Volleyball Downs Duke in Sweep

Sunday, October 18

KFC YUM! CENTER

1:00 PM

University of Louisville

14-4, 8-0

DUKE

8-10, 3-5

Louisville

October 18, 2015 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Cards move to 8-0 in ACC

By: Nancy Worley

Senior Erin Fairs had 12 kills while freshman Aniah Philo posted her third career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs to lead the No. 25 University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 victory over Duke in the annual Dig Pink match on Sunday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals stayed unbeaten in the ACC with an 8-0 record and moved to 14-4 overall. Louisville hit .349 with six blocks and had six service aces. Duke drops to 8-10 and 3-5 in the ACC.

"It was a great win for us against a good Duke team," said UofL head coach Anne Kordes. "They are a strong, physical team. They are a gritty opponent who knows how to come back and win. I'm happy to see our resilience especially in game one."
Senior Katie George had 39 assists while freshman Molly Sauer added a match-high 18 digs for the Cards. Janelle Jenkins came close to a double-double with nine kills and nine digs while Tess Clark added eight kills. Gabbie Wiley came off the bench and served three aces for the Cardinals in the match.

"I have to talk about Gabbie Wiley's serves," said Kordes, "She is coming in and punching people in the mouth with her serve. She makes such an impact for us."

Duke was led by Leah Meyer, who had a match-high 13 kills and Maggie Deichmeister who had a match-high 40 assists.

Louisville jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead before Duke responded with four points of their own. Both teams traded points before Duke took a three-point advantage 15-12 at the media timeout halfway through the first set. Coming out of the timeout, the Cards strung together a 7-2 run to take a 19-17 lead and force Duke to call their first timeout of the set. The Blue Devils used back-to-back kills from Emily Sklar and Cadie Bates to knot the score at 19 and force Kordes to burn her first timeout of the set. The teams continued to trade points before back-to-back kills from Erin Fairs and Tess Clark to put the Cards at set point. A service error from Duke gave the Cards a first set victory 25-23. The Cards hit .268 to Duke's .222 and out-dug the Blue Devils 23-19 with Molly Sauer notching eight digs in the set.

In the second set, the teams continued to go back and forth until the Cards put together a quick 4-1 run to take their biggest lead of the set at 15-11 into the media timeout. Duke came within two but four monster kills from Fairs, a kill from Janelle Jenkins, and a service ace by Gabbie Wiley put the Cards up 21-15 and forced Duke to call a timeout. An attack error by the Blue Devils put the Cards at set point up 24-17 but the Blue Devils responded with a 4-0 run to come within three. A kill by Maggie DeJong out of a timeout gave the Cardinals a 25-21 second set victory and went into the break ahead 2-0. UofL hit .382 to Duke's .239 and were led by Fairs' five kills in the set.

Out of the break, neither team took a lead more than a point until Louisville went on 3-0 run with kills by Jenkins and Maggie DeJong to take a 15-12 lead at the media timeout. Louisville kept the pressure on as they continued the run to take a 20-15 lead after back-to-back kills by Tess Clark forced a Duke timeout. Duke responded with a 5-2 run of their own to pull within two, 22-20, and force Kordes to burn a timeout. UofL recovered with kills by Jenkins and Philo putting the Cards at set point before a Fairs kill gave the Cards a 25-22 third set victory. Louisville hit .412 in the set with 17 kills and only having three attack errors.

The Cardinals conclude their three-game home stand with a mid-week matchup against Notre Dame on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center.