Cardinals Open ACC Slate at NC State and UNC

The University of Louisville volleyball team hits the road for the North Carolina swing to open ACC play. The Cardinals will take on the NC State Wolfpack at 7 p.m. on Friday and the North Carolina Tar Heels at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The Cardinals moved to 7-4 overall with a 3-0 (18-25, 13-25, 14-25) loss to Kentucky and a 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-14) win over Chattanooga over the weekend. Melanie McHenry continues to have a strong offensive showing for the Cardinals, tallying 126 kills on the season. McHenry also has 79 digs ranking second on the team. Molly Sauer has 167 digs on the season to lead the team.

NC State
NC State heads into the weekend with a 6-4 overall record. This will be NC State's first conference matchup of the 2018 season. The Wolfpack is coming off a 1-1 weekend at the ACC-SEC Challenge, where they emerged victorious over Arkansas, 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 17-25, 25-20, 15-13) before being swept 3-0 (24-26, 22-25, 21-25) by Georgia. Melissa Evans leads the offense for the Wolfpack with 133 kills while Teni Sopitan is right behind with 126 kills. Makenzie Kuchmaner is the defensive player to watch with 178 digs. Lauryn Terry has a team-top 25 blocks.

North Carolina
The Tar Heels will open conference play this weekend after having their game against Duke postponed due to weather. North Carolina added a Tuesday night match against Elon to make up for not playing over the weekend where the Tar Heels beat the Phoenix 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-18). Before Tuesday, the Tar Heels were last in action the weekend of Sept. 7-9 where they beat Oklahoma in five sets, 3-2 (26-24, 20-25, 21-25, 21-25, 25-16, 17-15) and then fell to both No. 24 Colorado, 3-0 (14-25, 18-25, 20-25) and Georgia 3-1 (17-25, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25). Destiny Cox powers the offense with 106 kills while Mia Fradenburg bolsters the defense with 100 digs. Katharine Esterly has 30 blocks on the season, averaging 1.1 blocks per set.

Bennett Ranks Third in Nation in Hitting Percentage
University of Louisville middle hitter Jasmine Bennett is ranked third in the nation in hitting percentage for Division I NCAA Volleyball. The senior from Paducah, Ky., is hitting .467 this year after 11 matches for the Cardinals. Bennett is also currently ranked No. 13 for in career hitting percentage at .344 among active players in NCAA Division I. She has been held under 400 hitting just three times this season and hit .722 (13 kills, no errors on 18 attacks) against No. 4-ranked Florida. She hit a gaudy .778 last weekend against Chattanooga and .600 versus Southern Illinois in the opening tournament. She has six matches in double digit kills with a season-high 14 against Lipscomb. In rankings from ACC teams, she is first with her .467 average being 40 points higher than the No. 2 hitter in the league (Duke's Lily Cooper's .419).

How to Follow the Cards:
Both matches are streamed on ACC Network extra.
NC State is here: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3428983/louisville-vs-nc-state-w-volleyball
North Carolina is here: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3428951/louisville-vs-north-carolina-w-volleyball

Live Stats here:
NC State: https://gopack.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
UNC: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=unc

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Players Mentioned

Jasmine Bennett

Melanie McHenry

Molly Sauer

University of Louisville Athletics