No. 4 Cardinals Take Down No. 12 SMU 3-1

Sunday, October 27

Dallas, TX

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

17-3,9-1ACC

Southern Methodist

15-6,7-3ACC

Louisville

SMU

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

October 27, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nancy Worley

DALLAS – Outside hitter Anna DeBeer had her seventh double-double with 16 kills and 15 digs to lead the No. 4 University of Louisville to a 3-1 win over No. 12 SMU in ACC volleyball action Sunday afternoon in Moody Coliseum.

The Cardinals improve to 17-3 for the season and 9-1 in conference play with the 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 25-20 win. UofL hit .223 as a team for the match with four aces and 15 blocks. Sofia Maldonado Diaz added 11 kills and three blocks and Reese Robins had 10 kills and seven blocks. Cara Cresse had a career-high 11 blocks. Libero Elena Scott had 23 digs and an ace.

SMU falls to 15-6 and 7-3 in the ACC. The Mustangs were led by Naya Shime's 14 kills and seven blocks. Natalie Foster kicked in eight kills and 11 blocks. SMU hit just .106 for the match but had 14 blocks and four aces.

UofL returns to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 30 to take on long-time rival Notre Dame at 7 p.m.

After trading points early in the first set, UofL put together a 6-1 run powered by four blocks by the Ville to go up 10-6 and force an SMU timeout. The break did little to swing the momentum as evidenced by the 7-2 Louisville run after the pause highlighted by two straight kills by Reese Robins. The Cardinals kept the pressure on and pushed to the 25-14 win. Louisvlle hit .478 with seven blocks and two aces. The Cards held SMU to a .061 hitting percentage with no aces or blocks.

In the second set, Louisville had to use a timeout early when the Mustangs powered out to an 8-4 lead. SMU was able to keep the Cardinals at arm's length with strong serving including three aces. When SMU took a 17-11 lead, the Cardinals used their final timeout of the set. UofL used blocking to slow down the SMU offense and the Ponies had to call timeout when a Cara Cresse block pulled Louisville within four at 20-16. Louisville pulled to within three at 23-20 on a kill by Phekran Kong. A Louisville miss from the left side gave SMU set point at 24-21. A Cardinal serving error gave the Mustangs the 25-21 win to even the set score going into the break.

The Cardinals used a 7-1 early in the third set to go up 12-7 and prompting an SMU timeout. The Mustangs pulled within two at 17-15 before Louisville was able to string three straight points to go up 20-15 and force SMU to burn its final timeout. The Mustangs kept the heat on UofL, cutting the margin to two at 22-20. The Cardinals benefitted from an SMU error and then got a kill from Reese Robins and block from Charitie Luper and Cara Cresse for the set point and win at 25-20.

In the fourth set, UofL took the lead for good at 7-6 on a block by Cara Cresse and Reese Robins. SMU pulled within one at 13-12 on a Cardinal hitting error and then tied at 15. Louisville countered with a 6-1 run to go up 22-16 and spark an SMU timeout out. The pause did not affect the outcome as a Reese Robins kill gave the Cards the 25-21 win.