#6 Louisville Volleyball Sweeps Dayton

Monday afternoon, the Louisville volleyball team learned they had climbed two spots to No.6 in the AVCA Coaches poll ahead of its evening matchup with the Dayton Flyers, who also received 25 votes in the poll.

Just like Friday night against Indiana, the upstart Cards made easy work of the visiting Flyers, in a quick three-set sweep (25-14, 25-14, 25-11) in front of another sold-out crowd @ L&N Arena.

Head Coach Dan Meske on the performance:

“To play the way that we did against a program like that is just impressive. It is nice a lot of people involved, you know its always the plan to play our best and if we have opportunities for people to get some chances, we will take advantage. We had a lot of people get some extended time, which was nice.”

Louisville fell behind 0-2 in the first set, before Payton Petersen led the Cards on a seven-point service run. Freshman Blair Thiebaud led the Cards on another service run of six points to give the Cards an 18-5 advantage, and they would not look back, winning the first 25-14. Chloe Chicoine paced The Ville with five kills in the set.

The second set turned into the Chloe Meester show. The sophomore outside hitter had nine of her fourteen kills for the match in the second set. The Flyers hung in there and it was 6-4 Cards, before a Brooke Bultema kill, then four straight kills by Meester pushed the lead to 11-4. Freshman Addison Makun would come in and get her first two kills to close out the set and give Louisville the 25-14 win.

Meske on Meester:

“As a left side, she was 14 for 18, that is a unique line for an outside – and she really goes for it. That is her mentality, she goes for it. It really helps us out on the left, having someone that hits like that and hits so courageously. She is not afraid to go for it.”

Makun rode the hot hand into the third set, closing the match with three kills and six blocks in her first extended run this season. Thiebaud would replace Nayelis Cabello at setter during the third set, and the Cards did not miss a beat. Kalyssa Blackshear would add some strong off-the-net swings for a few kills, and Chicoine would put an emphatic bow on top of the sweep with a kill to win the set 25-11.

Coach Meske has emphasized making solid first contact on serve receive since the Wisconsin match and his team has responded well.

The Cards have two more matches this week. Friday at 4 pm, they will host TCU. The match with the No. 18 Horned Frogs will be show on the ACC Network. Sunday, the Cards will play #9 Texas at noon on ABC from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

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