Cards Cruise in NCAA Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Sweeps Loyola Chicago

There wasn't a ton of drama in last night's match, as Louisville opened their 2025 NCAA Tournament with a relatively easy win over the visitors in L&N FCU Arena. An easy win was desperately needed for Louisville, who were coming off of a pair of difficult losses to the other front-runners in the ACC to end the season. That includes a loss to Stanford in this building their last time out. The Cards appeared to have shaken those demons, as they won with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-12 romp of the Ramblers. 

Loyola came out with some intensity in the first set, keeping up with Louisville for about the first 20 points of the match. After a Loyola kill made it 8-10, though, Louisville rattled off the next seven points to make it a 17-8 advantage for the Cards. Louisville would go on to hit .400 in the set, while Loyola finished with a .121 hitting percentage in the first. 

Unfortunately for Loyola, that .121 was their best hitting percentage of the match. Even worse, it was the only set in which they weren't negative. They finished the match with an .011 overall percentage. Louisville certainly had something to do with that, as they finished the match with 12 blocks, which accounted for 60% of Loyola's errors. Moreover, part of the problem was that Louisville just defended well. The Cards had 39 digs, nearly double the 21 kills totaled by Loyola. 

Offensively, the Cards had 43 kills and only eight errors. Three of those were Loyola blocks, so Louisville was pretty crisp, with just five unforced errors. Louisville's .400 in the first set was under their overall percentage of .417, as they hit a whopping .588 in the second, before coming back down to earth with a .351 in the third set. The Cards were incredible across the board on offense, with three players tying for second with nine kills behind Kalyssa Blackshear leading the way with 10. Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Payton Petersen were the three with nine apiece, and none of the four hit more than two errors. Chicoine had the lowest hitting percentage of the four, and it was still a stellar .381. 

Defensively, it was (who else) Hannah Sherman joining the party. She, Cresse, and Blackshear all had four block assists each and Sherman added two solos. Blackshear had one, as well, as it was a big night for the freshman. If there was one spot to still complain for Louisville, it was the service line, as there is some cleanup to do. The Cards had five aces, with Cresse leading the way with two, but they had nine errors. Despite that, they did still win the service battle with a net +3, as Loyola had seven errors and no aces. 

It was critical for the Cards to make quick work of Loyola, as they have a short turnaround with the second round match taking place tonight. Louisville's opponent also had the benefit of a sweep, as Marquette surprised the 7th-seeded Hilltoppers by sweeping WKU yesterday in L&N. As noted in the gocards writeup, tonight's match will pit sister against sister. Freshman Hannah Kenny's older sister, Calli, is a sophomore for the Golden Eagles. Tonight's match will get underway at 6PM. If you weren't able to secure a ticket, you'll be able to catch the match on streaming. It isn't listed officially just yet, but it is most likely to be carried on ESPN+. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case