Louisville Volleyball Sweeps Syracuse

Claire Chaussee and Amber Stivrins each had 10 kills to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-15, 25-15 sweep of Syracuse Friday night in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. UofL improves to 17-8 and 10-5 in ACC play.  The Cardinals hit .292 with five aces, 41 digs and five blocks.  Anna Stevenson had eight kills and two blocks with teammate Aiko Jones adding six kills and three blocks. Tori Dilfer ran the offense, notching 32 assists and a block. The first set saw runs by both team as the teams took the measure of each other.  UofL popped out to a 4-0 lead early followed later by a 7-0 run by Syracuse that put the Orange within one at 12-11.  Syracuse took its first lead at 14-13 on an ace by Yulia Yastrub.  The lead was short-lives as the Cards cobbled together an 8-2 run to go up 20-18 and force an Orange timeout. The break did not cool down the Cards as scored three straight t to get to 23-19 before SU coach Leonid Yelin burned his last timeout.  A kill by Amaya Tillman gave UofL set point and a block by Tillman and Aiko Jones gave the Cards the 25-19 win. The Cardinals found its block in the second set, getting off to another hot start. UofL went up 12-8 on a kill by Amber Stivrins and sparked an SU timeout.  UofL’s 7-3 run put them up 20-11. After a Syracuse timeout at 21-12, UofL cruised to the 25-15 win.  Claire Chaussee had the hot hand in the set with four kills and Anna Stevenson had two of UofL’s three blocks. In the third set, UofL ran out to a 7-2 lead and then kept Syracuse back on its heels the rest of the way.  Down 14-8, the Orange called timeout only to have UofL spread the lead to 18-8.  Finally SU put together a 4-1 run but it still got them to within eight at 20-11. Louisville reached set and match point but the Orange went down swinging, scoring three times before falling 25-15. The Cardinals are idle until next Friday, Nov. 22 when they get a rematch with the Irish at 7 p.m. in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.