Melanie McHenry had 16 kills, 14 digs and two blocks to lead the University of Louisville from a two-set deficit to a 3-2 win over Duke Sunday afternoon in Durham.
The Cards fell in the first two sets before fighting back to win the next three sets to move to 12-2 in the ACC and 18-6 overall with the 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-10 win over the Blue Devils. The Cardinals had four players join McHenry with double digit kills. Amanda Green had 12 kills, an ace and 20 digs. Maggie DeJong had 12 kills and eight blocks and Jasmine Bennett had 12 kills, no errors and four blocks. Senior Tess Clark had 12 kills, three in the final set and four blocks. Duke moves to 8-6 in the ACC and 16-9 overall. The Blue Devils were led by Anna Kropf’s 18 kills and three blocks.
In the first set, the Cards ran out to a 5-1 run when they capitalized on two Duke hitting error and a service error. Duke came back to tie at five and then took the lead on an ace by Nicole Elattrache at 6-5. The teams traded points before Duke took the lead for good at 10-9 on a Cardinal hitting error. Louisville stayed close, tying a total of nine times. Knotted 23-23 near the end of the set, Duke capitalized on a Louisville service error coupled with an attack error to win 25-23.
The Cardinals had six kills from Melanie McHenry in the second set and hit .240 but had no answer for Cadie Bates, who put down seven kills on .353 hitting in the set as Duke built up a five-point lead at 20-15 on a Bates kill. The Cardinals closed the gap to one at 22-21 on an attack error by Jessi Bartholomew but Duke held on for the 25-22 decision.
After the break, the Cardinals coughed up an early lead at 8-7 on a kill by Anna Kropf. UofL managed to lead briefly at 13-12 on a kill by Maggie DeJong. Duke seemed close to securing a sweep, up 19-17 in the third, before Louisville closed out on an 8-4 run powered in part by an ace by Molly Sauer and two kills from Maggie DeJong for the 25-22 win.
The Cardinal kept the momentum in the fourth, and never trailed, when Melanie McHenry came alive on the left for seven kills on 10 swings. Louisville hit .310 in the frame with 17 kills to tie the match 2-2 overall.
Louisville popped out to a 5-1 early in the fifth and held off the Blue Devinls with .409 hitting. Duke could not stop senior Tess Clark who had three kills late in that set, including match and set point en route to the 15-10 win in the final set.
The Cardinals are in a three-way tie with Pitt and NC State for first in the ACC at 12-2. UofL hosts Virginia on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. and then Virginia Tech on Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. both in Cardinal Arena.
Nancy Allison Worley
Associate Director, Sports Information
University of Louisville Athletics
