LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- When Louisville volleyball found out it narrowly missed the final No. 1 seed for this year's NCAA Tournament, you didn't need to guess who had edged out the Cardinals.
It was the team who stands in their way of a third-straight Final Four and unsuccessfully tried to deny U of L a first-ever trip to the national championship match last season: Pittsburgh. The two ACC powers and rivals will face off again in another high-stakes NCAA Tournament game in the Elite Eight on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Fitzgerald Field House.
The Cardinals and Panthers have combined to win the last seven ACC titles. Louisville holds a slight edge over the last 10 head-to-head meetings, winning six of them.Â
"We've needed each other," Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "It's really helped us grow and pushed us. You're always chasing each other, trying to one up each other. But that's what makes it fun. It's special to have a big rivalry and not everybody gets to have one."
Louisville volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly watches her team during a 3-0 NCAA Tournament win over Western Michigan in the KFC Yum! Center.
Pitt and U of L split their two earlier matches this season. The Cardinals swept the Panthers on Oct. 13 at the KFC Yum! Center and Pittsburgh came back to beat Louisville in five sets at the Petersen Events Center on Nov. 18.
"I think you look at them a lot," Busboom Kelly said of the first two games. "It's more from a viewpoint of like, 'How do we score against them? What did they change?'
"But yeah, the mistakes you made or things that you messed up, you got to let that go. And I just say certain players might rise to the occasion and different players step up during the NCAA tournament. So, you can't dwell on it too much, but it does tell you a lot. I think about how we want to stop each other or attack each other."
"If the coaches call out someone's number, we kind of know what that person looks like and we know who they are," Louisville opposite hitter Aiko Jones said. "But we're treating them like we've never played them before because we want to be fresh and want to be dialed into what they might do."
These two haven't played many lopsided matches in recent years. Four of the past seven meetings have needed the full five sets to decide a winner. Louisville has lost two of its last three road games against the Panthers.
"It's just always been a great match and a great environment," Louisville libero Ayden Bartlett said. "I think we know that we're both going to be pushed offensively and defensively in regards to both teams. And we're both ready for the challenge. One team is going to win in the end. Hopefully, that's us. But we're for sure ready to give them a good battle."
Another win would mean Louisville is two victories away from bringing home its first national championship. The Cardinals will try to lean on some experience from the past two Final Four trips to push them to volleyball's biggest stage yet again. Players like Jones, Anna DeBeer and others are emphasizing the need to lock in to younger players with the stakes being this high.
Louisville junior Charitie Luper celebrates against Creighton in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen on Dec. 7, 2023. (UofL Athletics photo)
"We've been here before, but this is going to be really hard," Jones said. "I mean, there's only eight teams that will be playing tomorrow. And that's a big deal. So, we just communicate that to them and make sure they know that this is a big stage. We've got to give it our all every single time."
"It's going to be really good for them to feel this pressure because I feel like this program has had a really good postseason precedent," Bartlett said. "So, I think building them up in these moments is going to be huge for just tomorrow and the future."
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