CRAWFORD | A long, perfect climb: Louisville volleyball 'takes a breath' before Final Four

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Among the many lessons of the University of Louisville's volleyball season, which now is headed to this week's NCAA Final Four in Columbus, is that perfection, while exciting, is also a little boring.

We all go looking for lessons. Coach Dani Busboom Kelly could write a book about what it takes to do something like what the Cardinals have done in compiling a 32-0 record and No. 1 ranking on their way to the national championship round of the NCAA Tournament.

But it likely wouldn't be a dramatic chapter list. It would talk about things like having a team ego, a common goal, a selfless roster, daily attention to technical detail, focus on the present, aversion to mistakes. Oh, and you know, really good players who are more interested in playing for each other than playing for themselves.

Georgia Tech's assessment of Louisville after Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Cardinals in the Elite Eight before a crowd of 5,917 at Freedom Hall included some of the same descriptions that have been given about this team all season.

"They're a great team," Georgia Tech setter Matti McKissock said. "They play clean, scrappy volleyball. They have a great defense. And it shows every, single game, they come out fighting."

The Cardinals haven't taken a game off, not a set, and really, not a point, on their way to the first Final Four in school history. That's pretty difficult. Wait. That's extraordinarily difficult.

"I’m just insanely proud of this team,” Busboom Kelly said. "People don’t realize how hard it is to make it to the Final Four, especially when you have all the pressure and you’re supposed to make it there, that’s even tougher in my opinion.”

Georgia Tech did exactly what it needed to do to score an upset on Saturday. After dropping the first set, it trailed 20-15 in the second set when Louisville, for the first time in this NCAA Tournament, seemed to wobble a bit.

Three straight attack errors brought the Yellowjackets within two points, then after a Louisville timeout, a kill by Mariana Brambilla, then another attack error by Louisville and another kill by Brambilla gave Georgia Tech the lead, and forced another Louisville timeout.

Nothing seemed to work. Two more kills by Georgia Tech and a couple more Louisville attack errors, and the Yellowjackets had scored 9 out of 10 points and taken a set off the Cardinals for the first time since 2016. It was the first set Louisville had lost in the NCAA Tournament.

This is how big upsets happen. A team puts pressure on the favored team, doubt creeps in, maybe a bit of panic, and you let pressure do its work. The weight of expectations becomes your teammate.

And this is how you stay undefeated. You do what Busboom Kelly and her team did in the locker room.

"I don't think we were worried," said Tori Dilfer, a graduate setter and the regional Most Outstanding Player. "I think we had a sense of urgency and it’s encouraging when you give sets away because all you have to do is just stop making errors, stop doing things that they're trying to bait you into doing and just stop trying to make a great play. Just be good and do our thing. I think we have a lot of confidence that we have the ability to bounce back. We've showed it this year against all the teams we’ve played. We've just been able to bounce back quickly. I wasn’t feeling worried in the locker room. I think everybody felt pretty confident and that's what we've been like all year.”

Claire Chaussee said, if anything, the Cardinals got a bit too keyed up.

"I feel like we were in the Elite Eight and we just get excited and we have to control our emotions," she said. "That's kind of why a lot of people make errors, is they just get too excited. That's not a bad thing, as long as you can control it.”

Dilfer said, "None of them were bad swings. As a setter, they're taking rips and I'd rather them do that then try to be cute and careful. But that's how it is and I think that's been the mentality this whole year with this team and this offense, they're not afraid to take a rip at any point and that's encouraging. We've had sets like that and like Claire said, we've just got to control our emotions, get back to our game and we're good.”

The Cardinals came out, went down 3-0 in the third set, then did just that. They started to reach every ball that came at them. Behind Elena Scott's service, they scored six straight points. Anna Stevenson was all over the net. Anna DeBeer and Scott digging ball after ball. Claire Chaussee blasting away, on her way to a team-high 18 kills.

They kept their heads, cut down their mistakes, and did what they've done all season.

After Stevenson scored the final point, the team poured onto the court, piled up under the net, circled Freedom Hall to greet fans, doused Busboom Kelly with ice – and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was an emotional moment for a team that all seasons has kept its emotions in check.

"It’s been an emotional season in a good way," Dilfer said. "There have just been so many happy tears, I don’t think there have been many sad ones – lots of tears on my part, but all happy. I’m just so proud of this team. … It’s just incredible what this group has done for each other, for our coaching staff. … no single person is playing for themselves and that’s what makes it so special. This would be special no matter what, but to do it with this group means so much to me. It’s a dream come true. Like I said, we still have more to do, but we’re going to enjoy this and we’re going to celebrate it, because it feels so good.”

Busboom Kelly, her team having left the court chanting DBK, now takes a team to the Final Four with a chance to become the first woman to coach an NCAA women's volleyball champion. Getting to the Final Four has been a goal for the program since its loss in the Elite Eight last season, knowing that it had such a seasoned roster returning.

"For me personally, I definitely think it’s a moment to take a breath," she said. "There was a lot of pressure for us to get to the Final Four and you don’t have opportunities like this where everything aligns. So for me, I really did not want this team to miss this opportunity. I know I’m going to take a deep breath and we have the confidence to play great in Columbus, there’s not doubt about that. It’s just getting there that’s the hardest part."

"When I took the job here, my goal was to obviously do things that haven't been done before," she said later. "But, we've done a really great job as a staff of just focusing on one thing at a time and not getting ahead of ourselves, so it's still pretty surreal. Some of the players are like, ‘what's even happening this season’, and I feel a little bit the same way. All the stars have aligned and it's just been really special. They love to chant ‘DBK’ and I'm like you guys need to stop because I feel like they make my job really easy. Sometimes they don't give themselves enough credit in my opinion.”

No. 1 ranked Louisville will face No. 4 Wisconsin on Thursday at 7 p.m. No. 3 Pittsburgh will face No. 10 Nebraska in the other semifinal at 9:30.

“I think all our games have prepared us," Stevenson said. "And I knew going into the preseason that we were pumped to start off playing tough teams. I had never beaten Kentucky before. I just knew that no matter who we were playing, it was going to be tough. Wake Forest took sets off us this year. Every game we tried to treat like a faceless opponent, we've just got to compete all-out and all the time.”

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