No. 7 Cardinals Beat Wake Forest

Sunday, November 9

Winston-Salem, NC

1:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

20-4,12-2ACC

Wake Forest

11-14,5-9ACC

Louisville

Wake Forest

November 09, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nancy Worley

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Freshman opposite Kalyssa Blackshear had 18 kills, hitting .412 and adding six blocks to lead the No. 7-ranked University of Louisville to a 3-1 win at Wake Forest in Atlantic Coast Conference volleyball action Sunday afternoon.

Louisville moves to 20-4 and 12-2 in ACC play with the 25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 25-17 win. UofL hit .302 as a team with 16 blocks and six aces. Chloe Chicoine joined Blackshear in double digit kills with 15, adding 10 digs and three blocks. Cara Cresse had 10 kills and five blocks. The defense was led by Kamden Schrand's 13 digs and two aces along with Hannah Sherman's 10 blocks.

Wake Forest drops to 11-14 and 5-9 in league play. The Deacosn were led by Ryleigh Whitekettle, who had 11 kills and four blocks. Paige Crawford added 10 kills and a block.

UofL returns to the Ville for a pair of matches at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. The Cardinals will face Florida State on Thursday at 8 p.m. on ESPNU and take on Miami on Sunday at 1 p.m. on the ACC Network.

Set-by-Set Recap

Aggressive serving in the first set brought the Cards back from a 7-2 deficit as Nayelis Cabello strung together a 7-0 serving run to bring the Cards to 9-6. Kamden Schrand followed suit later in the set, serving six straight points to put the Cards up 18-9. UofL pushed to a 23-13 lead on a kill by Chloe Chicoine, one of her five of the set, before holding off a late Wake rally that pulled the Deacons within seven at 23-16. After hitting set point, the Cards won the set 25-16 after Kalyssa Blackshear tooled the block for the winning point, notching her fifth kill of the set. UofL hit .423 with three aces and four blocks.

Wake Forest took its first set off the Cardinals since 2017 when they hit .154 with three blocks for the win. UofL trailed 15-13 at the media timeout and ran off four straight points to take a 17-14 lead. But the Deacons used a 5-0 run to take a 22-19 lead and force a Louisville timeout. The Cards would not score again as WFU won 25-20.

Louisville fell behind 8-2 early in the third set and had to use a timeout to regroup. The Cards chipped away at the Deacon lead, coming within two at 11-9 on a block by Kalyssa Blackshear and Hannah Sherman leading to a WF timeout. A Cara Cresse kill gave the Cards its first lead at 15-14. From that point, UofL put together a 9-4 run and WFU called timeout when the Cards took a 23-17 lead. A kill by Ava Utterback took the Cards to set point and a kill by Kalyssa Blackshear gave the Cards 25-18.

In the fourth set, Hannah Kenny's four-point serving run put the Cards up 7-4 and UofL continued to slowly pull away until the lead moved to 15-9 at the media timeout. Kalyssa Blackshear scored four straight points leading up to the break. Later in the set, Blackshear ran off four straight kills to take the Cards to set and match point at 24-17 before a kill by Cara Cresse gave the Cards the win.