LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – It wasn’t quite “all or nothing” where the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Final Four was concerned for the University of Louisville. But it was pretty darn close.
A whole season, with that gleaming pot of competitive gold, a chance to play in the Final Four at the KFC Yum! Center, at the end of the rainbow. The pressure of expectations. The schedule that coach Dani Busboom Kelly put together, which wound the program through most of the Top 10 and some of it twice. The two losses at the end of the regular season. Staring elimination in the face against Northern Iowa.
All those chances for failure. And then came the first game of the last match on their quest for the promised land, against Stanford on Saturday night in Freedom Hall. Stanford powered to an 11-3 lead, and you wondered if the Cardinals’ magic from an impressive victory over Purdue two nights earlier had evaporated.
Nah.
This Louisville team doesn’t flinch that easily. The Cardinals destroyed Stanford in the second set, 24-14, then outdueled Stanford in the third set 25-20 before locking down the program’s third Final Four in four years, in a 3-1 victory over a Stanford team ranked No. 5 in the nation, an ACC rival that the Cards beat twice in three meetings.
Louisville’s volleyball team celebrates at the end of its 3-1 Elite Eight victory over Stanford.
"You know, an epic moment for this program," Busboom Kelly said. "When the Final Four got announced here in 2024 it was like a dream. Can we ever do this? Will we have a team that can make it and then to go through the season with all the pressure? You know, we've been talking about this almost every single week, and to be able to get through those moments and just play how we did tonight was incredible. I'm just really, really proud of what our team did, and excited and looking forward to a couple more matches."
The win doesn’t happen without Louisville native and senior Anna DeBeer, who acted personally insulted after the first-set loss and went on a tear in the second. Nor does it happen without Charitie Luper, who shared the team lead in kills with DeBeer at 13.
"We were actually just talking about this and how, like, we persevered through so much this year, and we looked at each other in the eyes and, right when they were putting pressure on us early, they were serving super aggressive, we all just knew that that's not how we were going to play," DeBeer said. "And I just trusted every single person on this team. And that's kind of how we got out of that. And we got out of it, and we started gaining the momentum to finish out that first, and even though we came short, I just felt like our team was getting back in it. So coming into that second, we knew we had it."
Both made the all-regional team, along with libero Elena Scott.
And for the second time in her career DeBeer was a regional MVP.
"It's a crazy feeling," DeBeer said. "Knowing it was in Louisville, and knowing how hard it has been to get there in the past, yeah. We've made two Final Fours before, but knowing it was so hard every, single match, all the pressure, all the things you have to think about, and to finally do it again for my last year, and just like this, I think it was just truly the seniors stepping up, like every single person really just gave it their all to be back in Yum again. We had a little saying, 'It starts and ends in Yum!' We started in Yum with all those preseason games. And yeah, we had our moments this year, but this team has wanted it really bad, and that just shows our fight and our grit and the mental toughness we have, and that's ultimately what helped us pull it out today."
Louisville will face its old nemesis from the ACC, Pittsburgh, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday in the first national semifinal in the KFC Yum! Center, the winner heads to the NCAA Championship game. Louisville has been there once before. This time, they're hoping a little hometown magic might help.
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