Volleyball Falls to No. 11 Florida State

Friday, October 28

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 PM

University of Louisville

7-14, 2-9

FLORIDA STATE

17-3, 10-1

FSU

Louisville

Photo by: Mike DeZarn

October 28, 2016 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Freshman Melanie McHenry's 14 kills and eight digs weren't enough as Louisville fell to Florida State 3-1 Friday night in KFC Yum! Center.

The Louisville Cardinals (7-14, 2-9) fell to No. 11 Florida State Seminoles (17-3, 10-1) 25-23, 18-25, 27-29, 10-15. The Cards' Tess Clark finished the night with 13 kills while hitting .280. Gabbie Wiley had 17 digs and an ace for Louisville. Jasmine Bennett contributed 10 kills and four blocks. Florida State's Milica Kubura led the way with 14 kills hitting .345 alongside Christina Ambrose, who recorded 12 kills while hitting .333.

"I am really excited about the way we came out strong. Gabbie Wiley had a career-best match. We have to place our focus on things we can control", said Anne Kordes, UofL coach. "We can control unforced errors, the service error and the hitting errors. I liked that we got a good glimpse of what we can do. But we have to continue the maturing process and not keep making the same mistakes. Credit to FSU, they wore us down mentally. We have to take things forward and learn from them."

The first set of the night was back and forth from the start. The Cardinals and the Seminoles were trading runs throughout.The Cards went on an 8-3 run to push the lead to 15-12 but the Seminoles answered with a 4-1 run of their own to get it back to 16-16. The Seminoles scored four straight later in the match to pull ahead 23-22 only to have the Cards answer with a 3-0 run to take the set, 25-23. Four kills each by Morgan Miller and Tess Clark in addition to McHenry's five was the difference maker for the Cards.

Tess Clark lead the way with six kills in the second set but the Cards dropped the set 25-18. Florida State took control about midway through the set. The Cards hung around early leading 5-3 at one point. The Seminoles would take a 7-5 lead after a string of four straight points that included two service aces. A 5-1 run that put the Seminoles up 16-10, although the Cards showed life with a three-point run to bring the score to 16-13 but the Seminoles controlled the set the rest of the way.

An electrifying third set began when Florida State jumped out front 6-1 out of the gate but the Cards battled back with a 6-1 run of their own that saw a pair of kills. Back and forth the set went from there until the set was tied 18-18. The Cards and Seminoles both went on small respective runs until it was tied again at 23-23. The set finally ended on a Florida State 3-0 for the 29-27 run.

Florida State kept the upper hand in the fourth set and 3-3 was the last time the Cards would have the set tied. The Seminoles had runs of 5-1, 8-0, and 5-0 as Cards were only able to muster 10 points in the 25-10 loss in the deciding fourth set.

The Cards are back in action at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday, October 30^th as they host the Miami Hurricanes at 2:00 p.m.