Volleyball Heads Out for the AAC Texas Swing
October 03, 2013 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 3, 2013
The Cardinals will make its first road trip in The American play as they get ready to make a swing through Texas to play SMU and Houston. U of L holds a 14-4 series lead over the Cougars and it is the first meeting with SMU.
The Louisville team put up big numbers this past weekend, going 2-0 in a pair of hard-fought matches against the Memphis University Tigers and the Temple University Owls. The Cards earned 114 kills, while keeping their opponents at 81 kills on the weekend. Aggressive serving proved to be significant as the Cards earned 11 aces to the Owls' and Tigers' 4 service aces combined. There was also a huge presence at the net with 23.5 total blocks in comparison to the opponents' 16.0 total blocks. Maya McClendon was awarded Freshman of the Week for the second straight week, became the first player in league history to win multiple weekly honors. McClendon continued her strong freshman campaign by helping Louisville to a perfect 2-0 start in conference play. She led scoring in both matches, opening with 17 kills and 9 digs against Memphis, and recorded her third double-double of the year with 15 kills and 11 digs against Temple. Overall, McClendon averaged 4.0 kills and 2.5 digs per set to spur the Cardinals to become the only team in the American last week with two victories over teams with winning records.
The SMU Mustangs finished the nonconference slate with an 8-5 record, winning three of the last four matches and now ranks second in the league and hitting percentage (.237) and third in kills. Caroline Young leads a team with 194 kills ranking fifth in the American. She picked up SMU's first Player of the Week award with 48 kills in 11 sets to lead the Mustangs to a 2-1 mark at the College of Charleston Classic -- the last tournament before the start of conference play. SMU got their first ever AAC win with a 3-0 win over UConn and then beat Rutgers 3-1. The Mustangs were led by conference Player of the Week Caroline Young, who earned the honor for the second straight week after posting 32 kills and 18 digs.
Houston has already played 16 matches with a 9-7 record. The Cougars snapped a six match losing streak last weekend as they opened AAC play with wins over Rutgers and UConn. Houston saw redshirt sophomore Kadi Kullerkann named to the Honor Roll after recording 24 kills and a .400 hitting percentages against RU and UConn.
