No. 4 Cardinals Sweep Wake Forest

Friday, October 18

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

15-2,7-0ACC

Wake Forest

10-8,2-5ACC

Wake Forest

Louisville

October 18, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

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Luper hits 1,000 career kill mark

By: Erin Hughes and Anthony Acquisto

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Outside hitter Charitie Luper knocked down her 1.000th career kill en route to the No. 4-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team's win over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons Friday night at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

The Cards swept the Demon Deacons in three sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-12. Louisville moves to 15-2 on the season, and 7-0 in conference play. The Cards hit .349 against Wake Forest with Luper hitting .333 on the match with nine kills and three blocks. Middle blocker Reese Robins posted a .462 clip with six kills and a block while outside hitter Anna DeBeer notched 11 kills on 23 attempts, hitting .391 with two aces.

Wake Forest was held to just a .122 hitting percentage in the match, led by Sahara Maruska, who had 11 kills for the Demon Deacons with one ace. Rian Baker posted 29 of Wake Forest's 31 assists against Louisville.

UofL is back in action on Sunday against NC State with first serve set for 1 p.m. at L&N Arena.

Set 1: 25-20 Louisville
Wake Forest got out to an early lead, quickly going up 6-2, with points for the Cards coming on a Demon Deacons service error and a kill from Reese Robins. Wake Forest was on a 4-0 scoring run that ended on a kill from Charitie Luper, putting Louisville back on the board 6-3. Luper's 1,000th kill made the score 7-4 in favor of Wake Forest. Kills from Anna DeBeer kept Louisville scoring and an attack error from the Demon Deacons knotted the score at eight and gave UofL their first 3-0 scoring run of the set. A kill from Nayelis Cabello gave the Cards their first lead of the match, going up 10-9. Louisville stayed in command of the set, eventually going up 19-14 on solo blocks from Cara Cresse and Luper as well as kills from Robins, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and Phekran Kong. Attack errors by Louisville and a block from Wake Forest put the Demon Deacons on a 4-0 scoring run, bringing them within one at 19-18 and forcing a Cards timeout. Following the timeout, Cresse added another solo block and the duo of Cresse and Cabello combined for another two blocks, putting Louisville up 23-19 and on a 4-0 scoring run. Wake Forest started to come back following service and attack errors, bringing the score to 23-20, but the Cards did not back down. Set point came for Louisville after a service error by the Demon Deacons and the Cards won the set 25-20 on a kill from Cresse.

Set 2: 25-19 Louisville
Early in the second set, both teams continuously traded points. Louisville and Wake Forest split the first 16 points of the set with each squad scoring consecutive points just once each over that period. Kills by Robins, Luper, Maldonado Diaz, and Cresse helped the Cards stay in the fight before they finally claimed momentum, going on a 5-0 run to bring the score to 13-8 and prompting Wake Forest to take a timeout. The break helped the Demon Deacons weather the storm, as they scored seven of the next nine points out of the timeout to make the score 16-15. A kill by Maldonado Diaz and two by DeBeer allowed the Cards to pull out to a 19-16 advantage, a lead that never dropped below three for the remainder of the set. Louisville rode service errors, attack errors, and both a kill and ace from DeBeer to a 24-19 lead. They clinched the second set with a kill from Robins to put the Cards up two sets to none.

Set 3: 25-12 Louisville
The Cards grabbed momentum early in the third set, quickly going up 7-1 highlighted by an ace and a kill from DeBeer, a solo block from Robins, a kill from Luper, and an ace from Elena Scott that forced an early Wake Forest timeout. Following the timeout, Louisville remained in command, going up 10-2 on kills from Luper and Robins. The Demon Deacons started fighting back, going on a 3-0 run to bring the score to 11-6, but the run ended on another kill from Luper. Maldonado Diaz and DeBeer each had kills to pull the Cards up to a dominating 15-7 lead. After a few back and forth points, a block from Luper put the Cards up 18-9 and forced another Demon Deacons timeout. Louisville commanded the rest of the set, with kills from Maldonado Diaz and Robins, a block connection between Maldonado Diaz and Hannah Sherman. Match point came for the Cards at 24-12 on a kill from Payton Petersen, with Petersen knocking down the match-winning kill to win the set 25-12 for Louisville.