No. 3 Cardinals Knock Off Illini 3-1

Sunday, September 7

LOUISVILLE, KY

3:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

4-0,0-0ACC

Illinois

2-2,0-0Big Ten

Illinois

Louisville

September 07, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Payton Petersen leads with a career-high 20 kills

By: Sara Miller

Highlights here

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Payton Petersen had a career-high 20 kills to lead the No. 3-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18) win over Illinois Sunday afternoon in the KFC Yum! Center.

The Cardinals (4-0) hit .288 on 63 kills, 18 blocks and five aces. Sophomore Payton Peterson surpassed her career-high in kills with 20, while tallying 11 digs and an ace. Outside hitter Chloe Chicoine notched a season-high 17 kills while stacking on 11 digs, one block and two assists while surviving 10 service errors. Cara Cresse, Nayellis Cabello and Kalyssa Blackshear each posted five blocks on the day.

Illinois (2-2) hit .201 as a team with 50 kills, 20 blocks and 8 aces. The Illini were led by Taylor de Boer who tallied 18 digs and one dig.

Up next the Cards will hit the road to face Texas at the Showdown at the Net on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at Dickie Arena in Ft. Worth.

Set 1: Louisville 25, Illinois 19
The two teams traded points to begin the match with neither team able to take more than a one-point lead. Louisville used a 6-0 run to take a 10-5 advantage forcing Illinois to use its first timeout. Out of the break, the Illini started to gain momentum with three-straight points, but the Cards put a stop to their run with back-to-back kills. Louisville used a 8-4 run to push their lead to 20-13. Illinois attempted to rally scoring six of the final ten points, but Cresse won the set for the Cards with a kill assisted by Cabello.

Set 2: Louisville 25, Illinois 22
After a back-and-forth set, Louisville started to pull away with a 12-7 run before Illinois rallied to tie the match at 13-13. Chicoine scored three out of four of Louisville's points in a row, but Illinois matched the momentum, bringing the score to 20-20. Back-to-back kills by Peterson forced Illinois to take a timeout, but the Cards outscored the Illini 4-2 to take the set, capped off by a block by Cabello and Cresse. UofL hit .382 in that set as a team.

Set 3: Louisville 20, Illinois 25
Neither team was able to claim more than a two-point advantage over the other until Illinois took a 14-11 lead. The Illini used their momentum to go on a 9-6 run, forcing Louisville to burn a timeout late in the third set with the score at 23-19. Peterson notched another kill, but it wasn't enough as Illinois took their first set of the match 25-20 with a block and kill by Ashlyn Philpot.

Set 4: Louisville 25, Illinois 18
With the score close at 5-4, Louisville went on a 6-0 run that featured four different players with kills and forced Illinois to take an early timeout. Illinois used a 13-7 run to bring the score within one point at 18-17. This forced a Cards timeout, but UofL was able to bounce back and win the set with six straight points including the final two points coming on blocks, one from Blackshear and one from Cresse.