CRAWFORD | DeBeer goes down, Louisville rises, beats Pitt for National Championship spot | Louisville Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The closer you get to the end, the faster the sand seems to flow.

A minute later, the Louisville volleyball team had lost the first set and was down 5-1 to first-place Pittsburgh in the second set. The next moment, the Cardinals were huddled together in the middle of KFC Yum! Stadium. Center Court, celebrating the program’s second trip to the NCAA Championship game in three years.

In between, Louisville put on a typical Louisville volleyball performance to a sellout home crowd. The Cardinals were not the most physical or powerful team. But they were the fastest and covered the course the way the Ohio River covers River Road above flood stage.

They just washed away Pittsburgh. You have achieved everything. Their captain Anna DeBeer suffered an injury early in the fourth set. She left the court for the locker room with Louisville leading 2-1 in the fourth set. The Cardinals didn’t bat an eyelid. DeBeer would not return. Louisville didn’t let up.

From that point on, Pittsburgh was the team that seemed lost. After the Panthers scored a point, Louisville took six of the next seven. And in the fourth movement it was merry.

“I was just so proud of the way our team played and fought and stuck with what we’ve been working on all week,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It was just unbelievable how much trust we had not only in the team but also in ourselves. And between games 2 and 3 we said that everyone has to win. We can deploy you as DS (defense specialists). It could be that we come away with a score of 5-1, or maybe we get away with a score of 6-2. And then DeBeer goes down. We hadn’t planned this, but it just felt like everyone was still involved. We could have included anyone and would have achieved the same result. That’s why I’m very proud of the truly incredible performance against perhaps the best team in the country.”

DeBeer’s status for Sunday’s championship at 3 p.m. is unknown. She went to the locker room, came back onto the court, cheered on her teammates and continued to flex her legs and increase her pace. As the team gathered after the victory, they walked gingerly to celebrate.

The indomitable outside attacker with a degree had already left her mark on the game when she was eliminated early. Her 14 kills were still a team-high and tied with Charitie Luper and Sofia Maldonado Diaz for the lead. Pittsburgh’s National Player of the Year candidate, Olivia Babcock, delivered a career-best performance with 33 kills.

But it wasn’t enough against a Louisville team that caught its breath with a late four-point run in the first set and then steadied itself with a run in the second set to tie the game. After surviving four match points and winning the third set 29-27, they were on their way.

“It’s just a matter of who wants it more,” Luper said. “And it really showed that we really wanted it more. We are never afraid to shy away from a fight. We’ve been in pressure situations like that several times this year, as you probably remember from the game against UNI (in the NCAA second round). So, you know, I would say that probably helped us because we’ve been through this before and we know what it feels like. We just never gave up. We made big swings. We have never shied away from it. We never wanted to throw the ball away and just give them balls to pick up. So we just trusted each other completely and went for it.”

With DeBeer out, Louisville subbed in Payton Petersen, a freshman outside hitter from Dike, Iowa. Her two kills, four digs and one block seemed to energize the Cardinals.

“I think when DeBeer went down, my first thought was, all right, she’s going to be okay, she’s just going to get back up,” Petersen said. “And I was just like, she’s all right. And then when it became clear to me that she wasn’t coming back, I wanted to do this for her. It meant so much to me and to her that this was her last game. I didn’t want that to happen. When I came on there were always these great people on the pitch encouraging me and giving me confidence. And the fact that I have other people to lean on just makes it so much better. I get to meet people who make me really enjoy the game. We have a lot of fun. It just helps calm everything down and that’s what they gave me.”

“Actually, before Payton came in, Dani had told her, ‘Payton, you have ice in your veins,'” Luper said. “And in my head I’m like, ‘Hell yes she does.’ And, you know, I just think she stayed really composed and just didn’t act her age. She acted like she was a senior today, just staying so calm and knowing exactly what to do. And I’m so proud of her.”

Louisville hit .320 as a team with 65 kills, 54 digs and 12 blocks. Maldonado Diaz had a career-high 14 kills. And Elena Scott, Louisville’s senior All-American libero, had 14 digs.

The Cardinals lost DeBeer, but it didn’t hurt that another veteran All-American from his hometown established the team and landed the plane.

“There were moments when I just wanted to tell us to believe in each other and trust each other,” Scott said. “One thing we place a lot of emphasis on is body language. We just look into each other’s eyes. And I think in the end it really showed that we trusted each other.”

“It was just so shocking that we couldn’t really say anything, but our eyes did all the talking,” Luper said. “When we looked at each other and kind of said, ‘I got you, I got you, I got you.’ We got this. “We’re doing this for DeBeer.” So without saying anything verbally, I knew what everyone meant. That’s how close we are and how we play for each other.”

Obviously, DeBeer’s status is a big question with a national championship game looming.

“We don’t really know yet,” Busboom Kelly said. “We’ll see if it’s serious or not, but if there’s an inkling that she can play, she’s the kind of kid that will go out and play. But we won’t know more until tomorrow.”

Regardless, Louisville is headed to a national title game for the second time in three seasons.

Busboom Kelly recalled Wednesday night a long-ago dinner with Don Hardin, one of her mentors and a former Louisville volleyball coach, after she accepted the job. He saw her before the UNI game.

“And he reminded me right before the UNI game that I told him that this city deserves a great volleyball team,” Busboom Kelly said. “And I was reminded of it and thought it was pretty cool. It’s more motivation to do it not just for the athletic department but for everyone here.”

Now she’s just one game away.

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