Louisville and Notre Dame Next Up for Eagles

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – After a four-match homestand that concluded with a sweep of North Carolina, the Boston College volleyball team heads out on a road swing this weekend with matches at No. 22 Louisville and Notre Dame.

The Eagles, now 13-9 overall and 3-7 in ACC action, topped the Tar Heels on Sunday for the first time in program history, snapping a seven-match losing streak and gaining some crucial momentum.

"I think it's a huge confidence boost," head coach Jason Kennedy said. "We were struggling mentally and needed something to turn the corner and get our confidence back. Everything is always tougher on the road, especially heading back out for four in a row, so we needed to get something going before we left the confines of Power Gym."

Louisville, BC's second ranked opponent of the season, just suffered its first loss in conference play on Sunday in five sets against No. 5 Pittsburgh and moved to 16-5 overall and 9-1 in the ACC after picking up a five-set win over Virginia. The well-rounded Cardinals have a .269 attack percentage, third-best in the ACC, but also sit third in opponent hitting percentage, holding teams to a .172 average.

Notre Dame holds down sixth in the ACC at 6-4 and 12-8 overall, falling 3-0 to Pitt before taking down Virginia in four sets last weekend. The Irish defense is holding opponents to a .161 clip, tied for the lowest in the conference.

The Eagles, averaging a .218 attack percentage, have shifted the starting lineup in eight of the last 10 matches after using the same lineup for the first 12 contests of the year. Heading into the back half of the conference slate, Kennedy thinks he's found the right mix to keep the Eagles on pace.

"We seem to have moved a lot of pieces around lately and are now looking for a consistent lineup that we can use for the remainder of the year," he said. "We'll have to play a little cleaner than we did against UNC, but any win at this point has us headed in the direction we want to be. I keep telling our team we need to take it one day at a time, one match at a time and try to turn a corner with each one."

The Eagles face the Cardinals at 7 p.m. on Friday in Cardinal Arena before matching up with the Irish at 1 p.m. on Sunday in Purcell Pavilion. Both matches will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.

Louisville and Notre Dame Next Up for Eagles

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