No. 11 seeded Cardinals Fall to No. 6 seeded Washington in NCAAs

Sunday, April 18

Omaha, NE

3:30 p.m. ET

University of Louisville

15-3,12-2ACC

Washington

19-3,17-3Pac-12

Louisville

Washington

Photo by: Mark Kuhlmann/NCAA Photos

No. 11 seeded Cardinals Fall to No. 6 seeded Washington in NCAAs

April 18, 2021 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Dani Busboom Kelly, Amaya Tillman and Anna De Beer Quotes

DeBeer leads with 17 kills

By: Nancy Worley

OMAHA -- Freshman Anna DeBeer had a career-high 17 kills with 13 digs and two blocks but the No. 11-seeded University of Louisville volleyball team could not close out a tenacious team in No. 6-seed Washington, falling 3-2 in the NCAA Regional Semi-final match Sunday evening in the CHI Health Convention Center.

The Cardinals dropped the first set 25-23, came back to win the second and third sets with the identical score of 25-21. Washington overpowered the Cards in the fourth, winning 25-14 and then held on to win 15-13 in the fifth. The Cardinals bow out of the Sweet Sixteen with a 15-3 mark to end their season. Washington will advance to play Pitt in the Regional Final Monday at noon ET.

"It was a disappointing way to end a season,: said Dani Busboom Kelly, UofL head coach. "To blow a great lead is one of the worst ways to go down at the end of the year in my opinion. I don't know if it has sunk in yet, that we lost that game quite yet because we were in it. It felt like we had all the momentum and that we were going to win it. But, at the end of the day, I am really proud of the way our team performed over the course of nine months. In the locker room we were talking about the way that we played great for nine months. We all go along for nine months and overcame a lot of adversity. We weathered breaks. We had a lot of different players who stepped up in different moments. You can't be disappointed about the season or have any regrets but this game is going to hurt. Hopefully, it is a learning experience for the players who are going to be back next year. It comes down to little things like fundamentals. Washington is a team that is really good at those. We knew that going in. We just didn't execute at the end of the game."

UofL hit .191 for the match with five aces and 15 blocks. Setter Tori Dilfer ran the offense with 48 assists, three kills and two aces. On the defensive side, senior Alexis Hamilton had 17 kills with Amaya Tillman adding 10 blocks.

Claire Chaussee joined DeBeer in double digit kills with 13, adding four blocks. Aiko Jones, who did not record a kill until the second set, recovered to add 10 kills, two aces and five blocks.

"We rely on Aiko to do a lot for our team. We have been able to rely on her less because we have other players really step up," said Busboom Kelly. "I didn't feel like it affected our team a lot, we just knew if we wanted to beat Washington, at some point we are going to need her to kill some balls. Every right side needs to kill balls. We were trying to figure out what worked best and how we could help her and what she needed to do to get going. The great thing about Aiko is that she blocks a ton of balls and that is what keeps her on the court when she is not killing balls."

Washington hit .203 with eight aces and 13 blocks. The Huskies were led by Claire Hoffman's 20 kills and two aces. Lauren Sanders had seven kills and seven blocks with Maria Bogomolova coming off the bench to ace the Cardinals three times.

"Washington is the kind of team that plays very steady," said Busboom Kelly. "They aren't going to get high or low. Even when we went on a big run it felt like we had to work hard to win that match. I don't know if we didn't realize that until a little bit too late. One of the best things that they do is serve. You saw that in game five, they put a lot of pressure on us with their serve. Even when we had opportunities to side out, we did not execute. It may be a little bit lack of experience but more trusting in big moments. We have an experienced team but we also have an inexperienced part of our team. You saw the ebbs and flows of that match through that experience."

In the first set, Washington used .361 hitting and a pair of 4-0 runs to stay ahead of the Cardinals for much of the set. After trailing 15-10 at the media timeout, the Cardinals managed to claw their way back in to tie at 19 on an ace by Hamilton. The set had four ties and just two lead changes. Louisville stayed close, being within one at 23-22 on an Anna Stevenson block but were only able to score once more as the Huskies won 25-23.

In the second set, UofL used a 6-0 run to rock the Huskies early, taking a 13-8 lead. The Cards spread the lead to 17-12 and forced a UW timeout. The Huskies settled down and put up three straight points to take the score to 21-17 and spark a Louisville timeout. Louisville regrouped and finished out with the 25-21 win. The third set somewhat mirrored the second with the Cardinals breaking fast from the gate, taking a 7-2 lead. UW countered with a 4-0 run to get within one at 7-6 and then tied at nine. The Cardinals got to set point on an ace by Tori Dilfer to go up 24-19. Washington staved off set point twice before falling 25-21.

Louisville's offense stalled in the fourth set as they hit just .147 and trailed 13-5 early. Other than a 3-0 run, the Cards simply could not find traction as the Huskies cruised to the 25-14 win.

In the fifth set, Bogomolova came off the Huskie's bench to serve a 7-0 run in the fifth and save the Huskies, who were were reeling early, down 7-1 and later 11-5 in the fifth when the Cardinals seemed to have the match in hand. A service error finally ended her run and Claire Chaussee had a nifty kill to take the lead at 13-12. But the Huskies would not be denied, winning 15-13 with the match ending on a Cardinal hitting error.

"It is a matter of having tough mentality and finishing. I think we had some doubt and let it get into our head," said Tillman. "We need to have a shorter memory about it and side out. That is what it came down to. I don't think playing our first five-setter had any role, I just think we should have won the fourth set. That is what it comes down to. We should not have been in that position in the first place I think we need to limit our errors. I know I was in the net a few times. We were in the net or a couple aces here and there. I just think we need to be a lot cleaner and that would be a difference maker. But no matter if we go five, four or if we sweep, I would choose this team any day."

The season that saw the Cardinals have five matches canceled and endured pauses came to an end. However, Louisville loses just one starter, Hamilton, and valuable reserve Piper Roe from the 2020 ACC Championship team as Anna Stevenson and Tori Dilfer have elected to use their extra year.

"It is just a really weird feeling right now. Just to know that we left a lot out on the court, that is obviously something we didn't want," said DeBeer. "The outcome wasn't what we wanted. This team fought and the way the game came out really sucks. It is definitely a learning part of this game. I think we realized how this feeling we have right now is really terrible. We know we had it right in our hands, we just didn't execute. I think going into the fall, this is really going to motivate us. We don't want this feeling to happen again. In the fall, this is going to make me work harder and really not take a play off. In that set, we were up 7-1 at one point, I really think we cannot take a play off and have a mentality that we are going to win this game and finish every single point until the end and we have a better outcome."