No. 4 Louisville Sweeps Notre Dame

Wednesday, October 30

LOUISVILLE, KY

7:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

18-3,10-1ACC

Notre Dame

9-11,2-9ACC

Notre Dame

Louisville

October 30, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Nathan Larson and Erin Hughes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 4-ranked Louisville swept the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21, Wednesday night at the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena to improve to 18-3 on the season and 10-1 in ACC play.

Anna DeBeer led the Cards in kills with 10, with Payton Petersen adding nine of her own, along with seven each from Sofia Maldonado-Diaz and Hannah Sherman. Nayelis Cabello assisted 19 times, with her setting partner Elle Glock adding 13. Cara Cresse and Sherman led UofL in blocks with four each, while Kamden Schrand, Elle Glock, Maldonado-Diaz and Petersen added an ace each. In total the Cards tallied 41 kills, 33 assists, 10 blocks, four aces and hit for a .233 percentage.

Notre Dame was held to hitting only .031 for the match. Morgan Gaerte led the Irish in kills with nine, and she added an ace and a block as well. Setter Phyona Schrader added seven kills for the Irish along with her 10 assists.

The 18-3 Cardinals will travel to South Bend, Indiana, this Saturday, November 2nd, to play the Irish again at 3 p.m. EST.

Set 1: 25-17 Louisville
In the first set, the Cards quickly found themselves down 6-1 with Notre Dame on a 4-0 run, the lone point coming from a Fighting Irish net violation. Notre Dame's run was ended on a kill from Cara Cresse. The Irish collected two more points to go up 8-2, but Louisville continued to fight to even the score at nine and UofL on a 5-0 run, with kills coming from Payton Petersen, Hannah Sherman, and Anna DeBeer, with DeBeer adding a solo block. The Cards' run was ended on a kill from Notre Dame, but points continued to go back and forth, including another kill from Sherman and a kill from Sofia Maldonado Diaz. Louisville earned their first lead of the match at 12-11 on an attack error from the Irish, and going up 13-11 on another attack error. Notre Dame knotted the score at 13 and retook the lead 14-13 on an ace. The Cards reclaimed their lead at 15-14 following a kill from Reese Robins and a solo block from Petersen. Louisville continued dominating, eventually extending their lead 23-17. Robins, Petersen, Sherman, and Maldonado Diaz all contributed kills while the duos of Sherman and Petersen and Sherman and Maldonado Diaz posted big blocks. Set point came for the Cards on a kill from Maldonado Diaz and a kill from Petersen locked up the set for Louisville, 25-17.

Set 2: 25-17 Louisville
Set two saw Louisville jump out on a 3-0 run and a 5-3 lead which saw Elle Glock record the Cardinals' first ace of the match. A flurry of back-and-forth points saw a tie at 10 apiece, with Payton Petersen having two kills in the set up to this point. UofL stretched their lead to three at the media timeout, with the score 15-12, with Robins adding two kills to her name. Out of the timeout, Sherman took control, recording three kills in a short span, which put the Cards up 18-14. DeBeer added her third kill of the set, causing Notre Dame to take their first timeout down 19-14. Back-to-back kills from Maldonado Diaz and DeBeer resulted in Notre Dame taking their second timeout, down 21-14. Louisville finished the Fighting Irish out of the timeout, with a set win of 25-17, and Maldonado Diaz recording a set point ace. The Cardinals hit .219 as a team, with 13 kills, two aces, and two blocks. Notre Dame was held to a -.040 team hitting percentage, while being held to only five kills.

Set 3: 25-21 Louisville
Louisville came out with a quick 4-1 lead on kills from DeBeer, Cresse, and Sherman, with Cresse and Robins connecting for a big block. The Irish looked to be climbing back, but the Cards stayed in the lead, ultimately pulling out to a commanding 12-4 lead on a 6-0 run. Maldonado Diaz contributed three kills to the run, with DeBeer and Petersen adding kills of their own and Petersen dropping in an ace. The run ended on a Louisville service error to bring the score to 12-5, but UofL kept rolling, eventually going up 16-5 on Maldonado Diaz's fourth kill of the set, an ace from Kamden Schrand, and a block connection from the duo of DeBeer and Cresse. The Cards pulled out to their biggest lead of the set, going up 18-7 on another block from DeBeer and Cresse. Points went back and forth, with the Irish adding two aces and multiple kills to shrink Louisville's lead to 22-18 and force a Cards timeout. After the timeout, Notre Dame added two more points to go on a 5-0 run and bring them within two. The run was ended on a kill from Petersen. Match point came for UofL after an attack error from the Irish at 24-20. Notre Dame held off the end of the match with a kill, but DeBeer knocked down her tenth kill of the match to win it 25-21 for Louisville.