By Jocelyn Scurlock

Louisville volleyball protected their home court once again, beating the Virginia Cavaliers in four sets. 

The Cards came out swinging right off the bat in set one with three straight kills from freshman Kalyssa Blackshear, forcing the Cavaliers to call a time out and regroup early. The Cards offense remained aggressive throughout the entirety of the set getting kills from the front and back row.

Virginia struggled heavily with serving in the first set with a total of six errors, but were able to string together a few mini runs thanks to their defense and errors in Louisville’s serve-receive.

All in all, the Cards offense led them to take set one 25-11.

Set two was very back and forth with a total of eight lead changes.

The electric offense on both sides made for an engaging set with both teams hitting well over 400.

The score was tight until the end, but ultimately Louisville won 25-21.

There was a huge momentum shift in set three with Virginia starting to connect offensively while Louisville struggled heavily with errors. 

The Cavaliers had a large lead against the Cards for a majority of the third set. They produced 19 kills compared to the Cardinals’ 15. 

Serve-receive was a big point of struggle for Louisville as UVA grew their lead to 21-12.

Despite a large deficit, Louisville was able to rally and get within one point of the Cavaliers due to a 12-point serving run by Nayelis Cabello. But it was all for naught as UVA took the set 25-23.

Louisville got back on track to start set four and opened up an early lead forcing Virginia to take a time out.

Aggressive serving and scrappy defense from start to finish helped the Cards to take control of the set and win it 25-17 leading them to win the match 3-1.

The win against the Cavaliers not only kept the Cards undefeated in conference play, but also saw two players to reach new heights. Blackshear hit a career-high 20 kills while Cabello had 53 assists in the game, replacing her previous career-high of 44.

Louisville now advances to 14-2 on the season and 6-0 in the ACC.

The Cards prepare for a tough upcoming weekend of volleyball playing two top ten teams in SMU and Pitt. Both games will be played at home in L&N arena.

Photo by Jocelyn Scurlock / The Louisville Cardinal