By Morgan Davenport

The No. 4 Louisville Cardinals fall to the No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers with a sweep.

Disjointed

This top-10 match up started off strong for the Cards, but as the match went on, they slowly disconnected as a team.

Anna DeBeer played strong, having 12 kills on the night and eight digs. Sofia Maldonado Diaz was a powerhouse at the net for the Cards, getting four kills and hitting a solid .500 for the set. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they lost focus quickly and ended letting the Huskers take charge of the game.

Nebraska dominated set one 16-25.

The second set once again started off positive for the Cards with a kill on an overpass from Phekran Kong. This was followed by a long rally, showcasing the amazing Cardinal defense highlighted by Elena Scott. In the end, the rally went to Nebraska and kicked off a 4-0 run of aces from Husker Lindsay Krause.

The only thing keeping the Cards afloat was DeBeer on the net and Scott making sure no ball hit the floor during every rally. Louisville was hitting .134 in the second set, ending up with 25 attack errors through all three sets.

The Cards fell to the Huskers once again, 17-25.

In the third and final set, the Cardinals started off with yet another lead but Nebraska fought back, making it point for point.

Things were looking up for Louisville until the Huskers started finding their weakest defensive points and targeting them. Nebraska’s setter Bergen Reilly targeted the center court, dumping the ball right where she knew the Cards had no coverage.

All throughout this set, it seemed as though Louisville’s hitters were not in sync with their setters as they had eight attacking errors and a few miscommunications on what play they wanted to run. The Cards hit an abysmal .069 on the set, nowhere near what would have been needed to kick off the reverse sweep.

The Cardinals lost the third 20-25, falling via sweep.

What doesn’t kill you

Coach Dani Busboom Kelly talked post game about how she felt her team was playing; she said “It was good to see a little bit of fight from our team and kind of go back to what we do well.” Busboom Kelly spoke highly of captains Charitie Luper and DeBeer on how well they were keeping the team afloat from the left side. She also talked about the importance of this being the first women’s volleyball game broadcast on ABC. Despite the loss tonight, she is positive about her team’s ability to push through to the finals in December.

The Cardinals now fall to 8-2 on the season. Next up, they play Cal on Friday, Sep. 27 at the KFC Yum! Center.