Volleyball Falls to Illinois in Cardinal Classic Finale

Saturday, September 2

LOUISVILLE, KY.

7:30 p.m.

University of Louisville

2-3

ILLINOIS

6-0

ILL

Louisville

Volleyball Falls to Illinois in Cardinal Classic Finale

September 02, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery Season Stats after Illinois Illinois v Louisville box score

Tess Clark and Melanie McHenry named to All Classic Team

By: Nancy Worley

University of Louisville senior Tess Clark had 11 kills and a block but the Cardinals fell 25-18, 25-15, 25-20 to the University of Illinois in the finale of the Cardinal Classic Saturday night at Cardinal Arena.

"They played a great match. They have a very low error team and they have a fantastic setter, so they become very hard to stop," said UofL head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "We did not compete very well tonight and I am not sure why that is and that's why we got to get in the gym on Monday and figure out how to get better."

The Illini emerged from the Classic with a 3-0 mark to take home the tournament championship. Illinois hit .261, had 13 blocks and eight aces. Blayke Hranicka had 11 kills on 16 swings to hit .6252 and added four blocks to lead the Illini. She got help from Jacqueline Quade's 13 kills and two blocks. The Cards hit .041 and had three aces and three digs. Melanie McHenry helped the Cards' effort with 10 kills. Illinois improves to 6-0 for the season and Louisville moves to a record of 2-3.

In the first set, the Cardinals stayed close early on, tying at eight on a kill by Melanie McHenry but Illinois had a 6-2 run on the strength of Caroline Welsh's serving. Louisville came back to within one at 16-15 on a kill by Amanda Green but were outgunned 9-2 down the stretch before falling 25-18. Illinois hit .344 in that set.

In the second set, Illinois had five aces and upped their hitting percentage to .348 making it difficult on the Cards to bail themselves out after falling behind by seven at 14-7. Illinois used a 9-3 run to put UofL away 25-15 to take a two set lead into the break.

The Cardinals came out swinging after the break and traded points with the Illini, tying 10 times with five lead changes. Louisville led briefly midway through the set when they went ahead 16-15 on a Illinois hitting error, but never led again before bowing out 25-20. The Cardinals had all three of their blocks in the final set, but were unable to string together the runs they needed despite six kills by McHenry.

"Our saying is 'win or learn' so if we don't win we have to learn from it," said Busboom Kelly. "This team needs to learn how to compete in practice and try to translate that to the court. You see flashes of how great we can be with the pieces that we have and I think our players see that. It gets disappointing when we don't show it. But they're hungry to have a successful year so I have no doubt that they'll be getting in the gym on Monday and going after it."

UofL heads to Las Vegas for the UNLV Tournament next weekend where it will face UC-Irvine, Weber State and the Running Rebels.

All Cardinal Classic
Challen Geraghty (Kent State)
Sydney Engle (Western Kentucky)
Tess Clark (Louisville)
Melanie McHenry (Louisville)
Ali Bastianelli (Illinois)
Brandi Donnelly (Illinois)
Jordyn Poulter (Illinois) Most Valuable Player