It's the long awaited rematch....Louisville Volleyball vs Pitt tonight --- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 #1 VS #3...LOUISVILLE FACES TOP RANKED PITT IN VOLLEYBALL TONIGHT

It's been a month since the last Louisville vs Pittsburgh Volleyball match, all the way back to 10/15/24...when the two faced in Pittsburgh in the "Pete" ...aka Petersen Event Center. A five set match, where Pitt took the first set 25-21, Louisville won set two 28-26, set three was won by Pitt 25-17, the fourth set went to the Cards 25-22 and the fifth and deciding set fell Pitt's wys 15-12. 

The Cards were led by Anna DeBeer's 22 kills. Charitie Luper had 19 for the Cards. Elle Glock had 38 assist for thee Cards. 

It was the third straight five set win for Pitt over the Cards.  Olivia Babcock had 22 kills for Pitt and Rachel Fairbanks had 48 assists for the Panthers. 

One thing that may have led to the Cards five set loss was the 10 hitting errors by DeBeer. That number needs to drop in half if Louisvlle is going to knock off the visitors to the KFC YUM! Cenetr tongiht . Olivia Babcock had seven hitting errors for the Panthers in the first match.

The squads hitting %'s weren't all that spectacular.  in the first go-around. Louisville barely cleared a 1 for 5 success rate with .203...Pitt was slightly better at .262. 

It is a "red out" so...you know what to do....if you are going.  

As far as coverage, we'll have Jared taking photos and Jeff sitting in the stands. I am uncertain as to  whether Sonja and I will receive media credentials or not...I had not heard anything as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night. I will comment no further on that....the request has been made for press row and parking.  We'll either go or watch on cable

Dani Busboom Kelly previewed the match Monday, HERE'S what she had to say. I could not find any pregame video about the contest from Pitt's head coach Dan Fisher. 

The contest will be on the ACC Network if you can't attend.  7 p.m.

So, can the Cards even the score on the season and win this one over UPitt?  I am no expert on volleyball, that's is our man Jeff's forte...Here are his five keys to a Cardinal win... 

1) Serve and pass. (This is the evergreen selection for any 'keys to the game') but in Volleyball, serving aggressively on offense and good first ball contact in serve and receive is important. 

2) Blockng. Louisville lives and dies by the block. SMU beat Pitt by blocking well. 

3) Take the heat out. I think the chippiness between these two teams gets UofL a bit off their game. Keep the emotions in check. 

4) "It's just like any other game" Can't let the magnitutde of this game overwhelm . 

5) Similar to number 4, forget about what is ahead ...don't be too eager for Thanksgiving, or Stanford, or NCAA selection...stay mentally in this game right now. 

Let's hope the  Cards can prevail. It should be an exciting one. 

paulie