Should have been a post here today about the University of Louisville Volleyball team winning its first ever national championship. Didn’t happen, will it ever happen, these golden opportunities are rare ones, if ever, for most college programs?
Fate intervened two days earlier, badly damaging UofL’s chances for a national milestone. A heartbreaking sight on Thursday, Anna DeBeer lying face down on the KFC Yum! Court. Fate depriving All-American, all-everything Anna DeBeer a chance to compete in the national championship. Destroying her dreams, depriving her teammates, coaches and fans of something they all deserved. All they wanted was an unfettered shot, a level playing ground, skill on skill, let the better team win.
Penn State would win three sets to one, but Louisville fans, and all other volleyball aficionados, will never know for sure which team was the best. Simply because one of the best players in America was waylaid, not available to UofL. Only able to cheer her team from the sidelines, along with a record 21,859 other fans at the KFC Yum! Center, unable to compete, heartbroken, stopped in her tracks.
The question of whether Louisville would have won with Anna will never be answered. The Cardinals would pose a serious challenge even without her, forcing Penn State into 10 match points before finally winning the second set by a score of 34-32. The demands of that second set had to have an effect on the endurance of the out-manned as the match dragged on. Still posing a serious threat for the husky Nittany Lions, buoyed that DeBeer was not coming through that proverbial door.
Louisville (30-6) had 53 kills, 64 digs, 12.0 blocks, and four aces for the day. Charitie Luper hit 21 kills on a career-high 59 attacks, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz knocked down a UofL career-high 20 kills on 40 attacks. Outside hitter Payton Petersen served three of the Cards’ aces. Nayelis Cabello assisted 31 kills and dug 10 balls. Middle blocker Cara Cresse stuffed seven blocks and Hannah Sherman stuffed four of her own. Libero Elena Scott had 24 digs and seven assists in her final match.
“I think it’s emotional when you have a player like Anna out, who you know that — everybody in this building knows that that outcome, it might not be different, but it would have been a different match,” said a tearful UofL Coach Dani Busboom Kelly. “She sacrificed a lot, and to see this game taken away from her was really tough. Like I said, it was an incredible performance by Charitie and Sofia … We had a lot of players step up. It was really impressive to see”
Louisville was playing inspired volleyball against Penn State but it was never going to be enough without Anna DeBeer.
* * *
Some, including the participants, want to make the Louisville-Penn State finale a story about women’s sports. The bigger story is about quality athletics. Women have made advances in athletics in recent years, improving themselves and earning more respect. People appreciate quality athletics, whether they be female or male.
Speaking of women, former UofL President Neeli Bendapudi was nowhere to found in the crowd on Sunday. Bendapudi deserted Louisville when Penn State came knocking a couple of years ago. The Observer was never convinced Bendapudi, with her distorted social justice agenda, was ever the right choice for the local university. Unfortunately she is smiling today, with Penn State having dealt a crushing blow to UofL Volleyball.
