Louisville Sweeps Notre Dame Twice, Rises in the Polls

When Louisville made the jump to the Big East for the 2005-2006 athletic calendar year, Notre Dame was the “gold standard” for most every sport not titled football or men’s basketball. Tom Jurich did not look at the opportunity to be in the same league as the Irish as grounds for a fight for second place. He wanted to establish the better program.

From 1995-2005, the Irish won the conference nine times. Louisville would win the league five of the next seven seasons. Fast forward a couple of conferences and decades later; Louisville has now won 11 in a row in the head-to-head series against Notre Dame, including two this past week.

The Irish and the Cards are “travel partners” for ACC road trips, but this past week the two would travel to each other for a pair of conference matches. Louisville was 12-2 and ranked No. 4 in the country, Notre Dame was 4-6 coming into the week.

Wednesday at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena in Louisville, the Cards swept the first match (25-16, 25-18, 25-18). The Cards hit .353 with 39 kills, while holding the Irish to a .134 hitting percentage.

Outside hitter Chloe Meester led the charge for Louisville’s offense, hitting .579 with 13 kills while adding four aces. It was her 10th double-digit kill performance of the year and the third time this season she has hit over .500. Chloe Chicoine tallied 12 kills on a .333 clip, her 14th match with double-digit kills and 12th match with at least a .300 hitting percentage.

Louisville’s Payton Petersen digs the ball against Notre Dame at L&N Arena. Sept. 30, 2026 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Setter Nayelis Cabello contributed 32 assists to motor Louisville’s offense. The junior also showed out on the defensive side of the court, totaling 10 digs and accounting for four blocks.

Coach Meske on the win in match one vs the Irish:

“We’ve gone five [sets] with them a lot, had some battles, and I can’t remember a time we handled them as well as we did tonight. We hit .350, we held them to .130, it was nice to see double-digit blocks again, and obviously, Chloe Meester really went off. It was just top-to-bottom a really good performance.”

The trip to South Bend on Saturday brought a wrinkle on the injury front. Chloe Meester missed the match, moving Kamden Schrand and Elsi Karjanlahti to libero and Payton Petersen back to outside hitter, where she was an all-conference performer in 2025.

The Cards did not skip a beat, hitting .379 with 40 kills and seven service aces. This go around, the Cards held the Irish to a .061 hitting percentage, while recording 10 blocks and 40 digs. The Cards would easily pull away for another sweep (25-15, 25-12, 25-17).

Louisville’s coach Dan Meske argues a call against Notre Dame at L&N Arena. Sept. 30, 2026 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Middle blocker Brooke Bultema had a massive match, posting nine kills with no errors on a .750 clip, while stuffing five blocks. It was her fifth match hitting greater than .600.

Chicoine recorded her sixth double-double of the season, totaling 11 kills and 11 digs. The senior added a pair of blocks and an ace. Kalyssa Blackshear added nine kills on a .444 clip while notching four blocks.

Cabello continued her all-around impact after dishing out 29 assists to orchestrate the Cards' attack to a .379 hitting percentage. She also had seven digs and a pair of aces.

Coach Meske on the win in South Bend:

“Obviously, we were dealt a pretty interesting challenge right before the match with Chloe Meester being unavailable, but we were more than ready to have Payton Petersen step up in that spot and then also have [Kamden Schrand] at libero. I thought the team did a really good job adjusting to things at the last minute. We also did really well in first contact, we were super aggressive with our serve which has been a theme for us lately, and then it was also great to see the block continue to come alive. It’s always hard to play a team back-to-back, and I like that we improved on our stats from the first round.”

As a result of the two wins over the Irish, the Cards moved up to No. 3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, matching its highest ranking of the season. The Ville swapped spots with Kentucky, who lost to No. 7 Florida on Sunday night.

Next up for the Cards are a pair of weekend matches with the California schools in the conference. Thursday at 7, California comes to L&N Arena with the match streaming on ACCNX. On Sunday at 1 pm, Louisville hosts N0. 14 Stanford, who is 9-5 on the season. The match will be televised on ESPN.

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