College Achievers: Willowbrook grad Kenny provides a great service for Louisville women’s volleyball
A freshman on the University of Louisville women’s volleyball team, Hannah Kenny has come out swinging.
A graduate of Willowbrook High School, Kenny and her big right arm leads the No. 7-ranked Cardinals with 36 aces, adding another one Saturday in a 5-set loss to No. 5 Stanford.
A 5-foot-8 defensive specialist for Louisville who was an all-state setter in high school and was recruited as a libero, Kenny credits incessant scouting and film sessions, practice preparation, and a green light by Cardinals coaches to find holes in an opponent’s defense.
“I try to put a good, moving ball in the court,” she said over the phone last week after taking an economics test. “And our coaches are big on staying aggressive on serving, so it gives me the confidence that I can still miss and stay aggressive.”
Also fifth on Louisville in digs and assists, Kenny has played in all 30 of the team’s matches this season and in all but one of the Cardinals’ 112 sets.
She’s yet to start a match, but “it really doesn’t matter at all,” she said. She enters immediately for a right-side or outside hitter.
“It’s going really good. It’s definitely difficult at times, kind of changing positions a little bit from setter to defensive specialist and libero. But my coaches (led by head coach Dan Meske) are great,” Kenny said.
At Willowbrook, Kenny amassed more than 1,000 assists while helping coach Irene Mason’s Warriors take third in Class 4A as a junior in 2023.
Also starring with the 1st Alliance volleyball club, she was the gym rat daughter of two coaches — volleyball coach Andrea Miller and baseball coach Seth Kenny.
Hannah’s sister, Calli, is a sophomore setter at Marquette University, taking a medical redshirt year after knee surgery. She made the Big East All-Academic Team as a freshman.
Herself a whiz academically who enrolled as a finance major at Louisville, Hannah Kenny graduated from Willowbrook early to go to college. She’d been pursued by other programs, but once she attended a volleyball camp at Louisville she was hooked.
“I think the big thing that set Louisville apart from competitive programs is just the culture of the girls and the coaches. Everybody is just so enjoyable, down to earth, and it makes it comfortable. We want to be around each other,” she said.
She contributed 7 digs in a Nov. 16 match against Miami, a five-set “reverse sweep” that Kenny called a season highlight. Louisville — 24-6 overall and 16-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference — was in the running for the ACC title all season.
“I’m just very grateful for the opportunity of being in such a great program with awesome people,” she said.
“Also, being supported through high school, from my parents and coaches and my whole family. I’m just very grateful to be able to come to a great school, and travel and compete with great people.”
Unique award
Ohio State’s Ben Davino (St. Charles East) on Nov. 20 was announced as the Big Ten Conference freshman wrestler of the week. Davino became the first Buckeye to win that award since … Davino in 2024.
A redshirt freshman who also was named USA Wrestling’s athlete of the week on Nov. 17, Davino earned the first Big Ten honor his true freshman season, 2024-25, in which he went 14-1 for Ohio State before redshirting.
This time, Davino went 4-0 at 133 pounds to help Ohio State win the title of the 2025 National Duals Invitational in Tulsa, Okla. He’s currently 11-0 on the season.
All-tourney
Following UCLA’s 5-0 win over Michigan to win the men’s Big Ten soccer tournament on Nov. 16, Michigan midfielder Mitar Mitrovich (Hinsdale South) was named to the all-tournament team. A graduate student who previously played at Marquette, Mitrovich finished the season with 5 goals, 3 assists and 13 points, second on the Wolverines in goals and points.