LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Try to name the Atlantic Coast Conference school the University of Louisville football team wants to beat more than anybody.
Clemson? Miami? Florida State?
Hard to separate them.
Ditto for the men’s basketball program. Duke? North Carolina? Virginia.
You decide. I can’t.
In volleyball, there is no debate. It’s Pittsburgh.
That’s why it had to be Louisville against Pittsburgh Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the opening semifinal match of the NCAA Final Four at the KFC Yum! Center.
It had to be Pitt. Had to be.
They compete with the same intensity. They aspire to the same success. They think the same things.
Listen.
“I just think we make them better and they make us better,” Pitt right-side hitter and setter Rachel Fairbanks said.
Less than 30 minutes later, Louisville star Anna DeBeer said this about the Panthers:
“We have such great respect for Pitt. They make us better and we hopefully make them better because we’re pushing each other each year in the conference. It’s such a good rivalry.”
Call me Old School, but this is what a rivalry is supposed to be. No taunting. No name-calling. No sense of entitlement. Just old-fashioned competition.
It is two persistently ambitious Atlantic Coast Conference programs who have already established themselves on the national stage, but who also understand there is one more mammoth step to make — winning their first volleyball national title.
The royalty in this Final Four sits in the other bracket.
Penn State, with its seven NCAA championships, will play Big Ten rival Nebraska, with its five NCAA titles, in the second semifinal at 9 p.m. Only Stanford, with nine, has more NCAA volleyball titles than the Nittany Lions or Cornhuskers.
“We’re very appreciative we have each other,” said U of L coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “I’m not sure one of us could have done it without the other.”
“Nothing but respect (for Louisville),” said Dan Fisher, whose smile said he was honored to receive a commemorative Louisville Slugger bat after arriving in town.
“Look, the rivalry is probably a little bit better for the fans but the competition has definitely made us both better.”
Pitt and Louisville are here to help the ACC nudge the Big Ten out of the way for the title. Since 2021, they have dogged each other over every inch of the court
Louisville beat the Panthers twice in 2021 and was lined up to play Pitt a third time in the national championship match.
But Wisconsin took out U of L and Nebraska toppled Pitt.
Wait’ til next year.
In 2022, Louisville lost a 5-set match at Pitt, swept the Panthers in Louisville and then beat the Panthers in another epic 5-setter in the national semifinals. (Texas stopped U of L from winning the national title)
Cue the 2023 video. Each program won the regular-season match at home but this time the Panthers ended Louisville’s season with 3-2 regional final victory in Pittsburgh — after the Cards won the first two sets.
Now it continues. Of course, it continues
Pitt is the nation’s top ranked team. Three of its players were voted first-team all-Americans Wednesday. The Panthers are 33-1 — and have not lost since a 5-set match at SMU on Oct. 12.
Pitt beat Louisville in five sets in Pittsburgh Oct. 25 and then did it again in four sets in downtown Louisville Nov. 27.
A questioner reminded the Pitt players that it was hard to beat a team three times in one season.
“Well, it’s hard to beat a team once,” Fairbanks said. “It’s hard to beat a team twice.”
“It’s hard to beat Louisville, period,” said Pitt outside hitter Torrey Stafford. “They’re a good team. They know us, and we know them.”
Of course, Busboom Kelly has positioned her team for this moment from the second she knew that the Final Four was coming to Second and Main Streets.
It’s been a motivator and a burden, a target and something to sweat.
She scheduled her team aggressively to make certain the Cardinals were tournament tested. U of L played 14 matches against Top 25 teams, winning nine. Four of the losses were to programs here in the Final Four.
The Cards should have an advantage with home fans in the building but it won’t approach the edge of a regular-season match because tickets were distributed by the NCAA.
“We’ve been here before,” Stafford said. “It’s our second home.”
“It’s such an awesome opportunity to be here,” said DeBeer.
Let’s go.
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