Volleyball Set To Face Notre Dame and Pitt This Week

The University of Louisville volleyball team heads to Notre Dame for a midweek match with the Irish, Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. and then returns home for a match with league-leading Pitt on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.

The Cardinals return from a two-match road trip that saw them fall 3-1 at Miami and beat Florida State 3-0 in Tallahassee. This puts the Cards in second place in the ACC behind Pitt and NC State which are tied for first at 9-1.

University of Miami outside hitter Olga Strantzali had a school record 33 kills to lead the Hurricanes to a 25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 25-14 win onf Friday night. UofL was led by Melanie McHenry's 13 kills with Amanda Green adding 12 and Tess Clark connecting for 11 kills. The Cards hit .277 to the Canes .300 in a high octane match that also saw UofL get five blocks and have 54 digs. UofL had 12 service errors and were aced by UM nine times.

Senior Maggie DeJong had 10 kills and seven blocks to lead the Cards to a 27-25, 25-21, 25-20 sweep of Florida State on Sunday afternoon in Tallahassee.

UofL hit .188 with seven aces and ten blocks. The Cards had 11 kills from Melanie McHenry who added two aces and three blocks. Setter Wilma Rivera had four kills, 33 assists, seven digs and two blocks. The Seminoles (11-7, 5-5) hit .092 with a pair of aces and eight blocks.

Scouting Report
Notre Dame
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish come into this match with an overall record of 16-5 and a conference record of 6-4. The Irish are coming off a two victories in the state of Florida with a 3-1 win over Florida State and a 3-2 win over Miami. Notre Dame is currently first in the ACC in blocks with 224 and a 2.95 blocks per set average and aces with 123. Third year head coach Jim McLaughlin's Irish are lead offensively by sophomore Jemma Yeadon who has tallied 310 kills and a 4.19 kills per set average. Junior libero Ryann DeJarld leads the team on the defensive side with 486 digs.

Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Panthers are currently sitting atop the ACC standings with an overall record of 16-5 and a conference record of 9-1. Fifth year head coach Dan Fisher's Panthers are coming off a 3-0 win over North Carolina and a 3-1 loss to North Carolina State which ended their 13 match winning streak and gave them their first loss of the season at home. As a team Pittsburgh is currently third in the conference behind NC State and Duke with 1071 kills and they lead the league with a .280 hitting percentage. The Panthers are lead by sophomore Nika Markovic with 254 kills and a 4.03 kills per set average. Redshirt junior Angela Seman leads the team on the defensive end with 247 digs.

Series Record vs. ND and Pitt
Louisville trails the series with Notre Dame 15-20
Louisville leads the series with Pitt 13-9. Both teams were former conference opponents in the Big East.

Tess Clark hits the 1000 kills mark
Senior OH Tess Clark hit the 1000 career kill mark during the FSU game last weekend.

Cardinal Middle Blockers Lethal in ACC
Middle blockers Maggie DeJong and Jasmine Bennett are formidable at the net for the Cards in ACC play. Bennett is hitting .372 and has 40 blocks already (1.08 per set.) Maggie DeJong is hitting .400 with 41 blocks (1.11 per set).

Cards Receiving Votes on Volleymob Poll
The Cardinals are receiving votes on the latest poll by Volleymob, a new website devoted to volleyball.

Cards Face Steep Schedule
After 20 matches, the Card's rank No. 36 in the nation in toughest schedules. Four of their first ten opponents were nationally ranked. Add Illinois and Notre Dame into the receiving votes category and it's easy to see how the Cards rank this highly.

Cards Ranked in RPI
After 20 matches, UofL's RPI is No. 25. Notre Dame is 30 and Pitt is 32. The rating percentage index, commonly known as the RPI, is a quantity used to rank sports teams based upon a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.

Cards Attendance is Ranked
UofL ranks No. 51 in attendance in NCAA with an average of 952. The Cards are ranked 23rd in capacity percentage (79.30). Ranked first in the conference in capacity percentage.

Clark Among NCAA Career Leaders
Tess Clark is ranked No. 23 in active career leaders in hitting percentage with .355.

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Jasmine Bennett

Tess Clark

Maggie DeJong

Amanda Green

Melanie McHenry

Wilma Rivera

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