No. 2 seeded Louisville Beats Wright State in NCAA First Round

Thursday, November 30

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

25-4,15-3ACC

Wright State

21-11,15-3Horizon

Wright St.

Louisville

No. 2 seeded Louisville Beats Wright State in NCAA First Round

November 30, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Cresse has career-high 13 kills in 3-1 victory

By: Trey Curry

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Middle blocker Cara Cresse hit .500 with a career-high 13 kills and five blocks to lead the No. 2-seeded University of Louisville volleyball team to a 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20 win over Wright State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Thursday night inside the KFC Yum! Center.

"It was a heck of a match tonight for the first round, and Wright State played great. We knew they would," said UofL head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "Randomly, we drew them, and we played them in the preseason and that was another very tight match then, so we knew they were going to be a well-polished team. I'm proud that we were able to right the ship and finish on a high note. We had a lot of players contribute tonight, and that's what we talked about all year – we need everybody on our team to be ready whether they've played a bunch of points or not throughout the season and that's what the tournament is about. It's just about surviving and advancing and sometimes you've got to win ugly. I'm just proud of the way our composure was, and our energy and effort were all very positive. So overall, we feel pretty good."

The Cardinals move to 25-4 overall this season, as Louisville hit .192 with seven aces and a season-high 15 blocks. Middle blocker Phekran Kong tallied nine kills and a career-high nine blocks, outside hitter Charitie Luper totaled nine kills, nine digs, and four blocks, outside hitter Anna DeBeer recorded eight kills, 11 digs, and an ace, and opposite hitter Aiko Jones added seven kills, seven digs, two aces, and three blocks. Setter Elle Glock totaled 35 assists on top of eight digs and a block, while libero Elena Scott continued to anchor defensively with 21 digs and five assists.

Wright State finishes their season at 21-11, as the Raiders hit .084 with three aces and six blocks. Sam Ott led with 18 kills, 12 digs, and a block, while Jenny Wessling impressed with 26 digs and three assists.

Louisville continues their tournament run with a match-up vs. Western Michigan, who swept No. 7-seeded Auburn 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 in their first-round match. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside the KFC Yum! Center.

Set-by-Set Recap
Set 1
Wright State got off to a fast start, recording the match's first four points while landing three kills. The Cardinals had a response, scoring seven of the next 10 points, featuring three kills by Cresse and two by Luper, to tie the match at 7-7. Later, with the set being tied at nine after a Kong solo block, the Raiders reeled off four straight points to take control at 13-9. Wright State maintained the lead at 15-11 headed into the media timeout, and a Sam Ott kill would later give the Raiders a five-point lead at 18-13. The Cards followed with a 5-1 run, highlighted by two kills from DeBeer and a kill each from Cresse and Luper, to come within one at 19-18 going into a Wright State timeout. The Raiders scored the next two coming out, including Katie Mayer landing an ace, to force Coach Busboom Kelly to call her own timeout at 21-18. The teams then traded pairs of points resulting in a 23-20 score and forcing another Louisville timeout, and Wright State quickly finished the job at 25-22 coming out to take a 1-0 match lead. The Cardinals had five blocks in the set.

Set 2
The Raiders carried their momentum into the second set, taking an early 5-3 lead capped off by a Camryn Hausler solo block. Louisville responded with a 6-2 run, headlined by two Cresse kills and a Jones ace, to take a 9-7 lead. Later, after a service error gave the Cardinals a 10-8 lead, defensive specialist Ceci Rush led a service run that resulted in four straight points, highlighted by Kong connecting with Glock for two kills, to extend the Louisville lead to 14-8. The Raiders wouldn't go away, scoring six of the next eight points, capped off by a Jenny Morey ace, to cut their deficit to 16-14 as the Cardinals called a timeout. Wright State came within one at 17-16 soon after, but Louisville had another response, reeling off a 4-1 run, featuring another Jones ace, to take command at 21-17 and force a Wright State timeout. The Raiders tallied a point coming out, but Louisville scored the final four on two kills by Cresse and a kill each by DeBeer and Luper to win the set 25-18 and tie the match at 1-1. Louisville recorded two aces and three blocks in the set.

Set 3
The Raiders continued their trend of fast starts, beginning the third set on a 6-2 run as Ott landed five kills, and kept their momentum rolling into a 11-5 lead headed into a Louisville timeout. The Cardinals slowly chipped away, coming within three at 13-10 after a solo block by Cresse. Ott then landed another kill, but the Cardinals followed that with three straight points, headlined by an ace from setter Brigitta Petrenko, to inch closer at 14-13 and force a Raiders timeout. Louisville continued rolling, going on a 4-1 run following the timeout with defensive specialist Ayden Bartlett landing an ace to put the Cardinals in front at 17-15. Louisville wouldn't take its foot off the gas, extending their lead to 21-17 after kills by Jones and middle blocker Reese Robins. Later, a DeBeer ace and another Jones kill put the Cards on the doorstep at 24-19, and a Raiders attack error finished off a 25-20 set win. Louisville landed three aces and totaled two blocks as the Cards took a 2-1 match lead.

Set 4
Another Petrenko ace gave the Cardinals an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set, but Wright State quickly fought back to tie the set at 5-5. Louisville then went on a 5-1 run, headlined by two DeBeer kills and a Kong solo block, to go out in front at 10-6. The Cards didn't look back, scoring five of the next eight points, featuring yet another Petrenko ace as well as kills by Kong and Jones, to take a 15-9 lead into the media timeout. The Raiders reeled off a quick 3-1 run to come within four at 16-12, but the Cardinals responded with a 4-2 run, capped off by a Luper solo block, to extend their lead to 20-14 headed into a Raiders timeout. Wright State wasn't ready to go away, as the Raiders went on a 4-1 run to cut the Louisville lead to 21-18 and force Coach Busboom Kelly to call a timeout. Coming out, Robins recorded consecutive Cardinal points on kills and Kong followed with a kill of her own to help Louisville seize control at 24-19. Reilly Zegunis then landed a kill to fend off one match point, but a serving error would complete the 25-20 set win for Louisville as the Cards won the match 3-1. Louisville hit .289 with two aces and five blocks in the final set.

NCAA Volleyball – Wright State at Louisville
Louisville Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly
November 30, 2023

(Opening Statement)
"It was a heck of a match tonight for the first round, and Wright State played great. We knew they would. Randomly, we drew them, and we played them in the preseason and that was another very tight match then, so we knew they were going to be a well-polished team. I'm proud that we were able to right the ship and finish on a high note. We had a lot of players contribute tonight, and that's what we talked about all year – we need everybody on our team to be ready whether they've played a bunch of points or not throughout the season and that's what the tournament's about. It's just about surviving and advancing and sometimes you've got to win ugly. I'm just proud of the way our composure was and our energy and effort were all very positive. So overall, we feel pretty good."

(On any adjustments that need to be made before playing Western Michigan tomorrow)
"I don't know if there's a lot of adjustments we need to make. We just have to play better. Luckily, Anna DeBeer has been here for four years, and I've never seen her play poorly two matches in a row, so that gives me a little bit of confidence going into tomorrow. But Western Michigan is a very, very good team. We watched them just absolutely dominate Auburn. They have some players that are so unique and like nobody we've played this year, so they're going to be a huge challenge. I think that is somewhat of a good thing going into tomorrow – we don't have time to focus on ourselves or dwell on our errors or what we did wrong because we have to prep for what they do. Luckily, we spent a whole day prepping for them, and now we just have to refresh what we prepped for. They're very talented but I do think it's a good thing because we don't have time to dwell on anything that happened tonight that didn't go our way."

(On what preparation for tomorrow's match will look like)
"Coaches will watch more film. We watch a lot of film of every team that's in this first and second round so we'll watch a little more film, but then we'll spend a little more time in the film room with our team tomorrow. But again, they saw [Western Michigan] live, so it's really going to come down to executing and remembering the things that we've already worked on earlier in the week."

(On the challenges of being the host team in the NCAA Tournament)
"I think it's not talked about a lot. Hosting is amazing – we have a chance to recover, and we have our fans, but it does put some added pressure and I do think these first-round games are very difficult because you feel the pressure of not only winning the match, but you want to advance for the fans. It is a little bit more pressure, but again, it also will pull you through some tight moments. We always want to host for sure, but it does add a little bit of pressure. Hopefully, we got a little bit of those jitters out tonight and tomorrow will feel less like a big tournament match."

(On what her coaching philosophy when the team is struggling)
"Most of the time, we let them work through it and at this point, there's not a lot you can correct. Your bed's already been made so you just want to try to give them as much confidence as you can as a coach, but also maybe getting their mind off mistakes and giving them a point or two that tells them what they can do to affect what [the opposing team] is doing and hopefully, they can start thinking about that. I thought Elle Glock really struggled tonight, and I think that makes it a little more difficult to make changes when your setter struggles. She's been rock solid all year, so she needs to have a quick memory but it's also really good to see everyone else picking her up and helping her work through it."

(On the play of Reese Robins)
"Reese is a really fun player, and we've been trying to figure out how to use her appropriately all year and how to get her reps. Throughout the year, we wanted her to be ready for these moments in the tournament, because she's a force. I think she's fearless, and she literally just loves the game of volleyball and sometimes you need that, especially in very stressful moments. I thought she's probably why we won this match with her contributions off the bench. She goes for it and we needed somebody that could get kills, and she came in and did that. So, I'm super proud of her. Not surprised though, and we're gearing up for her to have a big impact this tournament run."