The No. 1 seeded Louisville women’s volleyball team advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament after sweeping No. 4 seeded Baylor 25-23, 25-16, 25-17, Thursday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center. The win marks the Cards’ sixth consecutive sweep as they move to 29-2 on the season, while the Bears finish the year with a 25-7 overall record.
As a team, the Cardinals finished with 44 total kills, 10 blocks, six aces, and hitting .269 in the match, while the Bears totaled 29 kills, 28 assists, 29 digs, and hitting .098.
Anna DeBeer led the Cards with 11 kills, eight digs, and two blocks while hitting .364 in the victory. Her 11-kill performance marks the most she has had in a match since returning from injury on Nov. 4 against NC State.
Claire Chaussee added 11 kills, 12 digs, a block, and an ace, while PK Kong registered seven kills, hitting .467, and a match-high five blocks. Raquel Lazaro totaled a match-high 38 assists, adding two aces and four blocks. Elena Scott chipped in with 14 digs, her 23rd match registering double-digit digs this season, and three aces, both of which were good for match-highs.
Lauren Harrison led the Bears with seven kills, eight digs, and two blocks in the loss. Lauren Briseno finished with 12 digs, two assists, and an ace. Averi Carlson added 26 assists and seven digs, while Elise McGhee chipped in with a team-high eight kills.
Louisville will face Oregon (26-5) on Saturday in the Elite Eight at 4 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center. The Ducks defeated Nebraska in the Sweet Sixteen (14-25, 26-24, 22-25, 32-30, 15-11) to advance to the Elite Eight.
Set by Set Recap
Set 1
Louisville was able to get out to an early 8-3 lead early in the set, forcing Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre to take a timeout. Midway through the set, holding a 12-9 lead, Chaussee scored three consecutive Louisville points, helping maintain the three-point advantage and a 15-12 edge over the Bears. Moments later, Baylor was able to go on a 4-0 rally to tie the set at 18 apiece. Anna DeBeer halted the rally by the Bears and the teams traded points to set the score at 20-20. The Cards were able to go on a 3-0 rally as a pair on consecutive blocks propelled them to a 23-20 advantage. Lazaro was able to close out the set with a kill to give UofL the 25-23 win.
Set 2
The Cards started the set with a 4-0 rally, which was capped by a Scott ace, her second of the set. Holding an 8-7 advantage, Louisville was able to go on a 5-1 rally, sparked by consecutive PK Kong kills and capped with back-to-back kills by Aiko Jones, giving themselves a 13-8 edge. Holding a slim 14-12 advantage, UofL was able to gain separation behind DeBeer, who tallied three kills and a block over the course of an 8-2 rally to give themselves an extensive 23-14 lead over the Bears. The set ended on an attack error by Baylor as Louisville took a 2-0 advantage in the match and a 25-16 victory in the second set. DeBeer finished the set totaling six kills and seven digs.
Set 3
Chaussee got things started for Louisville with a pair of kills before Baylor was able to take a 3-2 lead. However, the Cards were able to rally six consecutive points which included back-to-back kills by Aiko Jones, and take an 8-3 lead, forcing McGuyre to take a timeout. Chaussee came through again later in the set as she recorded three straight Louisville points to help maintain a 17-14 advantage. Kong had a kill to conclude a 7-2 Cardinal rally secure the 25-17 victory and complete the sweep. Chausse tallied seven kills in the final set to help lead the Cards.
What They Had To Say
Coach Dani Busboom Kelly: I thought we played really well. It was just fun that we had so many different people contribute and that is always our goal to be a very balanced team. I thought there were different points that different players took over that match. Baylor is a very good team. We knew we had to do well to slow down some of their players. I thought we did a good job.
(About waiting for a match while the first match goes long)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “Luckily, we have a really mature group. We have some experience with that in past NCAA tournaments and we have learned from our mistakes. I thought we did a great job and staying warm but not too warm and staying focused on Baylor and not what was happening in the Nebraska/Oregon match.”
(About the crowd)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “I thought it was awesome. When I saw the KFC Yum! Center start filling up it is was like what we wanted and I was pretty worried about the timing of the match. There is a lot going on. There is a big press conference on campus today and a lot of news in the athletic department. To have Card Nation out here and have a great crowd and they were super into the match, really gets us excited for Saturday. Now Saturday is go-time. No excuses for our fans.
(About the blocking effect on the match)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “We hang our hat on our blocking defense and it is something that we are really confident in. Once we start blocking balls it just gives everyone else more confidence.”
(About looking ahead to the Ducks’ game)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “I think Oregon is really good. We prepped for every team we might play this weekend. Oregon has two great outside hitters that can pass and can hit from any place on the court, so they are very talented. Very, very talented. So I feel like it is really going to be a battle. They are going to really hard to slow down. I don’t really know where we can expose them. I think they are really balanced and I know we are very, very balanced. I just hope that will expose them. It will be a fun match and their speed is a huge challenge. That is why we prepped them a bit earlier in the week, because that style is different from what we normally see.”
(You have now swept six straight matches what is working on the court so well right now to where you are just able to have that dominance and put teams away?)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “We have a huge amount of trust with the staff and the players. We prep very well and our team, they execute the scout team really well, that just gives us a lot of confidence. I feel like we are just three points ahead every match just because of the trust between the staff and the team.”
(How much motivation do you have personally to make it to Omaha and play in front of your home-state crowd there?)
Dani Busboom Kelly: “It would be great, I feel like I need to represent now that Nebraska got knocked out. I would hope that Nebraska fans would be cheering for us if we happen to make it.”
Louisville Players
(About waiting for a match while the first match goes long)
Anna DeBeer: “I think our mentality is not getting too far ahead of ourselves. So, the match that was before us was really exciting and fun to watch because we wanted to watch it but at the same time we have to stay mentally focused and mature and knowing that we have to take care of business first before anything else.”
(You have now swept six straight matches what is working on the court so well right now to where you are just able to have that dominance and put teams away?)
Claire Chaussee: “First of all, it’s communication and letting each other know if something is working or not or what we are seeing. If a shorter person is on the outside, I’m like ‘hit line’ or something like that and also if you can serve tough and get people out of system that is really going to help. Especially with the blockers that we do have in the middle, on the right side, and also us on the left side. Serving is something that is very important and that is helping us.”
Anna DeBeer
(You have now swept six straight matches what is working on the court so well right now to where you are just able to have that dominance and put teams away?)
“I agree, if we serve tough that opens up a lot for us defensively and offensively. We also trust in each other too so we have that bond on the court and we all know in those big moments we’ve been there before. It just comes down to our team coming together and really pulling through.”
(Were there some areas you think you can tighten up heading into the next match?)
Claire Chaussee: “When the ball gets past our block, it is definitely defense, and if it is an easy ball putting it on the money to get our middle’s up”
(Were there some areas you think you can tighten up heading into the next match?)
Anna DeBeer: “I’d agree, I think we started a little slow with our defense and then we got on each other about it and picked it up from there. If we can be good in all aspects and everyone just does their job, I think that’ll be huge for us on Saturday.”
(You are one game away from back-to-back Final Fours. What has changed in the mentality of this team in comparison to the one last year)
Claire Chaussee: “Knowing that we have been there before helps Dani said at the beginning of the season our motto is we won’t flinch. We have been in these situations, we trust each other, and our staff is doing everything they can before the games to prep us well. It is going to be really exciting if we win on Saturday to get back to the Final Four.”
(Talk about the feeling of playing in the Yum! Center)
Anna DeBeer: “I’ve been looking forward to this for so long and I won’t have that opportunity back when we played Notre Dame. With the injury and everything it made it a lot harder, but it made it more special that I could be out here for some of our other games and heading into the tournament.”
(Do you feel like you are 100 percent now coming off the injury?)
Anna DeBeer: “I would say I am getting there, some days are better than others. Making sure I am nice and warm helps a lot, just taking care of myself, and recovering well, especially when we have these back-to-back games with two days or a d
ay in between. I’d say I am getting there, not a full 100 percent, but when it gets to the game time, I don’t really think about it.”
| Nancy Allison WorleyAssociate Sports Information Director | Louisville Athletics |