No. 4 Louisville Sweeps Auburn in Home Opener

Friday, August 29

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

1-0,0-0ACC

Auburn

0-1,0-0SEC

Auburn

Louisville

August 29, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

First year head coach Dan Meske has first win in the books

By: Erin Hughes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 4-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team swept Auburn i25-21, 25-21, 25-21, giving head coach Dan Meske his first win at the helm of the program Friday night at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

"We just have to keep on getting better," said Meske. "We had some alumni legends in the crowd but we are building new legends now, so we have to give them opportunities to grow and put them in tough situations like that."

Three different Cardinals tallied 11 kills on the match from newcomers transfer Chloe Chicoine and freshman Kalyssa Blackshear along with veteran Cara Cresse. Louisville hit .162 on the night with the Cards adding six blocks and five aces. Cresse and Blackshear added four and two blocks, respectively, during the match. Setter Nayelis Cabello added three kills and three blocks of her own. Outside hitter Payton Petersen dug 16 balls and libero Kamden Schrand dug 15 in the win. Cabello and Petersen each served two aces and Hannah Kenny served one of her own.

Auburn hit a .084 clip on the night but out-blocked the Cards 11-6. Outside hitter Lauren Dreves led the way offensively for the Tigers with a .209 hitting percentage on 13 kills, adding nine digs and two blocks. Outside hitter Liz Markovska grabbed 10 kills out of Auburn's 33 total.

Louisville will be back in action on Sunday, Aug. 31, in L&N Arena for a matchup with 1-0 Morehead State. First serve is set for 3 p.m.

Set 1: Auburn 21, Louisville 25
Scoring started off tight as the teams traded leads up until the media timeout came with Louisville leading 15-13. Chicoine and Blackshear both notched their first official kills in a Cards uniform as Cabello and Cresse combined for two blocks. Cresse, Petersen and Hannah Sherman each added kills of their own before the timeout. Out of the break, Auburn went on a quick 3-0 run to lead 16-15. Chicoine ended the run with a kill as the points continued to bounce around. Following a Tigers ace, UofL took its first timeout down 20-19. Cresse added two straight kills to put Louisville back in the lead at 21-20 before Auburn used its first timeout of the set. One more kill for the Tigers knotted the score at 21 until Cresse used two more kills to get the Cards ahead 23-21 to force Auburn to use its final timeout of the set. A sixth kill from Cresse got UofL to set point, and an attack error by the Tigers sealed the first set 25-21.

Set 2: Auburn 21, Louisville 25
Auburn took the first point on an error by Louisville, but the Cards were not held scoreless for long as Blackshear added her second kill of the day. Tied at 2-2, the Tigers went on a 3-0 to pull ahead 5-2. Cabello ended the run with a setter dump to start a 5-0 run, highlighted with three kills from Chicoine and another block connection between Cabello and Cresse. Auburn used its first timeout down 7-5, and Louisville added one more point on an attack error out of the break. The Tigers used a 5-0 run of their own to regain the lead at 10-8. The squads continued to trade points until the Cards burned their first timeout as Auburn led 17-12. UofL took three straight points out of the break with Cabello adding a kill and Hannah Kenny serving an ace. Louisville was back within three at 19-16 and grabbed three straight points on a kill by Cabello and two Tiger attack errors. Auburn used its second timeout with the score tied at 19-19 and took a kill to go up 20-19. With a 5-0 run, the Cards got to set point after kills from Chicoine and Blackshear and a block from Sherman and Blackshear. Auburn held off the set point with a kill, but Blackshear's seventh kill ended the set at 25-21.

Set 3: Auburn 21, Louisville 25
Louisville and Auburn kept the score close to start the third set as neither team took a lead over three points. The Cards went on a 7-0 run highlighted by three kills from Blackshear with UofL going up 13-9. A kill by the Tigers ended the run and points continued to bounce around until a kill by Sherman and two straight aces from Cabello forced Auburn to take its final timeout of the set down 20-16. Louisville added three more points out of the break before the Tigers went on a 5-0 scoring run to get back within two at 23-21. A net violation by Auburn gave the Cards match point at 24-21 and a kill from Petersen clinched UofL's first win of the season, 25-21.