No. 5 Louisville Volleyball Sweeps No. 6 Nebraska in Lincoln

Anna Stevenson had 11 kills and six blocks and Aiko Jones added 10 kills, two aces and seven blocks to lead the No. 5-ranked University of Louisville to a 25-17, 25-20, 25-18 sweep of No. 6 Nebraska Saturday night in the Devaney Center.

The Cardinals remain undefeated at 10-0 and the sweep was the first in Lincoln since Wisconsin swept the Huskers on Oct. 5, 2019. The match marks a victory over highest ranked opponent since the Sweet Sixteen win over No. 2 ranked Texas in 2019 and the first win over Nebraska in six meetings. UofL hit .255 for the set with two aces and 12 blocks. Anna DeBeer added 10 kills and 13 digs. Amaya Tillman, the No. 4 blocker in the nation, had four kills and six blocks. Tori Dilfer had 34 assists and two blocks. Freshman Elena Scott, who spent her prep career as a setter, had a match-high 14 digs at libero. 

Nebraska hit a chilly .046 with two aces and seven blocks. Whitney Lauenstein paced the Huskers with nine kills with setter Nicklin Hames adding 21 assists, an ace and two blocks.

The match marks the last non-conference match of the season with the Cardinals opening up ACC play at home with Miami on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. before taking on Florida State, which just upset No. 13 Florida,  on Sept. 26. 

Set 1

The Cardinals established the block early and used .330 to catch Nebraska flat-footed in the first set.  Louisville never trailed but Nebraska closed the gap to one point at 14-13 on a kill by Callie Schwarzenbach.  Anna Stevenson got a block and a kill on the next play to spread the lead back to 20-15.  UofL outscored the Huskers 5-2 down the stretch with a hitting error by Madi Kubik giving the Cards the 25-17 win.

Set 2

It took Nebraska until midway through the second set to take its first lead of the match when Nicklin Hames whizzed a serve by the Louisville defense to go up 11-10. But the Cardinals had regained the lead after a pair of NU hitting errors to take a 15-13 lead into the media timeout.  A huge block by Amaya Tillman took the Cards up 19-17 and forced a Nebraska timeout. Claire Chaussee got her first kill of the match at 21-17 as part of a five-point run by the Cards.  The Huskers pushed back and the Cardinals called timeout up 22-20 to regroup. A pair of kills by Aiko Jones and a block by Stevenson and Jones gave the Cards the 25-20 win to take a 2-0 set score into the break.

Set 3

In the third set, neither team could establish a lead of more than two until Tori Dilfer came in and served for six straight points from 18-17 to 23-17 to put Nebraska on notice. The Cards got to set point on an NU hitting error and then won on another miscue by Ally Batenhorst for the win.