No. 1 Louisville Rolls Over Duke 3-0

Friday, November 19

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

26-0,16-0ACC

Duke

15-12,6-10ACC

Duke

Louisville

November 19, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Conor Mullaney

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Anna Stevenson recorded 10 kills and hit .600 with three aces to lead No. 1 University of Louisville volleyball past Duke 25-12, 25-16, 25-15 and earn a share of the 2021 ACC title on Friday night at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

With the win, Louisville continues is undefeated season, moving to 26-0, 16-0 in the ACC. As a team, the Cardinals tallied 34 kills and hit .547 with 12 aces, 21 digs and eight blocks. Claire Chaussee had seven kills on nine swings, hitting .778 for the match. Anna DeBeer recorded six kills and hit .385 with a team-high four aces. Amaya Tillman led the team with three blocks and had five kills while Aiko Jones added four kills. Tori Dilfer tallied 26 assists and an ace in the match and Elena Scott had a team-high eight digs.

Duke had 23 kills and hit .028 with six aces and eight service errors. Ade Owokoniran led the Blue Devils offense with seven kills and hit .200. With the loss, Duke is 15-12, 6-10 in the ACC for the season.

Set 1
A tight set to start, Louisville and Duke traded points early. The Cardinals won a long rally to take a 5-4 lead and kick start a four-point scoring run and force the Blue Devils to take their first timeout of the set down 8-4. UofL took the first point after the break, but Duke would get back on the board to halt the Cardinals' run and stay within four at 9-5. Louisville continued to push the pace, attacking at every possibility as they went on another 5-0 run to jump out to an 18-8 lead and force the Blue Devils to call their final timeout of the set. UofL once again scored the first point following the break, but Duke would cap the Cards' run at 6-0. Louisville used a late three-point scoring run to extend its lead to 23-11 before going on to take the first set 25-12.

Set 2
Back-and-forth to start before UofL put together two 3-0 scoring runs to jump out to an early 8-4 lead, highlighted by two astounding saves from Elena Scott to keep Louisville rallies alive. The Cardinals strung together another three-point run, led by consecutive aces from Anna DeBeer, to extend their lead to 11-5 and force Duke to call its first timeout of the set. The two teams traded points back-and-forth following the timeout before the Blue Devils put together a 3-0 run of their own to cut Louisville's lead down to three at 15-12. The Cards answered back with a three-point run of their own, pushing their lead back to six as Duke called its final timeout of the set down 20-14. The Blue Devils used the timeout to their advantage, taking the first point out of the break, but it wouldn't be enough as Louisville would score five of the next six points to win the second set 25-16 for a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals hit an astound .778 as a team in the set.

Set 3
Duke took an early one-point lead, holding on to it as the teams exchanged points up to 4-3 before Louisville railed off six straight points, led by Anna Stevenson's two aces, to jump out to a 9-4 lead and force the Blue Devils to call their first timeout of the set. Stevenson would tally another ace as UofL took the first two points out of the break to cap off an 8-0 run for an 11-4 lead. The Cards put together two three-point runs shortly after to extend their lead to 10 at 17-7 and force Duke to take its final timeout of the set. Louisville scored the first two points following the timeout, capping off a 5-0 run to put the Cards up 19-7. The Blue Devils rallied for a four-point run to get back within seven at 20-13, but that would be as close as they would get as the Cardinals would go on to score five of the next seven points to finish off the sweep with a 25-15 win.

Up next, Louisville travels to Pittsburgh, Pa. for a Top 5 matchup against No. 3 Pittsburgh (24-2, 13-2 ACC) on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. ET.