There were a lot of firsts this season for the University of Pittsburgh women’s volleyball team, but its most elusive first remains reaching the title match in the NCAA championship.
The host Louisville Cardinals, in front of a largely red-clad partisan crowd at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, advanced instead with a 3-1 win (21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17) over the Panthers Thursday night.
While the Cardinals (30-5) will play in the title match for the second time in the past three years, the Panthers (33-2) have been sent home after four straight seasons in the national semis.
“We’re hurting,” said Panthers coach Dan Fisher. “It was one of the tougher losses in my career. It was tough because it was the best we played since we’ve been in the final four.”
After winning the opening set, the Panthers grabbed an early lead in the second and third sets. But they were unable to withstand a Cardinal comeback in each of those ensuing sets.
From the momentum of a dramatic second-set victory, the Cardinals took a quick 2-0 lead in the third set. But a potentially damaging development occurred for the team with the match-ending leg injury of senior Anna DeBeer, the Cardinals’ kills leader at that point, with 14.
Instead, with the crowd’s help, it inspired the Cards to rally in her absence. As the fourth set continued, the Panthers unraveled with a series of uncharacteristic defensive mistakes.
With a loss inevitable in the fourth set, Panther outside hitter Torrey Stafford, a sophomore, shared what she thought.
“I think we were really just trying to play for each other at that moment," she said. "We were trying to find solutions.”
Stafford finished with 18 kills. Fellow Pitt sophomore Olivia Babcock had a season-high 33 kills.
When asked about playing in a road environment at the NCAA championship, Fisher acknowledged, “It helped them.”
DeBeer crashed to the floor in the net area and had to be helped off the court without putting any weight on her right leg.
The Panthers, for the first time in school history, were the No. 1-ranked team in the coaches poll and entered the NCAA tournament as the top overall seed. All four No. 1 seeds from each region reached the national semifinals.
To fall short of reaching the title game, Fisher said, “We failed, but at least we went for it.”
The Cardinals now will face the winner of the second semifinal between Big Ten rivals Penn State and Nebraska in the NCAA championship game Sunday night.
