No. 25 Cardinals Head Out for First ACC Road Trip

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The No. 25-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team takes its unbeaten ACC record on the road for the first time this season as the Cardinals head to Durham, N.C. to face Duke on Friday at 6:30 and then head to Winston-Salem to face Wake Forest on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Louisville
After remaining unbeaten in ACC play after last weekend, the University of Louisville volleyball team popped back into the rankings at No. 25 according to the AVCA Coaches Poll. The first RPI Ranking came out and the Cardinals stand at No. 20 on that list.

The Louisville Cardinals defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 27-25) in ACC volleyball action Friday evening inside L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Freshman Aiko Jones led the team with 13 kills and a .667 hitting percentage, while fellow freshman Nena Mbonu chipped in with eight kills of her own. Junior Alexis Hamilton led the Cards on defense with 8 digs. Georgia Tech was led on offense by Julia Bergmann, who accumulated 14 kills, and on defense by Mariana Brambilla, who led the Jackets in digs with 12.

On Sunday, Behind Nena Mbonu's career-high 11 kills, the University of Louisville women's volleyball team swept Clemson 3-0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-18) at the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The Cardinals hit .253 with three aces and 12 blocks. Melanie McHenry added 10 kills and nine digs. Alexis Hamilton had 14 digs. Clemson hit .150 with one ace and five blocks. The Tigers were led by Kaylin Korte's 10 kills and two blocks. Tori Dilfer recorded out 23 assists. The Cardinals had three aces and Alexis Hamilton registered 14 digs.

Duke
The Duke volleyball team fell on the road to Boston College 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 15-25, 15-25) Friday
The loss also snapped an eight-game win streak over the Eagles and is just the second loss to Boston College in program history. Duke was led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Ade Owokoniran with 13 kills and rookie Gracie Johnson with 10. On Sunday, Duke outlasted Syracuse 3-2 (26-24, 25-22, 19-25, 22-25, 17-15) for Duke's first ACC victory of the season. The victory snapped a three-match losing streak to the Orange and was highlighted by sophomore Ade Owokoniran's second 20+ kill performance of the season.Duke was led offensively by Owokoniran with a season-high 22 kills Senior Samantha Amos and sophomore Lily Cooper each added eight blocks while rookies Lizzie Fleming and Gracie Johnson added seven and six, respectively. Under the guidance of Coach Jolene Nagel, the Blue Devils got a signature win over No. 14 Oregon during their non-conference play.

Wake Forest
The Deacons picked up their first ACC victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Syracuse last weekend.
Peyton Suess led the way at the net for the Deacs, tallying her fifth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 11 digs. Setter Madeline Holt collected 33 assists and libero Catlin Clarke had a team-best 15 digs. Wake stumbled against Boston College to register a split of the weekend. After winning the opening set, Wake Forest volleyball fell to Boston College 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-16) on Sunday. Caitlyn Della led the way for the Deacs with 13 kills and a .524 hitting percentage, while freshman Peyton Suess recorded her sixth double-double of her career with 12 kills and 13 digs. Setter Madeline Holt also tallied a double-double with 44 assists and 10 digs. Freshman Zoe Gonzales was a defensive force with a team-best six total blocks. WFU, under interim head coach Randi Smart, cruised through its non-conference schedule 10-1.

RPI Run Down
The Cardinals' RPI is 20, the third best in the ACC behind Pitt (5), Florida State (17),

RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index and the index comprises a team's winning percentage (25%), its opponents' winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents (25%). The opponents' winning percentage and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents both comprise the strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, the SOS accounts for 75% of the RPI calculation and is 2/3 its opponents' winning percentage and 1/3 its opponents' opponents' winning percentages.

McHenry Ranked in Career Active Leaders
Melanie McHenry ranks 21st in career kills NCAA Division I Volleyball players with 1,323 career kills.

The 1000 Kill Club
Melanie McHenry reached her 1000th career kill against Virginia Tech and joined an elite group of Cardinals.

1.) Lola Arslanbekova   2,145
2.) Lena Ustymenko   1,861
3.) Sonja Percan   1,850
4.) Laurie Maxwell   1,545
5.) Shannon Misek   1, 543
6.) Bing Sun   1,501
7.) Kelly McClain   1,461
8.) Tina Naehr   1,455
9.) Melanie McHenry   1,323
10.) Kim Blackstone   1, 295
11.) Sonya Gubaidulina 1,253
12.) Beth Kuhnell   1,242
13.) Liz Egger   1,238
14.) Jackie Byrne   1,203
15.) Janet Craddock   1,171
16.) Janelle Jenkins   1,152
17.) Nastya Zaitseva   1,149
18.) Tess Clark   1,122
19.) Emily Juhl   1,079
20.) Susan Elpers   1,034
21.) Marina Sinichenko    1,029

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tori Dilfer

Alexis Hamilton

Aiko Jones

Nena Mbonu

Melanie McHenry

University of Louisville Athletics