The No. 5 Louisville Volleyball team made their way downtown Wednesday night for their first of three matches at the KFC Yum! Center against the Missouri Tigers. The nationally televised match was a part of the volleyball rendition of the “ACC/SEC Challenge”.
Kalyssa Blackshear got the Cards going early in the first set with kills on six of Louisville’s first eight points and The Ville was up 10-4 early. Missouri would scrap their way back to within 11-10 with excellent passing from the back row and a strong effort from Paige Felder and Eva Smith in the front row. The Cards would push the lead to 15-11 behind an assisted block and kill by Chloe Meester.
A pair of kills by Chloe Chicoine and Blackshear and one by Nayelis Cabello put The Ville up 20-15. The front wall of Brooke Bultema, Addison Makun and Meester closed out the first set dominating at the net. Meester finished the first with an emphatic kill to seal the 25-21 win.
The second set was a slow-paced scrappy affair. The Ville came out on fire much like the first set and took a 9-4 lead behind three kills and a block from Blackshear. The Tigers would rattle off seven of the next nine and take a 12-11 lead.
The Tigers would push it to 15-13, before kills by Blackshear and Bultema tied it at 15. Missouri would continue to find a way with multiple long rallies and gave Louisville their first set loss at home of the season, 25-22.
After the set break, the Cards came out on fire in the third. Kamden Schrand had an eight-point service streak that put The Ville up 10-1. Missouri cut it to 10-3, then Hannah Kenny went on a five-point service run behind a pair of kills from Chicoine and Bultema to put the Cards up 16-3. Chicoine would continue to dominate and finish the set with 11 kills & even pop up from taking a Missouri attack to the face. Bultema finished with six kills in the set.
Louisville went ahead 10-2 in the fourth set behind a six-point service run by Chicoine. Defending AVCA National Player of the Week, Meester would get going with a pair of kills and a block. The Cards put it on cruise control and pulled away to finish off the match with a 25-17 win in the fourth. Makun would get several kills down the stretch, including the match clincher.
Chicoine would finish the match with 22 kills and 12 digs. Blackshear added 20 kills, Meester 14 kills and three blocks, Bultema nine kills and four blocks, Makun five kills and three blocks. Cabello would have 59 assists and 13 digs, Schrand had 11 digs, Kenny 13 digs & Payton Petersen 28 digs.
The announced attendance was 5,076. Louisville will play two more matches at the KFC Yum! Center; Sunday, Nov.1 vs Georgia Tech and Saturday, Nov. 28 vs SMU.
Next up the No. 5 Cards travel to Houston for the Rice Invitational. Friday at 7 pm est, The Ville will face off with the host Rice Owls. Saturday, the Cards play No. 15 Creighton at 2 pm. Last season the Cards beat the Jays in four sets in Omaha, snapping their 32-match home winning streak. The weekend will round out with a 1 pm match against Northern Iowa on Sunday. The Panthers are coached by Louisville libero Payton Petersen’s mom, Bobbi Petersen. All three matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
