No. 1 Cardinals Set to Host Duke Friday Before Rematch at No. 3 Pitt on Wednesday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 1 University of Louisville volleyball is back at home at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena for a match against Duke this Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. ET before hitting the road for the final away contest of the season to face off against No. 3 Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 5 p.m.

Louisville vs. Duke
Louisville and Duke have met 15 times in series history, with the Cardinals currently holding an 9-6 series advantage and a five-match win streak. UofL's most recent victory against the Blue Devils was a 3-1 victory in Durham on October 31, 2021. This season, Duke is 15-11 overall and 6-9 in the ACC and enter Friday's matchup off a 3-1 road loss to Boston College. Led by Duke volleyball's all-time winningest head coach Jolene Nagel in her 23^rd season, Duke has made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, including an ACC-record seven consecutive trips from 2005-11. In her tenure, Duke has recorded 20-plus wins 14 times. The Blue Devils offense features three players with 160-plus kills and are led by Ade Owokoniran who has recorded 274 kills and is hitting .248 with 45 blocks and 48 digs. Gracie Johnson is second on the team with 200 kills and has a team high 40 aces with 31 blocks while Lizzie Fleming has tallied 163 kills and is hitting .315 with a team high 90 blocks.

Louisville vs. Pittsburgh
Wednesday's match will mark the 30^th meeting between Louisville and Pittsburgh with Louisville holding a 16-13 lead in the series. The last meeting between the two teams came on Oct. 24, 2021 and resulted in a 3-2 win for the Cardinals. Pittsburgh owns a 24-2 record and is 13-2 in the ACC this season and are currently ranked third in the nation. Pitt is coming off 3-2 win over Syracuse and will play at No. 13 Georgia Tech and at Clemson before taking on Louisville at home. Led by head coach Dan Fisher (ninth season), Pittsburgh won three consecutive ACC Championship titles (2017, 2018, 2019) and appeared in the program's first NCAA Elite Eight in 2020. The Panthers offense features five players with 200-plus kills, two of which have more than 290 kills on the season. Chinaza Ndee and Kayla Lund lead the team with 297 and 296 kills, respectively. Ndee is hitting .275 with 76 blocks while Lund is hitting .256 with 25 aces and 23 blocks. Leketor Member-Meneh has recorded 248 kills, and is hitting .271 with 25 aces, 39 blocks and 190 digs.

About the Cards
The Cardinals remain No. 1 in the country in the most recent AVCA poll after sweeping No.13 Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. UofL has earned a 25-0 record (15-0 in the ACC) and are the only remaining undefeated Division 1 team in the country. Louisville's offense features five players with 160-plus kills, led by Anna DeBeer with 237 on the season. DeBeer is hitting .248 with 190 digs, 36 blocks and 17 aces. Anna Stevenson is second on the team with 231 kills and 106 blocks and is hitting .439 for the year. Claire Chaussee has recorded 206 kills this season and is hitting .255 with 94 digs and 16 blocks. Aiko Jones has a team-high 30 aces and has tallied 191 kills and is hitting .255 with 100 blocks. Amaya Tillman has racked up a team-high 115 blocks and has 167 kills and is hitting .384. Rounding out the Cardinals' starters, Tori Dilfer leads the team with 901 assists and has 153 digs, 22 aces and 38 blocks with Elena Scott recording a team-high 303 digs and is second on the team with 28 aces.

Team Rankings
As a team, Louisville is first in the ACC in aces per set (1.68), seventh in the ACC in assists per set (12.18), first in the ACC and second in the nation in blocks per set (2.98), first in the ACC and fourth in the nation in hitting percentage (.298), fourth in the ACC in kills per set (13.70), first in the ACC and eighth in the nation in opponent hitting percentage (.141), second in the ACC in team aces (141) and second in the ACC in team blocks (250).

Ranking the Cards
Aiko Jones- 4^th in ACC with .36 aces per set; 5^th in ACC with 1.19 blocks per set; 8^th in ACC with 100 total blocks
Tori Dilfer- 3^rd in ACC with 10.73 assists per set; 5^th in ACC with 901 total assists
Amaya Tillman- 2^nd in ACC, 6^th in NCAA with 1.42 blocks per set; 4^th in ACC with .384 hitting percentage; 3^rd in ACC with 115 total blocks
Anna Stevenson- 4^th in ACC with 1.29 blocks per set; 1^st in ACC, 7^th in NCAA with .439 hitting percentage; 4^th in ACC with 106 total blocks
Anna DeBeer- 15^th in ACC with 3.12 kills per set
Elena Scott- 5^th in ACC with .35 aces per set; 10^th in ACC with 303 total digs

University of Louisville Athletics

No. 1 Cardinals Set to Host Duke Friday Before Rematch at No. 3 Pitt on Wednesday

Players Mentioned

Claire Chaussee

Anna DeBeer

Tori Dilfer

Aiko Jones

Elena Scott

Anna Stevenson

Amaya Tillman

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