All season long, Pittsburgh and Nebraska seemed to be headed for an NCAA volleyball championship game collision. Pitt entered the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed after losing just one match during the regular season, against SMU, a team it had beaten soundly days earlier. Nebraska, the No. 2 seed, had lost just twice during the regular season after making it to the championship match in 2023. Both teams advanced to the final four. They were two wins away from the matchup that seemed preordained. But funny things happened in Louisville on Thursday night.