Louisville opened up the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament last night against Samford University. The Cardinals earned one of the four number one seeds in the tournament and proved their dominance last night against the Bulldogs.
Louisville only allowed Samford to record 34 points across three sets. In the first set, the Bulldogs only recorded nine points, getting outscored 25-9 for an easy set win for the Cardinals. Reigning ACC Player of the Year Claire Chaussee finished the game with nine kills and seven digs.
The Cardinals were led by Aiko Jones with 11 kills and setter Raquel Lazaro’s 28 assists. These two performances helped the Cardinal’s offensive attack, which ultimately overwhelmed the Bulldogs. The final kill total for each team was Samford with 21 and Louisville with 44.
Samford failed to record any blocks against Louisville, which only sped up the end result of the game because they could not contain Coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s high-powered offense. Not only could they not get a stop against this offense, they also recorded 19 errors to just 6 Louisville errors.
To say this was a mismatch would be an understatement, however the NCAA Tournament is no stranger to Cinderella stories. One match can be won by any team at any time who decides to get hot at just the right time and can go on a run. Other times, the clear favorite dominates the game and moves on easily.
The latter is what occured in this matchup and to see Louisville carry over their seasonal dominance to the postseason is exciting for Cardinal fans. With the abysmal record of the Louisville men’s basketball team and the success of the Louisville women’s volleyball team and basketball team. It is very clear the women in the unviersity are carrying the current success of this school on their shoulders.