Cardinals Set to Face Samford in First Round

The University of Louisville volleyball team is set to play Samford in the first round the the NCAA Championship Tournament, Thursday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. ET at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky.

Should the Cardinals advance, they will play the winner of the Western Kentucky/Kennesaw State match at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Dec. 6.

Making its 28th appearance in the NCAA tournament, Louisville owns a 19-9 overall record including a 12-6 mark in ACC play. The Cardinals earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

"We were excited to hear our name called," said Dani Busboom Kelly, UofL head coach. "While we don't know much about Samford yet, we know they are good since they are in the field of 64 just like us. We won't have to worry about traveling and dealing with that, which is a huge plus for us. So there are a lot of positives from a crowd and fan standpoint but it is a quick turnaround from the moment we learned who we drew."

Louisville
The Cards were on a seven-match winning streak and were 14-3 when their six-rotation, four year starting captain Melanie McHenry went down to an ACL injury. The Cards lost four of the next five before finishing strong with a 4-2 mark down the stretch. UofL finished out their regular season with a 3-0 loss to No. 2 ranked Pitt when a career-high 13 blocks by Amaya Tillman and 14 kills from Claire Chaussee was not enough firepower for Louisville to down No. 2 Pitt in the final regular season match. Pitt took the match 3-1.UofL hit .116 with one ace and 16 blocks in the 25-22, 21-25, 25-11, 25-12 loss. Anna Stevenson added seven kills and Aiko Jones had 10. Tori Dilfer had a double-double with 37 assists and 12 digs.

"We knew we were in the tournament, but there is always a huge anticipation about where you are going to go," said Busboom Kelly. "What really seals your fate is what kind of draw you get. There are a lot of schools nearby that are hosting that are within driving distance, so each one that passed, we would get more and more nervous about where we were going to go and would we have to fly somewhere. So when you see your name up there, it is a relief, even if you know you are in."

Samford
Samford advanced to its second-straight NCAA Tournament with a 3-2 win over ETSU in the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament on Nov. 24. Samford won the regular-season title in the SoCon as well, finishing with a record of 24-5 overall and 15-1 in SoCon play. This is Samford's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulldogs earned bids previously in 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2018.

The key Bulldog to watch is senior Kelsi Hobbs, who was just named the Sports Imports/AVCA Player of the Week. Last week, Hobbs led the Bulldogs to three wins in the Southern Conference Tournament to capture the tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In the team's 3-0 first round win over The Citadel, she posted 10 kills and six digs. She had 23 kills and seven digs in a 3-2 win over Furman in the semifinals. In the championship match against ETSU, Hobbs tallied a career-high 26 kills and 12 digs in leading the Bulldogs to the 3-2 win.

For her efforts, Hobbs was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. For the season, she led the SoCon in both total kills (456) and kills per set (3.97). She was named the league's Player of the Year at the conclusion of the regular season.

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Players Mentioned

Claire Chaussee

Tori Dilfer

Aiko Jones

Melanie McHenry

Anna Stevenson

Amaya Tillman

University of Louisville Athletics