@CanesVB Travels to Notre Dame and Louisville
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team travels to Notre Dame and Louisville this weekend for a pair of ACC road matches.
The Hurricanes (9-13, 3-7 ACC), who played at Virginia last Saturday, will continue their road swing with a Friday night match at Notre Dame (18-4, 9-1 ACC), scheduled for 7 p.m. Miami will also play at Louisville (7-13, 2-8 ACC) at 2 p.m., on Sunday. Both matches will be aired on ACC Network Extra.
Friday’s match at Notre Dame will be the second meeting of the season between the Canes and Fighting Irish, as Notre Dame won in three sets on Sept. 25. Sunday’s match at Louisville will be the first matchup of the season between the Hurricanes and Cardinals.
There is expected to be plenty of fan support in South Bend, Ind., this week as four University of Miami athletic teams are in action against Notre Dame. Women’s soccer plays at 7 p.m., in Thursday, swimming and diving competes at 5 p.m., on Friday and football plays at 3:30 p.m., on Saturday.
Miami’s attack will be led by one of the top hitters in the ACC and the country in Olga Strantzali. The junior leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the NCAA with 4.53 kills per set. Strantzali, who leads the ACC in total kills with 358, also has used her dangerous and powerful serve to tally an ACC-best 0.41 services aces per set.
Anna Haak and Kolby Bird also have made an impact attacking at the pins. The sophomores rank second and third, respectively, in total kills for the Hurricanes. Haak, who has 223 kills on the year, also rates third on the team with 187 digs, while Bird is tied for second with 13 service aces and is third with 52 total blocks.
Lucia Pampana and Sakile Simmons man the middle blocker position for Miami and both players have made an impact at the net this season. Pampana leads all Canes with a .306 attack percentage and is the top blocker with 76 total blocks this season. Simmons comes in second on the team with a .223 hitting percentage and is behind Pampana with 56 total blocks.
Hannah Sorensen paces Miami s offense from the setter position, distributing 465 assists on the year. The freshman ranks fifth in the ACC with 10.11 assists per set and has dished out at least 25 assists in every match she has played in this season.
Sylvia Hernandez is Miami’s libero and the junior leads the Hurricanes with 256 digs, while ranking second on the team with 13 service aces. Miami also has used juniors Haley Templeton, Brooke McDermott and Alyssa Basdavanos, sophomore Codi Lee and freshmen Sara Duque, Carly Davey and Madison Dill this season, giving head coach Jose “Keno” Gandara a bevy of talented options at his disposal.
Following this weekend’s matches, the Hurricanes return home for a pair of matches during Homecoming Week. Miami will host North Carolina at 7 p.m., on Nov. 4 and welcomes NC State for a 1 p.m., match on Nov. 6.
All Hurricanes volleyball home matches are played at the James L. Knight Sports Complex on the University of Miami campus. Admission is free. For a complete look at the Hurricanes’ 2016 schedule, click here.
For all the latest information on Miami Hurricanes volleyball, follow the official Twitter feed, @CanesVB, or “Like Us” on Facebook at facebook.com/UMVolleyball. The program is also on Instagram.
