Volleyball Heads to ACC/Big Ten Challenge

The University of Louisville volleyball team travels to Chapel Hill, N.C., this weekend to compete in its third ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

The Cardinals will face No. 5-ranked Minnesota on Friday at 4 p.m. and No. 2-ranked Wisconsin on Saturday at 4 p.m. The No. 11-ranked Tar Heels will host this year as Louisville's fellow ACC representative.

Minnesota (3-1) is led offensively by senior Sarah Wilhite who has a team-high 65 kills and averages 4.33 kills per set. She earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors after wins over No. 14 Texas A&M and No.16 Florida State. Sophomore Samantha Seliger-Swenson leads the way for the Golden Gophers in assists with 177 on the season. Minnesota is 2-1 against ranked opponents this season.

Wisconsin (5-0) has lost only one set all year and that was to No. 6-ranked Hawaii in their season opener. Freshman Molly Haggerty leads the way for the Badgers having registered a team-high 57 kills and averaging 3.88 kills per set. Sophomore Tiona Williams was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the week after averaging 2.20 blocks per set over the weekend. Wisconsin is 2-0 against ranked opponents on the season.

Louisville libero Molly Sauer has been a defensive force this year, registering 105 digs with 59 of those coming in the last three matches. Sophomore middle blocker Jasmine Bennett has been helping out at the net with ten blocks at last weekend's Active Ankle Challenge. Tess Clark will look to show off her hitting this weekend, already boasting a team high .388 hitting percentage, while freshman Melanie McHenry has a team-high 91 kills.

This is the third straight year the Cardinals have competed in the challenge, having competed the previous two challenges also against Minnesota and Wisconsin. Louisville holds a 1-3 record in the challenge.

Louisville faced Minnesota and Wisconsin in last year's ACC/Big Ten challenge at the KFC Yum! Center where they fell in five sets to the Gophers and four sets to Badgers. In the first year of the tournament, hosted by the Golden Gophers, Louisville fell 3-0 to No. 6-ranked Wisconsin, while upsetting No. 12-ranked Minnesota 3-1.

Fans can follow the Cardinals as they will be featured on ACC Network Extra via Watch ESPN.

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Players Mentioned

Jasmine Bennett

Tess Clark

Melanie McHenry

Molly Sauer

University of Louisville Athletics