Cardinal Open Season With Long-Time Rival Notre Dame

Starting six celebrate in huddle at Red-Black Scrimmage

September 24, 2020 | Women's Volleyball

The Cards and the Irish will play at Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m.

By: Nancy Worley

The University of Louisville volleyball team opens the season at home against long-time rival Notre Dame on Friday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The two teams will square off on Saturday at 4 p.m. as part of the shortened fall ACC schedule.

Talking Points

The Cardinals made their first appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight after beating No. 2 ranked Texas, an upset was called the biggest in NCAA Volleyball Tournament history.
They made their fifth appearance in the Sweet Sixteen after upsetting Western Kentucky. Louisville has won 15 first round matches in their 28 years of NCAA play. The Hilltoppers ended their Cinderella season with a 30-2 mark, with both losses coming at the hands of the Cardinals. UofL has an overall mark of 19-28 including one stretch of 16 straight appearances from 1998-2013.
UofL was chosen No. 2 in the Preseason ACC Poll just behind Pitt.
Dani Busboom Kelly has a 5-1 record against the Irish since 2017. All but one of those matches has gone five sets.
The Cards placed AVCA All-East Region selection, Aiko Jones, on 1st Team All-ACC, Anna Stevenson was 2nd Team and Amber Stivrins and Amaya Tillman were on the All-Freshmen squad. Aiko Jones
Aiko Jones, Anna Stevenson and Tori Dilfer were named to the Preseason All-ACC team.
The Cards have four true freshmen who make up a recruiting class that was nationally ranked 17th.

Series Record Against the Irish
The Irish and Cardinals will be meeting for the 40th and 41st times this weekend. Notre Dame holds a 22-17 edge in the all-time series. Dani Busboom Kelly has a 5-1 record against the Irish since 2017. All but one of those matches has gone five sets.

Last Meeting with Notre Dame
Aiko Jones had 11 kills, two aces and five blocks to lead the Cardinals to a 25-21, 25-18, 25-14 sweep of Notre Dame last year in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. UofL hit .237 for the match with 12 blocks, six aces and 39 kills. Anna Stevenson added seven kills and six blocks. Claire Chaussee tallied seven kills and an ace. Tori Dilfer had a match-high 34 assists with Alexis Hamilton notching 14 digs. Notre Dame hit .108 with no aces and four blocks. The Irish were led by Charley Niego's eight kills.

Recruiting Class Ranked No. 17
The Cards' recruiting class for the Class of 2020 has been ranked No. 17 by PrepVolleyball.com. The Cardinals signed Ayden Bartlett, 5-8 DS/Libero, Leavenworth (Kansas); Anna DeBeer, 5-11 OH, Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky); Phekran "PK" Kong, 6-3 MB, Washington (Sioux Falls, South Dakota); Ceci Rush, 5-6 DS/Libero, Providence (Clarksville, Indiana); Brooke Smith, 6-2 OH, Leo (Indiana).

Season Openers
The Cards are 26-16 all-time in season openers. Coach Dani Busboom Kelly is 1-2 in openers.

Home Sweet Home
The Cards were 13-2 in in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena in 2019 They were 10-3 in 2018 overall and 7-2 in ACC play at home. (6-2 in Cardinal Arena and 1-0 at Sacred Heart Academy where the Notre Dame match was relocated after a power outage affected the Arena.)

Conference Openers
UofL is 4-2 in ACC Opening matches.
UofL was 1-0 in AAC Opening matches.
UofL was 8-0 in Big East Opening matches.
UofL was 9-1 in Conference USA Opening matches.
Since 1995, UofL is 19-3 in conference openers.

Cards Rank in APR
Five University of Louisville athletics teams are among the nation's leaders within their sports in the most recent multiyear Academic Progress Rate (APR) data, the NCAA released on Tuesday. UofL's men's and women's basketball, women's cross country, women's golf and volleyball are among the top 10 percent in their respective sports in the latest multiyear APR, which measures academic eligibility, retention, and graduation for student-athletes.

Six Named to All-ACC Academic Team
The University of Louisville volleyball team placed six players on the 36-member 2019 All-ACC Academic Volleyball Team:
Victoria Dilfer, Louisville, Jr., Marketing
Alexis Hamilton, Louisville, So., Human Performance
Aiko Jones, Louisville, So., Biology
Melanie McHenry, Louisville, Sr., Early Education
Anna Stevenson, Louisville, Jr., Sport Administration
Amaya Tillman, Louisville, Fr., Sport Administration

Jones and Stevenson Named All-ACC
Redshirt freshman Aiko Jones was voted to the First Team All-ACC Squad with teammate Anna Stevenson making the Second Team. Jones is the leading point producer for the Cardinals with 418 which includes 346 kills, eight aces and 91 blocks. She had a career high 20 kills at Miami and tied that career high of 20 kills against Western Kentucky. She has been in double-digit kills in 19 matches. She is hitting .213 against Top 50-ranked teams. Stevenson, a transfer from Auburn, is second on the team in point production with 288 adding a team-high 135 blocks including a season-high 10 at Boston College.

Tillman Named ACC All-Freshmen
Amaya Tillman, who earned the starting nod after the injury to Melanie McHenry, were voted to the ACC-All-Freshmen team. Amaya Tillman hit .178 with 113 kills, two aces and 89 blocks, including a career-high 13 versus No. 2 Pitt.

RPI Run Down
The Cardinals' final RPI in 2019 was 15, the best in the ACC. 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.

Oh, So Very Young
The Cards have six sophomores and five freshmen on their 18 player roster.

2020 ACC Preseason Coaches Poll
1.) Pitt (192 points, 11 first-place votes)
2.) Louisville (175 points, two first-place votes)
3.) Georgia Tech (172 points, two first-place votes)
4.) Notre Dame (158 points)
5.) Florida State (145 points)
6.) Syracuse (126 points)
7.) North Carolina (121 points)
T8. Boston College (89 points)
T8. Miami (89 points)
10.) Duke (82 points)
11.) NC State (70 points)
12.) Clemson (68 points)
13.) Virginia (42 points)
14.) Wake Forest (28 points)
15.) Virginia Tech (18 points)

Cards Dealt Aces
UofL had 157 aces last season, led by Alexis Hamilton's 30, followed by Tori Dilfer's 28. The team averaged 1.30 per set.

Cards Rank in Difficulty of Schedule in '19
The Cards were ranked No. 15 in toughest schedule by the NCAA formula.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Actually Something Blue
Old: UofL has four seniors this year in Tori Dilfer, Anna Stevenson, Alexis Hamilton and Piper Roe. New: Anna DeBeer was named MaxPrep's Athlete of the Year for the state of Kentucky. Borrowed: Transfer Tori Dilfer led the team in assists with 880 last season. Blue: Graduate manager Merideth Jewell played for rival Kentucky as an undergrad.

Twenty Win Seasons
The Cardinals reached their 30th 20-win season with the win over Samford. UofL has had five 30-win seasons. The 1982 season mark of 39-14 is the school record.