BLACKSBURG, Va. — October 22, 2023
Charitie Luper had a career-high 20 kills, two aces and two blocks to lead the No. 5-ranked University of Louisville to a 3-1 win at Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg.
The Cardinals move to 18-2 overall and 9-1 in the ACC with the 25-19, 24-26, 25-11, 25-19 win. The Cardinals hit .270 with 52 kills, seven aces and eight blocks. Phekran Kong added 11 kills and two blocks and Reese Robins came off the bench to land seven kills and three blocks. Cara Cresse led all blockers with five, adding nine kills. Setter Elle Glock had a match-high 45 assists and six digs with libero Elena Scott tallying 19 digs and an ace.
Virginia Tech drops to 12-19 and 2-8 in the league. The Hokies hit .140 with 43 kills, 41 digs and five aces, adding six blocks on defense. Sydney Petersen led the offense with 11 kills and four blocks. Hokie libero Iliana Rodriguez registered eight digs and landed three aces for the Hokies.
UofL returns to L&N Arena on Friday to take on ACC foe Florida State on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. before facing Miami on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m.Set by Set Recap
The Cardinals used aggressive serving to open the first set, going up 10-4 and forcing an early Hokie timeout. After the break, the Hokies pulled within two powered by VT’s Iliana Rodriguez at 12-10 and then VT tied at 12 on a block. Tech took its first lead at 14-13 on another block. With Cara Cresse in the front row, the Cards were able to regain the lead on her block and a kill and another kill by Luper to spread the lead to four at 19-14 and force a Hokie timeout. The Cards pulled off a 6-3 run on the way to the 25-19 win. Luper led with nine kills with Reese Robins coming off the bench to notch three kills on four swings.
The two teams squared off in the second set exchanging points with nine ties by the time the teams hit the first media timeout with Louisville leaving 15-14. It was more of the same after the timeout as the teams were tied at 20 after a see sawing of momentum. Virginia Tech called time out down 21-20 and again nothing changed as the two teams were tied at 23. Louisville called timeout after Luper was blocked to give VT set point at 24-23. Cara Cresse tipped to tie at 24 before a Louisville hitting error gave Tech set point at 25-24 and spark a Louisville timeout. Iliana Rodriguez aced the Cards for the win.
In the third set, the Cardinals seemed to assert their offensive game plan and led 15-7 at the media timeout. Louisville built on that lead with a 22-10 margin powered by an 8-3 run. With Charitie Luper on the service line, Louisville was at set point and she closed out the set with a back row kill from Luper to give the Cards the 25-12 win.
