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.
Louisville saves four set points
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 said. “And we’re never afraid to back away from a fight.”
Penn State saves two match points
Nebraska was up two sets to one on Penn State when Rebekah Allick came out of the middle for a kill to put Nebraska up 24-22 and a point away from a trip to the championship match. Not so fast. Penn State went to fifth-year senior Jess Mruzik, who swung high and hard. As the ball darted out of bounds, Nebraska players came off the bench to celebrate, but the ball had clipped the Nebraska block and Mruzik got a kill to make it 24-23. “We touched it,” Nebraska coach John Cook said. “Jess did that a lot.” On match point No. 2, Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly went back to Allick after a perfect serve reception from Olivia Mauch. Allick tipped the ball over the Penn State block, but Mruzik slid a hand underneath, Izzy Starck set the ball from her knees and Caroline Jurevicius tooled the Nebraska block to tie it at 24-24. After trading points — Gillian Grimes got an ace, Mruzik got two kills — Penn State completed an 11-4 run on a kill by Camryn Hannah to take the set 28-26 and send the match to a fifth set.
A Louisville freshman steps up
DeBeer had willed Louisville to a win in set three, but with the Cardinals up 2-0 in the fourth, the Louisville outside hitter turned an ankle after landing on a teammate’s heel on a block attempt. Freshman Payton Petersen entered the match. And she met the moment. The outside hitter delivered 2 kills, 4 digs, 2 aces and a block in Louisville’s 25-17 clincher that put the Cardinals a win away from their first national title. Coming into the match, Petersen had 31 kills, 24 digs, 2 aces and 5 blocks all season. “When I got subbed in, these amazing people are always on the court cheering me up, giving me confidence,” Petersen said. “So the fact that I can lean on people just makes it so much better.”
A Penn State senior delivers
With all the momentum swinging Penn State’s way, Mruzik kept it rolling. In the final set, she delivered a sharp-angle kill to give Penn State a 2-1 lead. She went high off the Nebraska block to give the Nittany Lions a 6-3 lead. She blasted a back-row ball for a 7-4 Penn State lead. When Nebraska closed to within one, Mruzik delivered a perfect serve receive and then delivered another kill for a Penn State 10-8 lead. She delivered yet another sharp crosscourt kill in front of Lexi Rodriguez, who slammed a hand on the court in frustration, for a 12-8 lead. After Nebraska closed to within two, Mruzik delivered her 26th kill of the match and sixth of the final set, another sharp angle shot, to give Penn State a 13-10 lead. “I think my backcourt helps me — I’m able to swing freely because of them,” Mruzik said. “I have them look at me constantly throughout the match, just telling me to let it rip and telling me where they are on coverage, so I know that when I’m going up to swing, they’re right there behind me.” The Nittany Lions needed just two more points, and they got them on two kills from Hannah to win the match 15-13 and send the seven-time champions to their 11th NCAA volleyball title game. “Tremendous performance by Jess. She hit some shots we had no answer for,” Cook said. “It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen by an outside hitter.”
