How Louisville, Penn St. staged two NCAA volleyball shockers - ESPN

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.

Here's how Louisville and Penn State pulled off the stunning upsets and advanced to volleyball's championship match.

Tied at a set apiece, Pittsburgh had four chances to seal the third set and take command of the match. Pittsburgh led 24-23, but Louisville unleashed outside hitter Anna DeBeer. She smashed a crosscourt kill to tie it at 24-24. After a Torrey Stafford kill, Pitt got another chance to close the set. Louisville went with the same formula: Elena Scott serve receive, Nayelis Cabello set, DeBeer crosscourt kill to tie the match at 25. Pitt was ahead 26-25 when Olivia Babcock's powerful jump serve clipped the tape. Scott stuck her platform underneath the ball and popped it up. Sofia Maldonado Diaz sent an out-of-system set to DeBeer, who delivered yet again, this time down the center of the court. A kill by Stafford gave Pitt its final chance at 27-26. This time, Charitie Luper delivered the crosscourt kill to tie it at 27. An ace by Kamden Schrand gave Louisville the only set point it would need. Phekran Kong and Cabello blocked a Pitt attack and gave Louisville the third set and a direct path to victory. «It really showed that we wanted it more,» Luper