by Nancy Allison Worley – Erin Fairs had 16 kills and 11 digs and Tess Clark added 14 kills and four blocks as the No. 22-ranked University of Louisville beat No. 20 Florida State 3-2 to secure the lead in the ACC Sunday afternoon in Tallahassee.
UofL hit just .149 and had a season-high 38 hitting errors and still found a way to win. Janelle Jenkins added 13 kills and 10 digs and added five blocks. Katie George had 55 assists and 10 digs. Libero Molly Sauer had a match-high 19 digs. The Cards move to 15-1 in the ACC and 21-5 overall.
“I looked at the stats and saw nothing that would indicate that we won the match except the score,” said UofL head coach Anne Kordes. “It was an exciting match pitting two polar opposite styles of volleyball. They are the type of team that imposes their physical wills on to their opponent with their blocking. We won that on grit and leadership. I think Molly Sauer is flying under the radar as a great libero. Katie George flat out refused to lose that match and was creating offense out of nothing. She changed the momentum and then didn’t let her team back down. It was an amazing opportunity to get to play a phenomenal FSU team in a hostile environment. I expect them to go deep in the NCAA tournament.”
Florida State had 17 blocks and hit .172 as a team. The Noles were led by Nicole Walch’s 22 kills. The Seminoles stand at 13-3 in the ACC and 20-7 overall.
Florida State was down 13-9 in the first set and used a 10-2 run to take an 18-14 lead. The Cards hit .059 the set, hampering their comeback as FSU tallied five blocks. Louisville got close when Erin Fairs scored two straight kills to bring UofL to within two at 22-20. A net call on the Cards followed by a ball handling error gave the Noles the 25-21 win.
The second set was a game of runs with FSU using a 6-2 early to take 11-7 lead. UofL came back to tie at 13 and then ran out to a 16-13 lead. The Noles answered with a 7-0 run to go up 20-16. Erin Fairs rotated to the front row and scored three kills and a Maggie DeJong ace tooke the Cards to tie at 21. FSU answered with a kill and blocked Fairs. Undeterred, Erin Fairs got a kill to tie at 23. UofL hit the antenna to let FSU tie at 23. Janelle Jenkins cranked one from right side to get to set point and then Maya McClendon scored the set point for the 26-24 win.
In the third set, the Cards couldn’t get over the 8-2 run by the Cardinals that put FSU up 21-16. The Cards were then outscored 4-2 down the stretch for the 25-18 loss. FSU’s Katie Horton had six kills in the set and Louisville’s leading hitter, Erin Fairs, was held to one kill for the Cards. UofL’s .026 hitting did not help matters although the serving was aggressive.
In the fourth set, UofL’s hitting finally got hot at .266 and despite being down 16-11, the Cards managed to tie at 20. The teams traded points and the Cards managed to fend off match point at 25-24. UofL got two timely kills by a determined Erin Fairs for the 28-26 win.
In the fifth set, UofL popped out to an 8-4 lead and then pulled away from the Noles with .588 hitting. UofL scored 10 kills on 17 swings in the fifth with no errors. Tess Clark got a kill and then a block to put UofL up 13-8. A hitting error by Mercedes Vaughn gave UofL match point but Nicole Walch had big kill to stave off the win. Janelle Jenkins hit the winning shot for the 15-9 win.
Nancy Allison Worley
Associate Director, Sports Information
University of Louisville Athletics