Louisville Volleyball Sweeps Purdue, Advances to Elite Eight

The Cardinals will face Stanford on Saturday.

Louisville's Cara Cresse (13) celebrated after a point as the No. 3 Louisville Cardinals women's volleyball team faced off against the No. 1 Pitt Panthers on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024. / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal & USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -The No. 1-seeded University of Louisville volleyball team advanced to its fourth consecutive NCAA Regional Final appearance after sweeping No. 4-seeded Purdue 25-17, 25-18, 25-18 in Freedom Hall on Thursday night.

"It was a great effort by us. We are pretty excited with the way we came out tonight and just stayed super consistent the whole match. Purdue is a great team. They are always fighters. I mean, they hit [.273], which is excellent," said head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "They did a lot of great things well, but I'm just really proud that we finally feel like we learned from the last three matches we've had. So, it's like we came out and just had a different attitude and mindset."

Louisville recorded a season-high hitting percentage, posting a .467 clip on 52 kills, 33 digs, five total blocks, and three service aces. Freshman setter Nayelis Cabello served all of the Cards' aces and added 23 of UofL's 51 assists. Outside hitter Charitie Luper hit .571 on the match with 13 kills and nine digs. Outside hitter Anna DeBeer posted a .393 hitting percentage with a team-high 15 kills and seven digs. Sofia Maldonado Diaz recorded seven kills on 14 attempts and led Louisville in blocks with three. Middle blockers Phekran Kong, Cara Cresse, and Reese Robins each added to the block total as Robins contributed seven kills on 10 attempts to the offense.

Purdue hit .273 against the Cards, with 37 kills, 26 digs, and 7.0 total blocks. Middle blocker Raven Colvin led the Boilermakers, hitting .550 with 13 kills and five blocks in her final match with the team. Outside hitter and AVCA Player of the Year semi-finalist Eva Hudson notched  10 kills, six digs, and two blocks for Purdue.

Louisville advances to take on No. 2-seeded Stanford for the third time this season. The match is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 14, inside Freedom Hall; the match can be viewed on ESPN2. The winner will advance to the NCAA Final Four that takes place in the KFC Yum! Center on Dec. 19.

Louisville and Stanford are even in their meetings in 2024. UofL grabbed the win over Stanford on Sept. 29 in the Yum! Center as the Cards swept the Cardinal in three sets. In their second meeting, Stanford took the 3-1 win in California on Nov. 30, the final match of the regular season. Saturday's matchup will be only the fifth all-time meeting between the schools.

Set 1: Louisville 25, Purdue 17 - Purdue opened the scoring on a kill, but got Louisville on the board with a service error. The Boilermakers added one more kill before the Cards went on a 4-0 run on kills from Robins, Kong, and Luper, and an ace from Cabello. At 5-2, Purdue nabbed another point before Kong added her second kill. After the Boilermakers scored once more on a kill, DeBeer tallied her first of the evening before Cresse and Sofia Maldonado Diaz teamed up for a big block to pull UofL ahead 8-4. Purdue grabbed two more quick points on a kill and solo block, before Louisville went on a 3-0 run that forced the Boilermakers to take their first timeout down 11-6. Out of the timeout, Purdue continued Louisville's run with an attack error, but a service error from the Cards ended the 4-0 run at 12-7. Points bounced between teams until UofL pulled ahead 17-11 and on a 4-0 run that saw both Cresse and DeBeer recording kills. Down 17-11, Purdue used its second timeout, but Louisville continued its run to extend their lead to 19-11. The run ended on an error, but Kong quickly swung momentum back with a kill. The teams traded points until the end when a kill from DeBeer gave the Cards their first set point at 24-16. The Boilermakers held off the end of the set with a kill, but Robins ended the set 25-17 with a kill.

Set 2: Louisville 25, Purdue 18 - Purdue took the first two points of the set off of a kill and a block before Louisville found an answer in kills from Luper and Robins to even the score at two. Points went back and forth as Luper, DeBeer, Maldonado Diaz, Cresse, and Robins racked up kills and Maldonado Diaz and Kong stuffed a block as the Cards led 15-12 at the media timeout. The Boilermakers came out of the timeout with a kill, but Maldonado Diaz knocked down another kill of her own. UofL stayed in the lead and points continued to be traded until Luper tallied two kills in a row that made Purdue burn its first timeout. After the timeout, Cresse and Robins posted a big block for Louisville that put UofL ahead 20-15. Purdue added a point on a service error from the Cards, but Robins answered with her fifth kill of the night. The Boilermakers chose to burn their second timeout again after two kills from Luper that put Louisville within reach of the set at 23-17. Purdue added one more kill after the timeout but could not fight for the set win. A kill from Maldonado Diaz put the Cards at set point 24-18 and DeBeer sealed the second set win with a kill at 25-18. Louisville hit a match-high .531 in the second set with both DeBeer and Luper finishing the set with double digit kills.

Set 3: Louisville 25, Purdue 18 - Louisville took the first point on an attack error by the Boilermakers, but a service error from the Cards gave Purdue a point on the board. The next 16 points saw eight ties as Robins, Maldonado Diaz, Cresse, and Luper tacked on kills for UofL tied at nine-all. Louisville went on a 5-0 run that included two kills from Luper, two service aces from Cabello, and a solo block from Kong that saw Purdue take its first timeout. Out of the timeout, the Boilermakers scored on a service error, but were still down 13-10. The Cards tabbed on four more points to lead 17-11 and force Purdue to burn its last timeout. DeBeer added on another kill out of the timeout, but the Boilermakers responded with two points of their own. Louisville went on a quick 3-0 run to pull ahead 21-13 off of kills from Maldonado Diaz and DeBeer until Purdue answered with a 3-0 run on a kill and two blocks. Cresse ended the Boilermaker run with a kill to extend the Cards' lead to six. The next few points went back and forth until Robins knocked down a kill to put UofL at match point, 24-18. A block connection between Kong and Maldonado Diaz gave Louisville the win 25-18.

(Photo via Jeff Faughender - Courier Journal & USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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