No. 1 Louisville Set to Host No. 14 Georgia Tech

Friday, November 12

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Georgia Tech

Elena Scott gets a dig during the game against Pitt on October 24, 2021 at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena in Louisville, Ky.

November 11, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

2021 VB Match Notes for Ga Tech ND

Cards play at 7 p.m. on Friday at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena

By: Conor Mullaney

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 1 University of Louisville volleyball returns home for a single match on Friday, Nov. 12 against No. 14 Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. ET at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena before taking back to the road for a match in South Bend against Notre Dame on Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m.

Louisville vs. Georgia Tech
Louisville and Georgia Tech have played 15 matches dating back to November 2001 with Louisville holding an 11-4 series lead. The Cardinals and Yellow Jackets met earlier this season in Atlanta where the Cards came away with a 25-15, 36-34, 25-22 sweep. Georgia Tech is No. 14 in the nation and holds a 21-3 record, 9-2 in conference play. The Yellow Jackets are on a 10- match win streak since the loss to Louisville on Oct. 3. Led by head coach Michelle Collier in her eighth season, the Yellow Jackets advanced to the NCAA Tournament Second Round for the first time since 2004, earning the programs first tournament win in 17 years. Georgia Tech is led by reigning ACC Player of the Week Julia Bergmann and ACC Freshman of the week Bianca Bertolino. Bergmann leads the team with 405 kills, and is hitting .316 with 225 digs, 49 blocks and a team-high 29 aces. Bertolino has 219 kills on the year and is hitting .253 with 245 digs, 41 blocks and 15 aces.

Louisville vs. Notre Dame
Louisville and Notre Dame have played 42 times in series history with the Fighting Irish holding a 23-19 lead. The last meeting between the two teams came on Sep. 25, 2020, and resulted in a 27-25, 25-22, 26-24 sweep for Notre Dame. This season, the Irish are 10-13 overall and 7-6 in the ACC. With head coach Mike Johnson at the helm in his fourth season, Notre Dame has made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament, earning its first Tournament win since 2005 last season. The Fighting Irish's offense features four players with 140-plus kills, including two with more than 260. Aubrey Hamilton leads the team with 263 kills on the year and has recorded 61 digs, 38 blocks and nine aces. Charley Niego is second on the team with 260 kills and has a team-high 27 aces with 253 digs and 38 blocks.

About the Cards
The Cardinals rose to No. 1 in the country in the most recent AVCA poll for the first in program history. The ranking also marks the first time an Atlantic Coast Conference school has ever held the No. 1 spot in the history of the conference. UofL is 23-0 overall, 13-0 in the ACC on the season and are the only remaining undefeated Division 1 team in the country. Louisville's offense features five players with 150-plus kills, led by Anna DeBeer with 219 on the season. DeBeer is hitting .256 with 175 digs, 24 blocks and 16 aces. Anna Stevenson is second on the team with 211 kills and 94 blocks and is hitting a whopping .446. Claire Chaussee has recorded 187 kills this season and is hitting .245 with 92 digs and 13 blocks. Aiko Jones has a team-high 29 aces and has tallied 180 kills and is hitting .263 with 94 blocks. Amaya Tillman has racked up a team-high 104 blocks and has 155 kills and is hitting .391. Rounding out the Cardinals' starters, Tori Dilfer leads the team with 833 assists and has 134 digs, 20 aces and 34 blocks with Elena Scott recording a team-high 281 digs and is second on the team with 23 aces.

Team Rankings
As a team, Louisville is second in the ACC in aces per set (1.65), seventh in the ACC in assists per set (12.15), first in the ACC and third in the nation in blocks per set (2.87), first in the ACC and fourth in the nation in hitting percentage (.304), fifth in the ACC in kills per set (13.65), first in the ACC and ninth in the nation in opponent hitting percentage (.142), sixth in the ACC in total service aces (129), and third in the ACC in total blocks (224).

Ranking the Cards
Aiko Jones- 4^th in ACC with .37 aces per set; 6^th in ACC with 1.21 blocks per set; 6^th in ACC with 94 total blocks
Tori Dilfer- 3^rd in ACC with 10.68 assists per set; 5^th in ACC with 833 total assists
Amaya Tillman- 3^rd in ACC, 10^th in NCAA with 1.39 blocks per set; 3^rd in ACC with .391 hitting percentage; 3^rd in ACC with 104 total blocks
Anna Stevenson- 5^th in ACC with 1.24 blocks per set; 1^st in ACC, 6^th in NCAA with .446 hitting percentage; 6^th in ACC with 94 total blocks
Anna DeBeer- 15^th in ACC with 3.13 kills per set
Elena Scott- 10^th in ACC with 281 total digs