No. 13 Cards Win Exhibition Match at RV Dayton

Saturday, August 21

Dayton, OH

4:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Dayton

August 21, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

The regional rivals went five sets in Dayton

By: Nancy Worley

DAYTON, Ohio -- A matchup featuring the 2020 ACC Champion University of Louisville squaring off with the 2020 A10 Champion University of Dayton volleyball teams promised all manner of fireworks and did not disappoint as the regional rivals went toe-to-toe in the Frericks Center. The Cardinals won 22-25, 25-15, 25-19, 20-25, 15-10 in an exhibition match Saturday afternoon.

No. 13-ranked UofL hit .225 with five aces, 13 blocks and survived 13 service errors. The Cards were led by sophomore Anna DeBeer's 14 kills and three aces. Aiko Jones added 11 kills with Claire Chaussee chipping in nine kills and Amaya Tillman notching nine blocks. Experimenting with five different lineups the Cards saw action from 18 different players. The RV-Flyers hit .171 with 11 blocks, four aces and 62 digs. UD committed a match-high 19 service errors from the back line. Lexie Almodovar had 17 kills with Jamie Peterson adding 16 kills to the Flyer offensive efforts.

Set 1
The Cardinals let Dayton fly out to a 6-12 lead early before they were able to come within one at 15-14 on a kill by Claire Chaussee. UofL tied at 19 on a kill by Tori Dilfer and took its first lead at 21-20 on a kill by Anna DeBeer. UD answered and took a 23-21 lead on a Flyer block of Aiko Jones before the Cardinals called time out. Jones roofed the Flyers coming out of the timeout but a subsequent kill and block gave Dayton the 25-22 win in the first set. UofL hit .129 with four blocks, led by Jones' four kills with Amaya Tillman adding three blocks.

Set 2
UofL responded to the first set loss by taking a 10-3 lead early in the second, with Anna DeBeer serving five straight points included two aces. The Cards spread the lead to nine on a DeBeer kill and sparked a Dayton timeout. After the Flyers tried to regroup, Louisville's Anna Stevenson served two straight points to help the Cards to a 22-12 lead. A service error by UD pushed the Cards to a 23-12 lead and sophomore Cardinal Brooke Smith came off the bench to get the Cards to the first of four set points. Kills by UD's Livie Sandt and Jamie Peterson staved off the Cardinal win for a short time before the Flyers committed a service error to tip the set to the Cardinals. UofL hit .444 in the set, adding three more blocks and saw Nena Mbonu come off the bench and score three kills for the Cards' offense.

Set 3
The two teams kept the score within two until halfway through the third set when they20 earned some breathing room, taking a 17-13 lead on a pair of UD hitting errors and a kill by Chaussee. After Dayton called timeout, the Flyers cut the Cardinal lead to four on a kill by Lindsey Winner and a block. A Flyer service error took the Cardinals to 23-18 and a block by Tillman and a kill by Chaussee gave the set to the Cards.

Set 4
In the fourth set, neither team could get a foothold. Up by one at 20-19, Dayton outscored the Cards 5-1 down the stretch, buoyed by aggressive serving by Amelia Moore who served four of the final five points for the 25-20 win.

Set 5
In a closely contested final set, Dayton tied the Cardinals at nine but three straight kills by Jones have UofL the 12-9 lead. DeBeer connected for a kill to push UofL to 13-10 after a Dayton point. Jones scored two more kills, scoring five of the final six points for the Cardinals and the 15-10 win.

Up Next
UofL opens the regular season in Tempe where they will battle Cal Poly, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Arizona on Aug. 27-28. The Cardinals will host the Cardinal Classic, which will feature Missouri, South Dakota and Northern Kentucky Sept. 3-5 in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.