After three straight shutouts against Wake Forest, NC State, and Notre Dame, Boston College volleyball faced off against No. 4 Louisville in the Margot Connell Recreation Center on Sunday.
Despite a strong start against the Cardinals, the Eagles (12–14, 5–9 Atlantic Coast) fell 3–0 at home to Louisville (21–3, 13–1), which is ranked No. 2 in the ACC behind Pittsburgh, currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
“Our identity has been that we’re a good defensive group,” BC head coach Jason Kennedy said. “We’ve got to get back to our block, and this was the first time I think in conference we’ve probably been out-blocked. So we’ve got to revisit that a little bit and try to make sure we can inflict what we can at the net.”
The Eagles started strong in the first set by dominating the first three points, all kills from outside hitter Audrey Ross.
After trading points back and forth, the Cardinals closed the gap to equalize at 10–10. The teams equalized again at 11–11 before Louisville went two points up. But the Eagles continued to press the Cardinals up at the net and brought the score to 13–13.
After the Eagles took a 15–14 lead, Louisville Coach Dani Busboom Kelly called a timeout. It seemed to work as Louisville went on a three point run to go up 17–15.
Despite a brief Louisville resurgence, the Eagles held them to a two-point lead through the end of the set with two points each off of kills from Ross and fellow outside hitter Halle Schroder.
Down 20–19, Coach Jason Kennedy called a timeout of his own and, after going down 23–20, called a second timeout in an attempt to refocus the team. Despite these two timeouts, Louisville took the set 25–21 over the Eagles.
After the set loss, the Eagles struggled to build momentum early as the Cardinals established a comfortable 7–2 lead. The Eagles, remaining competitive, held Louisville to a five-point lead before the Cardinals pulled away 15–8.
After a brief BC timeout, the Eagles and Cardinals traded three points back and forth before the Eagles went on a five point run to close the gap at 17–14, prompting a Louisville timeout. BC extended its run to six points after the timeout, however, Louisville pulled away to end the set with a four-point run of their own, winning 25–18.
BC and Louisville traded four points to begin the third set, but Louisville responded with a commanding seven to one run that would set the tone of the third set.
The Cardinals then went on to extend their lead to 12–5, prompting a BC timeout. The Cardinals would go on another run, this time for four points. Another four-point run put Louisville up 20–6.
“I thought [Louisville] served really well in the third set, and we were playing catch-up the whole time,” Kennedy said. “It’s going to be hard to play catch-up in that regard, when they have their free range to serve.”
Although the Eagles were able to put two more points on the board from middle blocker Cornelia Roach and off a Charitie Luper attack error, the Cardinals closed out the set 25–8 to go 3–0 on the match.
“We’ve got to do a better job cleaning up on the serve and receive as we head into these last six,” Kennedy said.