Third-ranked Louisville volleyball topples No. 13 Kentucky in 5 sets

The third-ranked Louisville volleyball team traveled to Lexington Wednesday night and took down No. 13 Kentucky in a 5-set thriller that was viewed by a national TV audience on ESPN.

The event marked just the fourth time in the last 25 years that ESPN has carried a regular season college volleyball match.

Some early jitters got the better of the Cards early, as they dropped the first set in front of a packed house inside Memorial Coliseum, 25-20. Louisville, 8-1, then stormed back to dominate the second set, 25-15, and eek out the third set, 26-24. U of L had a match point in the fourth set, but ultimately dropped it by the same count of 26-24. The road team left little doubt as to whose state this is in the 5th set, rolling to a 15-11 victory.

After dropping seven straight to their in-state rivals, Louisville has now taken two in a row from Kentucky. Last year’s match against the reigning national champions was also a 5-set thriller.

Before turning its attention to the start of ACC play next week, U of L will first head out West for a showdown with perennial national power Stanford. The Cardinals vs. the Cardinal will get started at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday.

What an awesome match and an awesome showcase for both the U of L program and the sport of women’s college volleyball at-large.

Suck it, nerds.

DBK forever.