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Louisville Volleyball Poised To Reach #1 In AP Poll

By Cameron Franck

Phekran Kong, graduate of Washington High School, will play volleyball for the University of Louisville in the fall. She poses for portraits Wednesday, July 10.Phekran Kong 003
Phekran Kong, graduate of Washington High School, will play volleyball for the University of Louisville in the fall. She poses for portraits Wednesday, July 10.Phekran Kong 003 /
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Nobody wants the Claire Chaussee smoke. She has been a force for the Cardinals squad this season and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Louisville’s Claire Chaussee
Louisville’s Claire Chaussee /

LOUISVILLE, KY–  This past weekend the Cardinals took on Virginia Tech and Wake Forest for two games in three days. The Cardinals now sit with a 17-1 overall record for the season. A record worthy of the consensus #1 spot in the AP Poll.

Currently, Texas is sitting with the number 1 by their name, but the Cardinals are on their heels after the Longhorns suffered defeat at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones in a 5-set match. Cyclones Eleanor Holthaus, Annie Hatch, and Maya Duckworth tied with 14 kills each against the Longhorns handing them their first loss of the season.

Louisville lost to Ohio State on September 4th of this year but has not lost since, going on a 12-game win streak. Claire Chaussee has been a massive contribution to the success of Coach Kelly’s team. The 6-foot outside hitter remained dominant in their past two games over the weekend recording 18 kills against the Hokies and 15 kills against the Demon Deacons.

In each game, the Cardinals took care of business in 4 sets and would not let their opponents gain a foothold in the game. In addition to Chaussee’s dominance, she had help defensively from 6-foot-4 middle blocker Phekran Kong with 5 blocks against Wake Forest. Senior Amaya Tillman gave Kong a run for her money contributing 7 blocks against Virginia Tech.

Coach Kelly has done a great job with this team setting their focus on both the offensive and defensive sides of the net. She has weapons who can hit, weapons who can block, and let’s not forget about the weapon who is Raquel Lazaro. In her last two games, the 6-foot setter has recorded 45 and 52 assists respectively. She knows where to put the ball so Chaussee, Jones, and Tillman can do their damage.

There is a reason why these girls are set to become the number one team in the nation.

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