Penn State and Louisville Set to Make History in NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky — In a thrilling turn of events, Penn State’s women’s volleyball team clinched a historic national semifinal victory on Thursday, setting the stage for an unprecedented showdown on Sunday. For the first time since the NCAA tournament’s inception in 1981, a woman will claim the title as head coach. This groundbreaking moment is assured as both teams in Sunday’s final (ABC, 3 p.m. ET) are led by female coaches. Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley and Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly, both former NCAA champions as players, are at the helm of their respective teams. Schumacher-Cawley celebrated victory with Penn State in 1999, while Busboom Kelly triumphed with Nebraska in 2006.
The semifinal matches were nothing short of electrifying. Busboom Kelly’s Cardinals secured a 3-1 win over Pitt in the first semifinal, setting the stage for what seemed like a potential face-off against her alma mater, Nebraska, in the final. Nebraska initially appeared dominant, taking a 2-0 lead over the Nittany Lions in the second match of the night. However, Penn State mounted an extraordinary comeback, becoming just the sixth team to achieve a reverse sweep in the final four, winning the last three sets after dropping the first two. Notably, Penn State is the only program to have accomplished this feat twice, having previously done so against Texas in the 2009 championship match.
Nebraska, the last team to achieve a reverse sweep in the 2018 semifinals against Illinois, was left stunned. The Huskers suffered only their second NCAA tournament loss in any round after winning the first two sets, now holding a 104-2 record in such situations. The Penn State-Nebraska match concluded after midnight, with the Nittany Lions clinching the fifth set 15-13. Jess Mruzik led Penn State with an impressive 26 kills.
This season has been an emotional journey for the Nittany Lions, as Schumacher-Cawley has been coaching while battling breast cancer. Her resilience and leadership have been a source of inspiration for the team.
In the opening match of the night, Louisville thrilled the home crowd at the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville. The Cardinals faced immense pressure, driven by the desire to reach the final four in their home city. Now, they have advanced to the final match of the season. Despite losing to Pitt twice in ACC play during the regular season, Louisville emerged victorious when it mattered most.
“That pressure is suffocating, and there were moments in this season when we were suffocated,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly remarked about the Cardinals’ determination to reach the final four. “But this team really rose above that, and we had to put a lot of work in, and a lot of honest conversations about what it was going to take to overcome that.”
Thursday’s match saw the Cardinals overcome several challenges: losing the first set to the Panthers, trailing early in the second set, facing four set points in the third set, and losing senior standout Anna DeBeer to an ankle injury at the start of the fourth set. Despite these hurdles, Louisville prevailed, leaving Pitt to grapple with a fourth consecutive season ending in the national semifinals. Pitt also fell to Louisville in the national semis in 2022. The Panthers’ only loss this season before Thursday was a 3-2 defeat at SMU in October. Olivia Babcock led Pitt with 33 kills, concluding their season with a 33-2 record.
“We’re hurting,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher admitted. “This is one of the tougher losses of my career. It certainly feels like a missed opportunity.”
In recent years, Pitt and Louisville have emerged as the ACC’s powerhouse programs, although the addition of Stanford and Cal to the league this year has brought significant volleyball prestige. Stanford boasts a record nine NCAA titles, and Cal has made it to the final four.
Pitt triumphed over Louisville in the regular-season matches, winning 3-2 in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25 and 3-1 in Louisville on Nov. 27. The Cardinals, ranked as the fourth of the No. 1 seeds behind Pitt, Nebraska, and Penn State, narrowly avoided elimination in the second round against Northern Iowa in one of the tournament’s most intense matches. Louisville ultimately prevailed over UNI 22-20 in the fifth set, which featured nine match points.
The Cardinals swept Purdue and defeated Stanford 3-1 to secure their third trip to the final four. On Thursday, they were led by DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz, each contributing 14 kills.
When DeBeer was sidelined with an ankle injury in the fourth set, freshman Payton Petersen stepped in, delivering two kills and four crucial digs to help the Cardinals secure victory. Petersen’s mother, Bobbi, coaches Northern Iowa, and her twin sister plays for UNI, adding an emotional layer to the tournament for Payton, who had already faced them.
“It just felt weird,” Petersen reflected on facing her mom and sister in an NCAA tournament match, noting that UNI’s challenge ultimately helped the Cardinals elevate their play for the remainder of the tournament.
When DeBeer initially went down, Petersen assumed she would recover and return to the game. However, when it became evident that DeBeer would not return, Petersen said, “I wanted to do this for her. She’s meant so much to me.”
Regarding DeBeer’s status, Busboom Kelly mentioned in an ESPN broadcast interview immediately after the match that the outside hitter would be back for Sunday’s final. However, in the post-match news conference, she offered a more cautious outlook.
“If there’s any inkling she can play, she’s the type of kid that’s going to get out there and play,” Busboom Kelly said of DeBeer. “But we won’t know more until tomorrow.”
Originally Written by: Michael Voepel
