Tess Clark’s 15 Kills Help Lead (RV) Louisville to Sweep of Virginia

MATCH NOTES

• (RV) Louisville def. Virginia 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-19)
• Louisville moves to 20-6 overall, 13-2 ACC
• Virginia drops to 7-19 overall, 3-12 ACC
• Louisville, Kentucky
• Attendance: 922
• Box Score
• VolleyMob Top 25 Power Rankings (Week 12)

The Louisville Cardinals (RV) cruised to a straight-set victory over the visiting Virginia Cavaliers behind a strong offense that included 15 kills from senior Tess Clark, who hit at a scorching .652 clip.

“I thought the offense was crisp. We have changed up a few things in transition, so you saw that tonight,” said Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly.  Tess had an awesome game. It is great when you have been working on something all week and then you see it performed. Offense was great. Back court defense, ball handing, that is what allows the offense to be great, and those were the main things.”

Other key contributors for the Cardinals included junior middle Jasmine Bennett (9 kills), sophomore outside Melanie McHenry (7 kills), junior libero Molly Sauer (14 digs) and junior setter Wilma Rivera (38 assists).

For the Cavaliers, freshman outside Alex Spencer recorded a team-high nine kills, and sophomore libero Kelsey Miller tallied 12 digs. Freshman setter Megan Wilson dished out 14 assists, while sophomore setter Jennifer Wineholt added another 10.

Louisville controlled play during each of the three sets. In the final frame, a kill by senior outside Coline Coessens brought the Cardinals to match point and Bennett’s ninth kill of the night sealed the victory for Louisville, which remains undefeated at home against ACC opponents.

“It is always nice when you get to reward players who have worked really hard and give them some time to shine,” said  Busboom Kelly. “It’s cool, Coline’s parents are here from Belgium so it was awesome to see her get some kills. She works her butt of in practice so it was cool to reward her tonight.”

Next up, Louisville hosts Virginia Tech on Sunday, while Virginia travels to South Bend, Indiana to take on Notre Dame, also on Sunday.

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Courtesy: Louisville Athletics

Volleyball Sweeps Virginia 3-0

Cards’ winning streak at home in the ACC moves to seven

Senior outside hitter  Tess Clark had 15 kills, hitting a season-high .652, to lead the University of Louisville to a 25-9, 25-13, 25-19 sweep of Virginia in ACC volleyball action Friday night in Cardinal Arena.

“I thought the offense was crisp. We have changed up a few things in transition, so you saw that tonight,” said UofL head coach Dani Busboom Kelly.  Tess had an awesome game. It is great when you have been working on something all week and then you see it preformed. Offense was great. Back court defense, ball handing, that is what allows the offense to be great, and those were the main things. Virginia is a really fast team, so it is tough to block them but I though overall our defense did a nice job.”

The Cardinals move to 20-6 and 13-2 in ACC play and stay undefeated at home in seven conference matches so far this season.  UofL hit .478 with four aces, four blocks and had 20 more kills than the Cavaliers at 47.  UofL got nine kills from Jasmine Bennett who added two blocks with Melanie McHenry pitching in seven. Senior Coline Coessens came off the bench and had a pair of kills.  Molly Sauer had a match-high 14 digs and Wilma Rivera had 38 assists with three kills and an ace.  UVA hit .128 with two blocks and one ace. The Cavs were led by Alex Spencer’s nine kills. Kelsey Miller added 12 digs.

“It is always nice when you get to reward players who have worked really hard and give them some time to shine,” said  Busboom Kelly. “It’s cool, Coline’s parents are here from Belgium so it was awesome to see her get some kills. She works her butt of in practice so it was cool to reward her tonight.”

UofL popped out to a 4-0 lead early In the first set and used .536 hitting to continue to pull away from the Cavs, who called timeout trailing 12-5 and 15-15.  Molly Sauer served six straight points to put the Cards up 23-7 and two kills from Tess Clark put the set away 25-9.

In the second set, UofL powered out to a 14-4 lead and this time hit .433 with five kills from Tess Clark, with her fifth taking the Cards up 21-11.  UVA scored twice more but committed a service error and had a hitting error by Sarah Billiard to give the set to the Cards 25-13.

Gabbie Wiley served for five straight points early in the third set to put the Cards up 13-4.  UVA got a lift from Jelena Novakovic’s serving three straight points to bring the Cavs to within six at 19-13. A kill by Coline Coessens gave U of L set point at 24-19 and a kill by Jasmine Bennett from the middle was match point as the Cards rolled 25-19.

UofL stays home and will face Virginia Tech on Sunday at 2 p.m.  in Cardinal Arena.

Courtesy: Virginia Athletics

Virginia Falls 3-0 at Louisville
Cavaliers play Notre Dame Sunday at 1 p.m.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Virginia volleyball team (7-19, 3-12 ACC) fell 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 25-19) at Louisville (20-6, 13-2 ACC) on Friday night at Cardinal Arena.

Freshman Alex Spencer (Canton, Ohio) led UVA with nine kills, while three players finished with five kills each. Tess Clark led Louisville with 15 kills. Defensively, sophomore Kelsey Miller (Crestwood, Ky.) led UVA with 12 digs.

Virginia was out-hit, .128-.478, by Louisville. The Cardinals also led in blocks (4.0-2.0), digs (46-34) and service aces (4-1).

Louisville jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first set. A block by sophomore Jelena Novakovic (Belgrade, Serbia) and sophomore Chino Anukwuem (East Hanover, N.J.) put UVA on the board. The Cavaliers cut it to four twice on kills by Spencer, but the Cardinals controlled the set and won 25-9.

Virginia fell behind 8-2 early in the second set. Trailing 14-4, UVA scored four of the next five points to cut it to 15-8. Junior Harley Sebastian (Atlanta, Ga.) and Anukwuem both had kills in the run. Louisville went on another run and went on to take the set 25-13.

A kill by Novakovic put UVA on the board first in the third set, but Louisville scored four straight to lead 4-1. The Cardinals would take a 13-4 lead before Spencer halted the run with a kill. With UVA down 19-13, The Cavaliers had a kill then an ace by Novakovic to spark a 4-0 run to cut it to 19-13. Virginia used a 3-0 run with kills by Sebastian and Anukwuem along with a block by freshman Sarah Billiard (Matthews, N.C.) to cut it to 23-18. Louisville held on to take the set 25-19.

Virginia will be back in action on Sunday at Notre Dame in Purcell Pavilion at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.