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COLUMBIA, Mo. — Aiko Jones had 11 kills, and two blocks to lead the No. 3-ranked University of Louisville volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of Northern Kentucky in the second match of the Missouri Tiger Invitational Saturday afternoon in Columbia, Mo.
The Cardinals move to 5-0 on the season with the 25-16, 25-20, 25-19 win. Louisville hit .366 against the Norse and added six blocks. The Cards’ serving was on point as UofL landed 12, the most since Nov. 19, 2021 against Duke. Setter Brigitta Petrenko set the pace with five aces, adding three kills, 25 assists and a block. Cara Cresse had six kills on six swings for a perfect percentage and added an ace and three blocks to her statline. Charitie Luper had nine kills and six digs. Libero Elena Scott had a team-high 11 digs and was responsible for two of the Cards’ aces.
Northern Kentucky hit .204 for the match with three aces and four blocks. The Norse were led by Abby Kanakry’s 15 kills. Ivey Stocks had four kills and paced NKU with four blocks.
UofL will play host Missouri on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 3:30 on the SEC Network+.
Set-by-Set Recap
Set1
In the first set, UofL used a 3-0 run to break an early tie and then added a 10-4 run down the stretch to take the first set 25-16. The late run was powered by three Cardinal aces, two by Kamden Schrand and one by Elena Scott. The Norse, who hit .188 for the set were no match for the .455 hitting by Louisville. Anna DeBeer, Brigitta Petrenko, Cara Cresse and Aiko Jones had three kills apiece.
Set 2
NKU reeled off four straight to take a 6-3 lead early in the second and then built that lead to four with a kill by Zy’Aire Barr. The Cards were able to tie at 12 on a kill by Cara Cresse and then took the lead at 14-13 on a kill by Phekran Kong. The Cardinals did not trail again but did have to fend off four straight NKU points after reaching set point. UofL finally sealed the set with a kill by Aiko Jones for the 25-20 and took a two-set lead into the break.
Set 3
Louisville blew out to a 5-1 lead early when Petrenko landed three straight aces to catch the Norse on their heels. NKU cut the lead to three at 11-8 on a kill by Kanakry but a pair of aces by Ayden Bartlett put the Cards up 17-10. The Cards got to set point at 24-15 on a kill by Charitie Luper but had a to endure a furious four point rally by NKU before winning 25-19.