Cards Land Five on AVCA All-South Region
December 09, 2025 | Women's Volleyball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kalyssa Blackshear, Nayelis Cabello, Chloe Chicoine and Cara Cresse were voted to the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-South Region Team. Payton Petersen was named to the Honorable Mention All-South Region Team.
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Kalyssa Blackshear was voted as ACC Freshman of the Year and was named ACC Freshman of the Week on 11/10, 10/27, 10/13. She earned All-Creighton Blue Jay Invitational honors. She has hit .300 or better in 18 matches with 10 matches of .400 or better and had a season-high .526 at NC State (11-2-19), .459 versus Virginia (20-3-37) and .450 against Marquette (11-2-20). The Lomita, California native has recorded 120 blocks with 12 matches of five or more blocks and a season/career-high 10 at Georgia Tech. At Georgia Tech, she had her first double-double with 15 kills and 10 blocks and has five matches of 15 or more kills. She has scored 388.0 total points and AvidVolleyball ranked her in Top 10 scoring players in Week 11.Â
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Nayelis Cabello was voted ACC Setter of the Week 4 times and earned 2025 All-ACC First Team honors. She set a career-high with 62 assists against Marquette in NCAA Tournament. She was Voted to ACC All-Preseason and was a ACC Setter of the Year Candidate, She is ranked No. 2 in the ACC and No. 26 nationally in assists/set. She had a  outstanding performances with 53 assists vs. Virginia and 52 assists vs Illinois along with acCareer-high seven blocks against Texas. She was voted Team Captain and is the second leading setter in kills in the ACC. In 20 matches, her setting had the Cards hitting .250 or better with a season-high .430 against Virginia Tech, .304 at Stanford and .336 at Georgia Tech. In 2024, She was All South Region Freshman of the Year, 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year and a six-time ACC Freshman of the Week. She has 8 double-doubles with 19 matches with 35 or more assists and  eight matches with double digit digs to go along with seven matches with two or more aces.  Against Pitt, she hit .900 (9-0-10) and hit .538 vs. Duke (7-0-13). She has a setting percentage of .394 and has UofL hitting .263 as a team with 17 matches with three or more kills with a season-high nine vs. Pitt and seven at Duke.
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Chloe Chicoine was named 2025 All-ACC First Team and set an overall career-high with 28 kills against Marquette in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She won Gold on U23 US National Team for NORCECA at Pan American Cup and was voted to ACC All-Preseason Team as well as the All-Cardinal Classic team. She was named to the AVCA Division I Player of the Year Watchlist. The Cardinals' On-court Captain, AvidVolleyball named her in Top Ten Receivers and passes 2.26 on 3 point scale. She reached 1,000 career kills this season. She had 13 kills/14 digs for a double-double against Texas and 16 kills and hit .349 at Stanford and 17 kills (.349) vs. Stanford at home. She has had double-digit kills in 22 matches and 17 of those with 12+. She has recorded 10 double-doubles with a reception percentage of .953. She had season-high 23 digs at North Carolina, 17 vs. SMU and Creighton, 14 vs. Texas and has 24 matches with 10 or more total points with a season-high 18.5 versus Marquette and has at least one block in 22 matches. In 2024, while at Purdue, she was First Team All-Midwest Region, Second Team All-Big Ten in 2024, First Team All-Big Ten in 2023, unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman, and 2023 AVCA Northeast Region Freshman of the Year.
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Cara Cresse was drafted by Indy Ignite in 1st round and 5th overall. She is the on the 2025 All-ACC First Team and is a three-tie ACC Defensive Player of the Week in 2025. She has 500+ Career blocks. She was on the gold medal U23 US National Team for NORCECA at Pan American Cup. She was voted All-ACC Preseason and serves as Team Captain. She is ranked third in ACC in Blocks/set and No. 16 nationally/ Ranked No. 10 nationally and No. 2 in the ACC in total blocks, Cresse set a team/season/career high hitting percentage of .818 (9-0-11) at NC State and set school record with 14 blocks vs. Northern Iowa. She was voted MVP of the Creighton Bluejay Invitational and was named to the AVCA DI Player of the Year Watchlist. Ranked 6th in Louisville record book in total blocks, she set career highs this year (16 kills vs. Virginia, 30 attacks vs. SMU). In 2024, she was an HM All-American, AVCA All-South Region, All-ACC Second Team. In 2023 she was voted AVCA All-East Region, All-Pitt Regional, Second Team All-ACC while hitting .326 in conference. She averages 1.56 blocks per set vs. Top 50 opponents
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There are 14 first-team All-Region members and an additional group of honorable mention selections for each of the 10 regions. A Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year were selected for every region.
  The 213 student-athletes who made All-Region represent 109 different schools. Nebraska leads the way with seven All-Region selections, followed by Pittsburgh and Stanford with six apiece. Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin each have five All-Region first-team/honorable mention selections.
  The 2025 AVCA Division I Women's All-America teams will be announced next Wednesday, Dec. 17.
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Kalyssa Blackshear was voted as ACC Freshman of the Year and was named ACC Freshman of the Week on 11/10, 10/27, 10/13. She earned All-Creighton Blue Jay Invitational honors. She has hit .300 or better in 18 matches with 10 matches of .400 or better and had a season-high .526 at NC State (11-2-19), .459 versus Virginia (20-3-37) and .450 against Marquette (11-2-20). The Lomita, California native has recorded 120 blocks with 12 matches of five or more blocks and a season/career-high 10 at Georgia Tech. At Georgia Tech, she had her first double-double with 15 kills and 10 blocks and has five matches of 15 or more kills. She has scored 388.0 total points and AvidVolleyball ranked her in Top 10 scoring players in Week 11.Â
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Nayelis Cabello was voted ACC Setter of the Week 4 times and earned 2025 All-ACC First Team honors. She set a career-high with 62 assists against Marquette in NCAA Tournament. She was Voted to ACC All-Preseason and was a ACC Setter of the Year Candidate, She is ranked No. 2 in the ACC and No. 26 nationally in assists/set. She had a  outstanding performances with 53 assists vs. Virginia and 52 assists vs Illinois along with acCareer-high seven blocks against Texas. She was voted Team Captain and is the second leading setter in kills in the ACC. In 20 matches, her setting had the Cards hitting .250 or better with a season-high .430 against Virginia Tech, .304 at Stanford and .336 at Georgia Tech. In 2024, She was All South Region Freshman of the Year, 2024 ACC Freshman of the Year and a six-time ACC Freshman of the Week. She has 8 double-doubles with 19 matches with 35 or more assists and  eight matches with double digit digs to go along with seven matches with two or more aces.  Against Pitt, she hit .900 (9-0-10) and hit .538 vs. Duke (7-0-13). She has a setting percentage of .394 and has UofL hitting .263 as a team with 17 matches with three or more kills with a season-high nine vs. Pitt and seven at Duke.
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Chloe Chicoine was named 2025 All-ACC First Team and set an overall career-high with 28 kills against Marquette in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. She won Gold on U23 US National Team for NORCECA at Pan American Cup and was voted to ACC All-Preseason Team as well as the All-Cardinal Classic team. She was named to the AVCA Division I Player of the Year Watchlist. The Cardinals' On-court Captain, AvidVolleyball named her in Top Ten Receivers and passes 2.26 on 3 point scale. She reached 1,000 career kills this season. She had 13 kills/14 digs for a double-double against Texas and 16 kills and hit .349 at Stanford and 17 kills (.349) vs. Stanford at home. She has had double-digit kills in 22 matches and 17 of those with 12+. She has recorded 10 double-doubles with a reception percentage of .953. She had season-high 23 digs at North Carolina, 17 vs. SMU and Creighton, 14 vs. Texas and has 24 matches with 10 or more total points with a season-high 18.5 versus Marquette and has at least one block in 22 matches. In 2024, while at Purdue, she was First Team All-Midwest Region, Second Team All-Big Ten in 2024, First Team All-Big Ten in 2023, unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman, and 2023 AVCA Northeast Region Freshman of the Year.
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Cara Cresse was drafted by Indy Ignite in 1st round and 5th overall. She is the on the 2025 All-ACC First Team and is a three-tie ACC Defensive Player of the Week in 2025. She has 500+ Career blocks. She was on the gold medal U23 US National Team for NORCECA at Pan American Cup. She was voted All-ACC Preseason and serves as Team Captain. She is ranked third in ACC in Blocks/set and No. 16 nationally/ Ranked No. 10 nationally and No. 2 in the ACC in total blocks, Cresse set a team/season/career high hitting percentage of .818 (9-0-11) at NC State and set school record with 14 blocks vs. Northern Iowa. She was voted MVP of the Creighton Bluejay Invitational and was named to the AVCA DI Player of the Year Watchlist. Ranked 6th in Louisville record book in total blocks, she set career highs this year (16 kills vs. Virginia, 30 attacks vs. SMU). In 2024, she was an HM All-American, AVCA All-South Region, All-ACC Second Team. In 2023 she was voted AVCA All-East Region, All-Pitt Regional, Second Team All-ACC while hitting .326 in conference. She averages 1.56 blocks per set vs. Top 50 opponents
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There are 14 first-team All-Region members and an additional group of honorable mention selections for each of the 10 regions. A Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year were selected for every region.
  The 213 student-athletes who made All-Region represent 109 different schools. Nebraska leads the way with seven All-Region selections, followed by Pittsburgh and Stanford with six apiece. Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Minnesota, Texas A&M, and Wisconsin each have five All-Region first-team/honorable mention selections.
  The 2025 AVCA Division I Women's All-America teams will be announced next Wednesday, Dec. 17.
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| South Region | |||||
| team | first | last | school | pos | year |
| 1st | Callie | Bauer | Western Kentucky University | S | RS-Sr |
| 1st | Kalyssa | Blackshear | University of Louisville | RS | Fr |
| 1st | Nayelis | Cabello | University of Louisville | S | So |
| 1st | Lizzie | Carr | University of Kentucky | MB | RS-Jr |
| 1st | Chloe | Chicoine | University of Louisville | OH | Jr |
| 1st | Cara | Cresse | University of Louisville | MB | RS-Sr |
| 1st | Brooklyn | DeLeye | University of Kentucky | OH | Jr |
| 1st | Lauren | Dreves | Auburn University | OH | So |
| 1st | Eva | Hudson | University of Kentucky | OH | Sr |
| 1st | Caroline | Kerr | University of Tennessee | S | RS-Jr |
| 1st | Hayden | Kubik | University of Tennessee | OH | Sr |
| 1st | Jackie | Moore | Vanderbilt University | MB | Sr |
| 1st | Kassie | O'Brien | University of Kentucky | S | Fr |
| 1st | Molly | Tuozzo | University of Kentucky | L | Jr |
| Honorable Mention | |||||
| HM | Makayla | Bays | East Tennessee State University | OH | So |
| HM | Gülce | Güçtekin | University of Tennessee | L | Sr |
| HM | M.E. | Hargan | Morehead State University | OH | Sr |
| HM | Emilee | Hill | Eastern Kentucky University | S | Jr |
| HM | Jayden | James | Jackson State University | OH | Sr |
| HM | Kaira | Knox | Western Kentucky University | RS | Fr |
| HM | Lindsey | Mangelson | Mississippi State University | OH | Fr |
| HM | Payton | Petersen | University of Louisville | OH | So |
| HM | Gabi | Placide | University of Mississippi | OH | Jr |
| HM | Alivia | Skidmore | Western Kentucky University | OH | So |
| South Region Award Winners | |||||
| Region Player of the Year: Eva Hudson, University of Kentucky, OH, Sr | |||||
| Region Freshman of the Year: Kassie O'Brien, University of Kentucky, S | |||||
| Region Coach of the Year:Â Craig Skinner, University of Kentucky | |||||
Players Mentioned
OPP
/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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