Building a Resume of Top 20 Wins: #6 Louisville Volleyball Sweeps #18 TCU

For the third time this season, the Cards notch a win over a Top 20 opponent. This time over an old conference foe, TCU.

Louisville Volleyball sideline celebrates. | AVCA

The Louisville volleyball squad took the court inside L&N Federal Credit Union arena on Friday afternoon with their fourth ranked matchup in the first five matches of the 2026 season.  This one would see the No. 6 Cards host an old conference foe, No. 18 TCU and Louisville transfer Reece Robins.

The Horned Frogs would give Louisville their toughest test of the three home matches to date, but ultimately the Cards would get their third straight sweep (25-23, 25-14, 27-25).  TCU was coming off a five-set win over intracity rival No. 8 SMU.    

Chloe Chicoine rises up for a kill | William Caudill

Chloe Chicoine and Kalyssa Blackshear led the charge for the Cards with 17 kills a piece.    Setter Nayelis Cabello had 36 assists, three blocks and a career-high 18 digs.  Chloe Meester had 10 kills & Brooke Bultema contributed three kills and three blocks. 

The first set was the “Chicoine Show”, hitting .433 with 7 kills.  Addison Makun would get her first career start.  The Cards fell behind 8-4 early, before going on 9-1 run behind service runs from Chicoine and Blair Thiebaud.  From there it was a back-and-forth affair. 

The Ville would pull ahead 21-18 on a Chicoine kill and ace.  The Frogs would cut it to 22-21, before Chicoine and Blackshear kills would push the lead to 24-21.  It would once again be a one-point set at 24-23 before an emphatic kill by Blackshear won the set for UofL, 25-23.

The second set was all Cards.  Payton Petersen would start it out with a service run to go up 6-0 behind a pair of kills each from Chicoine and Blackshear.  Louisville would lead 15-5 at the media timeout, before Meester would get going.  The Cards rolled 25-14. 

Payton Petersen with a pass | William Caudill

TCU did everything in their power to try and avoid the sweep, but the Cardinals front line was just enough for the Cards to squeak it out.  TCU led 11-6, before the Cards ripped off five of the next six, capped by a Petersen ace to climb within 12-11. 

The Cards would find themselves down 19-17, before yet another Petersen service run led by two Blackshear kills and a Chicoine kill and block put them ahead 22-19.  TCU would tie it at 24, then the teams would trade errors to make it 25 apiece.  A back-row attack from Blackshear and an error on the Frogs would give the Cards a 27-25 triumph in the set. 

Up next for the Cards, they will head to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for a 12 pm EST first serve against No. 9 Texas on Sunday.  The football team will play Ole Miss at 7:30 EST that evening at Nissan Stadium & Coach Dan Meske had a plea for Cards fans making the trip:

“The Cards need to show out, Cardnation needs to be there.  We have the football game that night, we are at 11 central, so get down there early.  L&N helped us tonight, it really did.  It was a homecourt advantage, you can feel big moments.  It is really fun to play here and our team gave the crowd a lot to cheer for.”