LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 1-seeded University of Louisville volleyball team advanced to its second-ever NCAA National Championship appearance after besting Atlantic Coast Conference foe and No. 1 overall seed Pittsburgh in four sets Thursday night in the KFC Yum! Center. UofL secured its bid for the final after winning 21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17. The victory marks Louisville's 30th win of 2024, making it the seventh 30+ win season in school history.
"Incredible match tonight. Pitt's an exceptional team, and they have players that you can do everything right and they still can take over the game," said head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "I was just so proud of the way our team played and battled and stuck with what we'd worked on this entire week, Just the amount of trust we showed, not only in the team, but in ourselves, was pretty incredible."
Louisville hit .320 on the match off of 65 kills, 54 digs, 12.0 total blocks, and eight service aces. Three players recorded 14 kills on the night, all outside hitters Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz. Each player also had at least one block, with DeBeer stuffing three and Maldonado Diaz and Luper both posting one.
A couple of freshmen shined for Louisville in the match. Setter and ACC Freshman of the Year Nayelis Cabello recorded 44 assists, eight digs, and two aces; outside hitter Payton Petersen came in to post two kills, four digs, and two aces. Libero and ACC Defensive Player of the Year Elena Scott tallied 14 digs of the Cards' 54. Middle blockers Cara Cresse and Phekran Kong both added at least four blocks and seven kills, with Cresse putting up six blocks and nine kills and Kong stuffing four blocks and adding seven kills.
ACC Player of the Year and AVCA Player of the Year Olivia Babcock led the way for Pitt with a career-high 33 kills on 65 attacks, two blocks, and five digs. Torrey Stafford recorded a double-double, recording 18 kills and 15 digs with a solo block. The Panthers hit a .316 clip with 70 kills, 64 digs, 4.0 total blocks, and two aces.
"It just felt like everybody was so dialed in, we could have put anybody in and had the same outcome," said Busboom Kelly. "Super proud and a really unbelievable performance against maybe the best team in the country."
The 17 points scored by Pitt in the fourth set marks the lowest amount the team has scored in a set all season. The previous low was 18 against Georgia Tech on Nov. 30.
With this win, Louisville advances to the National Championship match on Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. in the Yum! Center to face the winner of Penn State/Nebraska. The championship match can be viewed on ABC. The Cards are in the hunt for their first NCAA title in program history.
Set 1: Louisville 21, Pittsburgh 25
Louisville got the scoring started, going up 2-0 after an attack error from Pitt and a kill from Luper. The points that followed kept the set tight, with neither team getting a lead bigger than two. Through 26 points, there were nine ties and six different Cards that recorded kills in Reese Robins, Cresse, Luper, Kong, Maldonado Diaz, and DeBeer. The Panthers took one of their biggest leads at 13-11, but kills from Luper and DeBeer tied it back up at 14-all. Pittsburgh scored the next point to take the lead 15-14 at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, Pitt took control, pulling ahead 20-16, after only DeBeer and Cresse tallied kills for the Cards. UofL used its first timeout, after which the Panthers got out to a 22-16 lead on a 4-0 run that saw Louisville take its second timeout. Pitt added one more kill, but Robins ended the 5-0 run on a kill. Set point came for Pittsburgh after a kill, but UofL held off four set points on kills from Robins and Kong, a block from Kong and Maldonado Diaz, and an ace from Cabello to bring the score to 24-21. At the fifth set point, the Panthers took the win 25-21 on a kill. Pitt posted a .373 hitting percentage on 22 kills with 24 digs; Louisville hit for .298 on 17 kills, 21 digs, and an ace.
Set 2: Louisville 25, Pittsburgh 23
Pitt got out to a quick 4-0 lead off of Babcock's 10th kill, a service ace, a block, and an error from the Cards. The 4-0 run ended on a service error from the Panthers before Elena Scott served an ace to put the score at 4-2. Pittsburgh went on a 3-0 run to lead 7-2 into the Louisville timeout. After the timeout, Kong ended the run on a kill as the Cards started climbing back. UofL got the closest they had been all set after a kill from DeBeer made the score 9-6. Pitt added another kill before a service error and Cresse notched a kill to bring Louisville within two at 10-8. The Panthers killed one more before the Cards went on a 5-0 run to lead 13-11 for the first time in the set. The 5-0 run was highlighted by blocks from the duos of Cresse and Maldonado Diaz followed by Cresse and Luper. Pitt took its first timeout of the set and came out to end the run and tie the score at 13. Points continued to go back and forth as Babcock led the way for the Panthers and Kong, Maldonado Diaz, and DeBeer racked up more kills and blocks for the Cards. There were nine more ties throughout the end of the set, before Louisville took its first timeout down 22-21 with Pitt on a 3-0 run. Cresse knocked down a kill to even the score at 22, but the Panthers responded with a kill. Luper killed two more balls to put UofL at set point and force Pitt's second timeout. Luper's eighth kill locked down the set win 25-23 for the Cards. In the second set, Kong hit a perfect 1.000 clip with five kills on five attempts.
Set 3: Louisville 29, Pittsburgh 27
Pittsburgh were awarded the first two points after errors from the Cards, until Maldonado Diaz got Louisville on the board with a kill. Pitt got out 5-1 off of a kill from Babcock, an ace from Valeria Vazquez Gomez, and an error by UofL. Points bounced around as Louisville slowly got back into the mix, getting within two ar 8-6 after kills from DeBeer and a solo block from Cresse. Pitt's Babcock recorded her 20th to give the Panthers a 9-6 lead, and Cresse answered with a kill of her own. Babcock tallied one more before the Cards went on 5-0 run following kills from Robins, DeBeer, and Luper to take the lead 12-10. Out of the timeout, Pitt knotted the score at 12, but Luper answered with two points on her 10th kill and an ace. The Panthers tied the score again at 14 a piece, but DeBeer answered with her 10th kill of the match. Pittsburgh went on a fast 3-0 run to pull ahead 17-15, but DeBeer had another answer and ended the run on a solo block. Louisville eventually went down 20-17 and took its first timeout of the set after two kills from Pitt. The Cards recorded an error following the timeout and Pitt added one of its own as points went back and forth, until the Panthers eventually led 23-19 and Louisville burned its first timeout. UofL answered with two points after the timeout, which caused Pitt to use its second timeout of the set. After that timeout, the Cards extended to a 4-0 run and tied the score at 23 off kills from Maldonado Diaz and a block from Kong and DeBeer. An attack error from Louisville saw Pitt get to the first set point at 24-23, but a kill from DeBeer saw the set being extended. The Panthers added another kill to earn the second set point at 25-24, but DeBeer answered again with a kill. A block from Pittsburgh got them third set point at 26-25 and DeBeer responded with yet another kill. Pitt took fourth set point at 27-26 on a kill, before Louisville went on a 3-0 run to tie, lead, and win the set. Luper tied the set with a kill, Kamden Schrand served an ace to lead, and Kong and Maldonado Diaz teamed up for a block to win the set 29-27.
Set 4: Louisville 25, Pittsburgh 17
A kill from Kong and a solo block from DeBeer marked the first two points in favor of the Cards. With Louisville leading 2-0, DeBeer went down with an injury during the third point and did not return to the match; the point was replayed and freshman outside hitter Payton Petersen replaced DeBeer for the remainder of the set. Pitt answered with a kill before Maldonado Diaz added her eighth kill of the set. The Panthers added a point, but Cresse responded with a kill and Maldonado Diaz served an ace to put Louisville up 5-2. Pittsburgh tallied one more kill before the Louisville defense posted two blocks from Cresse/Petersen and Cresse/Cabello to go up 7-3. Pitt used its first timeout of the set, but Petersen kept the scoring going for the Cards with two straight aces, which had the Panthers calling their second timeout down 9-3. A kill from Pittsburgh ended the 4-0 UofL run, and Pitt went on a short 3-0 run of their own to pull them within three at 9-6. At 10-7, Louisville started another 4-0 run after kills from Luper, Maldonado Diaz, and Petersen and Cabello's second ace of the game. The Panthers' Babcock recorded her 30th kill to end the run, but Maldonado Diaz responded quickly. Points were traded as the Cards continued to extend their lead, going up by eight points four different times. Cresse stuffed a solo block and knocked down three kills, while Maldonado Diaz and Luper both continued to add to the kill column. The first set point came for UofL at 24-16 after Maldonao Diaz's 14th kill of the match. Pitt added one more kill, but Petersen sealed Louisville's second-ever NCAA Championship Finals appearance on a kill.
