The Louisville Volleyball squad defeated Georgia Tech in Freedom Hall in four sets last night to claim a berth in the NcAA Volleyball Tournament semifinals in Columbus on Thursday. The Cards will face Wisconsin, who handled Big 10 fellow member Minnesota in three sets. The other two semifinalists are Pittsburgh, who eliminated Purdue and Nebraska upset #2 seed Texas at Texas.
The Cards won the match 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 25-20 to earn their first ever Final Four trip.
Louisville setter Tori Dilfer was named MVP of the regional. Anna DeBeer, Anna Stevenson and Claire Chaussee were named to the ALL-Regional first team.
Claire Chaussee led the Cards with 18 kills, Anna DeBeer added 14 and Anna Stevenson contributed 13 in the match win. The ran into a strong force on the Yellow Jackets squad in Mariana Brambilla who finished with 27 kills for the Atlanta school. The Cards shut down GT star Julia Bergmann, who ended up with just five kills
Louisville held a 17-7 blocks edge and Anna Stevenson had 10 for the Cards, who had defeated GT twice before this season and Louisville hit .217 for the match while holding Georgia Tech to .152.
Louisville has gotten off to a slow start a number of times this season, and this match was no exception with the Yellowjackets getting out to a 4-1 start before the Cards shut it down with a six point run. Once the tone was set, UofL was able to slowly stretch the lead with GT only able to get the score margin down to two points the rest of the set. .281 hitting for UofL over GT's .186 basically tells the tale.
It looked like it would be another relatively easy cruise for the Cards but Tech had another idea, and Louisville let off the gas a bit in the second set. The Cards got a bit sloppy late in the set...well, as sloppy as this team ever plays, anyway. The birds and the bees mostly traded points with a slight edge to the Cardinals leading to a 20-15 lead for UofL. Tech then reeled off six straight points, with five of them listed as Cardinal hitting or blocking errors. Anna Stevenson would stem the tide slightly, but the techsters would get back on it to close out the set with another four straight with two Louisville hitting errors as part of it, to take the second set. Louisville hitting cooled to .152, and GT heated up to .281.
It wasn't to last for Buzz and the Killer Bees, though. The third set opened up much like the first, with GT getting out to a 4-1 lead before Louisville settled in and ripped off another 6-0 run. Every bit of this one was GT attack errors, but four of the seven were credited to Louisville's blocking. Not so fast, said GT, though, climbing back into a tie ballgame at 8-8, then a few points later, but UofL would get the lead back and never give it up in the third set. A 6-1 run for the Cards was a big part of that, ending with a 17-11 lead. Tech would get it within two a few times the rest of the set, but never closer. UofL's hitting rebounded to .222.
The Cards took a while to launch in the fourth set. GT put a 6-2 lead on the board before UofL would come roaring back with an 8-1 run for a 10-7 lead. Trading points again, until an Anna DeBeer kill at 15-12. The rotation saw Ayden Barlett sub out for Claire Chaussee returning for the front row. But this wasn't just the usual Chaussee, this was Tournament Claire. After a Stevenson kill, five of the next six UofL points were kills by Chaussee pushing the UofL lead out to 22-17. A pair of GT hitting errors gave UofL match point at 24-18. Tech staved off two of them before Stevenson had enough and planted the final point of the match through the NCAA sport court. Hitting stayed on track at .216 in the fourth.
It was another team effort by the Cards to get them to 32-0. Tori Dilfer had 49 assists for the winners and also two serving aces. DeBeer had 21 digs, while freshman Elena Scott added 19.
The "Killer Bees" (Bergmann, Brambilla and Bianco Bertalino) for Georgia Tech did help deliver Louisville's first set loss in the regional, but -- time after time, any Georgia Tech rally in the final two games was shut down by Louisville's superior defensive skills and team blocking.
The Cards move on to face the Badgers, a team Louisville last faced in 2017, when the Cards took a 3-0 set loss in the UW Field House.
--sonja--
The Cards won the match 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 25-20 to earn their first ever Final Four trip.
Louisville setter Tori Dilfer was named MVP of the regional. Anna DeBeer, Anna Stevenson and Claire Chaussee were named to the ALL-Regional first team.
Claire Chaussee led the Cards with 18 kills, Anna DeBeer added 14 and Anna Stevenson contributed 13 in the match win. The ran into a strong force on the Yellow Jackets squad in Mariana Brambilla who finished with 27 kills for the Atlanta school. The Cards shut down GT star Julia Bergmann, who ended up with just five kills
Louisville held a 17-7 blocks edge and Anna Stevenson had 10 for the Cards, who had defeated GT twice before this season and Louisville hit .217 for the match while holding Georgia Tech to .152.
Louisville has gotten off to a slow start a number of times this season, and this match was no exception with the Yellowjackets getting out to a 4-1 start before the Cards shut it down with a six point run. Once the tone was set, UofL was able to slowly stretch the lead with GT only able to get the score margin down to two points the rest of the set. .281 hitting for UofL over GT's .186 basically tells the tale.
It looked like it would be another relatively easy cruise for the Cards but Tech had another idea, and Louisville let off the gas a bit in the second set. The Cards got a bit sloppy late in the set...well, as sloppy as this team ever plays, anyway. The birds and the bees mostly traded points with a slight edge to the Cardinals leading to a 20-15 lead for UofL. Tech then reeled off six straight points, with five of them listed as Cardinal hitting or blocking errors. Anna Stevenson would stem the tide slightly, but the techsters would get back on it to close out the set with another four straight with two Louisville hitting errors as part of it, to take the second set. Louisville hitting cooled to .152, and GT heated up to .281.
It wasn't to last for Buzz and the Killer Bees, though. The third set opened up much like the first, with GT getting out to a 4-1 lead before Louisville settled in and ripped off another 6-0 run. Every bit of this one was GT attack errors, but four of the seven were credited to Louisville's blocking. Not so fast, said GT, though, climbing back into a tie ballgame at 8-8, then a few points later, but UofL would get the lead back and never give it up in the third set. A 6-1 run for the Cards was a big part of that, ending with a 17-11 lead. Tech would get it within two a few times the rest of the set, but never closer. UofL's hitting rebounded to .222.
The Cards took a while to launch in the fourth set. GT put a 6-2 lead on the board before UofL would come roaring back with an 8-1 run for a 10-7 lead. Trading points again, until an Anna DeBeer kill at 15-12. The rotation saw Ayden Barlett sub out for Claire Chaussee returning for the front row. But this wasn't just the usual Chaussee, this was Tournament Claire. After a Stevenson kill, five of the next six UofL points were kills by Chaussee pushing the UofL lead out to 22-17. A pair of GT hitting errors gave UofL match point at 24-18. Tech staved off two of them before Stevenson had enough and planted the final point of the match through the NCAA sport court. Hitting stayed on track at .216 in the fourth.
It was another team effort by the Cards to get them to 32-0. Tori Dilfer had 49 assists for the winners and also two serving aces. DeBeer had 21 digs, while freshman Elena Scott added 19.
The "Killer Bees" (Bergmann, Brambilla and Bianco Bertalino) for Georgia Tech did help deliver Louisville's first set loss in the regional, but -- time after time, any Georgia Tech rally in the final two games was shut down by Louisville's superior defensive skills and team blocking.
The Cards move on to face the Badgers, a team Louisville last faced in 2017, when the Cards took a 3-0 set loss in the UW Field House.
--sonja--
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