Outside hitter Charitie Luper shone with a standout performance, hitting .474 with a double-double that included 10 kills, 12 digs, and an ace to guide the No. 6-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-14, 25-22, and 25-20 victory over No. 15-ranked Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center.
This victory marks Louisville’s second win over a top-15 opponent in the past five days. The Cardinals displayed impressive team synergy, hitting .371 collectively while racking up seven aces and 45 kills throughout the match. Outside hitter Sofia Maldonado Diaz contributed 11 kills, while outside hitter Anna DeBeer added nine kills and three aces. Setter Elle Glock delivered 20 assists and an ace, and middle blocker Reese Robins was nearly unstoppable, hitting .727 with eight kills.
Tennessee struggled offensively, hitting just .151 with three aces and 30 kills. Nina Cajic led the Vols with nine kills as they fell to 0-2 to start their season.
Next, Louisville will travel to University Park, Pennsylvania, to face the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions, with the match set to begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.
Set 1:
Tennessee started the match with the first point, but Louisville quickly responded with a 5-0 run featuring two aces from Anna DeBeer and a powerful block by Cara Cresse and Reese Robins, giving the Cardinals a 6-2 lead. DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz combined for five kills, two aces, and a block, extending Louisville’s advantage to 13-7. With the score at 22-14, Louisville forced a Tennessee timeout after a series of big kills and an ace from Luper. The Cardinals closed out the first set with a 25-14 win, capped by a 4-0 run and an attack error from Tennessee. Robins ended the set with a .750 hitting percentage, while Luper hit .429, contributing to the team’s overall .650 hitting average for the set.
Set 2:
Tennessee came out strong in the second set, opening with a 5-2 run. However, Louisville rallied to tie the score at 5-5 with a kill from Maldonado Diaz. The Vols briefly pulled ahead 10-7, but a kill and an ace from Cresse brought the Cardinals back to even at 12-12. After a media timeout, Louisville edged ahead 15-14 as errors from both sides kept the set close. DeBeer’s block and kill helped the Cardinals pull out to a 17-14 lead, though Tennessee battled back to tie it at 17. The teams traded points until another kill from DeBeer gave Louisville a 24-21 lead. Set point came on a kill from Luper, securing a 25-22 win and a 2-0 set lead for Louisville. At this point, Luper had reached eight kills, with Robins still hitting .714 and the team hitting .411 overall.
Set 3:
Tennessee started the third set with a 2-0 lead, but Louisville quickly tied it up at 2-2 after a Vols attack error and a Luper kill. The Vols went up 5-3, but Louisville kept the scoring close, eventually taking their first lead of the set at 7-6. Kills from DeBeer and Maldonado Diaz sparked a 4-0 run that forced a Tennessee timeout with Louisville up 9-6. After the timeout, a kill from PK Kong extended Louisville’s lead to 10-8, and a pair of Tennessee attack errors pushed it to 12-8. The Vols responded with a 6-0 run to take a 14-12 lead, but Maldonado Diaz ended the run with her tenth kill. After a back-and-forth exchange, an ace from Kamden Schrand tied the score at 16-16. Luper’s tenth kill of the match put Louisville ahead 18-17, and a block by Kong and DeBeer, followed by an ace from Glock, secured a 25-20 set win, completing the sweep for the Cardinals.
