No. 3 Cardinals Fall to No. 7 Stanford in Regular Season Finale

Saturday, November 30

Stanford, CA

4 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

25-5,17-3ACC

Stanford

25-4,17-3ACC

Louisville

Stanford

Photo by: Mallory Peak | Louisville Athletics

No. 3 Cardinals Fall to No. 7 Stanford in Regular Season Finale

November 30, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nancy Worley

Anna DeBeer had 16 kills and 14 digs but the No. 3-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team fell 3-1 to No. 7 Stanford Saturday afternoon in Maples Pavilion.

Louisville moved to 25-5 and 17-3 in the ACC with the 25-23, 25-22, 27-29, 27-25 loss. The Cardinals hit .255 for the match with three aces and 10 blocks. Charitie Luper had 15 kills and nine digs and Cara Cresse added 10 kills and five blocks. Elena Scott had 13 digs and Sofia Maldonado Diaz added four blocks.

Stanford hit .273 for the math with two aces and 12 blocks while surviving 14 service errors. The Cardinal got 22 kills and 14 digs from Elia Rubin with Jordyn Harvey tallying 18 kills and two blocks.

The loss ties Stanford and Louisville for second place in the ACC with SMU possibly joining in a three-way tie should the Mustangs beat NC State in tonight's match while Pittsburgh secured the crown by hanging on to a 3-2 win over a hard-charging Georgia Tech.

The Cardinals await their pairings which will be announced live on ESPN at 6 p.m. during the Division I Selection Show. Louisville will be the site of the Division I National Semifinals and Finals Dec. 19 and 22 in the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals used a 7-1 run to go up 8-4 early in the first set and used .333 hitting to maintain a healthy lead until Stanford put together a 6-2 run to tie at 20. After Louisville called timeout, Stanford kept the pressure on with Kami Miner scoring twice combined with a UofL miss to get to set point at 24-22. Anna DeBeer got a kill from the left side to stave off set point. A kill by Jordyn Harvey gave Stanford the 25-23 win and 1-0 set lead. UofL had 3 blocks and hit .263. Stanford hit .262 with two blocks.

In the second set, neither team could spread the lead wider than three points. Finally, after tying at 14 and after the media timeout, Stanford put together two straight points to go up 17-16 but a kill from Cara Cresse tied it back up at 17. Stanford scored three straight and Louisville called timeout trailing 20-17 to regroup. Stanford dropped a tip in to get to point 21, a Cardinal miss and a kill by Sami Francis was part of the run that took The Cardinal to set point on a kill by Ipar Kurt. Louisville got two kills, including a block by Cara Cresse to stave off set point three times. Stanford had to call timeout and it paid off as Harvey had the winning kill to give Stanford the 25-22 win and a 2-0 set lead.

In the third set, Louisville used a 3-0 run to take the lead at 11-10. The teams traded points before two straight kills by Phekran Kong gave the Cards a 15-13 lead going into the media timeout. The Cards kept the lead until Elia Rubin hit two consecutive kills to retake the lead at 18-17. After Francis got another kill to take Stanford up 19-17, Louisville called timeout. UofL had a 5-2 run to go up 23-21 after a Reese Robins kill. Stanford called timeout and came out from the break to score on a Louisville service error and hitting error to get to set point. Louisville used its last timeout down 24-23. Luper came out of the huddle and scored to knot the score at 24. A hitting error by Kami Miner gave Louisville set point at 25-24 which forced Stanford to call time out. A kill by Jordyn Harvey tied the set at 25 before Charitie Luper kept the set alive with a cross court kill from the left side. A UofL service error tied the set at 26 and two straight kills by Anna DeBeer and block by Cresse gave the Cardinals the 29-27 win to keep the match alive. The Cardinals' hitting percentage was revived to .304 and two blocks while Standford hit .216 and three blocks in that stanza.

In the fourth set, Louisville used a 4-0 run early to take a 13-9 lead. Stanford narrowed the margin to one on a dump by Miner at 17-16 and then tied at 17 on a block which sparked a Louisville timeout. The two opponents traded points and a kill by Cara Cresse gave the Cardinals the lead back at 20-19. Stanford tied again and then went up two points on a Louisville hitting error and a kill by Harvey at 22-20. It was Harvey that took Stanford to set point at 24-21. The Cards scored on a kill by luper and a block by Phekran Kong to push to within one at 24-23. The Cardinals tied at 25 on a kill by DeBeer but a service error by UofL and a Stanford block gave Stanford the 27-25 win.