CRAWFORD | Hometown heroics: Anna DeBeer led Louisville's storybook Final Four run

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Everything seemed to be slipping away.

In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the University of Louisville volleyball team was reeling, on the brink of seeing its dream of playing a Final Four in its own city vanish. Northern Iowa was rolling, and Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly didn’t love the look in her players’ eyes.

“Northern Iowa was playing unbelievably well, and we couldn’t do anything to slow them down,” Busboom Kelly admitted. “We pride ourselves on being a great defensive team, but we just couldn’t find answers. The look in our team’s eyes was different. And I felt like Anna DeBeer – she took over.”

The senior outside hitter who has been called “the ultimate competitor” by her coach got her teammates’ attention. She “took over” some huddles. She stood up and spoke in the locker room.

“She really willed us to win,” Busboom Kelly said. “If you don’t have a player like that, that feels confident and is able to show that emotion, maybe you don’t win that game.”

Without DeBeer, maybe a lot of things don’t happen for Louisville. Maybe they don’t go to three Final Fours in four years, with an overall record of 117-14 (13 of those losses to ranked teams, four in the NCAA Tournament). Or ride undefeated into an NCAA championship game. And maybe they’re not here, answering questions about their preparation for Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal against Pittsburgh in the KFC Yum! Center.

But let’s not drift off into the direction of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” even if this is the season for it.

The problem with storybook endings is that they almost never happen. They are more often the stuff of fiction than reality. They are the Disney movie more often than the ESPN highlight. How many NFL teams point toward a Super Bowl in their city, then fall short? DeBeer was not guaranteed the Hollywood ending when she decided to play one more season of college volleyball.

She had no ruby slippers, nor rose-colored glasses. But she didn’t have to think long about making the decision. A chance to play in the Final Four in her hometown? A chance to advance the burgeoning sport of volleyball in her home city? A chance to do something no other athlete at U of L has done, win a championship in Louisville?

She signed up quickly. Not that Busboom Kelly was going to let her do anything else.

“We wouldn't have let her leave,” she quipped. “So it was her only option.”

“I couldn't miss out on the opportunity,” DeBeer said. “I was imagining myself watching it and not being there and I was like, there's no way. And it has all worked out. It was one of our goals early on in the year. We didn't know if we were going to get here, but we've worked hard and battled through a lot this year. So, for it to all work out, I'm just really grateful.”

DeBeer, like teammate Elena Scott, is a foundational player for Louisville volleyball. There have been others, certainly, in Louisville’s impressive four-year run. Louisville has a long list of all-conference and All-American standouts. But DeBeer, voted an All-American for the third time on Wednesday, takes a back seat to no one.

“I don't know the history books, there's been some really, really good players, and I've coached some really good players here,” Busboom Kelly said. “But I think when it comes to the best player ever, it's got to be somebody with the total package. And Anna DeBeer has that, the intensity, the teammate, the competitiveness, and then-skill wise, you know she, she really is that type of player that coaches trust from Day One, just because of the way she approaches her daily routine, and how she's always strives to be great, but she really wants to make her teammates better. She's one of a kind. You don’t find players or athletes like her very often.”

Busboom Kelly called DeBeer her “security blanket” after she was named ACC Player of the Year in 2023. And while this Louisville team has returned the Final Four behind the brilliant play of Scott and a talented cast of younger players, without DeBeer’s presence, those things might not have come together.

“I think without her, we wouldn't be sitting here, obviously,” the coach said. “The role she's played this year is much more of a leadership role and a maturity role. She's really helped the rest of the team understand that this is a big deal but also helped prepare them for what to expect. I think it gives everybody a little more confidence when you have somebody like her who's been through it and been through a lot of different things in her career, and she's been through these Final Fours. I just feel like the team is much more prepared than we have been in the past.”

For DeBeer, it’s been more about the work. This team was not on cruise control to its inevitable fate. It had to get comfortable with its own identity, blending in some talented freshmen. It dealt with a schedule that included 14 games against nationally ranked teams. Of its five losses, four were to the other three teams in the current Final Four.

There was a funny moment at Wednesday’s media session when a reporter asked DeBeer about her “rock star moment,” being a hometown player who has led the hometown team to a Final Four in her hometown.

Left unsaid (until now) is this: DeBeer isn’t having a rock star moment. She’s been a rock star here for a long time. A three-time state champion. Three-time club national champion. Kentucky’s Ms. Volleyball as a senior. Twice an NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player. ACC Freshman of the Year in 2020. ACC Player of the Year in 2023.

Not to get all Ron Burgundy, but around here, she’s kind of a big deal. People know her.

Still, she said, “It’s just really cool,” and shared about the interview requests her parents are getting.

“It's definitely a full-circle moment,” DeBeer said. “Looking back we really weren't sure if we were going to make it here. Obviously, the program really wanted to get here, and the fact that we are, it's just super exciting. The Yum! is such a great environment. So, it's a good way to go out for my career, I guess you could say.”

You could say that.

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