LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The closer you get to the end, the faster the sand seems to run.
One minute, Louisville’s volleyball team had lost the first set and was down 5-1 to top ranked Pittsburgh in the second. The next, the Cardinals were piling on each other in the middle of the KFC Yum! Center court, celebrating the program’s second trip to the NCAA Championship game in three years.
In between, Louisville showed a sellout home-court crowd a quintessential Louisville volleyball performance. The Cardinals weren’t the most physical, powerful team. But they were the quickest, and they covered the court like the Ohio River covers River Road above flood stage.
They simply washed Pittsburgh away. They got to everything. Their captain, Anna DeBeer, went down with an injury early in the fourth set. She left the court for the locker room with a 2-1 Louisville lead in the fourth set. The Cardinals did not blink. DeBeer would not return. Louisville would not let up.
Pittsburgh was the team from that point on that looked lost. After the Panthers scored a point, Louisville took six of the next seven. And a joyous fourth-set romp was on.
“I was just so proud of the way our team played and battled and stuck with what we'd worked on this entire week,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “Just the amount of trust we showed not only in the team, but in ourselves, was pretty incredible. And in between Games 2 and 3, we said it's going to take everybody to win. DS (defensive specialists) we might use you to serve. We might go 5-1, we might go back 6-2. And then DeBeer goes down. We did not plan for that, but it just felt like everybody was still dialed in. We could have put anybody in and had the same outcome. So, super proud of a really unbelievable performance against maybe the best team in the country.”
DeBeer’s status is unknown for Sunday’s 3 p.m. championship. She left for the locker room, came back to the court, cheered on her teammates and continued to flex her legs and pace. When the team piled after the victory, she walked to the celebration gingerly.
The indomitable graduate outside hitter had already left her mark on the match when she left prematurely. Her 14 kills still matched the team high, tying for the team lead with Charitie Luper and Sofia Maldonado Diaz. Pittsburgh’s national player of the year candidate, Olivia Babcock, put on a show with a career-high 33 kills.
But it wasn’t enough against a Louisville team that caught its breath with a late four-point run in the first set, then steadied itself with a run in the second to tie the match. After surviving four match points to win the third set 29-27, they were on their way.
“It's all about who wants it more,” Luper said. “And it really showed that we really wanted it more. We're never afraid to back away from a fight. We've been in these pressure situations several times this year, as you probably remember against UNI (in the NCAA’s second round). So, you know, I would say that probably helped us, because we've been through it before, and we know how it feels. We just never gave up. We took huge swings. We never shied away from it. We were never wanting to tip the ball and give them any easy balls to pick up. So, we just really trusted ourselves and went for it.”
With DeBeer out, Louisville subbed in Payton Petersen, a freshman outside hitter from Dike, Iowa. Her two kills, four digs and a block seemed to re-energize the Cardinals.
“I think at first when DeBeer went down, I was like, all right, she's going to be fine, like she's just, going to get back up," Petersen said. "And, so I was just kind of like, she'll be OK. And then when it hit me, like she's not going to come back, I wanted to do this for her. She’s meant so much to me, and for her, for that to be her last game. I didn't want that to happen. So, when I got subbed in, these amazing people are always on the court cheering me up, giving me confidence. And the fact that I can lean on other people just makes it so much better. I'm coming in with people that are giving me a lot of joy in the game. We have a lot of fun. It just helps calm everything down, and that's what they were giving me.”
“Before Payton went in, actually, Dani had told her, ‘Payton, you have ice in your veins,’” Luper said. “And in my head, I'm like, ‘Hell, yeah, she does.’ And, you know, I just think she really stayed composed and just didn't act her age. She acted like she was a senior today coming out, just staying so calm and just knowing exactly what to do. And I'm so proud of her.”
Louisville as a team hit .320 with 65 kills, 54 digs and 12 blocks. Maldonado Diaz had a career high 14 kills. And Elena Scott, Louisville’s senior All-American libero, had 14 digs.
The Cardinals lost DeBeer, but it didn’t hurt having another veteran hometown All-American to settle the team, and land the plane.
“At certain moments, I just wanted to say for us to believe in each other, trust,” Scott said. “One thing we’re big on is body language. Just looking each other in the eyes. And I think it really showed at the end that we trusted each other.”
Star Louisville libero Elena Scott meets with reporters after the Cardinals advance to the national championship match.
“It was just so shocking that it was to the point where, like, we couldn't really say anything, but our eyes did all the talking,” Luper said. “Like we looked at each other and we pretty much said, ‘I got you, I got you, I got you. We got this. We're doing this for DeBeer.’ So without verbally saying things, I knew what everyone meant. That's just how close we are, and that's just how much we play for each other.”
Obviously, with a national championship match looming, DeBeer’s status is a major question.
“We don't really know yet,” Busboom Kelly said. “We'll see if it's severe or not, but if there's any inkling that she can play, she's the type of kid that's going to get out there and play. But we won't know more until tomorrow.”
Regardless, Louisville is headed to a national title game for a second time in three seasons.
Busboom Kelly, Wednesday night, recalled a long ago dinner with Don Hardin, one of her mentors and a former Louisville volleyball coach, after she took the job. He saw her before the UNI game.
“And he reminded me, right before that UNI game, that I told him that this city deserves a great volleyball team,” Busboom Kelly said. “And I was reminded of that, and I thought it's pretty cool. It's another motivation, you know, to do it for more than just the athletic department, but for everybody here.”
Now, she’s just one game away.
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.