Middle blocker Amaya Tillman and outside hitter Anna DeBeer each had 10 kills to lead the No. 4-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-18, 25-20, 27-25 sweep of No. 9-ranked Purdue at the Louisville Invitational Friday evening at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.
The Cardinals, who move to 6-1 on the season, hit .317 as a team with five aces and seven blocks. Tillman led the blocking with four and Phekran Kong added three. Anna DeBeer notched three aces and 12 digs. Elena Scott had a team-high 19 digs. Setter Raquel Lazaro had a match-high 34 assists, with an ace and two blocks.
Purdue (6-1) hit .189 as a team with four aces and four blocks. Eva Hudson proved to be a handful for the Cardinals with 17 kills, an ace and eight digs.
In the first match of the Invitational, Lipscomb downed Xavier 3-0. Purdue will face Xavier Saturday at 4 p.m. and Louisville will take on Lipscomb as the Invitational continues.
Set 1
Opposite Aiko Jones had the first three kills of the match with the Cardinals tacking on a 5-0 run to take an early 9-4 lead in the first set. UofL ran the lead to 13-6 and forced the Boilers to call their first timeout. The Boilers pushed back with a 5-1 run to pull within two at 15-13 and spark a Cardinal timeout. Louisville regrouped and used a 4-0 run of its own to go up 20-14 and Purdue used its final timeout of the set to try to stop the Louisville run. The Cards scored twice more coming out of the break but Purdue was able to string four straight points together to put the score at 22-18 but could not score again as the Cardinals won 25.18. UofL hit .303 for the set, led by Claire Chaussee’s five kills.
Set 2
The second set was a back and forth affair with 7 ties by the time the teams hit the media timeout with UofL trailing by one at 15-14. An ace by Ceci Rush was part of a 3-0 run that put the Cards up 19-17 and force a Purdue timeout. After the timeout, UofL reeled off three straight points to go up 22-18. A kill by Chaussee put the Cards up 23-19, another kill by Aiko Jones put the Cards at set point and DeBeer put an exclamation point on the set with a kill for the 25-20 win.
Set 3
In the third set, neither team could build more than a two point lead with 13 ties happening before Purdue went on a mini-run of 4-1 to take a 17-14 lead. Coach Busboom Kelly called timeout at that point but the Boilers inched ahead to lead 23-18 and force the Cards to burn their final timeout. Purdue got to set point on an ace by Raven Colvin. UofL did not fold, scoring three straight to trail 24-21 and the Boilermakers called timeout. The Cardinals then ran off five straight before a kill by Aiko Jones gave the Cardinals the 27-25 sweep.
| Nancy Allison Worley |
