Rd 1-Wright St @ #5 Louisville | Thurs11/30 - 7pm ET | ESPN+

[herecomesthebusboom]

CRESSE. That’s the best swing I think she’s ever had in front of the setter.

[volleyfan24]

Just when I thought this one was over here comes the Wright State

[eazy]

Reese Robins is a STUD

[chenny11]

Louisville’s right sides are insane out of the middle lol

[volleyfan24]

Robins playing well

[volleyfan24]

Ott seemed confident there was a touch in that last swing were they out of challenges. She is a fun player to watch. No shame Wright State you looked great.

Louisville needs to clean it up I don’t think Western Michigan will roll over for them either

[JJVb]

Tough battle, but Cards get the win in 4, led by Cresse with 13 kills. Will need to clean it up for the next round.

[jeffmca]

Nov 30, 2023 20:26:00 GMT -5 chenny11 said:

Would have liked to see Louisville in their regular home gym for this one. They had to have figured that they wouldn’t fill up the yum center on a Thursday night against Wright St.

I wanted to come back and follow up on this.

Of course, no one expected to fill Yum!, it seats over 22k. But the crowd was 5k+ and our regular gym only fits 1k. There really are no good options for them in between. They made Freedom Hall work a couple of years ago, but it took a *lot* of coordination between multiple organizations and rescheduling of other events to make it work.

[chenny11]

Dec 2, 2023 9:40:25 GMT -5 jeffmca said:

Nov 30, 2023 20:26:00 GMT -5 chenny11 said:

Would have liked to see Louisville in their regular home gym for this one. They had to have figured that they wouldn’t fill up the yum center on a Thursday night against Wright St.

I wanted to come back and follow up on this.

Of course, no one expected to fill Yum!, it seats over 22k. But the crowd was 5k+ and our regular gym only fits 1k. There really are no good options for them in between. They made Freedom Hall work a couple of years ago, but it took a *lot* of coordination between multiple organizations and rescheduling of other events to make it work.

Any plans to build something new? That program deserves better facilities.

[jeffmca]

Dec 2, 2023 13:21:42 GMT -5 chenny11 said:

Dec 2, 2023 9:40:25 GMT -5 jeffmca said:

I wanted to come back and follow up on this.

Of course, no one expected to fill Yum!, it seats over 22k. But the crowd was 5k+ and our regular gym only fits 1k. There really are no good options for them in between. They made Freedom Hall work a couple of years ago, but it took a *lot* of coordination between multiple organizations and rescheduling of other events to make it work.

Any plans to build something new? That program deserves better facilities.

I've heard a rumor or two, but nothing concrete, yet. There's a degree of the ugly realities of the college sports business coming in to play here, I suspect. Taking a look at our Men's Basketball and Football team success over the past handful of years, and...yeah, not great except for the spark of light coming from football just this year.

And to be fair, the current facilities are quite good, they're just small. But yes, it has become clear that the program has outgrown the gym, and something larger is needed (I've been saying somewhere between 6 and 8 thousand seats would be good).

Oh, and that spark of light from football...at 5k+ attendance the past two nights, that's with a good chunk of the overall Cardinal Athletics fanbase being in Charlotte, NC preparing for tonight's football game vs FSU for the ACC Championship, so that probably knocked our attendance down a touch as well. Add that to a Thursday game, probably knocking some down for the first round match, and a rainy day yesterday for the 2nd round match, and I think our attendance could've definitely been higher than the 5k+ or so that we did have. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the situation at the arena the past couple of nights, the crowd got loud, but it would be so much better in a 6-8k capacity facility.