Volleyball Wins; FH Drops Stunner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Snap Blue Jays Streak in 3-1 Win

Louisville walked into Sokol Arena in Omaha and did something that opposing teams have struggled to do against the Creighton Blue Jays: win a set. Entering last night, Creighton had dropped just two sets in the previous 91. When Louisville bounced back to win the second set last night, they made it three out of the previous 93. After the Cards completed the victory in four sets, they accomplished an even tougher task: beating the Blue Jays at home. The win snapped Creighton's program-record 32-match home winning streak, which stood as the nation's third-longest active streak. 

Coming off the heels of their first loss of the season to Texas on Wednesday night, Louisville got off to a rocky start in Omaha. Creighton hit .364 in the first set and used a quick 5-1 mid-set run to take a strong lead at 15-11. Louisville fought back to keep the set close, but after the Cards made it 18-20, Creighton rattled off three straight points to put Louisville at a significant disadvantage. Louisville could only win one more point and the final score in the first set was 25-19. 

The Cards got their feet under them a bit more in the second and held a 12-9 lead before the home crowd empowered the Jays to take another swipe at Louisville. Creighton used a 9-1 run to turn Louisville's lead into a precarious deficit. At 18-14, the Cards were staring down a 2-0 set score on the road heading into the halftime break. The two teams edged toward the 25-point marker for the end of the set, but Louisville used a short burst to tie it at 21, and things got awfully nervy from there. Louisville was the first to find a set-point opportunity at 24-23, but Creighton fought it off to earn their own at 26-25. The Blue Jays missed their golden opportunity with a service error to put the Cards level. From there, Creighton wouldn't earn another set-point chance, but they fought off three more from Louisville before the Cards ultimately evened the match with a 31-29 second set win. 

The third saw Creighton build another moderate lead toward the middle of the set with the score at 12-6, but Louisville used a run from Chloe Chicoine at the service line, including an ace, to pull the set level at 12-all. Creighton continued their strong play at home by leading through the latter parts of the set, but a late service error gave Louisville the opportunity for another boom. A Nayelis Cabello (playing on her birthday) serving run pushed Louisville to a 23-19 lead. The teams traded points, putting Louisville in the driver's seat with four set-point opportunities. The Cards needed three of those, but another service error by Creighton gave Louisville the 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win. 

The fourth set was fairly tight for the majority, but it ultimately played out similarly to the first with the teams reversed. Louisville held the lead for most of the set, but never by more than a couple of points. Once the Cards stretched their lead to 20-16, it took the wind out of the Blue Jays' wings a bit. Creighton couldn't overcome the deficit, with the crowd becoming a bit more resigned with each passing point, and Louisville flipped the set one score with a 25-19 victory to win the match 3-1. 

Creighton was christening their new Taraflex floor in Sokol Arena with the Blue Jay Invitational, so the Cards spoiled that party a bit. While the FS1 announcers praised it, and I certainly appreciated the detailing and concepts, I thought it was a bit distracting as a television viewer. Perhaps it was less so in person, but I digress. A few reviews last night also displayed the disparity between different facilities in collegiate volleyball. The fact that we can have high-definition line and net cameras for one match and be limited to three television camera views for reviews in the next is rough. It makes it difficult for coaches to make consistent challenge decisions and it's frustrating as a viewer. 

Louisville was led offensively last night by Payton Petersen. Petersen finished with 18 kills on .318 hitting and nearly had her second straight double-double with nine digs. Chloe Chicoine did pick up a double-double with 17 digs (led the team) to go alone with her 11 kills. Chicoine struggled early and had to dig herself out of a negative hitting percentage midway through the second set, but she finished with .111, so not terrible. Kalyssa Blackshear also had 11 kills and Cara Cresse had 14. 

Nayelis Cabello finished with three kills and two errors to go along with her 42 assists. She had two of Louisville's five aces (including one to win the second set) and picked up seven digs. Cabello also had a block assist and an incredible solo block against the Creighton middle blocker after a Louisville over pass. The birthday girl was everywhere, and the sophomore is showing that she is well-deserving of all the praise she has received and more. 

Defensively, Louisville wasn't able to be as effective on the block as Wednesday night. The Cards finished with just six total team blocks and were out-blocked by the Blue Jays (10). Creighton did a good job of tooling blocks, with a large number of their kills coming off of Louisville hands. The Jays actually outhit Louisville .279-.258. Kamden Schrand had 12 digs and Hannah Sherman led the team with three block assists. 

For Creighton, it's a tough result at home that moves the Jays to an unfortunate 3-4 record on the year. If there's any consolation for them, it's that all four losses have come against top-25 teams and they have picked up a win against a ranked opponent (Kansas). If they can pick up wins over UNI and Rice to finish the weekend, they'll likely remain ranked. Louisville moves to 5-1 on the season, and Creighton marks their first ranked victory of the year. Louisville is back in action against UNI at 7:30PM tonight. The match will be streamed on the Creighton Athletics YouTube channel. 

FH Falls Late to Northwestern

Louisville forced the #1 team in the country to concede their first goal of the season, but they were ultimately unable to close out the win against Northwestern in an overtime heartbreaker. The Cards withstood relentless pressure from the Wildcats and needed just 153 more seconds of scoreless hockey to notch a massive win. Louisville got a huge boost from an overturned goal by Northwestern late in the fourth, but they couldn't keep the NU offense at bay when they pulled the goalie with four minutes remaining. A goal at 57:27 tied the game, and the golden goal rule sealed Louisville's fate when Northwestern scored two minutes into overtime. 

Gigi Edwards took the honor of marring Northwestern's perfect clean sheet record when she scored an unassisted goal early in the second quarter. The goal came at Louisville's third time of asking in a flurry of shots. NU goalie Juliana Boon saved a shot from Lauren Masters and a rebound from Edwards before Edwards's second rebound attempt found the back of the cage. Those three shots on goal, which came in a span of seven seconds, were Louisville's only shots on target in the match. The Cards managed eight total shots, with six coming in that second quarter.

NU also had six shots in the second quarter, which followed four shots in the first and which they matched in the third. The Wildcats ended with 19 total shots and put 11 of them on target. Their fewest shots came in the fourth quarter. They tallied just one, it was on target, and it was the equalizing goal. Field hockey can be a brutal game. Emily Young was incredible for Louisville, as the defense faced seven penalty corners and she finished with nine saves. 

Northwestern is an incredible team, and a 2-1 result would be encouraging in other circumstances. It will likely still be viewed positively when it comes time to review resumes, but being less than three minutes away from a 1-0 win over the top-ranked squad takes just about all of the shine off of a quality loss. 

The Cards get no respite from tough competition as they'll face the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes of Iowa at 1:30 tomorrow. The match in Trager Stadium will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. 

No CCRHP This Week

With hosts scattered about, we're taking the week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We should be back next week, but we'll let you know if that changes. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case