LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On Nov. 26, Louisville volleyball sat in its team lounge for the NCAA Selection Show and watched Pittsburgh edge the Cardinals for the final No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
Eight days earlier, U of L could have helped change that. The Panthers roared back at the Petersen Events Center after falling behind two sets, beating Louisville in five. It was a performance that played a role in denying another NCAA Regional at the KFC Yum! Center.
On Saturday, in a regional final at Fitzgerald Field House in Pittsburgh, Louisville watched the reverse sweep script unfold again at the worst possible time. Pitt punched a ticket to the Final Four with a five-set Elite Eight victory, coming back yet again to move past U of L. A year after the Cardinals beat this same program in the Final Four to go to their first national championship, their season ends a win short of the national semifinals.
One set away from clinching a third-straight Final Four trip, head coach Dani Busboom Kelly's team could not slow down Pitt over the final three sets. With Louisville leading 9-7 in the third set, Pittsburgh outscored the Cardinals 18-7 to close it and then took the fourth one convincingly by a count of 25-19.
The Panthers outhit the Cardinals, finishing with a hit percentage of .286 to Louisville's .213. Louisville had more total attacks, but also three more attack errors, five more service errors and three more blocking errors.
Pitt outside hitter Torrey Stafford led all players with 18 kills and 11 digs, as the freshman hit for a percentage of .378. Pitt outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez and rightside hitter Olivia Babcock did damage from the service line, totaling seven aces.
Panther middle blocker Emma Monks led her team with 9 blocks, as the Pittsburgh defense started to shut down the U of L attack. A dangerous attacking duo of Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper hit for percentages of .135 and .026, well below their season marks of .245 and .240.
Over the first two sets, Louisville's attack was evenly spread amongst multiple contributors. Middle blocker PK Kong was a consistent force around the net, helping block multiple shots to finish with a team-high eight blocks.
Cara Cresse, DeBeer and Aiko Jones all answered down the stretch of a tight first set, delivering kills to help Louisville win it 25-23. Set two saw Louisville gain control late with DeBeer getting three kills, Elena Scott hitting back-to-back aces and Kong working to add a kill and block over the final eight Cardinal points.
But all momentum swung towards the host team once Pitt took a lead it would not relinquish. The Cardinals dropped two of their three meetings with the Panthers and finish another strong season with a record of 27-5.
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