Five massive questions for NCAA volleyball’s championship match

History will occur Sunday within the NCAA girls’s volleyball championship match when No. 1 seeds Penn State and Louisville take the courtroom at 3 p.m. ET on ABC.

No lady has gained the NCAA title as head coach, relationship again to the beginning of the match in 1981. That will change, as both Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly or Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley will get the championship.

For Penn State, it will be an eighth title, shifting the Nittany Lions nearer to Stanford’s file of 9. For Louisville and the ACC, it will be the primary.

Lots of eyes might be on who’s taking the courtroom at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center: Will Louisville fifth-year senior Anna DeBeer play? The outdoors hitter injured an ankle close to the beginning of the fourth set Thursday within the 3-1 semifinal victory over Pittsburgh.

Her absence may have been devastating for the Cardinals. DeBeer is among the most skilled gamers at this ultimate 4 and had 14 kills, 35 receptions (with simply 2 errors) and 9 digs earlier than leaving the match.

But freshman Payton Petersen stepped in and performed very nicely, and the Cardinals completed out the victory in opposition to the No. 1 general seed Panthers. DeBeer leads the Cardinals in kills per set (3.37) this season. Busboom Kelly mentioned Louisville would “do the whole lot we are able to to get her on the courtroom, however we do have a terrific group behind her.”

Schumacher-Cawley mentioned Penn State will put together as if DeBeer will play: “Being a senior and being right here in Louisville, I believe, if she has the flexibility to compete, she’s going to.”

Louisville additionally competed within the 2022 NCAA ultimate, falling to Texas. This is Penn State’s first ultimate since successful its seventh title in 2014, and the Nittany Lions gamers say they consider they’re placing this system again the place it belongs.

There might be loads at stake Sunday, so listed here are issues to look at for within the ultimate.

Will DeBeer play?

With Louisville up two units to 1 and forward 2-0 up within the fourth in opposition to Pitt on Thursday, DeBeer slid to the center of the courtroom to type a block with teammate Phekran Kong. She jumped with Kong, her arms prolonged. She got here down with Kong, however DeBeer’s proper foot landed on Kong’s left heel. Her ankle twisted to its aspect.

Referees stopped play instantly, and DeBeer lay on the courtroom for a minute earlier than being helped to the sidelines, after which off the courtroom. Without her, Louisville stepped on the fuel. The Cardinals led 9-5 when she returned to the bench.

She advised Busboom Kelly that she needed to return into the sport. But when she tried to leap, it damage.

Louisville by no means relinquished the lead DeBeer helped present, and it rolled to a 22-17 victory to advance to Sunday’s title sport. After the ultimate level, DeBeer hobbled onto the courtroom to rejoice, however she stayed out of the dogpile of Cardinals.

DeBeer attended Louisville’s observe Friday — utilizing a mobility scooter. She didn’t take part.

If she will be able to’t go Sunday, the graduate pupil and Louisville native might be laborious to exchange. There aren’t many individuals on the planet along with her mixture of expertise and expertise — she has 277 profession kills in NCAA match video games alone.

“It’s an ankle harm, so I believe it is type of day-to-day,” Busboom Kelly mentioned Friday. “The additional day [between the semifinals and final, which used to be Saturday night] provides us hope. I believe if we had been enjoying [Saturday] there could be no hope.”

How a lot historical past might be made?

Those who do not comply with volleyball is perhaps surprised to listen to {that a} lady has by no means earlier than gained the NCAA title as head coach. Part of the reason being that there are extra male coaches, particularly at outstanding Division I applications. The most prestigious and best-paying jobs in school volleyball are on the ladies’s aspect, which has 344 Division I groups, in contrast with lower than 30 on the lads’s aspect.

Sam Erger, head coach at SMU, says girls had been bypassed for teaching positions for a very long time as a result of traditionally males had been successful the championships, and it created a cycle.

“I do not perceive this entire, ‘We cannot discover a certified [female coach],'” she mentioned. “I believe that is bull crap.”

Women head coaches have been making inroads, and Busboom Kelly and Schumacher-Cawley are prime examples. Both gained nationwide championships as gamers, and Busboom Kelly additionally gained one as an assistant coach along with her alma mater, Nebraska.

“[I’m] actually proud that we may be the position fashions and hopefully blaze a brand new path and present ADs that girls can do it,” Busboom Kelly mentioned. “We may be mothers, and we may be high-level coaches.

“It’s going to be superior for the game, I believe, to get this monkey off its again and transfer on from this, the place it is not historic {that a} lady wins, it is only a common factor. It might be nice when each ultimate 4 there’s an opportunity for a girl to win it.”

Penn State center blocker Taylor Trammell mentioned, “Katie is paving the best way for us. If we need to go into teaching, it exhibits there’s a pipeline and a pathway we are able to comply with as nicely, similar to her, to achieve success. To all of the little ladies on the market — ‘Hey, I need to be an enormous D-I coach’ — they’ll do it.”

The different potential historical past is that Louisville may change into the primary ACC group to win the NCAA volleyball title. New ACC member Stanford’s 9 titles, after all, got here earlier than it joined the league. Busboom Kelly, who took over at Louisville in 2017, additionally credit four-time ultimate 4 participant Pitt as being an enormous a part of elevating the ACC.

“Eight years in the past, it felt like I used to be at all times combating the battle of, ‘Well, I need to play within the Big Ten. I’ll go to this college simply because they’re within the Big Ten,'” she mentioned. “Now we do not hear that anymore, which is nice.”

How electrical will it’s in Louisville?

It’s much like Nebraska enjoying close to its Lincoln campus in previous ultimate fours in Omaha. There is simply that additional stage of vitality when a hometown or house state group is within the ultimate 4. The Cardinals have carried that strain all season of attempting to make it to the ultimate of their hometown, and so they did it.

The pleasure stage was excessive for the ultimate 4, with a semifinal file crowd of 21,726 (not counting the 4 horses that stood courtside to characterize every group) and two riveting matches, the second of which went 5 units.

“The crowd was rocking, so simply feeding off of their hearth was enormous,” Louisville’s Kong mentioned.

On Thursday, followers stood outdoors the KFC Yum! Center holding cameras and indicators (“We got here all the best way from Maine for this,” one learn) as groups made their red-carpet entrances. A sea of crimson (each Louisville and Nebraska followers) swarmed the sector. When DeBeer was launched, a thunderous roar emanated.

While some Nebraska followers — who journey particularly nicely — have departed after the Huskers’ semifinal loss, others will keep for the ultimate to cheer on Busboom Kelly. She is a Nebraska native who gained the nationwide championship as a Huskers participant in 2006.

Can Louisville decelerate Mruzik and Jurevicius?

Jess Mruzik and Caroline Jurevicius did essentially the most harm in Thursday’s reverse sweep over Nebraska: Mruzik had 26 kills and Jurevicius 20. Louisville’s block, which was efficient in opposition to Pitt, will attempt to hold this duo somewhat extra in verify. It will not be simple.

Mruzik, who transferred to Penn State from Michigan forward of final season, slams the ball so laborious and at such sharp angles that a number of the greatest groups within the nation have had bother slowing her down. Mruzik willed the Nittany Lions previous Nebraska on .300 hitting. She handed 2,000 profession kills within the course of.

“It was top-of-the-line performances I’ve ever seen by an out of doors hitter,” Nebraska coach John Cook mentioned. “Finding methods to make kills, hitting off our block, hitting actually sharp cross-court. We thought we had it, however she did a terrific job of hitting off our fingertips.”

Jurevicius, a switch from Nebraska, had two of her greatest matches of the season in opposition to her former group: the Thursday semifinal and the Nittany Lions’ regular-season win Nov. 29 when she had 18 kills.

Jurevicius talked in regards to the resolve that Penn State needed to need to beat the Huskers after happening 0-2.

“In these moments, it is a reminder to myself and my teammates that we canine it out at Penn State,” she mentioned. “Whether it’s [that] our fitness center in preseason is 90 levels, or we’re strolling by way of the snow and getting again at 3 a.m., we canine it out.”

How would possibly issues be completely different from these groups’ first assembly?

On Sept. 3, Penn State steamrolled Louisville, not solely sweeping the Cards however shedding simply 47 factors. Mruzik and Jurevicius mixed for twenty-four kills. What has modified?

For the Cardinals, the gritty five-set win in opposition to Northern Iowa within the second spherical of the match shifted their vitality. Kong talked about how that win solidified their connection and their progress after some “ugly losses” this season. They’re enjoying with extra gumption.

“I do know they are a a lot better group than after we performed them the primary time in preseason,” Schumacher-Cawley mentioned. “I believe we’re a a lot better group than the primary time in preseason. It’s going to be a battle.”

As for Penn State, the Nittany Lions look extra cohesive than ever. There is a perception about them that they’ll come again from something — and rallying from down 22-16 within the fourth set in opposition to a group like Nebraska within the nationwide semifinals can solely add to that confidence. The Nittany Lions should win the serve-pass sport and management the ball on their aspect of the courtroom, Schumacher-Cawley mentioned.