Never say die.
Down 2-1 to No. 3-seeded Oregon, Louisville volleyball dug deep and gutted out a 3-2 victory (25-23, 23-25, 13-25, 27-25, 15-6) in a five-set thriller Saturday evening at KFC Yum! Center. The No. 1 Cardinals are the first team to punch their ticket to the NCAA Final Four.
The Cardinals were led by another impressive showing by Anna DeBeer, who recorded 17 kills on 45 attacks and added 10 digs. Claire Chaussee added 13 and nine, and Aiko Jones tallied 12 and five, plus two aces.
"They were pushing us in ways that we haven't been pushed in a while," DeBeer said. "I think it took every single person on this team to come out, do their job and get back into our rhythm."
The Cardinals will take on the winner of Wisconsin vs. Pittsburgh, which was played later Saturday night. The Cardinals are 1-1 against the Panthers this year and lost to Wisconsin in last year's Final Four; the Badgers went on to win the national championship.
Here are three takeaways from the Cardinals' thrilling win in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight:
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The importance of good service
Louisville trailed 14-9 midway through Set 1 and struggled to handle the pressure from Oregon's Brooke Nuneviller (15 kills, 16 digs in the match) and Pac-12 freshman of the year Mimi Colyer (17 kills, nine digs, four blocks). The Ducks have two dominant outside hitters that each now have more than 500 kills this season, and they rode the duo for much of the match.
But sloppy service play on Oregon's part allowed the Cardinals to claw their way back. The Ducks ended the first set with six service errors and surrendered aces to Jones and Elena Scott. Tied at 21, Colyer regained Oregon's lead with a kill before losing it herself on the next serve. Louisville rattled off two quick points before winning the set off a service error from Oregon's Elise Agi.
The Cardinals were in danger of losing their first set of the postseason but Oregon's miscues helped Louisville recover and fed off the energy from the home crowd. Louisville couldn't count on Oregon's miscues all evening, however.
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Oregon responds, takes control in middle sets
Louisville avoided starting slow in the second set and took an 8-3 lead before Oregon's athleticism took over. Nuneviller kicked off the Ducks' comeback with back-to-back kills, and Louisville was too slow to match Oregon's energy. Before the Cardinals knew it, the score was tied.
"[Oregon] played so well and we knew that we were going to have a hard time stopping them," Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "They played a great match."
Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the set, but three consecutive attacking errors from the Cardinals turned a one-point lead into a two-point deficit. The Ducks wouldn't let this one slip away. Kiari Robey capped off the 25-23 win for the Ducks.
It snapped a 22-set winning streak for Louisville, which dated back to Nov. 11 against Georgia Tech when the Cardinals fell behind 2-0 before rallying in the last three sets to win.
Oregon didn't give Louisville a chance to bounce back in Set 3. The Ducks dominated out of the gate and built an 8-0 lead. Louisville surrendered the set 25-13 and went back to the sidelines with a choice: wake up and fight back or watch the Ducks leave town with a ticket to the Final Four.
"I just felt like we haven't been down to a team that offensively was going off," Busboom Kelly said. "I'm just proud we were able to get that fourth set out."
"If we win the fourth set we're taking the game," Jones said. "I think we were all on the same page and I was ready and kind of zoned in."
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Louisville rallies to return to Final Four
With their backs on the ropes Louisville dug deep to pull off a win the fourth set and extended the match to a fifth set. Chaussee carried the Cardinals with three kills late as Louisville held on 27-25.
Louisville landed the final blow in the fifth set off the arm of DeBeer. The Louisville native took control when the Cardinals needed her most, recording six of her 17 kills in the decisive set. A Louisville service error made it 3-2 Oregon, but DeBeer recorded her first kill of the set to tie things up. It ignited a 13-2 run, with all six DeBeer kills coming in the stretch.
"We weren't going to lose that fifth set after the fourth," DeBeer said. "These seniors have worked so hard and we knew we weren't done."
Jones put the finishing touches on the comeback with a final kill, sending Louisville to Omaha for the Final Four.
