Cardinals Set to Face No. 2 Pittsburgh in Regular Season Finale

Wednesday, November 27

Pittsburgh, PA

6:00 p.m.

University of Louisville

Pittsburgh

Aiko Jones and Anna Stevenson during the Cardinals match against Miami At L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on November 24.

Cardinals Set to Face No. 2 Pittsburgh in Regular Season Finale

November 25, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

2019 VB Match Notes -- for Pittsburgh Louisville Volleyball Season Stats after Miami Louisville ACC Only Stats

Cards play on the ACC Network at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night

By: Nancy Worley

The University of Louisville Cardinal Volleyball team heads to Pittsburgh to play No. 2-ranked Pitt for the final regular season match of the year Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. The match will be televised live on the NCAA Network.

This Week in Cardinal Volleyball
The post-Melanie McHenry Cardinals have had to regroup and repurpose to find a new lineup that replaced their lone senior and six-rotation player. To keep their post season dreams alive, the Cardinals (19-8, 12-5) needed to finish the ACC slate with a flourish. Two 3-0 sweeps last weekend helped their cause immensely. On Friday, Aiko Jones had 11 kills, two aces and five blocks to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-21, 25-18, 25-14 sweep of long-time rival Notre Dame in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

UofL hit .237 for the match with 12 blocks, six aces and 39 kills. UofL got nine kills from Amber Stivrins and Anna Stevenson added seven kills and six blocks. Claire Chaussee tallied seven kills and an ace. Tori Dilfer had a match-high 34 assists with Alexis Hamilton notching 14 digs.

On Sunday, outside hitter Claire Chaussee had 13 kills and 11 digs to lead the Cards to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of ACC foe Miami. The Cards hit .306 with 10 blocks, three aces and 37 digs. Amber Stivrins and Aiko Jones each had nine kills with Jones adding an ace and two blocks. Anna Stevenson led with five blocks and added seven kills. Setter Tori Dilfer ran the offense and notched 39 assists. The Cardinals saluted Melanie McHenry in her last appearance as UofL's lone senior. Miami hitting .204 with one ace and five blocks.

Pitt
No. 2 ranked Pitt is making a historic run this season. The Panthers secured their third consecutive ACC Championship back on Saturday, Nov. 16, with a sweep at Duke. With one match remaining in the regular season, the Panthers hold a four-match lead in the league. With the ACC Crown, Pitt also receives the ACC's Automatic Qualifier bid to compete in the 2019 NCAA Tournament. The Panthers will dance for the fourth consecutive year and for the 15th time in program history.

The Panthers extended their best start to an ACC season in program history, improving to 17-0. Pitt secured an undefeated road record in the regular season (11-0) with a sweep at NC State last Sunday. Junior outside hitter Kayla Lund had a match-high 18 kills on .351 hitting, adding four digs and three assists. Redshirt senior outside Stephanie Williams was the only other Panther with double figures in the kill column with 10, adding eight digs.

Sophomore middle blocker Sabrina Starks had a match-high six blocks. Freshman Lexis Akeo and redshirt freshman Maddie Soboleski split setting duties, producing 23 and 18 assists, respectively. Redshirt senior libero Hali Hillegas led the Panthers with 12 digs.

The Panthers stuffed the stat box on nearly every statistic, leading kills (52-33), assists (46-32), service aces (2-0) and digs (42-37). Pitt held the Wolfpack to .162 hitting, while the Panthers produced a .346 hitting percentage.

Cards vs. Top 10 Teams Under Coach Dani Busboom Kelly
In 2019: UofL was swept by No. 10 Florida earlier this season.
In 2018: The Cards faced No. 3 Illinois in the second round of the NCAA last season in Champaign and suffered a 3-1 loss. UofL fell 3-1 to No. 6 Pittsburgh and lost 3-0 to No. 7 USC and 3-1 to No. 4 Florida.
In 2017, The Cards fell to No. 4 Minnesota and No. 7 Wisconsin.

Series Record with the Panthers
Louisville leads the series with Pitt 14-10. The last win for the Cards came on Oct. 27, 2017 with a 3-2 win at home.

Katie George from Setter to Analyst
Football sideline reporter, volleyball analyst and anchor on the ACC Network broadcast, Katie George, is a former Cardinal setter. During her career, she won three conference championships in three different conferences with a Big East Tournament crown in 2012 (beating Marquette), the 2013 American Athletic Conference (AAC) crown (running the table 18-0) and the 2015 ACC Championship. She was 2-2 versus Pitt (1-0 in Big East) and (1-2 in ACC). She and play-by-play announcer Eric Frede will have the call.

McHenry Sidelined for Remainder of 2019
University of Louisville outside hitter Melanie McHenry will be sidelined for the remainder of the season after suffering an injury to her left knee during the match at Notre Dame on Oct. 16, 2019. She had surgery on Nov. 12. McHenry, a four-year starter, is now the second leading scorer for the Cardinals with 204 kills, leads the team in aces and adds 31 blocks. She is second on the team in digs with 144. The lone senior on the 2019 roster, the Speedway, Ind. native ranks No. 9 in school history in kills with 1,345 and is 21st on the active career list in Division I players. This season, she was named ACC Player of the Week, the Fleur De Lis Tournament MVP, and was named All-ACC Preseason.

Chaussee and Jones Stepping Up Offensively
Claire Chaussee stepped into Melanie McHenry's shoes after the knee injury. In the past 10 matches, she has averaged 11.8 kills per match. The prior seven matches before that she averaged four kills per match. Jones has 16 matches in double digits including a career-high 20 kills against Miami.

Stivrins Taking A Stand
With the Cardinals' lineup changes, freshman Amber Stivrins has seen increased playing time in the ACC wars. In the past 10 matches, she has 98 kills, hit . 295 with two aces and 13 blocks. She is the younger sister of Nebraska star Lauren Stivrins.

Stevenson Steadies the Cards
In the past ten matches, transfer middle blocker Anna Stevenson has amassed 75 kills, two aces and 55 blocks as the third leading scorer on the squad.

RPI Run Down
The Cardinals' RPI is 24, the second best in the ACC behind Pitt (5). RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index and the index comprises a team's winning percentage (25%), its opponents' winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents (25%). The opponents' winning percentage and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents both comprise the strength of schedule (SOS). Thus, the SOS accounts for 75% of the RPI calculation and is 2/3 its opponents' winning percentage and 1/3 its opponents' opponents' winning percentages.