VBall Recap -- WSoc Visits Clemson -- HALLOWEEN THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JARED'S ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Volleyball Sweeps Notre Dame

Fans packed L&N Arena for a match between Louisville and Notre Dame. It certainly was not A Quiet Place as the Scream of the fans could be heard out to Floyd Street. Jeff and I were fortunate enough to get inside the packed arena and we Saw the entire match. Louisville's marketing team promoted it as a Halloween theme with special song choices throughout the match.

The Cards brought out the brooms en route to a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-17, 25-21). The blowout win meant Irish fans were quick to Get Out of L&N Arena. Things didn't appear to be going the direction of a blowout in the beginning.

Notre Dame raced out a 6-1 lead and then led 8-2 before Louisville settled in. The Cards rallied to go on a 7-1 run to tie the score at 9-9. Notre Dame's last lead in the set was at 14-13 and then it was all Louisville, who ended the match on a 12-3 run.

The second set saw some similar struggles early on with the Irish holding a 10-9 advantage. Louisville showed why they're the #4 team in the country from there, dominating the remainder of the set.

Coming out of halftime, things got out of hand quickly. The Cards found themselves up 19-7 and Dani Busboom Kelly decided it was time to empty the bench. The set felt like Child's Play up to that point. With several seniors set to graduate after this season, DBK knew it was time to let other players get some experience on the court. Notre Dame capitalized on the inexperience and cut Louisville's lead to 22-20. The Cards held steady and walked away with the win.

Louisville's Monster Squad pulled off some monster blocks, tallying 10 on the match. Middles Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman led the way in that department.

One item to note is that Charitie Luper, who has been a Shining star for Louisville, sat out this match. She was seen wearing a sling at one point, but everything appeared to be just a precaution. Her replacement for the match, Payton Petersen, was all over the place. Notre Dame would've needed an Exorcist to stop her. Petersen posted nine kills, five digs, one ace, and one block.

Anna DeBeer did what she does best and led all players with 10 kills. Elena Scott had Goosebumps seeing a big time cheering section spelling out "We <3 Elena!", but that did not stop her on court performance of 13 digs and an assist.

"We <3 Elena!"

Notre Dame was left scratching their heads hoping it was nothing but a bunch of Hocus Pocus, but this match was no dream, just a true Nightmare On Elm Street (or Floyd Street). These two teams will meet in a rematch this coming Saturday in South Bend.

The Cards (18-3, 10-1 ACC) continue to chase a national championship, hoping to get The Ring this year. Let's hope DBK and Co are Conjuring up the right recipe to make that happen.

Women's Soccer Visits Clemson

Photo by GoCards

Wrapping up their regular season tonight, Louisville women's soccer hits the road to face Clemson. The match is slated for a 7:00pm kickoff time on ACCNX. This match should kick off when it is Near Dark and go well into the night. Thankfully, Historic Riggs Stadium is far from the Children of the Corn that you may encounter as you move further away from campus. 

Clemson enters the match 6-8-2 on the year with a 2-7 mark in the ACC. This is certainly not the same Clemson team that earned a 1-seed in last year's NCAA Tournament and made it to the Final Four. The Tigers started conference play losing four in a row and currently ride a three-game losing streak with a pair of wins sandwiched in between.

Photo by GoCards

Louisville enters the match with a slightly better record of 7-6-4 overall and 2-5-2. Despite this, the Tigers hold a slight edge in RPI. 

The Tigers have been outscored 28-20 on the year with 21 of those goals allowed coming in conference play. The Cards have run into a similar issue in goal differential in the ACC. Both teams are looking to Purge whatever woes they have had this season.

Mackenzie Duff, Christian Brathwaite, and Kendall Bodak have each scored three goals for Clemson. Defensively, Nona Reason and Addy Holgorsen have split the most time in goal. The former has had the most success with 49 saves and a 0.754 save percentage.

Photo by GoCards

For Louisville, Karsyn Cherry has been a Hellraiser for opposing teams. The center back has helped lock down the back line of defense while also scoring six goals. Makenzie Geigle has had a bit of a Sixth Sense this year, allowing her to score seven goals.

A win would help Louisville's chances at an NCAA Tournament bid, but the Cards might need to rely on the skills of Beetlejuice to help make that happen.

Field Hockey Awaits Their Destiny

Photo by GoCards

Louisville field hockey will find out if their season is over or will continue with a key game tonight. No, IT does not actually involve Louisville playing in a game. Instead, this one features California visiting Stanford for a 9:00pm start time on ACCNX. With such a late start time, hopefully they do not play From Dusk Till Dawn.

While this season has felt like A Scary Movie for the Cards, there is a chance their season is still alive. The loser of Cal vs Stanford will finish tied for last in the ACC with Louisville. Louisville would hold the tiebreaker over Stanford but not over Cal. In this case we want Cal to win, allowing the Cards to beat out the Cardinal for the final position in the ACC Tournament.

Most recently, Louisville concluded the regular season with a blowout victory over UC Davis. Stanford also took down UC Davis by a score of 1-0 back in September on Friday the 13th.

The Cards have had some major struggles this year that are nothing short of A Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not even sure that The Ghostbusters could come in to solve the woes this year. 

We hope you got a good Smile and maybe even a Trick or Treat out of today's Halloween special.

Happy Thursday, Happy Halloween, and Go Cards!

Jared