LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville outside hitters Charitie Luper and Sofia Maldonado Diaz were named to the All-Tournament team but the University of Louisville volleyball team fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions 23-25, 34-32, 20-25, 25-17 in the NCAA National Championship match on Sunday afternoon in the KFC Yum! Center. "I think being up here in this moment is always tough. You just have so many emotions from the loss but also the end of some amazing careers. Then you're also very thankful for what this team did and that we were here," said head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. "Hats off to Penn State. They played great today. We couldn't stop them, and they played really well. I felt like we could never catch up." Busboom Kelly added, "It is an historic day for volleyball. We're very happy for Katie [Schumacher-Cawley]. It's a big deal for this sport. I'm very thankful that that monkey is off its back and we can move on and that more women will be in this position in the future." Louisville (30-6) had 53 kills, 64 digs, 12.0 blocks, and four aces to hit .196 on the day. In their last match with the Cards, Luper hit 21 kills on a career-high 59 attacks, and Maldonado Diaz knocked down a UofL career-high 20 kills on 40 attacks. Maldonado Diaz also contributed six digs and five blocks to the defense. Outside hitter Payton Petersen served three of the Cards' aces, with setter Nayelis Cabello serving the fourth. Petersen added four kills. 10 digs, and two blocks; Cabello assisted 31 kills and dug 10 balls. Middle blocker Cara Cresse stuffed seven blocks and Hannah Sherman stuffed four of her own. Libero Elena Scott had 24 digs and seven assists in her final match. The Penn State (35-2) was led by tournament MVP Jess Mruzick who had 29 of PSU's 72 kills. Mruzick also added 14 digs, five blocks, and a service ace to her stat line. Camryn Hannah knocked down 19 kills with an ace and two blocks on the afternoon. Setter Izzy Starck had 55 assists, 13 digs, and a block.

Nittany Lions head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley has now become the first woman to win the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball National Championship as a head coach. Penn State now has eight NCAA titles, with Schumacher-Cawley being a part of their 1999 win as a player. This is the Nittany Lions' first NCAA Finals win since 2014. They finish the season at 35-2 with a share of the Big Ten title. The Yum! Center welcomed an NCAA Championship record crowd of 21,860 fans for the match.

Set 1: Louisville 23, Penn State 25 Penn State grabbed the first point on a kill, but a kill from Cresse quickly got Louisville on the board. PSU knocked down another kill, before UofL answered with a 3-0 run on kills from Luper and Maldonado Diaz to go ahead 4-2. Points were traded and the Nittany Lions took their first lead at 8-7. The Cards tied it up a few times, but Penn State pulled ahead 14-10 on a 3-0 run off of a Louisville error and two kills. An error from PSU ended the run and Maldonado Diaz added another kill. The Nittany Lions led 15-12 at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, UofL went on a 3-0 run to tie the score at 15, with two blocks and a kill. A Cardinals error ended the run, but Maldonado Diaz tabbed another kill to even the score at 16. Penn State took a 19-16 lead that forced Louisville to use its first timeout. UofL tied the score at 19 after the timeout, with Luper adding two kills and Robins contributing one. With the score knotted at 19, Penn State took its first timeout, but came out of it with a kill and an ace to lead 21-19. Louisville took its second timeout and added a point on a PSU error. The Nittany Lions added a kill and a third ace to pull ahead 23-20. Luper took momentum back on a kill, before the Cards added two more points on an error and another Luper kill. Penn State got to match point at 24-23 following an error from UofL. PSU sealed the set win 25-23 on an ace from Mruzik.

Set 2: Louisville 34, Penn State 32 The Nittany Lions' fifth ace on the match took the first point, and Luper answered with a kill to take Louisville's first point. Penn State added a kill and a block to lead 3-1. Points went back and forth until PSU got out to a 11-7 lead that forced a Louisville timeout. The Nittany Lions held control as they took a 16-10 lead that saw the Cards use their second timeout. Penn State added a kill to lead 17-10, but Maldonado Diaz knocked down a kill and Kamden Schrand served Louisville's first ace. UofL started getting back within reach as they went on a 3-0 run highlighted by the 10th kills of the match for Maldonado Diaz and Luper to get within three at 19-16. Out of a PSU timeout, Petersen served an ace and Cabello and Cresse teamed up for a block to bring the score to 19-18. After trading errors, the Nittany Lions pulled out a 4-0 run to get to set point at 24-19. The Cards started their own 3-0 run to hold off a set win and force a Penn State timeout at 24-22. A kill from Luper continued the run, and an attack error by PSU put the teams in a deuce set at 24-24. The teams traded points as there were eight tie scores through the end of the set. Maldonado Diaz and Luper each knocked down three kills, Cresse stuffed a solo block, and Sherman and Cabello connected for a block to win the set 34-32. Louisville fought off 10 Penn State set points out of 14 combined set points. This set score is now the second highest in school history, behind a 36-34 Louisville set win against Georgia Tech in October of 2021.

Set 3: Louisville 20, Penn State 25 Louisville took the first point on an error from Penn State, but PSU responded with a 7-2 run that saw the Cards only scoring on blocks from Sherman/Luper and Sherman/Maldonado Diaz. Down 7-3, UofL used its first timeout, and Payton Petersen came out swinging with two kills to make the score 7-5. Points bounced around until the Nittany Lions got ahead 11-7 and on a 3-0 run. Petersen ended the run with a kill, but the teams continued to trade points. Penn State extended its lead to 16-11 and Louisville used its second timeout to stop the momentum. Sherman knocked down her first kill out of the timeout, but PSU continued to add on. The Cards got within three at 22-19 following a block from Sherman and Maldonado Diaz. Penn State tallied two more kills to bring them to set point at 24-19. A service error staved off the win, but Mruzik's 20th kill clinched the set 25-20.

Set 4: Louisville 17, Penn State 25 Penn State took a 6-1 lead to start the fourth set and force an early timeout from the Cards. Louisville's lone point came on a kill from Luper. After the timeout, PSU extended its lead to 10-2, with UofL's second point coming on a block connection between Cabello and Kong. Maldonado Diaz started a 3-0 run for the Cards with her Louisville career-high 15th kill; she added her 16th to put the score at 10-5 and force Penn State's first timeout. The Nittany Lions added two points out of the timeout to lead 12-5 and make UofL burn its second timeout. Following that timeout, the Cards posted points on blocks from Cresse, Maldonado Diaz, and Robins as well as more kills from Luper, Maldonado Diaz, Petersen, and Cresse. Championship point for Penn State came at 24-16 after an ace from Starck. A kill from Cresse held off the celebrations, but Hannah's 19th kill secured the championship for the Nittany Lions 25-17.