BLACKSBURG – Getting back on the road for the second consecutive weekend, the Virginia Tech volleyball team will head west to Louisville and Notre Dame this weekend.
The Hokies (12-6, 3-3 ACC) will take on No. 22 Louisville (14-4, 7-0 ACC) on Friday at 7 p.m. ET and will play Notre Dame (10-7, 4-3 ACC) on Sunday at noon. Both matches will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
The NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) came out for the second time this season and the Hokies are at No 102. Louisville's RPI is No. 41 and Notre Dame sits at No. 52. With Louisville being ranked inside the AVCA Top 25, it will mark Tech's third ranked opponent it has faced this fall, as the Hokies faced then-No. 18 Baylor on Sept. 15 and then-No. 9 Pitt on Sept. 21.
On Wednesday, the Cardinals and Fighting Irish played in Louisville and saw UofL come out on top, 3-2, for the lone midweek tilt in league play. Louisville owns the all-time series advantage against Tech 23-3, and Notre Dame does as well with a 6-4 mark. Last fall, Tech took on each team twice and fell to both on the road and at Carilion Clinic Court at Cassell Coliseum.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Fri. | 7 p.m. ET at No. 22 Louisville | Stats | Broadcast
Sun. | Noon ET at Notre Dame | Stats | Broadcast
Going 1-1 this past weekend away from Blacksburg, the Hokies defeated Georgia Tech (12-7, 1-5 ACC) 3-0 last Friday in Atlanta for the first time since 2010, while falling to Clemson (10-9, 1-5 ACC) on Sunday.
Sophomores Kaity Smith and Ester Talamazzi each posted double-doubles against the Yellow Jackets. It was Smith's sixth of the season and Talamazzi's third. Smith tallied 14 digs, the second most of her career, and 12 kills, while Talamazzi recorded 11 kills and 11 digs.
Smith had a near double-double versus the Tigers, putting down a team-high 13 kills and scooping up a team-best eight digs.
The Hokies are No. 2 in the ACC for service aces per set with 1.56 and are No. 6 in hitting percentage with a .238 clip. Smith owns the fifth-best average for kills per set (3.64) in the league, as well as the sixth-best aces per set mark (0.33).
SCOUTING No. 22 LOUISVILLE
• No. 22 Louisville (14-4, 7-0 ACC) is coming off a 3-2 win over Notre Dame on Wednesday, winning its seventh match of the year at home. Last weekend, the Cardinals swept both Duke (8-7, 2-4 ACC) and Wake Forest (6-12, 1-5 ACC) inside Cardinal Arena.
• The Cardinals had a strong showing in nonconference play, going 7-4. All of UofL's losses were to ranked Power Five teams, including No. 11 Florida (15-3, 6-0 SEC), No. 15 USC (12-5, 4-2 Pac-12), No. 16 Kentucky (11-4, 5-0 SEC) and No. 17 Purdue (14-4, 3-4 B1G).
• Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly enters her second year in Louisville and owns a record of 38-11 (.776). The 2017 AVCA East Region Coach of the Year led the Cards to being named co-champions of the ACC with Pitt and a 24-7 overall record and 18-2 reading in ACC play.
• Jasmine Bennett paces the Cards with the 10th-best hitting percentage (.416) in the country. Molly Sauer leads UofL on defense, as the 2017 ACC Defensive Player of the Year owns the third-best digs per set mark in the conference with a 4.47 average.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
• Notre Dame (10-7, 4-3 ACC) is entering this weekend's matchup after falling 3-2 to Louisville on Wednesday. The Fighting Irish defeated Wake Forest 3-1 last Friday, but fell to Duke in five sets on Sunday.
• The Irish have also faced a couple ranked Power Five teams, losing to No. 17 Purdue and No. 13 Michigan (15-2, 4-2 B1G). They finished the nonconference slate with a 6-4 record. Eight of Notre Dame's wins this year have been in straight sets.
• Head Coach Mike Johnson enters his first season as the head man in South Bend after being the associate head coach for the Irish since 2015. Before his stint with Notre Dame, Johnson was the head coach at Xavier for five years, winning more than 100 matches.
• Jemma Yeadon owns the fifth-best kills per set mark in the conference with a 3.64 mark, while Zoe Nunez runs the offense with a 10.35 assists per set mark, the No. 4 average in the league. The top digs per set average in the ACC belongs to Ryann DeJarld with a 5.36 mark.
