No. 5 Cardinals Drop Syracuse 3-0

Friday, September 22

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

10-1,1-0ACC

Syracuse

2-9,0-1ACC

Syracuse

Louisville

September 22, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Middle blocker Reese Robins recorded seven kills and four blocks and middle blocker Hannah Sherman tallied four kills and five blocks to lead the No. 5-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-15, 25-11, 25-8 win over Syracuse on Friday night inside L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

The 10-1 Cardinals never trailed in the match, and they hit .452 with 38 kills, four aces, and eight blocks. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer had a team-high nine kills and four digs while outside hitter Alanna Bankston tied her career high with six kills. Setter Brigitta Petrenko tallied 23 assists and an ace, and libero Elena Scott had 15 digs and an ace. Scott is one dig shy of joining the 1,000 career dig club.

Syracuse hit -.056 with two aces and two blocks, as Cherlin Antonio led the way with 11 kills. The Orange drop to 2-9 on the season.

Louisville is back inside L&N Sunday afternoon for a matchup with Boston College. First serve is set for 1 p.m.

Set-by-Set Recap
Set 1
The Cards opened the match on a 4-1 run, highlighted by kills from outside hitter Charitie Luper and Sherman. An ace by Scott made it 6-2, and later, with Louisville leading 7-5, the Cards scored three consecutive points, capped off by a kill from outside hitter Anna DeBeer, to take a 10-5 lead. The Cards extended their lead to 15-8 going into the media timeout on back-to-back points from opposite hitter Aiko Jones, first from connecting with setter Elle Glock for a kill, then from a solo block. Syracuse used their first timeout after DeBeer connected with Scott for a kill with the score at 19-11, and the Orange quickly used another timeout at 22-13 after a kill by Robins, but Louisville never trailed in the set and closed it out 25-15 as DeBeer connected with Petrenko for the set-winning kill. The Cards hit .667 in the set with one ace and two blocks.

Set 2
Syracuse tallied the first two points of the set, but Louisville roared back, reeling off six straight points, headlined by Sherman and Luper teaming up for a block, forcing a Syracuse timeout. The Orange scored coming out to halt the momentum for a moment, but the Cards followed that with four straight points, featuring kills from Luper and Robins. With the score at 11-5, Louisville went on a 9-2 run to seize control of the set at 20-7, highlighted by an ace from defensive specialist Kamden Schrand as well as two kills from Bankston and two blocks from Sherman, leading to another timeout by the Orange. Outside hitter Nina Moorer recorded back-to-back kills to finish off the 25-11 set win for the Cards. .370-hitting Louisville had an ace and four blocks, and again never trailed in the set.

Set 3
The Cardinals came out firing on all cylinders in the third set, scoring the first six points including a kill by DeBeer and several attack errors by the Orange. Louisville led 7-2 when they went on their second 6-0 run of the set, taking a 13-2 lead headlined by middle blocker Phekran Kong and Robins teaming up for consecutive blocks. An ace by setter Alexis Finnvold extended the Cards' lead to 15-3, and later, leading 17-6, Louisville reeled off five more straight points, including an ace by Petrenko, and another kill by Robbins clinched the 25-8 set win and 3-0 sweep of the Orange. The Cardinals hit .360 with two aces and two blocks in the final set.