Duke Falls to No. 2 Louisville, 3-1

Sunday, October 31

Durham, N.C.

1 PM

Duke University

13-10,4-8ACC

Louisville

21-0,11-0ACC

Louisville

Duke

Duke Falls to No. 2 Louisville, 3-1

10/31/2021 5:41:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

DURHAM – The Duke volleyball team fell to No. 2 Louisville, 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 23-25, 25-16), Sunday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

With the loss, the Blue Devils drop to 13-10 (4-8 ACC) as the Cardinals remain undefeated (21-0, 11-0 ACC).

Duke became just the third unranked team this year to win a set against Louisville.

"I thought our team team competed today against a very good Louisville team who is a national championship contender," head coach Jolene Nagel said. "As a team, we grew this weekend playing quality ACC opponents and it's raised our bar of understanding what we are capable of when we step on the court. We have a lot of volleyball to play and we plan to build on the high level of volleyball that we played this past weekend."

Louisville owned the fourth-best hitting percentage in the country (.311 percent) heading into today's match and had four with double-digit kills on the day.

The Blue Devils were led by junior Lizzie Fleming with 10 kills and no errors to hit .500 percent and added four blocks on the defensive end. Senior Ade Owokoniran added nine kills while rookie Rachel Richardson had an all-around match with eight kills, seven digs and three blocks. Setter Camille Nazor dished 31 assists and picked up 11 digs for a double-double while libero Mackenzie Cole added 20 digs for her 21st-career game with 20 or more digs.

Despite Louisville leading the ACC in blocks, the Blue Devils out-blocked them with 16 and 9.0 total team blocks as Fleming and Georgia Stavrinides both had four.

Louisville came out of the gate hot to hit .469 percent with 19 kills to Duke's five.

Richardson hit .571 percent in the second set to help spearhead a .361 team hitting percentage, but three service errors proved costly.

Duke picked up its tempo in the third frame and registered eight blocks to put Louisville on its heels. The Blue Devils pushed their lead to 15-12 as Johnson registered her 34th ace of the year. The Blue Devils took a slight 23-21 edge before an overpass set up Claire Chaussee for her 12th kill of the match to tie it up at 23. Nazor connected with Owokoniran on the outside for her seventh kill of the match to force set point, and a Louisville attack error forced a fourth set.

Louisville took a 15-9 lead heading into the media break in the fourth with consecutive kills from Anna Stevenson. The Blue Devils pulled within four (18-14) but the Cardinals went on to win seven of the last nine points to take the match.

The Cardinals were led by Chaussee (14 kills) and Stevenson (13 kills) as Stevenson owns a .450 hitting percentage this season, the sixth-best in the country. Setter Tori Dilfer dished 46 assists in the victory.

Duke will welcome Wake Forest and Virginia Tech to Cameron Indoor Stadium for two matches Nov. 5 and No. 7.

For more information on Duke volleyball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeVB".

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