By Noah Allison–

With a 3-0 win over Georgia Tech on senior day Louisville volleyball improves to 23-5 overall with a 17-1 ACC record. With only two road games left in the regular season the Cardinals look to close out their overly successful second year in the ACC strongly.

After starting 10-0 in ACC play the Cards dropped their first match to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Since then they have managed road wins over University of Miami and Florida State that have allowed them to crack the top 20 rankings and have a chance to win the ACC.

“Getting over the Miami Florida State hurdle was a huge weekend on the road for us and we knew if we could get those two teams away that we could take care business,” senior setter Katie George said.

“We are just taking it one game at a time, we know that we are on the cusp of doing something really special, but we can only do something special if we win out. So every game is a new focus.”

In their eighteen conference games played the Cards have only dropped a total of ten sets, shutting out 12 of their ACC foes.

“Once we played North Carolina and we lost we knew we had some work to do so we got back in the gym and from there on we’ve only had one goal and that’s to win the ACC,” freshman libero Molly Sauer said.

Down the stretch each games matters for the Cards to not only have a good ranking in the NCAA Tournament but to also possibly host the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

“We know that teams down the stretch are going to be gunning for us because as we are in the top spot people want to take down the top team and mess up something that they have going on,” George said.

“That’s what we were doing last year when we were 15-15, we just wanted to wreck whatever other teams had going for them and that’s how people are going to look at us. We have a target on our back but these last few games are going to be really important for us to take the ACC title.”

George and her fellow seniors outside hitter Erin Fairs and defensive specialist Roxanne McVey have led Louisville to this successful season with their on the court play and off the court leadership. As each of them were honored in senior day ceremonies over the weekend it was a reminder of how key maturity has been to the success of this season.

“They work very hard, they are responsible, they do what we ask them to do, they understand what is at stake and they are so competitive,” head coach Anne Kordes said. So it’s a great situation when as a coach you can turn your back and know your team is doing the right things because the upperclassmen are driving it. It’s a pretty special group, for sure.”