LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – All season, the University of Louisville volleyball team has operated under the mantra: "We won’t flinch."
It was born on the first day of practice, coming off a season in which the Cardinals marched undefeated all the way to the Final Four before losing in the national semifinals.
Despite losing two All-American pieces off that team, this year's Louisville players were determined to get back to that stage, and this time, be more ready for it.
On Thursday night against ACC rival Pittsburgh, they had that opportunity. And after losing a 6-point lead and all momentum in a fourth-set defeat in the second national semifinal, they had every opportunity to put their mantra to the test. Pittsburgh scored 5 straight points to force a decisive fifth set, and Louisville, in the huddle before it started, needed to forget what had just happened and to regroup in a big way.
Of course, by now you know, the Cardinals didn’t flinch. They scored 8 straight points out of the break to take command before rolling to a remarkable 15-2 victory to advance to the program’s first NCAA championship game. They will face top-ranked Texas at 8 p.m. Saturday in Omaha, Neb.
But Louisville wouldn’t have earned that moment if not for the fortitude it found after the frustrating fourth-set finish. After the match, Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly was asked what she said to calm her team down.
"It wasn't anything that I said," she answered. “Honestly, we have some inside jokes on this team that will remain inside. And we talked about that after game four. And I just felt them all loosen up. And I knew they were ready for the moment."
They absolutely were. Anna DeBeer, who served on six straight points to open the match had a similar run in the fifth set. Then Amaya Tillman and PK Kong took over in the middle, with some monstrous blocks to deny a final Pittsburgh comeback attempt. DeBeer finished with 15 kills. Claire Chaussee had 25. Kong had 11 blocks. Elena Scott had career highs in digs (28) and aces (8).
"Clearly, very proud of this team," Busboom Kelly said. “An historic moment for our program. . . . It's something you hope you have the opportunity to do as a coach. So it's like we want to make a difference in young women's lives and we want to compete to win. And you hope that you're on this stage. And just to be able to capitalize on the opportunity and to be able to take advantage of the moment is just incredibly special. We talk about out-teaming, outworking everybody. And in that game five, I just heard them say we will not lose, we will out-team Pitt. And it was definitely a special moment.”
A great deal went into it. Coming out of the COVID year, seniors Tori Dilfer and Anna Stevenson came back last season with the goal of winning a title. They rolled through the regular season unbeaten, but fell to Wisconsin in last season’s semifinals.
This year’s team has been less dominant, but no less determined.
“We've been there before, last year,” DeBeer said. “We know that feeling. We know how hard it is to get there and how much it hurts after that loss. So, I think this whole year that's been our goal. And the team has been on the same page since the very beginning and made it known that we want to win a national championship. And it's going to take a lot of effort and a lot of hard work to get there. Seeing the team come out tonight, it's one game at a time. It's taken so many hard matches. We've had some adversity. We've had a lot this whole tournament.”
But it hasn’t flinched.
A great deal of credit goes to Busboom Kelly, who emphasizes things like smiling, even through adversity. A day prior, she talked about another motto the team uses: "Goofy, focus, fun."
"While it is very intense and we want to make sure we're getting in a lot of work, we also want to make it fun and kind of have that laughing factor and just make sure that everyone's enjoying it," she said. "I think we do a good job of having a mix between both and in-season especially. We have a lot of people who hold each other accountable. We're making sure we're taking care of the business but also in the right way."
On Thursday, they laughed themselves right into the national championship game.
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