No. 6 Cardinals Head West for ACC Matches at Cal and No. 3 Stanford

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 6-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team will hit the road for its first away games in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season.

The Cards will match up with California in Berkeley, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 3, at 10 p.m. ET. On Sunday, Oct. 5, UofL will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for another top-10 match against the No. 3-ranked Stanford Cardinal at 5 p.m. ET.

Louisville is coming off a 2-0 opening weekend in the ACC, with sweeps over Boston College and Syracuse inside L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Against the Eagles, the Cards hit a season-high .422 clip with 45 kills on 83 attempts. Through both matches, UofL totaled 13 service aces with three coming from setter/libero Hannah Kenny against BC and three coming from setter Nayelis Cabello against the Orange.

Louisville last faced off against Stanford in the Elite Eight round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at Freedom Hall, where the Cards prevailed 3-1 to advance to the Final Four. The teams met three times in 2024, with UofL holding a 2-1 edge last season and 3-2 record all time. Louisville hit .295 in the Elite Eight match and held the Cardinal to a .000 clip in the second set. The Cards recorded 16.0 total blocks, 60 kills, 57 digs and one service ace. Middle blocker Cara Cresse recorded eight kills and six blocks, while Cabello added 29 assists, 10 digs and one block.

Quick Peek at Cal

Head coach Jen Malcom is in her second season with the Golden Bears and owns a 20-24 record with the team.
Senior middle blocker Mikayla Hayden is 10th in the ACC in blocks/set (1.21) and sixth in the conference in total blocks (57).
Junior libero Sophia Johnson is ninth in the ACC in total digs with 171.
Senior outside hitter Peyton DeJardin has six different matches this season with 13 or more kills, including 21 against LSU and 30 combined against Virginia and Virginia Tech last weekend.
Cal is 5-7 so far this year and has posted a 2-0 conference record after the opening weekend.

Quick Peek at Stanford

Kevin Hambly is in his ninth season leading the Cardinal program. With Stanford, Hambly has a 210-44 record.
Libero Spencer Etzler ranks 10th in the ACC in total digs with 169. She was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week on Aug. 25. Etzler's brother, Cole, is a student manager for Louisville.
Setter Logan Parks has taken home ACC weekly honors twice this season. On Sept. 15, she shared ACC Setter of the Week honors, and she was named ACC Freshman of the Week on Sept. 29.
Middle blockers Erika Sayer and Lizzy Andrew are first and third, respectively, in the conference in hitting percentage. Sayer is hitting .444 this year, and Andrew is hitting .430. Sayer was named ACC Freshman of the Week for two consecutive weeks, on Sept. 15 and 22.
Stanford is 11-2 in 2025 and started off its season with a ranked win over Florida. The Cardinal is 2-0 in conference play after wins over Virginia and Virginia Tech last weekend.

University of Louisville Athletics

No. 6 Cardinals Head West for ACC Matches at Cal and No. 3 Stanford

Players Mentioned

Nayelis Cabello

Cara Cresse

Hannah Kenny

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