By Morgan Davenport

The Louisville Cardinals came out victorious after a tough non-conference battle against the No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers, giving Louisville their first win against the Badgers since 1985.

Shaking off the rust

The first set started off rough for the Cardinals, as they struggled to find their footing against the Big Ten powerhouse. The Cards began the set with freshman Nayelis Cabello at the service line, but quickly began turning the ball over to the Badgers due to attacking errors. Louisville falls to Wisconsin in set one, 25-18.

From the start of the second set, the Cards were in a constant game of catch-up. Luckily, the high amount of service errors from both Wisconsin and Louisville kept the set moving from point for point. Louisville’s defense carried the second as they took care of business both on the net and in the back row, gaining them the set with a score of 25-17.

Defense wins championships

Out of the halftime break, the Cardinals implemented a new way of play for this opening match as Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly shifted to a 6-2 rotation from her normal 5-1 playbook. The Cards also ran a spectacular tandem play, giving them much needed momentum to push through the third set and beyond.

Fifth year senior Anna DeBeer and Elena Scott led the charge by playing phenomenal defense, guiding Louisville through a dominant third. Junior middle blocker Cara Cresse led the charge offensively, hitting at .778 with no errors. Phekran Kong also provided pivotal defense, giving the Cardinals a stable footing to come back and take the third set 26-24.

The fourth set began extremely scrappy and was followed by a service error from DeBeer. However, Louisville began to monopolize on Wisconsin’s service errors, allowing them to take an early lead.

The Badgers struggled at the service line all night with 17 service errors. The Cardinals racked up 9 service errors themselves, but had two aces to counter.

As the set progressed, it became point for point once again. This late night match came with some growing pains and actual pain as many of the players began to fatigue and cramp up. As both teams began to deteriorate, DeBeer brings the Cardinals back together with a powerful kill that topped off a 5-0 run. This took the cardinals to victory, ending the match with an impressive 25-20 set win.

Louisville would win 3-1.

Starting off strong

For a team with lofty expectations, a top-ten victory sure sets the season off on the right step.

This team’s main goal is to end up in the KFC Yum! Center in December competing in the Final Four competition and with this level of momentum, it is looking promising for the Louisville Cardinals.

But to start, Louisville is now 1-0.

Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, Louisville Athletics