Even on a night when an NCAA Division-I player racked up a rare-as-hen’s-teeth 40 kills, a statement-making victory in a match played between top-10 teams before 11,461 fans on national television justifiably hogged the spotlight.

With hometown hero Anna DeBeer leading the charge, VolleyballMag.com Super 16 Media Poll No. 8 Louisville — runner-up in the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and a Final Four team in 2021 – took out No. 7 Pittsburgh — a 2022 NCAA semifinalist — in the minimum three sets at the downtown Yum Center before the second-largest crowd in program history and an ESPNU TV audience.

Elsewhere on a newsworthy Friday night in NCAA women’s volleyball across the country, Georgia Tech kept pace in the Atlantic Coast Coast Conference after dodging a five-set threat against Florida State.

Also, Wisconsin (ranked No. 1 in the VBM Poll) and No. 2 Nebraska rolled on in the Big Ten, No. 11 Florida continued to upstream in the SEC, No. 3 Stanford had a surprisingly easy time with USC in the Pac-12, The Citadel kept its undefeated season intact (just barely) and Dayton pushed its winning streak to 14.

Giulia Cardona

In the stat line of the night, Evansville’s Giuliana Cardona recorded the first 40-kill match in a whole bunch of years as the Purple Aces (8-11, 3-5 Missouri Valley Conference) won a five-setter with a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 36-34 fifth set (yes, you read that right) over visiting Illinois-Chicago (13-8, 4-4). Her 40 kills tied the single-match Valley record set in 1989 during the sideout era, 12 years before the NCAA instituted rally scoring. Cardona needed 94 swings to get 40 kills and she had 20 attack errors for a .213 hitting percentage, while adding 16 digs. The match went 3 hours, 44 minutes.

In the “sort of close but no cigar” stats-line category, Natalie Stepanovich pounded 24 kills, dug 22 balls, ripped an ace and recorded three blocks as Robert Morris (5-15, 2-7 Horizon League) prevailed in a pulsating five-setter (15-12 in the tiebreaker) against visiting Youngstown State (7-13, 2-7). That would be excellent on a typical night, but a non-starter against 40 kills.

The stats bronze medalist was Rice’s Emila Weske, who had 27 kills, two aces, 18 digs and four blocks (one solo) as the Owls (13-5, 7-1) suffered their first American Athletic Conference loss in a five-setter against visiting Florida Atlantic (12-9, 4-4).

The recaps and top performances follow, but first here are the highlights of Saturday’s NCAA Division-I women’s volleyball schedule.

The Big 12 is where it’s at with VBM No. 6 Texas at AVCA No. 22 Houston, where the 7,100-seat Fertitta Center is sold out in advance for the first time in program history. Tenth-ranked BYU is at Texas Tech, No. 15 Kansas entertains Oklahoma, UCF goes for its eighth win in a row when the Knights travel to Kansas State and TCU is at West Virginia.

The Big Ten has three matches. No. 2 Nebraska puts its unbeaten record on the line against visiting No. 13 Penn State. Also, coming off of its upset of Purdue, Indiana hosts Michigan, and Michigan State is at Iowa.

The ACC, Pac-12 and SEC are off.

The Big East slate includes Marquette at St. John’s in a battle for the lead. Dayton, the AVCA No. 18, is back at Davidson. In the Big West, Hawai’i is at Cal Poly, while league-leading UC Santa Barbara is off.

The winless teams are at it again. Saint Peters puts its 0-20 record up against Quinnipiac in the MAAC, 0-16 Le Moyne goes to Sacred Heart in the NEC and 0-10 Hampton has a CAA match at Northeastern.

Want to watch? We have the conference-by-conference schedule with viewing links for any match that is being shown in our VolleyballMag.com TV & Streaming Listings.

ACC: Louisville native DeBeer chiseled the Pittsburgh block on match point to punctuate a 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 victory by the Cardinals (15-2, 6-1) over the Panthers (15-3, 6-1) that sent the huge KFC Yum! Center crowd home happy.

DeBeer, a 6-foot senior, hit a robust .448 with 15 kills and two errors on 29 swings, helping Louisville post a .388 percentage as a team, and made 10 digs. Pitt’s touted block was dormant, picking up only six block assists.

“Our focus tonight was to be consistent and in an environment like this, our team just came together no matter what the score was,” DeBeer told ESPNU. “We just battled it out. It was so cool to see because we had been working on that.

“To be at the Yum Center with all of the fans behind us, we love these fans, we love these matches against the rivalry teams in the ACC. We just worked really hard and I’m so proud of everyone.”

Elsewhere in the ACC, visiting Florida State (12-7, 6-1) had a match point at 14-13 in the tiebreaker, but No. 12 Georgia Tech (15-2, 6-1) wriggled out, winning the fifth set 16-14 in a see-saw affair to force a tie atop the league standings. A 72-58 advantage in kills by the Yellow Jackets was mitigated by 40 combined attacking and serving errors. Georgia Tech got 21 kills each from Bianca Bertolino (with 13 digs) and Larissa Mendes, and 20 kills from Tamara O’Keefe (with 23 digs). …

After the four-way deadlock at the top of the ACC sits Wake Forest (14-5, 5-3), which topped visiting North Carolina State (14-4, 4-3) in four sets.

BIG TEN: Even with two starters out with injuries, No. 1 Wisconsin (16-0, 7-0) took  Rutgers (9-8, 1-6) to the woodshed. The Badgers outscored the shell-shocked visitors 75-37, which included a 25-4 whipping in the second set. Sarah Franklin led Wisconsin, which hit .410, with 16 kills, four aces and nine digs. … No. 2 Nebraska (16-0, 7-0) suffered a third-set hiccup but otherwise was dominant in a four-set triumph over Michigan State (11-7, 3-4) before the usual 8,539 fans at its Devaney Center. Merritt Beason and Andi Jackson each logged 13 kills, and libero Lexi Rodriguez chipped in with 16 digs and seven assists. …

Also, Penn State (13-3, 7-0), tied for 13th in the VBM poll, stayed perfect in the Big Ten with a lopsided sweep at Iowa (8-11, 0-7). Alexa Markey ripped 17 kills while hitting .469. … Host Northwestern (9-8, 3-4) dispatched Maryland (13-6, 3-4) in four behind Julia Sangiacomo’s 27 kills and 12 digs. … Ohio State (9-7, 4-3) got 22 kills and 11 digs from Emily Londot in a four-set victory over visiting Illinois (7-10, 2-5), weathering Raina Terry’s 28 kills. She added two aces, a block and eight digs.

SEC: No. 11 Florida (12-4, 4-3) continued to fall in the standings, stumbling on the road in four sets to middle-of-the-pack Mississippi State (8-9, 2-5). The Gators were outhit .338 to .250 and outblocked 12-4. Sophie Agee led the Bulldogs with 16 kills and seven digs. … No. 9 Tennessee (16-1, 7-0) pushed its winning streak to 11, defeating visiting Auburn (14-4, 4-3) in four sets. Morgahn Fingall stepped up for the Vols with 21 kills and 12 digs. … Host Arkansas (16-2, 6-0), which shares 13th in the VBM ranking, dumped Ole Miss (8-10, 2-5) in three non-threatening sets, dialing up 10 aces.

Pac-12: No. 3 Stanford (14-2, 7-0) was pressed in a 25-22 first set but then outscored visiting USC (11-6, 5-2) 50-28 after that before a crowd of 3,307 at Maples Pavilion. Caitie Baird (.472 hitting) and Kendall Kipp each powered 12 kills for the Cardinal. … Arizona State (17-2, 5-2) saw its momentum blunted in a stunning five-set loss (15-11 in the tiebreaker) to host Oregon State (6-11, 1-6). The Beavers, who finally broke through in the league win column, reversed the flow in the fifth after dropping the fourth set by 12 points, finishing the upset on kills by Lauren Rumel and Amanda Burns …

Elsewhere, No. 4 Washington State (16-2, 6-1 Pac-12) emphatically bounced back from its first league loss with a lopsided home-court sweep of Utah (8-9, 3-4). …

No. 5 Oregon (16-2, 6-1) fired on all cylinders, outscoring Arizona (6-12, 1-6) 75-47 and limiting the visitors to .074 hitting.

Big 12: No. 10 BYU (15-3, 4-2) survived an upset bid in its first five-setter (15-12 in the tiebreaker) as a Big 12 member against visiting Texas Tech (8-11, 1-6), A crowd of 4.033 in Provo watched Whitney McEwan-Llarenas crack 16 kills on .424 hitting. … Baylor (10-7, 4-3) took both ends of its back-to-back at Cincinnati (9-8, 2-5) with a four-set victory.

Around the nation

The Citadel (19-0, 7-0 Southern Conference) needed every bit of its military-school grit to keep its undefeated record intact, battling back against host Furman (12-6, 3-4) to win in a wild reverse sweep. The Paladins just couldn’t get the winning card to fall as they failed to cash in on five match points in the third set. Then the determined Bulldogs finally took the fifth 15-8. The Citadel’s Ali Ruffun recorded 21 kills and 14 digs, while Mackenzie Martin had 20 kills and dug 13 balls …

Dayton (19-2, 8-0 Atlantic 10), ranked No. 18 in the AVCA top 25, continued to build its case to VBM Poll voters. The Flyers have won 14 in a row after a road sweep against Davidson (12-6, 4-4) in the first half of a back-to-back. Dayton rolled on behind a balanced attack led by Elise McGhee’s 19 kills and three aces. … Surging Loyola-Chicago (8-12, 6-2) stayed relevant in the A10 with a sweep at George Mason, the Ramblers’ sixth consecutive victory. … Western Kentucky (17-4, 7-0) consolidated its lead in the Conference USA standings with a road sweep of New Mexico State (13-7, 6-3). Kaylee Cox paved the way with 20 kills on .444 hitting and 11 digs.

Host UC Santa Barbara (18-2, 8-0) gained separation in the Big West and won its ninth in the row in a five-set nail-biter against Hawai’i (12-6, 5-2). The Gauchos were held off in four set points before prevailing in the fifth 15-13. … James Madison (15-4, 8-0 Sun Belt) completed back-to-back sweeps at Georgia State (5-14, 2-6) as Miette Veldman ripped 16 kills. … In the Atlantic Sun, Lipscomb beat Stetson in five to push its winning streak to nine. The Bisons are tied atop the league with Florida Gulf Coast at 7-0. FGCU swept Austin Peay.

Washington’s Katy Wessels readies for the set from Molly Wilson/Stephen Burns photo