No. 4 Louisville Sweeps NC State

Sunday, October 20

LOUISVILLE, KY

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

16-2,8-0ACC

NC State

10-6,5-3ACC

NC State

Louisville

October 20, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Cards move to 16-2 and 8-0 in the ACC

By: Erin Hughes and Anthony Acquisto

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Outsider hitter Anna DeBeer recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs to lead the University of Louisville to a 3-0 victory over North Carolina State Sunday afternoon at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

It's Louisville's eighth consecutive win with the streak dating back to September 27th, as the Cards improve to 16-2 overall and remain undefeated against ACC opponents at 8-0. Louisville hit .367 in the match with five aces and 10 blocks. Middle blockers Reese Robins and Cara Cresse led the way for the Cards with hitting percentages of .727 and .455 respectively. Robins finished the match with eight kills and three total blocks, while Cresse finished with seven kills and five total blocks of her own. Outside hitter Sofia Maldonado Diaz and setter Nayelis Cabello both recorded two aces in the win.

Louisville held NC State to just a .087 team hitting percentage for the match. The Wolfpack recorded four aces of their own with two coming from Naomi Cabello, who also had 15 of NC State's 30 assists in the match. The Wolfpack drop to 10-7 on the season and 5-4 in ACC play with the loss.

The Cards hit the road next weekend for matchups with No. 1 Pittsburgh on Friday and No. 12 Southern Methodist on Sunday. First serve on Friday comes at 7 p.m., while Sunday's match kicks off at 1 p.m.

Set 1: 25-15 Louisville
Louisville started the scoring early, quickly going up 8-2 using a 5-0 scoring run. Points came for the Cards on kills by Cara Cresse and Reese Robins, blocks from the duos of Cresse and Robins as well as Hannah Sherman and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and two aces from Nayelis Cabello. The run ended on a block from the Wolfpack, but Louisville continued to hit hard, with Cresse, Maldonado Diaz, and Luper all knocking down kills and Cresse and Anna DeBeer connecting for a block to put the Cards up 12-5. Maldonado Diaz served an ace to bring Louisville's lead to 14-7 and force an NC State timeout. Following the timeout, NC State scored on a service error from Louisville, but the Cards followed up with another 5-0 scoring run that was highlighted by kills from Cresse and Luper, an ace from DeBeer, and another block connection from Cresse and Robins, which put Louisville in front 19-8. After a few back and forth points, a kill from Sherman gave the Cards their biggest lead of the set at 21-10. Kills from Maldonado Diaz and DeBeer brought Louisville to set point at 24-11. NC State went on a 4-0 scoring run to hold off the Cards set win, but DeBeer knocked down a kill to win set one 25-15 for Louisville.

Set 2: 25-17 Louisville
NC State scored the first point of the set, but Louisville quickly recovered to claim the next three points on kills by Cresse and DeBeer and a Wolfpack attack error. The teams played tight into the first timeout, with the Cards leading 11-9 thanks to kills by Robins, DeBeer, and Cresse Louisville continued to build momentum, taking three of the first four points out of the break to extend their lead to 14-10. Reese and Maldonado Diaz secured three kills each as the Cards traded blows with the Wolfpack, eventually pulling ahead 24-17 with kills from Luper, DeBeer and Sherman and a solo block from Luper. Set point came on Maldonado Diaz' fourth kill of the set as Louisville clinched their second set of the match, 25-17.

Set 3: 25-19 Louisville
The third set started with NC State claiming the first three points, but the Cards responded with three points of their own on kills from Robins and Luper and a block connection from Robins and Sherman. Points went back and forth on kills, service errors, and attack errors from both sides, but Louisville took their first lead of the set at 6-5 after an attack error from the Wolfpack. More points were traded and the Cards knotted the score at 9-all after a kill and an ace from Maldonado Diaz. Louisville found their biggest lead so far after going up 12-10 on a block from Cresse and Luper to force a timeout from NC State. More points were traded, notably with the Wolfpack recording two aces and the Cards tallying five more kills before ultimately leading 20-17 off a solo block from Cresse. Robins knocked down another kill and NC State committed another attack error to put Louisville on a 4-0 scoring run, going up 22-17. A service error from the Cards ended the run, but kills from DeBeer and Cresse gave Louisville set and match point at 24-18. The Wolfpack knocked down one more kill, but the Cards ultimately took the match 25-19 on a service error from NC State.