No. 5 Louisville sweeps No. 3 Stanford

A dominant Set 1 victory and edging out Stanford in Set 2, Louisville leads 21-18 in Set 3 — just four points away from completing its fifth sweep of the season.

The sweep would be Louisville's second ranked sweep of the season. A sweep would be Stanford's second shutout loss of the season, just 11 days apart from its first one to Nebraska.

Set 3 | Louisville 19 (2) - Stanford 17 & with the eraser 🚫

— Louisville Volleyball (@LouisvilleVB)

A down-to-the-wire set, Louisville outlasted Stanford to take Set 2 and secure a 2-0 lead.  

Outisde hitter Sofi Maldonado-Diaz lifted Louisville over the hump to reach 25 — her fifth kill of the match. Although Maldonaldo-Diaz came up with the winning kill, Luper was a scoring machine, racking up 10 kills in the set. She reached 500 career kills during the tear, and leads both teams with 13.

After a nine-point loss in Set 1, Stanford came out of the break swinging, literally.

Thriving off multiple Louisville attack errors and a 4-0 scoring run, Stanford leads 11-5.

Sami + Kami 🙌

💻 »

— Stanford Women's Volleyball (@StanfordWVB)

A neck-and-neck battle early that included five ties, Louisville broke away from Stanford behind two scoring runs.

Louisville went on a 3-0 scoring run that propelled them to 15 points, initially creating separation between them and Stanford, and doubled down on it later in the set. Going on a 6-0 run later in the set, Louisville's momentum was too much for Stanford. 

Stanford racked up six service errors to Louisville's three. Additionally, Louisville was 2-for-2 on challenges.

Set 1 | Louisville 24 - Stanford 16

Back corner bullseye from 🎯

💻

— Louisville Volleyball (@LouisvilleVB)

• Kami Miner
• Anna Pringle
• Elia Rubin
• Jordyn Harvey
• Elena Oglivie
• Lizzy Andrew
• Sami Francis

• Charitie Luper
• Elle Glock
• Hannah Sherman
• Cara Cresse
• Anna DeBeer
• Elena Scott
• Reese Robins

No. 3 Stanford and No. 5 Louisville square off in each team’s second matchup of ACC conference play in the KFC Yum! Center. Both losing to Nebraska last week, Stanford looks for its first top-5 win of the season while Louisville searches for its second. The two teams have combined for nine ranked wins this year.

Stanford-Louisville have met twice before with the series tied at 1-1 — both coming in the last two seasons. In the 2023 meeting, Stanford executed the reverse sweep to beat Louisville 3-2.

Stanford and Louisville meet for the third-time ever after experiencing a bump in the road last week — hence the drop in AVCA Rankings. 

The series is split 1-1 as both matchups have come in the last two seasons and been highly anticipated. 2023’s meeting was a top-5 ranked matchup, whereas 2022 was a top-10 ranked matchup.

2024 resumes

• 🌲 Stanford
  • Suffered its first loss of the season to then-No. 5 Nebraska on Sept. 18, losing 3-0
    • Bounced back with a win against then-No. 11 Kentucky on Sept. 21
  • Tied with Nebraska for most ranked wins this season with five: No. 18 Minnesota, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 24 Marquette, No. 6 Texas and No. 11 Kentucky
  • Entering conference play, ranked in the top 15 nationally in assists per set (12th) with 13.2 and kills per set (13th) at 14.15
    • Opposite hitter Jordyn Harvery ranks 12th in the nation in aces per set (.64)
  • The Cardinal will have traveled over 13,000 miles following the two-match roadtrip and will have nearly 34,000 by the end of the regular season 
    • Most travel for a fall sports program in college athletics

• 🔴⚫️ Louisville
  • Loss to Nebraska on Sept. 22 snapped the Cardinals' six-match win streak, the team’s second loss of the season
    • Most-watched regular season volleyball match ever on ESPN platforms 
  • In the loss to the Huskers, senior libero Elena Scott became the third-ever Cardinal to record 1,500 career digs 
  • Entering conference play, ranked 13th nationally in blocks per set at 2.89
  • Scott and outside hitter Anna DeBeer were named to the AVCA NCAA DI Player of the Year watchlist

ABC's first-ever regular season NCAA Volleyball match between Nebraska and Louisville averaged 684,000 viewers on Sunday.

It was the most-watched regular season volleyball match ever on ESPN platforms.

(via )

— Front Office Sports (@FOS)

Stanford and Louisville’s 2023 meeting shaped up to be everything one hopes a top-5 ranked matchup will be — a down-to-wire power struggle that can go either way. In the end, Stanford, then-No. 5, completed the reverse sweep, handing Louisville, then-No. 2, its first loss of the season, winning 3-2.

Louisville had the upper hand early. The Cardinals took the first two sets and were just one set away from their 10th straight win of the season.

That’s when Stanford flipped the match on its head, hitting .426 in the final three sets and shocking Louisville on its home turf. The Cardinal finished with a season-high of 70 digs, while multiple players racked up season-highs as well. 

Although five of Louisville’s players finished with double-digit kills, it wasn’t enough to overcome Stanford’s comeback.

Fought for it 😤

📺 » ESPN2
💻 »

— Stanford Women's Volleyball (@StanfordWVB)

• 🗓️ Date: Sunday, Sept. 29
• ⏰ Time: 3 p.m. ET
• 📺 TV: ESPN
• 📍 Location: KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky
• 📊 Follow: Live scores and stats