No. 3 Cardinals Fall to No. 6 Kentucky

Thursday, September 18

LOUISVILLE, KY

6:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

7-2,0-0ACC

Kentucky

6-2,0-0SEC

Kentucky

Louisville

September 18, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Cats win the Battle of the Bluegrass 3-1

By: Nancy Worley

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 3-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team fell in five sets to No. 6-ranked Kentucky In the Battle of the Bluegrass on Thursday night in the KFC Yum! Center.

"Credit to Kentucky, we just gone done talking about the pressure they put on us defensively, and I thought we kind of lost ourselves offensively because of it," said Dan Meske. "We had a tough run there, where Kentucky really took control of the match through their defense. So, a lot of credit to them. That's a great team that I think is going to have a great year in the SEC. You know, being up 2-1 is tough. We got out of that third set, but then I thought Kentucky made some good adjustments. I know their setter started cramping up and then they put that another setter in. That was impressive by them, they gave us some problems that we didn't have enough solutions for. Blocked a bunch of balls, I thought we could lean on our defense in spots, but it just wasn't enough today. So, like I said, credit to Kentucky. Awesome crowd, I thought they had a huge impact on us winning the third (set). So losing this match just hurts a little bit more because of that, I thought the crowd really helped us gut out that third (set). I was hoping we'd get one more set for them, but it was what it was."

Cardinal middle blocker Hannah Sherman stuffed a career-high 11 blocks against the Wildcats, adding nine kills and one dig. Outside hitter Payton Petersen logged her fourth double-double of the season with 14 kills and 11 digs. Petersen added five blocks to UofL's 18.5 total blocks on the night. Four Cards had 10 or more digs in addition to Petersen: libero Kamden Schrand (19), setter Nayelis Cabello (12), outside hitter Chloe Chicoine and setter/defensive specialist Hannah Kenny (10). Kenny served two aces and outside hitter Ava Utterback served one of her own.

Kentucky snapped Louisville's four-year win streak in the Battle of the Bluegrass, totaling 70 kills, 87 digs, 17 total blocks and three aces. Outside hitters Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson each tabbed double-doubles, with DeLeye knocking down 24 kills and digging 14 balls while Hudson killed 17 and dug 21. Middle blocker Brooke Bultema stuffed eight blocks and DeLeye and Lizzie Carr both added six.

"The biggest thing was offensive solutions, I thought their defense was giving us problems, so we tried to find solutions for them, said Meske. "We were rolling in the first, we were doing what we were doing and I thought they adjusted well. In that fourth in particular when it started to get so far away, that it felt like the fifth was imminent, I thought it was a good opportunity to get some players some opportunities to see if they would give us a spark, and that was kind of the reasoning behind that. It just wasn't enough."

Louisville (6-2) will be back in action in the Yum! Center on Monday, Sept. 22 against Western Kentucky.

Set 1: Kentucky 21, Louisville 25
After a kill from the Wildcats to open the game, the Cards grabbed their first three points on a kill from Blackshear, an ace from Kenny and a block between Petersen and Cresse. UofL pulled out to a 12-7 lead before UK got back within one at 13-12. Louisville took the next two points on kills from Petersen and Cabello to force the media timeout. Cresse added two more kills to extend the Cards' lead 17-12 and make the Wildcats burn their first timeout. UofL grabbed its largest lead of the set at 20-14 following a big block from Sherman and Blackshear. UK climbed back, forcing Louisville to go through five set points before Petersen sealed the set win 25-21 with a kill.

Set 2: Kentucky 25, Louisville 21
The Cards led 15-14 at the media break, with the first 29 points seeing 11 tie scores. Kenny served her second ace as Cresse, Sherman, Petersen and Cabello each stuffed blocks for UofL. Out of the break, UK forced Louisville timeouts up 19-16 and 22-18. Kentucky went through three set points as the Cards battled back to a 24-21 deficit before the Cats called their first timeout. UK knocked down a kill to grab the set win 25-21.

Set 3: Kentucky 24, Louisville 26
Kentucky got out to an early 5-2 lead, but Louisville used a 4-0 run to prevent any further damage and go ahead 6-5. The teams traded points as the Cards went up 15-12 at the media break. With the score knotted at 20, Cabello stuffed a solo block and Petersen hit a tip kill to force a Wildcat timeout, up 22-20. UofL took consecutive timeouts leading 23-22 and with the score tied at 23, before a kill from Petersen had UK taking its first timeout down 24-23. Kentucky knocked down a kill to even the scoring at 24-all. A service error gave Louisville its second set point before Chicoine hammered in a kill to win the set 26-24.

Set 4: Kentucky 25, Louisville 12
The Cards grabbed the first two points of the set, but the Wildcats eventually pulled out to a 10-4 lead and on a 5-0 run before UofL took a timeout. UK extended its lead, going up 16-6 and causing Louisville to burn its second timeout. Kentucky took the set win 25-12.

Set 5: Kentucky 15, Louisville 7
The Wildcats began the fifth set on a 4-0 run and quickly pulled ahead 8-2 at the break. Out of the timeout, the Cards took two points before taking a timeout down 10-4. Louisville added three more points, all kills from Sherman, but Kentucky sealed the win 15-7.