No. 4 Cardinals Fall at No. 7 Pitt in Five Sets

Saturday, November 18

Pittsburgh, PA

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

23-4,14-3ACC

Pittsburgh

23-4,14-2ACC

Louisville

Pittsburgh

November 18, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nancy Worley

PITTSBURGH – Outside hitter Anna DeBeer's career-high 29 kills were not enough as the No. 4-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team fell 3-2 to No. 7 ranked before a school record crowd of 8,865 at the Petersen Events Center.

The Cardinals move to 23-3 on the season and 14-3 in the ACC with the 25-19, 26-24, 24-26, 21-25, 15-17 loss. Louisvlle hit .315 with 77 kills, three aces and 10 blocks. Charitie Luper had 24 kills and 13 digs while Cara Cresse and Aiko Jones each had eight kills and combined for six kills. Elena Scott had 24 digs and Elle Glock had 60 assists.

Pitt improves to 22-4 and is 13-2 in ACC play. The Panthers hit .265 with five aces and eight blocks. The Panthers were led by Olivia Babcock's 23 kills and Torrey Stafford pitched in 21. Emma Monks had eight kills and five blocks.

The Cardinals are idle until next Wednesday when they play Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

Set by Set Recap
In the first set, Pitt jumped out to a 6-3 lead but the Cardinals were able to tie at seven on a kill by Anna DeBeer. Louisville took its first lead at 13-12 on a kill by Phekran Kong from the middle. The Cards had a two-point lead at the media timeout after two straight Anna DeBeer kills moved the score to 15-13. Coming out of the huddle, DeBeer smacked two more kills to take the Cards to 17-13 and force a Pitt timeout. Charitie Luper landed three straight kills from the left side to move the score to 21-15 and the Panthers had to burn their final timeout of the set. A Pitt service error took the Cards to 23 before Anna DeBeer connected on a set from Elle Glock for set point. An attack error by Valeria Vazquez-Gomez went down to give the Cardinals a 25-19 win. UofL hit .462 with two blocks led by DeBeer's nine kills.

In the second set, Pitt used a 4-0 run to take a 7-2 lead on the Cards. UofL pushed back with a 4-0 run powered by aggressive serving as the Cards pulled within one at 8-7 on an Brigitta Petrenko ace. Pitt punched back with another 4-0 run that included an ace by Emmy Klika. Pitt took a 15-11 lead into the media timeout. The Cards took timeout trailing 20-17 late in the set. Pitt kept the Cards on their heels and Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly called her final timeout trailing 23-19. DeBeer scored on a kill and a block to haul the Cards within two at 23-21 and force a Panther timeout. A Pitt dump was countered by a DeBeer kill and a Panther miss brought the deficit to one at 24-23. After Pitt called timeout, DeBeer scored again to tie at 24. A Pitt miss gave the Cards their first lead at 25-24 and another miss gave UofL the 26-24 win. Luper led the way with seven kills and no errors with DeBeer adding six kills. Phekran Kong had four blocks in the set as the Cards took a 2-0 set lead going into the intermission.

In the third set, neither team was able to gain a foothold with six ties when the score was tied at nine. Louisville took its first lead at 10-9 on a miss by Pitt and the Panthers called timeout. Pitt scored twice coming out of the break but kills by Luper and Cresse and an ace by Elena Scott put the Cards up 13-11. Down 14-12, Pitt scored three straight including two by Torrey Stafford. An ace by Olivia Babcock gave the Panthers the lead back at 17-16. A dump by Elle Glock and a block by Kong gave the lead back to the Cards at 18-17. The teams traded points and after a challenge, Pitt took a 23-22 lead and Louisville called timeout. Cara Cresse tied the score at 23 with a kill from the middle but a service error by Louisville gave Pitt set point at 24-23. Aiko Jones scored to tie at 24 but a Torrey Stafford kill gave Pitt set point and a miss by UofL gave Pitt the 26-24 win. The Cards hit .297 in that set and Luper registered five kills.

In the fourth set, Louisville took an 8-6 lead on the strength of DeBeer's arm as she landed four straight kills and a block for the Cardinals. Pitt retook the lead during a 3-0 run at 11-10 and extended the lead to 13-10 before Busboom Kelly called timeout. Pitt had a 20-17 lead before Louisville was able to shave the lead down to one at 22-21 on a net call which sparked a timeout by the Panthers. Coming out of the huddle, the Panthers scored three straight for the 25-21 win. Louisville hit just .128 in the stanza.

In the fifth set, UofL took the lead at 5-4 on a failed challenge by Pitt and two kills by DeBeer pushed the scored to a 7-4 Cardinal lead and forced a Pitt timeout. After the bench change at 8-4, Pitt went on a rally to pull within two at 10-8. UofL took a 11-10 lead before the teams traded points. Cara Cresse got a kill to push the score to 13-12 Louisville. Pitt tied at 13 by tooling off the Louisville block before DeBeer bounced her 29^th kill of the match to give the Ville set point at 14-13. Pitt scored on a kill from the left to tie at 14. An attack error by Louisville gave Pitt set and match point at 15-14. A kill by Aiko Jones tied at 15. Two hitting errors by the Cards gave Pitt the 17-5 win.