Canes Open Lengthy Homestand With Pink Match Against Louisville
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami volleyball team returns home this weekend to host Atlantic Coast Conference opponents Louisville and Notre Dame at the James L. Knight Sports Complex.
The Hurricanes (11-3, 5-3 ACC) come back to Coral Gables with some momentum after grabbing road wins at Duke and Wake Forest last weekend. On Friday, senior outside hitter Brooke McDermott doubled her previous career-best and tallied 20 kills, while redshirt junior setter Haley Templeton and senior outside hitter Olga Strantzali recorded double-doubles as Miami came back to defeat the Blue Devils 3-2 in the program’s 800th match. Templeton picked up career-high 61 assists in the hard-fought victory.
With new double-doubles from Templeton, the ACC Player of the Week, and Strantzali, two days later Miami suffered, but swept Wake Forest to increase its lead in the series against the Demon Deacons to 18-4.
Friday’s Pink Match against Louisville, the team that ended Miami’s nine-match win streak to start the season, will be setter showcase between Templeton and the Cardinals’ Wilma Rivera, who are tied at the top of the conference with 10.63 assists per set.
The Cardinals carry a six-match win streak into the weekend. The run began three weeks ago, when Louisville defeated the Hurricanes and Florida State. Since then, Louisville has done the same to the ACC’s Virginia duo, Virginia Tech and Virginia, as well as Clemson and Georgia Tech last weekend.
After Miami won 3-1 at Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish found their form and won the following three matches and come to Florida with four wins out of their five contests. The only loss came in the run came in the match against Georgia Tech last Friday, but Notre Dame recovered with a sweep of Clemson on Sunday.
The Hurricanes’ longest homestand of the season will continue next week, when Miami will entertain ACC frontrunner NC State and defending conference champion North Carolina at the James L. Knight Sports Complex.
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