LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dan Meske didn’t try to sugarcoat it, with his No. 6-ranked volleyball team heading into the ACC’s California road swing over the weekend.
“Cal is a massive trap match for us,” he warned last week. “It's very natural for our team to think about the Stanford match and, you know, national TV and all those different things. We played them in the Elite Eight. But Cal is going to be really, really good.”
What happened?
Louisville volleyball went into that “trap” in Berkeley on Friday night, hit .371, held Cal to a .000 hitting percentage, and posted a 25-5 second set — the most lopsided of the rally-scoring era.
Then on Sunday, the real fireworks.
Louisville took out No. 4 Stanford on its home court, 3-1, ending a 20-match home win streak and outplaying the Cardinal in nearly every phase: better attack efficiency (.304 to .258), more blocks (11 to 8), more aces, more control.
And more belief.
“We’ve tried everything with these west coast trips,” Meske said before the team left. “Tried to change our clocks. Tried late practices. But the more we tried, the more we chase our tail. So we just said, ‘Let’s be who we are.’ Stick to the routine. Show up. Adjust on game day. Compete.”
They did compete. From a balanced attack (four players in double-digit kills) to a composed close-out in Set 4 — a 26-24 thriller that saw the Cards erase a late Stanford surge — Louisville looked every bit like a team rounding into elite form.
You don’t get results like this without elite execution. At the center of it is sophomore setter Nayelis Cabello, whom Meske called “as good as anybody in the country right now.”
“These last three matches — WKU, Boston College, Syracuse — I’d say they’ve been the best three of her career,” he said. “You know I love football analogies. And if your quarterback isn’t throwing catchable balls, it doesn’t matter who your receivers are. That’s where Nay is right now. She’s putting people in position to score.”
She did it again at Stanford, spreading 46 assists across the box score and even sealing the match herself with a fifth-set kill.
Meanwhile, Payton Petersen continued to prove Meske right in every way: “On any given day I could give you a different answer to what she does best,” he said. “Kills, digs, serve receive — she finds a way to help.”
She logged her fifth double-double of the season against Stanford (15 kills, 14 digs) and was central to the run that turned the third set in Louisville’s favor.
“She’s very even-keeled,” Meske said. “… I love her vibe. I think the fans have kind of picked up on just kind of who she is as a player, and I think she's a really fun player to get behind.”
There are few more pro-ready players in the ACC than fifth-year senior Cara Cresse, who notched 13 kills and 8 blocks at Stanford — many of them during pivotal momentum shifts.
Meske has long praised her development, but now he just sounds like a coach who is glad to have a front-rown seat.
“She redshirted our Final Four year. Stormed the court in street clothes,” Meske said. “And now, I mean, she makes it look like it's slow motion for her. I've said this multiple times this year, but she feels like we have a pro playing amongst college players. And she very well could be a pro. She probably would have been a first-round draft pick last year, but chose to come back for her fifth year, and I think it shows in just her presence.”
More importantly, Cresse’s influence is already shaping the next wave. Freshman Addison McCune — who saw time against Syracuse — is getting a year-long masterclass in how to play the position.
“If we’re going to keep developing players the way we want to,” Meske said, “they’ve got to see what it looks like. And Addison’s getting the perfect example.”
Louisville and Stanford may be developing one of the sport’s most compelling coast-to-coast rivalries.
Just last December, they met twice in a two-week span — Stanford winning the regular season finale, Louisville flipping the script in the Elite Eight to reach the Final Four.
Sunday felt like a continuation.
“There’s a ton of respect both ways,” Meske said. “But we want to win those matches.”
Indeed, that was another thread from Meske’s preview comments — how the league, once unranked across the board, now boasts four or five top-25 teams, with Louisville, Pitt, Stanford and SMU all elite. Louisville is in the national poll for an 89th straight week.
In other words, there are plenty of chances to make statements.
Louisville just made its loudest of the year.
The Cards (12-2, 4-0) return home this weekend to host Virginia Tech and Virginia at L&N Arena.
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