No. 2 Volleyball Sweeps Virginia

Friday, October 22

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

19-0,9-0ACC

Virginia

8-11,1-8ACC

Virginia

Louisville

October 22, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Cardinals move to 19-0, No. 4 Pitt up next on Sunday

By: Conor Mullaney

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Anna DeBeer and Amaya Tillman had 9 kills each to lead No. 2 University of Louisville volleyball to a 25-15, 25-13, 25-16 win over Virginia on Friday night at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

With the win, Louisville moves to 19-0 on the season and 9-0 in the ACC. The Cardinals are now one win away from tying the best start in program history of 20-0 set in 2005. As a team, UofL had 39 kills while hitting .448 with three aces, eight blocks and 21 digs. DeBeer hit .500 with an ace, four digs and a block and Tillman hit .615 with four blocks. Anna Stevenson and Aiko Jones had seven kills each and hit .500 and .429 respectively with Stevenson adding four blocks and Jones adding two digs and two blocks. Tori Dilfer tallied 30 assists and an ace and Elena Scott led the team with eight digs.

Virginia had 23 kills and hit .015 with five blocks and nine service errors. Grace Turner led the Cavaliers offense with five kills, four digs and a block. With the loss, Virginia moves to 8-11 on the season and 1-8 in the ACC.

Set 1
Louisville started the set down 4-2 but used a four-point run to overcome the deficit and take a 6-4 lead of its own. The Cardinals put together two 3-0 runs to jump out to a quick 12-6 lead as Virginia called its first timeout of the set. UofL kept pushing the pace out of the break, eventually capping off a 6-0 run lead by a dominant service run from Ceci Rush for a 16-6 lead. The Cavaliers were able to take back two points but after Louisville scored two more of its own, Virginia called its final timeout of the set down 18-8. Despite three consecutive service errors by the Cards, Louisville would go on to win the first set 25-15.

Set 2
Tightly contested to start, the two team traded points back-and-forth with neither able to find an edge until UofL broke the scoring open, going on a three-point run for a 7-3 lead. Virginia called its first timeout down 8-4 early. The Cavaliers took two points out of their timeout, but Louisville answered back with a 4-0 run to push their lead to six at 12-6. Another three-point scoring run extended the lead even further as UofL found themselves in front 15-7. The teams traded points back-and-forth before Virginia called its final timeout of the set down 19-10. UVa won the first point out of the timeout but a big block from Anna Stevenson gave the serve back to the Cards and started a 3-0 run that put them up 22-11. Louisville would go on to take three of the next five points to win the set 25-13 and take a 2-0 advantage in the match.

Set 3
The third set started much like the second as UofL and the Cavaliers traded points back-and-forth. The tightly contested set continued as neither team could put together a run to take a sizeable lead with Louisville in the lead 11-9 after seven ties and only two lead changes. UofL finally found a groove as they used a 3-0 run to take a 15-10 lead after a kill by Anna Stevenson to lead into the media timeout. The Cavaliers once again took the first point out of the break, but Louisville quickly turned in a three-point scoring run for an 18-11 lead to force UVa to take its first timeout of the set. The Cardinals took two out of three points after the timeout as they pushed to a 20-12 lead as Virginia called its final timeout of the set. Virginia won three more points, but it would not be enough as Louisville would go on to win the third set 25-16 and take the match 3-0.

Up next, Louisville faces off against No. 4 Pittsburgh (17-1, 7-1 ACC) in a Top 5 matchup this Sunday afternoon at 12:00 pm at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.