By Charlie Leffler

On Friday evening the Cardinal volleyball team stepped into the arena against new C-USA foe TCU. Freshly ranked in the top 25, the Cards were looking to make a statement as well as retain their ranking. What they got instead was a less-than-impressive 3-0 sweep of the Horned Frogs (3-8, 1-2).

Though they pulled out the match 30-26, 30-23, 30-27, the Cards were inconsistent and had pronounced lapses.

“We haven’t really played our game yet here at home,” said junior outside hitter Sonja Percan. “We haven’t performed as we really wanted to yet. I don’t know what it is. I just think that it’s a lot of pressure on our shoulders knowing that we’re not supposed to lose any matches in this conference.”

The first game started off with each team scoring in batches. Louisville pulled out to a 13-9 lead but then quickly gave up three straight points. The Cards then reeled off five straight, including back to back aces by Senior Melissa Karrer, only to give back three straight to the Horned Frogs once again, pulling TCU within three at 18-15. The teams traded groups of points until the Cards finally called time out while leading 23-21. Coming out of the timeout the teams traded points until the score reached 28-25. Louisville managed to close out the game on a Senior Lesley Drury kill, giving them a 30-26 win.

The scoring in the first game was fairly divided with the Cards having four players with four kills each, Stacey Mercer, Anastasia Zaitseva, Percan and Drury. The Cards also totaled 10 errors in the game but still out-hit the Horned Frogs .220 to .171.

“We’re kind of getting tight in every game, trying to show too much,” Percan said. “Every game is kind of a practice for us. We’re trying to improve our blocking and defense skills. We’re still learning, even during the game. The practice is not even enough for us any more.”

Aided by two Horned Frog illegal contacts, the Cardinals jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second game. But Louisville appeared to relax their efforts and TCU roared back to take a 15-11 lead. After a Louisville timeout, the Cards came out on fire. Off the service of Sara Drury and Zaitseva, Louisville outscored TCU 10-2 to take a 21-17 lead. The only points scored by TCU during the run were on Cardinal errors. With the help of several vicious kills by Percan Louisville held on to win the game 30-23. Percan finished the game with six kills, but she was also credited with three errors. The Cards out-hit TCU by a whopping .293 to .120.

In the third game, the Cards were looking to put TCU away early. Louisville jumped out to a 6-2 lead off a kill from Lesley Drury. Then after an untouched ace serve from Zaitseva, the Cards were up 12-6. A Horned Frog timeout did little to stop the bleeding. When TCU pulled within three at 13-10 it appeared to only make Louisville play harder. Helped by back-to-back service aces by Senior Emily Roberson, the Cards responded by ripping off seven straight points to pull up to a 20-10 lead. The Horned Frogs did not threaten again and Louisville closed out the match on back-to-back points by sophomore Benny Flynn. The Cards out-hit TCU .260 to .058 in the game.

Louisville’s Lesley Drury finished the match with 11 kills, three blocks and one ace.

Even though they have won by considerable margins over their last several games, the Cards still know that they have not reached their potential. “This team could probably be better than sweet sixteen,” Percan said. “The only sad thing is that we haven’t shown that kind of game to our fans at home yet. But I know we can do it. We’re just mentally tired because we’re trying so hard every day in practice, it just takes so much out of us. But I think, when it’s going to count, we’re going to pull together and do it.”

“It’s kind of an interesting year,” said head coach Leonid Yelin. “It’s the first time in my six years here that our team plays better on the road than at home. This should be a very good home team, but so far our best matches we have played are on the road.”

The Cards were back in action once again on Sunday against Houston.