The No. 2-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team is set to host two ACC matches at the L&N Federal Credit Arena against Virginia Tech on Friday at 7 p.m. ET and Wake Forest on Sunday at 1 p.m.
About the Cards
Louisville extended its unbeaten streak in the ACC play to 35 straight matches and moved its record to 15-1 overall and 6-0 in ACC play with wins over Virginia Tech and Wake Forest last weekend. Claire Chaussee recorded two matches this weekend with double-digit kills with 14 against Boston College and 13 against Syracuse. Syracuse was her ninth consecutive match with double-digit kills. Aiko Jones had 18 kills and five blocks across the two matches while Amaya Tillman recorded 14 kills and 10 blocks. Raquel Lazaro notched 66 assists, four kills, 14 digs, and four blocks.
About the Hokies
Virginia Tech fell to NC State 23-25, 13-25, 25-22, and 17-25 last Friday and lost to North Carolina 25-22, 19-25, 15-25, and 16-25 on Sunday afternoon to move to 9-8 on the season and 2-4 in the ACC. The Hokies were led by junior middle blocker Cara Lewis and senior outside hitter Cera Powell. Lewis had a team-high nine kills against North Carolina and six blocks against NC State. Powell leads the team this season with 161 kills. The libero for the Hokies, Maddie Slagle, is ranked No. 6 in the ACC in digs with 3.76 digs/set.
About the Deacons
Wake Forest is coming off of a double-win weekend against North Carolina and NC State to move to 12-5 and 4-2 in ACC play. The Deacons won both matches in four sets with a 25-18, 20-25, 25-22, and 25-22 win against North Carolina on Friday and a 25-23, 26-24, 22-25, and 25-18 win against NC State on Sunday. Freshman Paige Crawford had 29 kills and five blocks on the weekend. Crawford ranks tenth in the ACC in kills with 3.30 kills/set. The conference leader in digs, libero Emma Farrell, recorded 18 digs in each match this weekend. The Deacons are on a three match win streak heading into the weekend.
ACC Winning Streak
Louisville has the nation’s second-longest winning streak against conference opponents. The Cardinals have won 35 consecutive league matches. The last team to beat Louisville was Pitt on Oct. 23, 2020. WKU has the longest streak in the nation at 49 straight in CUSA.
Mbonu to the Rescue
Nena Mbonu stepped in for the injured Anna DeBeer and got her first two starts of the season against Miami and Florida State. She hit .636 with 8 kills against the Hurricanes and hit .563 with 10 kills against FSU. She had nine kills versus both Clemson and GT.
Deuce Games
In 2022, UofL has had 8 sets go “overtime” with a 7-1 mark in deuce games. In 2021, UofL had 11 deuce sets with an 8-3 mark in deuce games.
Conference Openers
UofL is 6-3 in ACC Opening matches.
UofL was 1-0 in AAC Opening matches.
UofL was 8-0 in Big East Opening matches.
UofL was 9-1 in Conference USA Opening matches.
Since 1995, UofL is 23-4 in conference openers.
Team Rankings
As a team, Louisville is ranked first in the ACC in hitting percentage (.316) and first in opponent hitting percentage (.152), first in blocks (164 total) and blocks per set (3.04), and third in service aces per set (1.78).
Cardinals in the ACC Rankings
Cara Cresse – 4th in blocks with 1.26 blocks/set
Anna DeBeer – 5th in service aces with 0.43 aces/set
Aiko Jones – 8th in service aces with 0.38 aces/set
Raquel Lazaro – 3rd in assists with 10.02 assists/set
Amaya Tillman – 1st in blocks with 1.42 blocks/set, 7th in hitting percentage with .345
Elena Scott – 5th in digs with 4.15 digs/set
Claire Chaussee – 6th in kills with 3.72 kills/set, 7th in points with 4.06 pts/set
NCAA Team Rankings
Hitting Percentage: No. 2 (.316)
Blocks/Set: No. 2 (3.04)
NCAA Individual Rankings
Amaya Tillman – No. 19 in blocks/set (1.42)
Reloading from Historic 2021 Run
In 2022, statistically, the Cardinals return:
Kills: 74%
Service Aces: 72%
Points: 72%
Digs: 83%
Blocks: 62%
RPI Run Down with Cards at No. 2
UofL boasts a No. 2 RPI as of the week of Oct. 3. The Cardinals’ final RPI in 2021 was No. 1. There was no RPI released for the 2020 pandemic season. RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index and the index comprises a team’s winning percentage (25%), its opponents’ winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents (25%). The opponents’ winning percentage and the winning percentage of those opponents’ opponents both comprise the strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, the SOS accounts for 75% of the RPI calculation and is 2/3 its opponents’ winning percentage and 1/3 its opponents’ opponents’ winning percentages.
Louisville at Home
Sets Lost Matches Lost
Last Season: 6 0
This Season: 5 1
| Nancy Allison WorleyAssociate Sports Information Director | Louisville Athletics |
