA seeding again.

The Cards jumped out to a 8-2 lead before it seems NC State really found the floor.  Louisville then went on a five point run to push the lead out to 19-8.  They would reach set point with 11 on the NC State side of the scoreboard and the Pack would put a bit of a run together to get to 15 before the Cards would finally put a close to the set.

The second set started out with some quality back and forth play with score reaching 11-10 in the Cards favor before they put a mini-run together to stretch it out to 14-10.  NC State would get no close than a three point margin the rest of the set.

The Cabello sisters, Nayelis
and Naomi, hug after the match.

NC State would get their first lead of the match to start out the third set, getting a quick 3-0 run to open the set.  The Cards answered, though, and the teams stayed close with mostly ties or small NC State leads, before UofL would get back in front at 11-10 and would never trail the rest of the way.

A nice moment after the match concluded with the Cabello sisters both being at the end of their respective team's handshake lines.  Meaning they were the last players to meet at the net.  Naomi ducked under the net and wrapped younger sister Nayelis in a huge hug.  This is the only time the sisters have faced off against each other on the court, and will almost certainly remain the only time as Naomi is a graduate student and will be finishing her NCAA eligibility at the end of the season.  The only possibility for a rematch would potentially be in the NCAA tournament.

Volleyball heads off for maybe one of the biggest matches in volleyball nationally this season as they head up to Pittsburgh for a bout with the top-ranked Panthers.  In the coach's poll, this is a 1 versus 4 matchup.  That's unlikely to change with the new coach's poll coming out later today.  In RPI Louisville is number one, with Pitt only a couple of spots back at three.

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JMcA