Louisville volleyball smashes its way to first NCAA championship match with win over Pitt

Taking the court at its second consecutive Final Four against a conference rival, the Louisville volleyball team slammed its foot on the gas — then hit a speed bump.

"We just started playing sloppy," U of L head coach Dani Busboom Kelly told ESPN's Katie George after her team hit .220 with six errors and dropped the second set to Pittsburgh, 25-23. "Pitt, they just grind you down, and if you start playing their game and start getting ground down, it’s gonna get a little sticky."

The Cardinals (31-2), true to their motto, didn't flinch.

Trailing the Panthers 19-16 in the third set, Louisville went on a 9-3 run to win 25-22. And when Pitt responded with a 5-0 run to take Set 4 and force a decisive fifth game, Busboom Kelly's team left no doubt.

"We talk about out-teaming, outworking everybody," the coach said. "In that Game 5, I just heard them say, 'We will not lose. We will out-team Pitt.' It was definitely a special moment."

With its season on the line, Louisville jumped out to an 8-0 lead and didn't look back. For the first time in program history, the Cardinals are headed to the NCAA championship match.

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No. 2 overall-seeded U of L took down its co-Atlantic Coast Conference champions in five sets (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-2) Thursday night in the second of two national semifinals at CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. Pitt (31-4) handed the Cardinals one of their two losses of the 2022 campaign in October, but Busboom Kelly and company had the last laugh when it mattered most.

With the win, Louisville will play the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Texas, at 8 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) with a championship on the line. Looking for their third title and first since 2012, the Longhorns defeated San Diego in four sets before the Cardinals took the court against the Panthers.

U of L will be the first ACC women’s volleyball program to play in an NCAA title match since the tournament’s inception in 1981. Busboom Kelly and company are just the second Louisville women’s team to reach a national championship; the basketball team has done so twice under head coach Jeff Walz.

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Busboom Kelly also made history Thursday night as just the second female head coach to reach the national championship, joining Florida’s Mary Wise. A win Saturday in her home state — inside the same arena where she won NCAA titles as a player and assistant coach at Nebraska — would make Busboom Kelly the first woman to bring home the tournament crown.

"It's something you hope you have the opportunity to do as a coach," she said after the match. "We want to make a difference in young women's lives, and we want to compete to win. You hope that you're on this stage. To be able to capitalize on the opportunity and to be able to take advantage of the moment is just incredibly special."

Making its return to the Final Four stage after having a 32-match winning streak snapped by Wisconsin in last year's national semifinal round, Louisville turned to its stars, ACC Player of the Year Claire Chaussee and junior outside hitter Anna DeBeer. They delivered.

Chaussee led all players with 25 kills and a .429 attack percentage. She accounted for three of the Cardinals' final five points to close out the third set to go along with back-to-back aces from Mercy Academy grad Elena Scott.

"I don't have any words," said Chaussee, who wiped away tears as she spoke after the victory. "I just love this team so much, and our fans are amazing. I really just have no words for this, and I'm so happy to have come to Louisville and had Dani as a coach. I don't know what else to say. I'm just so excited."

DeBeer, who was named the Most Valuable Player of last week's Louisville regional, picked up right where she left off against Pitt. The Assumption grad was lethal in service to the tune of five aces, tying Scott for a match high, and tallied more than 10 kills (15) for a third consecutive match.

Not bad for someone who last Thursday said she still wasn't "fully back 100%" from a lower leg injury that sidelined her for a portion of the season.

"We serve every day. It's all mental," DeBeer said. "I knew if I could be aggressive and get them out of system at the beginning of the match it would help us a lot defensively and offensively."

Chaussee and DeBeer weren't the only difference-makers in U of L's victory.

Junior Phekran Kong dominated the net with a career-high 11 blocks, four of which came during Louisville's romp in the winner-take-all fifth set. After the match, Busboom Kelly praised the middle blocker for bouncing back from an attacking error during Pitt's late run to win Set 4.

"When PK tipped the ball behind herself, I was slightly worried going into Game 5, but she took over the net and was unbelievable when it mattered," Busboom Kelly said. "That's some resiliency right there."

ACC Setter of the Year Raquel Lazaro, meanwhile, orchestrated the Cardinals' attacks and finished with a match-high 49 assists. And then there's Scott, whose career-best 28 digs kept her team alive during high-pressure rallies.

After U of L swept Baylor last week in the Sweet Sixteen at the KFC Yum! Center, Chaussee said experiencing a run to the Final Four in 2021 has created a deep sense of trust among this group of players and coaches.

Now, the Cardinals are in uncharted waters.

Texas, on the other hand, is making its ninth appearance in the NCAA championship match and will no doubt be eager to avenge a 3-1 loss to Kentucky in the 2020 final.

The Longhorns finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in the country and average an eighth-best 14.37 kills per set. They're led by senior outside hitter Logan Eggleston, who had 16 kills and a team-high five blocks in the win against San Diego, and sophomore outside hitter Madisen Skinner, a Texas native who transferred into the program in January after two seasons at UK.

Reach recruiting and trending sports reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville volleyball smashes Pitt to reach first NCAA championship