LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The No. 5-ranked Louisville volleyball team began the week with a tough loss to No. 5 Nebraska in front of the program’s biggest crowd ever (14,126) in the KFC Yum! Center last Sunday.
On Friday night, the Cardinals returned to the cozy confines of L&N Arena on campus to begin Atlantic Coast Conference play, beating new league member California 25-13, 25-15, 25-21 before their usual sellout crowd, despite the remnants of Hurricane Helene moving through the state.
Anna DeBeer and Sofia Maldonado-Diaz had eight kills each, Cara Cresse had seven blocks and Elena Scott had her customary 25 digs to go along with a team-best four Aces.
California took 7-4 leads in both the second and third sets, but Louisville roared back both times. Louisville (9-2) ran away after tying the match at 11 in the second set, out scoring Cal 11-4 to take control. Louisville used a 5-0 run to climb back in the third set, which remained close until a DeBeer kill for the game-winner.
Maggie Li led California (8-5) in kills, but the Bears finished match with a hitting percentage of negative .029.
Louisville libero Elena Scott waits for the play to begin during a victory over Wisconsin in the KFC Yum! Center.
“Great win,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “I thought Cal worked really hard and they’re a good team, but our defense was the story tonight. When you can hold a team to negative (hitting), no matter who you’re playing that’s a huge accomplishment. I thought our block game alive, and the back corps was exceptional. Elena played one of the best games of her career. Just so, so good. It was awesome to see our defense come alive.”
Busboom Kelly also said Louisville’s offense showed good balance and made better decisions than it did a week ago.
“Our offense has to be balanced for us to be great,” she said. “And I thought our centers did a good job of getting everybody involved. Not everybody had the greatest hitting percentage tonight, but I thought the choices were really good, and we’ve got to keep trusting what we’re doing and those balls will start to fall.”
Louisville now faces its second Top 5 matchup in eight days when No. 3 Stanford visits the KFC Yum! Center at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
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