Volleyball Upsets No. 21 Florida State 3-0

Friday, September 29

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

8-5, 2-1

FLORIDA STATE

8-3, 2-1

FSU

Louisville

September 29, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

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Melanie McHenry had 18 kills to lead the Cardinals

By: Nancy Worley

Outside hitter Melanie McHenry had 18 kills with 11 digs to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-20, 31-29 upset of No. 21-ranked Florida State in ACC action Friday night in a sold out Cardinal Arena.

"First of all its awesome to see this place full and rocking and our players they felt really prepared and when they are prepared they play well," said UofL head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "They came out and took it from Florida State, we've challenged them to improve on their errors and they had very few attack errors tonight and that was really good to see."

UofL (8-5, 2-1) hit .270 with four blocks and three aces. The Cardinals got 13 kills from Jasmine Bennett, who added an ace and a block. Maggie DeJong had nine kills and two blocks. Wilma Rivera had 41 assists and 11 digs. FSU (8-3, 2-1) had 11 kills apiece from Milica Kubura and Christina Ambrose and hit .172 as a team with four blocks a pair of aces.

"We didn't use all our timeouts even though it was so close because that's one thing we're trying to let them work through some things," said Busboom Kelly. "This team, they want it and I never have to question that. So our leadership took over. You saw Molly Sauer make some big plays and then obviously Melanie at the end. "We need our six-rotation players to step up when the games are on the line and they all did that tonight."

In the first set, UofL used a 4-0 run to get a breathing room and force FSU to burn a timeout down 14-10. The Noles cut the lead to one at 19-18 on a Cardinal hitting error. FSU was outscored 6-2 down the stretch, falling 25-20. Jasmine Bennett had the winning kill, as part of her five of the set. The Cards hit a toasty .349 in the set and added an ace and a block.

UofL maintained the lead early in the second set, taking a 16-12 lead just after the media timeout. UofL hit 18-15 on a Maggie DeJong kill and sparked an FSU timeout. Louisville got set point on a Seminole service error. DeJong scored on the slide to give the Cardinals the 25-20 win and a 2-0 set lead going into the break.

In the third set. the teams tied 18 times with the lead changing hands six times. UofL got to set and match point at 24-23 on a FSU error and then proceeded to trade points back and forth. The Cards tied at 27 and Melanie McHenry scored four of the Cards final five points before a Seminole error gave the set and match to the Cardinals.

The Cardinals face an undefeated Miami team on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Cardinal Arena.

"Miami has one of the best outside hitters in the ACC so we have the challenge of slowing her down," said Busboom Kelly about Olga Strantali of the Hurricanes.