No. 6 Louisville Sweeps No. 8 Pitt in ACC Showdown

Friday, October 13

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

15-2,6-1ACC

Pittsburgh

15-3,6-1ACC

Pittsburgh

Louisville

October 13, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

DeBeer leads with 15 kills

By: Trey Curry

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Outside hitter Anna DeBeer hit .448 with 15 kills to lead the No.6-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 win over No.8-ranked Pittsburgh on Friday night inside the KFC Yum! Center.

"Obviously, a great win for us. You can look at the stat sheet and you can point out so many players that had an awesome match," said UofL head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "I think this team needed a game like this, which is definitely something we can build some confidence on. So, I am just really proud of the performance and the atmosphere tonight."

Louisville moves to 15-2 overall and 6-1 in the ACC as they hit .388 with two aces and six blocks. Outside hitter Charitie Luper had 10 kills, nine digs, and two blocks, middle blocker Cara Cresse tallied 10 kills and a block, opposite hitter Aiko Jones recorded nine kills, four digs, and a block, and middle blocker Phekran Kong added four kills and four blocks. Setter Elle Glock had 43 assists, six digs, and a block, while libero Elena Scott added two assists and eight digs.

Pittsburgh falls to 15-3 on the year and 6-1 in the ACC. Outside hitter Torrey Stafford led the way for the Panthers with 10 kills, four digs, and two blocks.

Louisville heads back to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on Sunday for a matchup against Virginia. First serve is set for 1 p.m.

Set-by-Set Recap
Set 1
Pittsburgh was firing on all cylinders to begin the match, scoring the set's first five points as Coach Busboom Kelly was forced to take a timeout. Pittsburgh extended their lead to 7-1 coming out, but Louisville followed that with a 5-1 run, highlighted by kills from Cresse, Jones, and Debeer, to cut the Pittsburgh lead to 8-6. Louisville again fought within two at 12-10 after another DeBeer kill, but Pittsburgh reeled off three straight points to extend their lead to 15-10. The Cardinals responded with three straight points of their own, featuring a kill from Jones and an ace from DeBeer, to force a Pittsburgh timeout at 15-13. Coming out of the break, Luper recorded three of the next five Cardinal points with kills as Louisville tied the set at 18-18. A Reese Robins kill put the Cardinals in front for the first time in the set at 20-19, and back-to-back kills from DeBeer extended the Cards lead to 22-20, forcing another Pittsburgh timeout. Later, with the Cards at set point at 24-21, Luper and Kong connected for a block to win the set 25-21 as Louisville took a 1-0 match lead. The Cardinals hit .242 in the set with one ace and two blocks.

Set 2
Louisville took an early 6-4 lead in the second set, headlined by kills from Cresse and Jones. The Cards stretched their lead to 9-6 before Pittsburgh scored three straight points to tie the set at 9-9. The Panthers took the lead at 12-10 on a kill from Stafford and maintained this lead until the media timeout at 15-13. The Cards scored three straight coming out, highlighted by Robins and Kong connecting for a block, as they took a 16-15 lead. After Pittsburgh scored to tie it at 16, Louisville went on another 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead as Glock connected with DeBeer, Kong, and Jones for three consecutive kills, leading to a Panthers timeout. Pittsburgh again scored to briefly halt the momentum, but Louisville scored two more points on kills from DeBeer and Luper to extend their lead to 21-17. Pittsburgh wasn't finished, as they went on a 4-1 run to come within one at 22-21 and force a Louisville timeout. Luper recorded two more kills to put the Cardinals on the doorstep at 24-22, and DeBeer finished off the 25-23 set win with a kill to put the Cardinals up 2-0 in the match. Louisville hit .367 with one ace and three blocks.

Set 3
Louisville began the third set up 4-2, headlined by kills from Kong, DeBeer, and Jones. The Cards stretched their lead to 9-6 on a solo block by Kong, and later, another Kong kill followed by a Pittsburgh error put the Cards up 12-8 and forced a Pittsburgh timeout. Pittsburgh kept battling, cutting it to two at 15-13 before Louisville tallied two consecutive points, as Scott connected with DeBeer for a kill to put the Cards up 17-13. Pittsburgh again cut it to two at 17-15, but the Cardinals weren't letting up, taking a 20-16 lead on back-to-back kills from Jones and forcing another Pittsburgh timeout. The Panthers scored two straight coming out to come within two yet again, but Louisville scored two straight of their own on kills from Jones and Luper to extend the lead to 22-18. Pittsburgh wasn't giving in, cutting the lead to 23-21 and forcing a Louisville timeout, but a Panthers serving error put the Cards at match point at 24-21, and DeBeer recorded a kill to win the set 25-22 and finish off the sweep of Pittsburgh. The Cardinals hit .543 in the final set with 21 kills.