LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - Visions are not always fulfilled. Dreams do not always come true. And moments that take a while to make don't always come to fruition.
But in the case of Louisville women's volleyball, the storybook season head coach Dani Busboom Kelly sold to her seniors years ago, the ones who helped make a home national championship match a reality, can be capped off with the program's first-ever national title by beating Penn State at the KFC Yum! Center on Sunday at 3 p.m.
"To actually be doing it is really incredible," Busboom Kelly said. "And just to see the support of the city, I mean, everybody's so excited. It just means a lot for this senior class. To go out on the highest note you could possibly go out on is an incredible accomplishment. And yeah, I think it's going to feel a little bit different on Sunday."
The second national championship appearance for the Cardinals could also feel different for a concerning reason. Star senior, team captain and Assumption High School alumna Anna DeBeer left Thursday night's national semifinal victory over Pitt with an ankle injury. Despite coming back to the court to support her team, she did not come back in to play and is being described as "day-to-day" for Sunday's match against the Nittany Lions.
"We're going to do everything we can to get her on the court, but we do have a great team behind her," Busboom Kelly said. "If she can't go, we'll have some options."
DeBeer has established herself as one college volleyball's premier players. She still finished tied for the team lead in kills with 14 vs. Pitt. But her head coach is adamant that Louisville's training staff is trying anything possible to help her chances of playing. One thing working in their favor is the match actually being on Sunday.
"The extra day gives us hope. I think if we were playing tomorrow, there'd be no hope," Busboom Kelly said. "There's not much difference in preparation. And I'm thankful when looking back at how we run our practices.
"We have mixed teams every single day. We make sure we do drills where it's not starters versus non-starters the whole time. And so, all these players are used to playing with each other, and this is one time I'm very thankful for that. Sometimes, we think maybe we shouldn't do it as much as we do. Well now, that's paying off, so the comfort should be no problem."
That point is made with how freshman Payton Petersen seamlessly stepped in for DeBeer to finish off the number one overall seed in a decisive fourth set. Petersen had the match-winning kill, but also served back-to-back aces.
"And the crowd just kind of went crazy," Louisville libero Elena Scott, a Mercy Academy alumna and first team All-American, said. "I just had chills. It was just a surreal moment."
Scott and fellow senior PK Kong have confidence in their entire team to keep stepping up if DeBeer does not play. Kong expects the Cardinal captain to still be a factor even if she is not out on the court.
"My only expectation from Anna is to keep being her," Kong, a middle blocker, said. "She is one of our captains and has been for years while being here. Whether she's on the court or not, she's just always going to speak life into people. She's going to stay engaged, and she's going to make sure that we get the job done. Regardless of whether she's on the court or not, she's going to fulfill her role as a leader."
"It's not just being herself," Busboom Kelly said. "It's a chance to be on the court as a hometown player playing in a national championship game on her hometown court. It's a pretty special moment."
The positive mindset that helped this program get there is a defining trait of Busboom Kelly's leadership. Since taking over in 2016, the former Nebraska Cornhusker captain has instilled a culture rooted in balancing the seriousness of the work required to be elite with the fun of experiencing the rapid rise of becoming elite.
"There's not a day where she puts us through a crazy drill or ridiculous practice," Kong said. "I never walk away from a conversation with her thinking, 'What did she just say? Like, what's going on?' We all do a really good job of just taking each other for who we are, and we're very clear about our values and goals.
"We're just all on the same page often. And playing for somebody who has that kind of openness, knowledge and skill level, I don't know, she's such an easy person to play for. And I think the last time I was here on the mic talking about Dani, I called her a badass. So, I'll double down on that one because she's legit. She's the truth," Kong said.
Busboom Kelly was not lying when selling this senior class on the potential of making history. No matter who wins Sunday, this is also true: Either Busboom Kelly or Penn State's Katie Schumacher-Cawley will become the first woman to win an NCAA Division I women's volleyball national title as a head coach.
"It's more like just being really proud that we can be the role models and hopefully blaze a new trail, and show athletic directors that women can do it," Busboom Kelly said. "We can be moms, and we can be high-level coaches, and then not only show ADs that women can do it, but our players that they can do both.
"And then we can be examples day to day of how to do that. We want our players, whether they want to be full-time moms or have a career, we want to be a good example for that. But it's going to be awesome for the sport, I think, to get this monkey off its back and move on from this, where it's not historic that a woman wins, it's just a regular thing. It will be great when for every Final Four, there's a chance for a woman to win it," Busboom Kelly said.
History will be made regardless of the result. And for Louisville, a vision is still coming to life, with one more win out there to complete the best version of it.
One woman believed in it, led it with her staff and watched her players prove getting to this point was always possible.
"Coming to Louisville and believing in the vision, making it a reality, grabbing this community and making this community not only a place where people love to play volleyball, but people love to watch volleyball," Busboom Kelly said. "So, they not only did a lot just in their wins and losses, but just a lot for the whole city."
Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
