Cards Advance to Seventh Straight Sweet Sixteen with 3-2 Win Over Marquette

Saturday, December 6

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

26-6,16-4ACC

Marquette University

18-11,11-5Big East

Marquette

Louisville

Cards Advance to Seventh Straight Sweet Sixteen with 3-2 Win Over Marquette

December 06, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Chicoine leads with career-high 28 kills

By: Erin Hughes

Dan Meske Press Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - All five Louisville hitters posted a .360 or above hitting percentage to send the No. 2-seeded University Louisville volleyball team to the Regional Semifinals. UofL grabbed a 3-2 win (21-25, 25-11, 23-25, 25-19, 15-12) over Marquette inside L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on Saturday night. The Cardinals will make their seventh straight Sweet Sixteen appearance and advance to the Lincoln Regional.

"We're excited to be moving on to the Sweet 16, and we had to earn it. Huge credit to Marquette - they had a great season, and the Big East is no joke. We played Creighton earlier in the year at their place, and that was a great match, we were really fortunate to win in four, and then Marquette gave us absolutely everything we could handle today, and more. Big credit to Tom Mendoza, I've known their coach for a long time, and [he is] a great offensive mind," said Louisville head coach Dan Meske. "They ended at .270 for the match, but for most of the match were hitting close to .400. They just had a great game plan against us that I felt like we were chasing a lot to catch up, and it's a huge credit to our players. The grit - that's the biggest word that we talked about in the locker room is grit - we just showed a lot of grit in that match. I feel really fortunate. 77 kills in a match is probably a record for us. Huge shout out to these two, Payton Petersen had 19 kills, Chloe Chicoine 28 kills a career record. But, more so than just the stats, just the way that they compete. I feel so fortunate as a coach to have such great competitors and great people to watch them keep getting better and keep battling together, it was really cool. I kept looking Chloe in the eye and kept saying, "Good things are about to happen because we've got you on the court," so good things happen. Great match, we're very, very fortunate to have won it. I'm really excited for the Sweet 16. We are beyond excited to potentially be hitting the road to the Sweet 16 and see who we get to play. We get to practice on [Monday], and we can't wait."

Louisville (26-6, 16-4 ACC) hit .404 on the match with a season-high 77 kills, a season high 68 assists, 59 digs, 11 blocks and three aces. The offense was led by outside hitter Chloe Chicoine, who hit at a .415 clip with an overall career-high 28 kills on 53 attacks with just six errors. The junior also added one assist, one block and seven digs. Outside hitter Payton Petersen logged her 13th double-double of the season, hitting .364 with 19 kills, 10 digs, two blocks and one assist. Middle blocker Cara Cresse stuffed a team-high seven blocks to go along with 13 kills, a .478 hit percentage and one ace. Opposite hitter Kalyssa Blackshear tabbed her 19th game with 10 or more kills, posting 11 on 20 attacks for a .450 clip in addition to her four blocks. Middle blocker Hannah Sherman hit a season-high .857 with six kills on seven swings and no errors while also recording four blocks. Setter Nayelis Cabello served the Cards' other two aces while logging a career-high 62 assists as well as four blocks. Libero Kamden Schrand and libero/setter Hannah Kenny commanded the backcourt with 20 and 13 digs, respectively.

Marquette (18-11, 11-5 Big East) hit .270 with 63 kills on 163 attacks in addition to 59 assists, 53 digs, 11 blocks and two service aces. Outside hitter Natalie Ring led the match with 29 kills and added six digs and four blocks. Middle blocker Hattie Bray tabbed 11 kills and nine blocks to lead the Golden Eagle defense. Outside hitter Elena Radeff was the other MU player with double-digit kills, posting 10 on 21 swings to hit .476. Libero Adriana Studer dug 20 balls and outside hitter Mari King added 10 of her own.

The Cards will head to Lincoln, Neb., for the Regional Semifinals next weekend. Louisville will face the winner of No. 3 seed Texas A&M and No. 6 seed TCU, as No. 1 seed Nebraska faces No. 4 seed Kansas.

Set 1: Marquette 25, Louisville 21
Cabello started the match with an ace and both teams traded blows until a Louisville service error gave Marquette a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. The Golden Eagles extended their lead, grabbing a three point advantage at 21-18 to force the Cards' first timeout. MU got to set point after a block and an ace and UofL used its second timeout down 24-20. Petersen held off the end of the set with a kill, but another service error by Louisville ended the set 25-21 for Marquette.

Set 2: Marquette 11, Louisville 25
Blackshear knocked down a kill for the first point, and blocks between Cresse and Cabello along with Chicoine and Sherman started a momentum shift for the Cards, going up 9-4 as the Golden Eagles took their first timeout. UofL continued its run, extending its lead to 12-4 after kills from Chicoine and another ace by Cabello. MU ended the 6-0 run with a kill, but Louisville answered and led 16-7 at Marquette's second timeout. Five different Cardinals recorded kills, with Sherman's sixth getting UofL to set point at 24-11. A block connection from Sherman and Blackshear sealed the set win 25-11. After not recording a block in the first set, five players combined for three blocks in the second set.

Set 3: Marquette 25, Louisville 23
The Golden Eagles flipped the script in the third set, starting on a 8-1 run that forced an early Louisville timeout. The Cards started climbing back after another kill from Chicoine that matched her career-high along with kills from Blackshear and Petersen that got UofL within three at 11-8 and saw MU burn its first timeout. Kills from Petersen, Cresse, Chicoine and Blackshear kept Louisville in it and eventually tied the score at 19-all before Marquette went on a 3-0 run to lead 22-19 and cause the Cards' final timeout. Kenny served up a 4-0 run that included kills from Blackshear, Petersen and Cresse and UofL took its first lead of the set at 23-22. After their second timeout, the Golden Eagles grabbed three straight points to take the set win 25-23.

Set 4: Marquette 19, Louisville 25
A kill by Petersen and an ace from Cresse started Louisville out with a 2-0 lead that extended to 5-1 as MU used its first timeout. The teams traded points, but the Cards eventually pulled ahead 19-13 as Marquette burned its final timeout of the set. A service error from the Golden Eagles put UofL at set point 24-16. Marquette forced Louisville through three set points, but a 10th kill from Blackshear sent the match to the fifth set with a 25-19 win.

Set 5: Marquette 12, Louisville 15
The set started with a kill from Petersen and two blocks between the pair of Cabello and Cresse to pull the Cards out to a quick 3-0 lead. At the court changeover, UofL led 8-6 following an attack error from the Golden Eagles. Louisville extended its lead to 12-7, but MU answered with a 3-0 run to get back within two at 12-10 and force a Cards timeout. Cresse knocked down a kill to get UofL to match point at 14-11, but Marquette called its final timeout to slow momentum. The Golden Eagles added one more point, but Chicoine's 28th kill clinched the win for Louisville 15-12.

What they are saying

NCAA Volleyball Second Round

Louisville, Ky. | Cardinal Arena

Dec. 6, 2025

Louisville Head Coach Dan Meske

(Opening Statement)

"We're excited to be moving on to the Sweet 16, and we had to earn it. Huge credit to Marquette - they had a great season, and the Big East is no joke. We played Creighton earlier in the year at their place, and that was a great match, we were really fortunate to win in four, and then Marquette gave us absolutely everything we could handle today and more. Big credit to Tom Mendoza, I've known their coach for a long time, and [he is] a great offensive mind. They ended at .270 for the match, but for most of the match were hitting close to .400. They just had a great game plan against us that I felt like we were chasing a lot to catch up, and it's a huge credit to our players. The grit - that's the biggest word that we talked about in the locker room is grit - we just showed a lot of grit in that match. I feel really fortunate. 77 kills in a match is probably a record for us. Huge shout out to these two, Payton Petersen had 19 [kills], Chloe Chicoine 28 kills [a career record]. But, more so than just the stats, just the way that they compete. I feel so fortunate as a coach to have such great competitors and great people to watch them keep getting better and keep battling together, it was really cool. I kept looking Chloe in the eye and kept saying, 'Good things are about to happen because we've got you on the court,' so good things happen. Great match, [we're] very, very fortunate to have won it. I'm really excited for the Sweet 16. We are beyond excited to potentially be hitting the road to the Sweet 16 and see who we get to play. We get to practice on [Monday], and we can't wait."

(On Payton Petersen and Chloe Chicoine)

"These two left sides on the top program, they have to work harder than everybody else in the country with just how hard they have to work to get kills. Every team tries to attack them. I'm sure whoever we play next is going to go through that side of the court, and they step up to all those challenges, win or lose, and we just feel so fortunate to have them. They're a great reflection of the program and fantastic competitors."

(On the feeling after winning)

"It's not really a feeling of relief. It's more a feeling of joy. It's so hard to win. It's so hard to go to a Sweet 16. It's hard to win in the tournament. Everybody has found a way to win to get into the tournament. The natural tendency would be that feeling of relief, and I think there probably is deep down, but really, it's joy. It doesn't matter that we're Louisville or the [2] seed, you can throw that all out the window, like the favorite one. There are no favorites in the tournament. Everybody's got a shot. I want the overwhelming feeling to be joy with this program because it's hard to win, we'll celebrate winning, and we'll never take it for granted. There's probably some relief deep down, but I do think it's an overwhelming feel of joy."

(On blocking struggles, especially in the first set)

"Three of our last four matches, I think we've trailed in blocking. We ended up 11 each here, but that's well below our season average. With Loyola [Chicago], we were at four a set, but that was a different type of match. I think Hannah Sherman for example was at four stuffs, and she's typically at almost double that, and there were a few that just kind of trickled through, and there were just some awkward plays in the first two sets that just looked unlucky. It looked like, 'Man, we usually make that play.' I credit our players for pushing through and trusting it. In that same breath with Hannah Sherman, she [had] six kills on seven attempts, which for her, we don't usually rely on a ton of offensive production. It was nice on a day where maybe she didn't block as many balls; she hit .860 and had six kills which was great. That blocking needs to come around next week for sure."

Louisville Players Payton Petersen and Chloe Chicoine

(On Chloe Chicoine's career night)

Chloe Chicoine, Junior OH

"I think just my team. Nay [Nayellis Cabello] was just giving me the ball, and we were keeping balls alive, and I just wanted to be the one to terminate. I just kept thinking over and over throughout the match, you want to think positive, but I was like, 'this team is so good, we are not going home today.' So, I think just having that mentality of, 'we're going to the next round, we're going to make it happen somehow.' They were covering me really well and just knowing they had my back, I wanted to kill the ball for us."

Payton Petersen, Sophomore OH

"I think Chloe [Chicoine] is just a great competitor for our team. She's just so what our program is about. She's being competitive and not giving up on anything. I think she's so fun to play with. We're very different people in the aspect of how we compete. She's very much wound up and loves getting the people involved while I'm more of a calming presence. So, we feed off each other really well and I think being able to be the same position and talk and communicate what we see and things like that, I'm just so grateful for Chloe and to play with her."

(On the momentum of the match swinging back-and-forth)

Payton Petersen, Sophomore OH

"I didn't think there was any panic. I think we knew we needed to adjust things. Obviously in the first set we needed to pick up our defense, and we did that in the second [set]. There was never a panic. I felt like what Dan [Meske] said, our response was great. We hit a ball out of bounds; we were on to the next play. It wasn't like we needed to do something different, what our response is, so I don't think there was any panic."

Chloe Chicoine, Junior OH

"I think we had zero blocks in the first set... I think all our coaches went, 'what's going on' too. It was just weird, but we knew the blocks were going to come and we were going to start playing how we play every day in practice and every other game, so I don't think there was a moment of panic. It was just good things are going to come our way, trust our training, trust each other. I think this game I was super fiery, but then I never felt panicked from the people around me like Payton [Petersen], Cara [Cresse] and Nay [Nayellis Cabello] they just are super grounded, and I just know they just have so much confidence in this team, and they just really hold the fort down."