Volleyball Hosts NC State
The Wolfpack are in Louisville today as NC State comes to town to play at LNFCU Arena.
NC State comes to Louisville after upsetting the Cards last year in Raleigh. While it takes a body of work over the whole season, it's not unreasonable to opine that the loss to NC State last year dropped UofL off the four seed in the NCAA tournament, leading to the Cards playing Pitt at Pitt in the quarterfinals rather than on their home floor. And, well, you probably know how that went.
So the Cards should be looking for a touch of revenge, here. Even though NC State is not a top-of-the-rankings powerhouse team, they're unranked, and 33rd in RPI, they have a history of reaching up and punching high level teams, and this would be a signature win for them, so expect them to be highly motivated.
We do have an individual storyline in this match as well. Naomi Cabello is the big sister to Nayelis Cabello (Naomi is 6'1" to Nayelis' 6'0"), also plays setter, and also wears number 8. Naomi is a setter for the Pack, looking at stats, she has a solid lead on assists compared to the other setter, Katie Peterson, getting time, though it appears that they may be running a 6-2 offense using both, again, like Louisville does. (I call ours a 6-3 to recognize the "backup setter" role that Elena Scott plays on the court). A large contingent of Naomi and Nayelis' family is here this weekend, having had this weekend circled on their calendar since the conference schedule was released.
Louisville cruised to the win Friday over Wake Forest, the Cards need to come out ready to play today against a bit more dangerous team.
Start time is 1pm at LNFCU, and video is on the ACC Network Extra streaming.
Soccer
The soccer team is looking for some positives as Cal comes to Lynn Stadium on Floyd St.
I guess you could say it is getting a little easier as the last outing was against 6th ranked Stanford, and Cal is "only" ranked 25th. To be fair, though, Louisville played Stanford to a draw for 89 minutes and 58 seconds (not 59 minutes as I initially said on the CCRHP yesterday).
Realistically, however, I don't think anyone would claim that Louisville is as good of a team as Cal, but Soccer is a game where flukes can happen. Post-season play is mostly beyond expectations at this point for the Cards, though I haven't crunched the numbers to see if they're mathematically eliminated, yet.
The Bears are 10-4-2, 3-3-1 in conference and are arriving in Louisville on the three game losing streak. The first two losses are understandable, to 1st ranked UNC and 3rd ranked Duke, and the third to a good, but unranked Notre Dame squad.
Given the scenario, I suspect Cal will be ready to go and looking to take out some frustrations on this Louisville squad, so it will be important for the Cards to come out in top form.
It's an early start for soccer, with the first kick at noon, and video coverage is available on the linear ACC Network.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
With Daryl and Jared out at the football game, the CCRHP had Case, Paulie, and myself on the call again.
Coverage of our three big fall sports, with a wish for more of it to be "joy and excitement", beyond just the volleyball court, was on tap. Check it out!
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JMcA
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