MATCH STATS
- Louisville (RV) def. Duke 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-10)
- Louisville moves to 18-6, 12-2 ACC; Duke falls to 16-9, 8-6 ACC)
- Durham, North Carolina
- Attendance:
- Box Score
DURHAM, N.C. – After dropping the first two sets to homestanding Duke on Sunday, Louisville turned the match around, notching three straight wins to stay in the ACC race atop the league at 12-2.
The Cards extended their current win streak to five matches, including four on the road, as five players turned in double-digit kill tallies and three posted 20 or more digs.
The fifth set was never in doubt for Louisville, which mounted an early 5-1 lead and never allowed Duke closer than three the rest of the way. The Cards built a five point lead at 8-3 with two kills each by junior middle blocker Jasmine Bennett and redshirt sophomore outside Amanda Green. Duke narrowed the gap to three at 12-9, but kills by Bennett and senior middle Tess Clark sealed the comeback victory.
Setter Wilma Rivera came up clutch in the match with 52 assists, a match-high 27 digs, six kills on 12 errorless swings, and three blocks. The junior also helped UofL to a .259 hitting effort with the balanced offensive attack.
Sophomore outside hitter Melanie McHenry downed 16 kills, while Green, senior middle blocker Maggie DeJong, Bennett and Clark added 12 apiece. Bennett hit at .462 clip, while DeJong hit .321 and put up a team-best eight stuffs.
Defensively, junior libero Molly Sauer (21) and Green (20) joined Rivera with 20 or more saves. McHenry (14) and senior defensive specialist Gabbie Wiley (11) also reached double-digit efforts as Louisville bested Duke 100-87 in digs.
Senior middle Anna Kropf paced the Blue Devils with 18 kills, while hitting at a team-best .467 clip. Senior outside Cadie Bates (14), junior outside Jessi Bartholomew (10) and freshman outside Payton Schwantz (10) also notched double-digit kill efforts. Senior libero Nicole Elattrache pulled up 23 digs to lead the Duke backcourt, while Bates (20), redshirt freshman setter Sarah Nelson (13) and junior defensive specialist Kelli Kalinoski (11) followed.
The Blue Devils outhit the Cardinals in the first three sets, but Louisville came through with a .310 effort in Set 4 and .409 effort with just one error in Set 5.
Duke turned a 5-1 Set 1 deficit into a 7-5 lead with three kills, a block and an ace. After a tie at 9-all, the Blue Devils scored seven of the next nine to jump ahead 16-11. Three players turned in kills and the Cardinals committed three miscues en route to the lead. Louisville tied it up at 18 with kills by four different players and two stuffs by DeJong and Clark. The teams tied four more times, last at 23, before a service error and hitting error gave Duke the 25-23 win.
Duke led 12-7 in Set 2 and held on despite a a 6-2 Cardinal run, which included two blocks and a kill by Bennett. Down 20-15 after four kills and a miscue, Louisville rallied again, slicing the advantage to one at 22-21 with help from four Duke errors. Putaways by Kropf and Schwantz and another Cardinal miscue put the Blue Devils up 2-0 in the match.
After 10 ties in the first 28 points of Set 3, Duke broke away to take a 17-14 lead. The Cardinals turned the tide with a 13-5 run to snag the 25-22 win. Two kills each by Bennett and DeJong and two blocks and an ace lifted UofL to the victory. Kills by Clark and McHenry capped the set.
Louisville raced ahead 14-6 in Set 4. Five Duke errors and three kills each by DeJong and Green gave the Cards the eight-point edge. A 5-1 run cut the margin to four at 15-11, but UofL sent the match to decisive fifth set with 10 of the next 15. McHenry notched four kills and DeJong added two kills and a block in the final rally.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Louisville Athletics
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.
Courtesy: Duke Athletics
Up 2-0, Duke was unable to hold off Louisville in the end, falling to the Cardinals 3-2 (25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 16-25, 10-15) Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“I was really proud of how our team came out and executed and worked together to make things happen for ourselves,” said head coach Jolene Nagel. “Really proud of this entire group with some of the adjustments we’ve had to make this entire season. But we needed to come out and get that third set. We came up a little bit short and that just cracks that window open. We need to be able to finish strong when we’re in this situation.
Middle blockers Anna Kropf and Summer Brown both posted standout performances. Kropf knocked down a career-high 18 kills and hit .467, while Brown added nine kills on .444 hitting. The two also registered three blocks each.
Kropf’s career effort led a group of four Blue Devils in double-digit kills. Senior outside hitter Cadie Batesnotched her 14th double-double of the season with a 13-kill, 20-dig performance Sunday. Junior Jessi Bartholomew extended her streak to seven-straight matches with double-digit kills, adding 10 versus the Cardinals. Freshman outside hitter Payton Schwantz also had 10 kills for Duke.
Defensively, libero Nicole Elattrache led Duke with 23 digs to go along with two service aces. In addition to Bates, setter Sarah Nelson added a double-double with 42 assists and 13 digs. Defensive specialist Kelli Kalinoski contributed 11 digs as well.
Tied 23-23 near the end of the first, Duke capitalized on a Louisville service error coupled with an attack error to win the stanza, 25-23. Kropf had five of the Blue Devils’ 15 kills in the set.
Bates put down seven kills on .353 hitting in the second to catapult Duke to a 25-22 decision.
Duke seemed close to securing a sweep, up 19-17 in the third, before Louisville closed out on an 8-4 run.
The Cardinals’ momentum carried over to the fourth, which Louisville led from start to finish. Louisville hit .310 in the frame with 17 kills to tie the match 2-2 overall.
Duke fell behind 5-1 early in the fifth and could not recover in the end. Louisville completed the comeback with a 15-10 final frame.
Melanie McHenry’s 16 kills paced a contingent of five Cardinals in double digits. Setter Wilma Rivera totaled 52 assists, 27 digs and six kills in the winning effort.
Duke takes to the road this coming week, traveling to Wake Forest Nov. 8 before embarking to Pittsburgh Nov. 12.
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