Louisville volleyball takes down Wake Forest in 4 sets

By Jocelyn Scurlock

Louisville extended their undefeated road winning streak on Sunday against Wake Forest, winning the match 3-1.

The Cards got out to a slow start in the first set, falling behind the Demon Deacons 5-2.

Though they were quickly able to turn it around with aggressive serving and a huge kill from Hannah Sherman to tie it up at six.

Louisville regained control with a 6-0 serving run by Nayelis Cabello.

Their momentum continued thanks to Kalyssa Blackshear getting some big swings out of the middle and Chloe Chicoine producing 5 kills

The Cards took care of business pretty easily to win set one 25-16.

Things took a turn for the worst in the second. Wake Forest’s block was able to shut down a lot of Louisville’s offense.

Set two brought 15 ties and 7 lead changes as neither team could create much separation.

The Demon Deacons were able to get Louisville out of system enough to pull ahead 22-19 forcing the Cards to burn both of their timeouts within just points of each other.

Ultimately, they were unable to regroup and ended up dropping set two 25-20.

Louisville’s hardships continued into the third, struggling to find the open spots on the court. Wake Forest seemed to be able to dig every ball the Cards tried to put down.

Head coach Dan Meske was forced to call a time out after falling behind the Demon Deacons 8-2.

After coming out of the huddle, Cabello had a huge stuff block to bring back some energy for the Cards.

They were able to go on a 3-0 run to get within two, pushing Wake Forest to call a time out of their own.

Louisville continued their run to take their first lead of the set at 14-13.

Their electric offense allowed them to widen the gap and eventually win the third 25-18 despite being down by eight early in the set.

The Cards got right back on track during the fourth with Cresse and Cabello connecting early on the slide.

Defensive Dominance

They continued their success with a dominant block by Sherman and aces from both Kamden Schrand and Ava Utterback.

Despite dropping a set, the Cards were able to rally and win the fourth 25-17 and the match 3-1 to improve to 11-2 in conference and 19-4 overall.

Serving was a bit of a struggle this match for the Cards logging eight service errors.

However, what they lacked at the service line they made up for offensively. This match truly shined a light on just how dangerous Louisville’s front row can be.

The team combined for a total of 53 kills with 18 from Blackshear, 15 from Chicoine, and 10 from Cresse.

Overall they had a 0.302 hitting percentage compared to Wake Forest’s 0.122. Louisville also put up 16 blocks in this match, led by Sherman with ten.