Cardinal Classic
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Aug. 24-25, 2018
Louisville (RV) started the season with a pair of home victories on Friday with junior outside hitter Melanie McHenry starring in both contests. Elsewhere at the Cardinal Classic, UT Martin and Southern Illinois each picked up a victory.
Louisville def. UT Martin 3-0
- Louisville def. UT Martin (25-7, 25-17, 25-12)
- Box Score
- Louisville Recap / UT Martin Recap
Key Stats: Ten blocks and 10 aces and an efficient offense helped Louisville cruise past UT Martin on Friday. The Cardinals hit .478, while holding the Skyhawks to a -.067 effort. UTM, which hit -.269 in Set 1 and -.158 in Set 3, also managed two aces in the match.
Stat Leaders: Melanie McHenry and Amanda Green downed nine kills apiece and Piper Roe chipped in eight to lead the Louisville offensive charge. Wilma Rivera and Molly Sauer served up four aces apiece and Roe put up five blocks to assist the Cardinals in the victory.
Hannah Phillips was tops among the Skyhawks with eight putaways, while Gintare Mackeviciute tacked on four kills and an ace. Brooke Gyori added 10 digs and an ace.
How It Happened: UofL started off guns blazing with an 11-2 run, including two blocks and a kill by Roe and two Sauer aces. A 5-0 run pushed the margin to 16 at 21-5 and the Cardinals capped the win with three straight points including a McHenry putaway.
Three Rivera aces highlighted a 7-0 run to start Set 2. Five UTM miscues put Louisville up 16-6. The Skyhawks rallied to within three at 19-16, before McHenry took over with four kills to cap the 25-17 win.
Eleven kills helped Louisville to a 17-5 lead in Set 3. A stuff by Emily Scott and Wilma Rivera set up the final point, which came on a Claire Chaussee putdown.
Southern Illinois def. IUPUI 3-1
- Southern Illinois def. IUPUI 25-18, 25-19, 18-25, 25-22
- Box Score
- Southern Illinois Recap / IUPUI Recap
Southern Illinois overcame an 8-3 deficit in blocks with a strong service game and more efficient offense in a four-set win over IUPUI.
The Salukis outdid the Jaguars in kills (62-51), hitting percentage (.233 to .187) and aces (6-3).
Maggie Nedoma (17), Patience Brown (14) and Rachel Maguire (12) split the offensive load for SIU, while Maguire and Nedoma also aided the team defensively with 14 and 11 digs respectively. Five Salukis managed double-digit dig efforts in the match.
Elizabeth Scott turned in a 16-kill, 15-dig double-double to pace IUPUI, while Maggie Gibson added 13 kills and 15 digs.
After winning Set 3, IUPUI rallied with four straight points to go up 9-8, including two kills and a block by Kaitlyn Johnson. Another 4-0 run made it 17-13 Jaguars, but it was not enough as the Salukis put together a 10-3 run to vault ahead 23-20. Nedoma notched two aces, a kill and a block in the stretch. Kills by Emma Baalman and Brown capped off the comeback and the 25-22 win.
UT Martin def. IUPUI 3-1
- UT Martin def. IUPUI 25-16, 22-25, 25-22, 25-20
- Box Score
- UT Martin Recap / IUPUI Recap
A standout fourth set was the difference in a battle between UT Martin and IUPUI. UT Martin hit .389 in the stanza to close out the victory.
UTM bested IUPUI 52-41 in kills and 8-5 in aces, while outhitting the Jaguars .142 to .099. IUPUI won the block 9-7.
Three Skyhawks posted double-digit kill efforts: Megan Fair (16), Gintare Mackeviciute (14) and Hannah Phillips (10). Fair and Phillips each just missed a double-double with nine digs apiece. Jamie Rys added seven putaways and 12 digs, while Justine Walker put up five stuffs.
Hannah Oehlberg was tops among the Jaguars with 11 kills, but hit just .114 in the match. Maggie Gibson and Haley Hoffman followed with eight putdowns. Hoffman managed a team-leading five blocks.
UTM jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the final stanza, but IUPUI rallied to go up by two at 15-13 with help from four kills and a block by Wright. Trailing 17-15, the Skyhawks turned the tables with a 5-0 run, including two Phillips putaways and an ace by Rys. Another three-point rally put UTM on the hill at 24-19. A Megan Fair kill wrapped up the match at 25-20.
Louisville def. Southern Illinois 3-0
- Louisville def. Southern Illinois 25-10, 25-19, 25-13
- Box Score
- Louisville Recap / Southern Illinois Recap
Key Stats: The Cardinals hit .443 and served up seven aces in their second sweep of the day. UofL also outdid the Salukis 5-0 in blocks, holding their foes to a .135 hitting effort.
Stat Leaders: Melanie McHenry and Jasmine Bennett piled up 10 kills apiece to lead the Cardinals. Bennett hit at a .600 clip, while McHenry rounded out a double-double with 13 digs. Amanda Green tacked on eight kills and an ace.
Maggie Nedoma put down 10 kills to lead the Salukis. Kat Wagner and Patience Brown added five apiece.
How It Happened: Louisville made just one error in a .567 hitting effort in Set 1 as the team took a 9-1 lead and never looked back, holding the Salukis at least six points down the rest of the way in a 25-10 win.
Set 2 saw the Salukis jump ahead by as many as six at 14-8 before giving up the lead on an 11-2 run. Two SIU miscues pushed the UofL lead to five at 22-17, before two Bennett putaways set up a final hitting error for the 25-19 victory.
The Cardinals built a 17-9 lead in Set 3 before closing out the match on a final 7-1 run, including kills by Green, Bennett, McHenry and Emily Scott and a final stuff by Scott and Rivera.
“It was a solid first night of the season. We got to see what different people can do and experiment with lineups, so it was really fun to finally play someone other than ourselves,” head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said.
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