Phekran Kong, Nena Mbonu and Amaya Tillman each had nine kills to the lead the No. 2-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-18, 25-15, 25-22 sweep of Virginia in ACC play Friday night in Charlottesville.
UofL stays unbeaten in the conference with a mark of 9-0 and stands at 18-1 overall. The win pushes the Cardinals’ ACC unbeaten streak to 38 dating back to Oct. 23, 2020. The Cardinals hit .255 with nine aces and ten blocks. Claire Chaussee pitched in eight kills and a block. Tillman had seven blocks and four aces.
Virginia falls to 1-9 in the ACC and is 9-12 overall. The Cavaliers hit .181 with two aces and ten blocks. UVA was led by Grace Turners 10 kills with three blocks. Abby Tadder had eight kills and five blocks.
UofL heads to Pittsburgh for a showdown with the No. 8 Pitt Panthers on Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPNU.
Set by Set Recap
Set 1
After tying at three, the Cardinals reeled off six straight, powered by two Aiko Jones’ two aces to go up 9-3. Virginia put together a 4-0 run to pull within three at 15-12 and Coach Dani Busboom Kelly used her first timeout of the set. Coming out of the break, Virginia stayed close and came within one point at 16-15 on a Louisville hitting error. Louisville scored twice to get to 18 and UVa called timeout. The Cardinals kept creeping away from the Cavs. A 3-0 run took UofL to 23-17 but UVa would score just once as Louisville took the first set 25-18. Nena Mbonu led the Cardinal offense with four kills. Amaya Tillman added three kills and two blocks. UVa held UofL to .200 hitting in the set.
Set 2
UofL popped out to a 14-6 lead in the second set and by that point UVA had already used both its timeouts. UVa won a challenge and aced the Cardinals to cut the lead to five at 16-11 but UofL ramped up the offense to finish the set on a 7-1 run to take the second set 25-15 to take a 2-0 set lead going into the break. Kong had four kills and Mbonu three to pace the Louisville offense.
Set 3
Louisville did not take the lead until 13-12 in the third set on an ace by Claire Chaussee. The teams traded points and when Virginia went up 21-20 on a kill by Grace Turner, her tenth of the match. Virginia went up 22-20 but the Cardinals tied on kills by Chaussee and Mbonu after a UofL timeout. Two straight blocks by Tillman and Raquel Lazaro gave UofL set point and an ace by Ceci Rush gave the Cards the 25-22 win to end the run on a 5-0 run and the sweep.
| Nancy Allison WorleyAssociate Sports Information Director | Louisville Athletics |