No. 6 Louisville Snaps No. 10 Pitt's 37 Match Home Streak With 3-1 Win

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Cardinals celebrate win over No. 10 Pitt

No. 6 Louisville Snaps No. 10 Pitt's 37 Match Home Streak With 3-1 Win

October 25, 2020 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Anna DeBeer leads with 22 kills.

By: Nancy Worley

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Freshman Anna DeBeer had a match-high 22 kills to lead the No. 6-ranked University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over No. 10 Pitt. The Cardinals handed the Panthers their first home loss in a 37-match winning streak dating back to October of 2017.

UofL hit .240 with 13 blocks and four aces in the 26-24, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23 win and moves to 5-2 in both regular and ACC play. Anna Stevenson contributed 13 kills and six blocks with Tori Dilfer adding 47 assists, an ace and three blocks. The Cardinals survived 12 serving errors and were aced five times. Pitt hit .233 with 8.5 blocks and 62 digs and were hampered by 14 service aces of its own. Kayla Lund paced Pittsburgh with 19 kills and two blocks.

In the first set, there were 16 ties and six lead changes as the two teams played aggressive, physical ball. Tied at 23 late in the stanza after a kill by Amaya Tillman, Pitt had match point after a kill by Sabrina Starks. Louisville staved off the Panthers when DeBeer connected with setter Tori Dilfer to tie at 24. Dilfer aced Pitt to take a 25-24 lead and then a hitting error by Starks gave the Cards the 26-24 win.

In the second set, UofL took a six-point lead early when DeBeer scored on a busted play to go up 11-5. Marija Popovic had a hot serving hand that ignited a three-point swing and brought Pitt to within one on a kill by Ndee, who then aced the Cards to trail 22-21. The teams traded points but two straight hitting errors by the Panthers gave Louisville the 25-22 win and a two-set lead going into the break.

Pitt showed why it was on a 37-match winning streak at home when they blasted out of the gate after the break to take a 12-4 lead. The Cardinals came within two points at 18-16 on a kill by Stevenson but Pitt held them at arm's length. UofL got Pitt to call timeout late when Amaya Tillman and DeBeer roofed Ndee to close the gap to one at 21-20. Ndee continued to hammer at the Cardinal defense scoring game point with Starks hitting the winner for the 25-22 win.

The fourth set was a mirror of the first set with 11 ties and six lead changes. But it was a 5-0 run sparked by Aiko Jones' serving that gave the Cardinals a 17-13 lead and force Pitt to burn both timeouts. Not to be denied, the Panthers retook the lead at 21-20 on two straight kills by Kayla Lund. DeBeer tied the score at 21, UofL successfully challenged a call and got two other misses by Lund to get to match point at 24-21. Lund held off the win with a kill and then Pitt benefited from a hitting error by Louisville to stay alive. DeBeer bounced the final ball for the 25-23 win.

The match concludes the fall portion of the schedule shortened by the Covid-19 pandemic. Play will resume in the spring, although the exact schedule is still being worked on by both the NCAA and the ACC.