No. 4 Cardinals Head to No. 1 Pitt and No. 12 SMU

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 4th-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team will travel to face No. 1 Pittsburgh on Friday before playing No. 12 SMU on Sunday.

The Cards will face the Panthers Friday at 7 p.m. in Pittsburgh before taking on the Mustangs Sunday at 1 p.m. in Dallas.

UofL finished 2-0 on the weekend after sweeping Wake Forest and NC State in Louisville. Outside hitter Charitie Luper recorded her 1,000th career kill against Wake Forest, becoming the 26th Cardinal to do so. Luper knocked down 15 kills across both matches while also tallying three solo blocks. Middle blocker Cara Cresse notched 12 kills on the weekend with 11 total blocks. Middle blocker Reese Robins posted a new team-high hitting percentage against NC State, hitting .727 with eight kills on 11 attempts.

Two teams last met in the 2023 NCAA Regional Finals held in Pittsburgh. The No. 2-seeded Cards fell 25-23, 25-20, 16-25, 19-25, 7-15 to No. 1-seeded Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight. In 2023, the two teams split with UofL winning in a sweep at home and Pitt winning a 3-2 thriller in Pittsburgh.

The Cardinals hit .213 with five aces and 13 blocks in the loss. Middle blocker Phekran Kong tied her career-high with 13 kills while hitting .600 along with eight blocks. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer tallied 13 kills, eight digs, and three blocks, middle blocker Cara Cresse recorded nine kills, five blocks, and an ace, and middle blocker Aiko Jones added nine kills, six blocks, and five digs in her final match as a Cardinal. Setter Elle Glock had 39 assists, four digs, and a block, while libero Elena Scott totaled 10 digs, four assists, and three aces.

With the win, the Panthers advanced to their third straight Final Four by hitting .286 with 11 aces and 14 blocks. Torrey Stafford led the way with 18 kills, 11 digs, and two blocks, and Olivia Babcock was right behind her with 16 kills, eight digs, five blocks, and three aces.

It will be the first meeting with SMU as an ACC foe, however, in 2013 SMU and Louisville were The American Athletic Conference rivals with the Cards winning both matchups between the two teams that year.

A Quick Peek at The Cards

Setter Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week on Oct. 21 for the third time this season.
On Sunday, Oct. 20, Louisville was named to the Top 16 by the NCAA Selection Committee. The Cards were picked 4th.
In the match against Wake Forest, Charitie Luper became the 26th Cardinal to join the 1,000 kill club. She now has 1,013 career kills, 530 of which came at Louisville.
On Oct. 18, Charitie Luper was added to the AVCA Player of the Year Watchlist. She joins fellow Louisville players, Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer, on the list.
Anna DeBeer was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Cara Cresse was ACC Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending Oct. 13
Louisville's RPI is now No. 1 in the nation with the most difficult schedule in Division I NCAA Volleyball.
UofL is ranked No. 2 in the nation in blocks/set (3.10) and No. 7 in opponent hitting (.141). Elena Scott is No. 42 in digs/set (4.68) and Cara Cresse is 5th in blocks/set (1.61).
The Cardinals have played nine opponents in the Top 25, and are 7-2 in those matches.
The Cards have swept ten opponents and are 2-0 in five set matches.
Charitie Luper was named Best Outside Hitter and Elena Scott was voted Best Libero for the 2024 AVCA First Serve All-Star Team.
The win over No. 3 Wisconsin was the win over the highest ranked opponent since 2021 when the Cards beat No. 3 Pitt. The Cards' win against their highest-ever ranked opponent was the W over No. 2 Texas in 2019.
Louisville was voted No. 3 in the ACC Coaches Preseason Poll with Cara Cresse, Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Elena Scott voted to the Preseason All-ACC squad.
The crowd of 14,126 at the KFC Yum! Center for the Nebraska game was a school record.
University of Louisville outside hitter Anna DeBeer and libero Elena Scott were named to the first-ever American Volleyball Coaches Association Watch List for its 2024 Division I Player of the Year Award, presented by Nike Volleyball.

Quick Peek at Pittsburgh

Head coach Dan Fisher is in his 12th season leading the Pittsburgh program. He has a career record of 362-69. His team sits at No. 1 in the AVCA Poll.
In 2023, Pittsburgh earned their fifth conference title in seven seasons, becoming the ACC Co-Champion with Florida State. They appeared in the National Semifinals against Nebraska and lost 0-3. Olivia Babcock was named ACC Freshman of the Year and Rachel Fairbanks was named ACC Setter of the Year.
Olivia Babcock was named Sept. 16 ACC Offensive Player of the Week. For the week of Sept. 23 Rachel Fairbanks was named ACC Setter of the Week and Ryla Jones was named ACC Freshman of the Week.
Olivia Babcock, Rachel Fairbanks, and Torrey Stafford were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team. All three were named to the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List.
The Panthers are 8-0 at home and 6-1 against ranked opponents this season. They are coming off a 3-0 win against Stanford on Oct. 20^th.

Quick Peek at SMU

Sam Erger is in her third season at the helm of SMU volleyball. She is 62-22 in her three seasons and was named the 2023 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.
The Mustangs are in their first season in the ACC and currently sit at No. 6 in conference standings. In 2023, SMU finished 26-7 overall and 18-1 in the American Athletic Conference. They finished 1^st in the AAC West.
SMU comes in at No. 12 in the AVCA Coaches' Poll. The Mustangs were ranked 7th in the NCAA DI Women's Volleyball in season Top-16 rankings. SMU handed Pitt their lone loss of the season, beating them in five sets in Dallas.
Nnedi Okammor was named Sept. 9 ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Naya Shime was named Oct. 7 ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Celia Cullen was named Sept. 30 ACC Setter of the Week. Cullen was named the 2023 American Setter of the Year and AAC First Team All-Conference.
Cullen and Shime were added to the 2024 Division I AVCA Player of the Year Award Watchlist on Oct. 18th.

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Players Mentioned

Nayelis Cabello

Cara Cresse

Anna DeBeer

Elle Glock

Aiko Jones

Phekran Kong

Charitie Luper

Reese Robins

Elena Scott

University of Louisville Athletics