CRAWFORD | New year, same old grit -- No. 6 Louisville volleyball turns back No. 3 Wisconsin (2024)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The No. 6-ranked Louisville volleyball team secured its match point to knock off No. 3 Wisconsin less than a minute after the clock struck midnight on Wednesday morning in the nightcap of the AVCA First Serve Showcase in the KFC Yum! Center.

This Louisville program might have slipped out of prime time, but it is nowhere past its prime. Coming back from a season in which they were a heartbreaking road loss away from a third straight Final Four, the Cardinals on Tuesday began their mission of finishing this season where they were starting it, at home in the KFC Yum! Center, site of this year’s Final Four.

After dropping the first set rather quickly, Louisville steadied itself to win the next three, beating Wisconsin for the first time since 1985 in a 3-1 decision (18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20). Given this team’s aspirations, it was a fitting start, and it came in front of an ESPN2 audience and a crowd of more than 9,000, though many had to head home on a school night well before the midnight ending.

“Louisville did a much better job closing out sets than we did,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “. . . It's a good team. One of the things I like about their team is just their fighting spirit. I mean, both outsides are just fighting spirits. Their middles are, you know, tough and gritty, and you've got a match that or you're going to get hammered.”

The teams last met in the 2022 Final Four, when Louisville was No. 1 in the nation and unbeaten, but Wisconsin prevailed in five sets.

Louisville showed Tuesday night a lot of the grit that its predecessors were known for. This has been Louisville volleyball more often than not for quite a few years under coach Dani Busboom Kelly. Tough. Unflappable. Talented.

“It just continues to cement that, you know, we're a great program,” Busboom Kelly said after the win. “We might not be a sweatshirt school or a team that can look back 25 years ago and say we were playing for national championships, but we're here now. We attract players that fit our style and that want to be great, and that's who we're going to continue to get in our program. It's pretty amazing what we've done in the last eight years, and I think we just keep setting the bar higher and higher.”

Charitie Luper had 11 kills and Anna DeBeer added 10 to lead Louisville. Cara Cresse added eight kills and six blocks and Sofia Maldonado Diaz added 11 kills. Elena Scott had a match-high 22 digs. UofL hit .166 as a team with 10 blocks and two aces. Wisconsin hit .179 with one ace and 14 digs. The Badgers were led by Sarah Franklin's 17 kills and 2 blocks. Anna Smrek had 12 kills and four blocks.

Louisville won the final five points of the fourth set to put the match away – and that was after needing time for DeBeer and Luper to work through some leg cramps in the final set.

They're just scrappy. They play hard,” Sheffield said. “And when you think scrappy, you think underdogs. These guys aren't underdogs. They're legitimate title contenders, year in and year out. And their staff has been together. They've done a great job recruiting and coaching their kids up. And there's a tough mindedness about it. I mean, you've got two players down there that are needing medical attention, and then, you know, miraculously, they pop back up and they're out there grinding. And that's not a crack, that's deep respect, because, when you start cramping up, that's really hard. And both those, you looked at them and they were like, we're fine, let's keep grinding. It's great program, great coaches, tough minded kids, great fan base.”

DeBeer said this team’s mental toughness is on a par with other Louisville teams she has been a part of.

“That's just kind of how Louisville volleyball has worked,” she said. “I mean, we always, obviously aren't the most physical team. Yeah, we have some players, but we really work on the grit and the mental toughness. Because if we can come together as a team, and I think volleyball is a really big team sport, and if you have that culture, and that's kind of what we thrive upon, is that culture and that we call ourselves a unit, I think if we have that it’s just going to help us really push finish close games.”

In Tuesday’s opening game, No. 2-ranked Nebraska put away No. 9 Kentucky in four sets.

Next up for Louisville is a matchup with No. 15-ranked Tennessee on Sunday at 4 p.m. in the KFC Yum! Center.

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