LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Anna DeBeer gingerly removes her proper shoe as tears stream down her face. Louisville’s fifth-year outdoors hitter fixes her gaze to the ground as she sits in entrance of her locker on the KFC Yum! Center. She locations the shoe away from her sprained proper ankle and pulls off her white socks. She lifts her head. A gaggle of reporters surrounds her — some with cameras, some with fluffy grey mics and a few with their telephones. She tries to smile, however her lips quiver. Tears fall freely from her eyes. She wipes them with the sleeves of her black jersey, however it does not cease the circulation.
“It appeared like all the celebs have been aligning for such an ideal sport in Louisville, ending my profession,” DeBeer says. “It was simply so shut.”
Minutes later, Jess Mruzik, Penn State’s fifth-year outdoors hitter, strolls into the information convention just a few ft from the Louisville locker room, flashing a smile. She’s holding a trophy, and a part of the volleyball web is hanging off her shoulder. She’s sporting a grey hat with the phrases “nationwide champions” written in blue. She sits down subsequent to her teammates and whispers one thing to them. They all snort.
Head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley seems down on the stat sheet and gasps. She has simply seen that Mruzik took 73 swings within the NCAA volleyball nationwide championship match on Sunday. “Seventy-three! That’s rather a lot,” she says away from the mic, however it picks up her voice. Mruzik nods at her coach and smiles shyly.
“If you’d have advised me three years in the past I used to be going to be a nationwide champion on the finish of my profession, I’d have advised you you have been loopy,” Mruzik says. “Because three years in the past I wasn’t even within the event.”
Thus unspooled the story of two NCAA volleyball stars who have been sporting their groups’ jerseys for the ultimate time. As a file crowd of 21,860 watched, Jess Mruzik led Penn State to its first nationwide championship in 10 years by pounding ball after ball to the court docket. Anna DeBeer tried to guide her group to its first nationwide championship by giving each ounce of vitality she might from the bench. Mruzik had 29 kills. DeBeer had zero. Penn State received its eighth championship. Louisville nonetheless has none.
Anna DeBeer made the choice to come back again to Louisville for a fifth 12 months for a lot of causes. The most vital one? She wished to win a nationwide championship in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. She wished that storybook ending to her embellished profession.
In her sophomore season in 2021, the 6-foot DeBeer helped Louisville attain the elite eight for the primary time in program historical past. She got here again the following season and one-upped her efficiency, main the Cardinals to their first championship sport, the place they fell to Texas. Last 12 months, the Cardinals led two units to none within the regional last in opposition to ACC rival Pitt, however Pitt rallied and knocked out the Cards.
In 2024, the Cardinals struggled to begin the season, shedding to Penn State and Nebraska within the first month. DeBeer advised her teammates she believed in them and pumped them with vitality throughout group huddles. The group coalesced because the season progressed. When the Cardinals, seeded No. 1, have been pushed to 20-20 within the fifth set in opposition to Northern Iowa within the second spherical of the NCAA event, DeBeer was the group’s rock. She recorded her twelfth double-double of the season of their five-set win. After that scare, she went on a tear, leaping arduous and excessive and slamming the ball down with each ounce of vitality she had. The Cardinals have been peaking on the proper time, and DeBeer was the motor propelling them.
That all got here to a crashing halt within the fourth set of the nationwide semifinals in opposition to No. 1 general seed Pittsburgh. Up two units to 1 and main 2-0, DeBeer went up for a block with center blocker Phekran Kong. They got here down collectively. But DeBeer’s proper foot landed on Kong’s left heel. She twisted her ankle on its facet and rolled onto her stomach. She lay on the court docket for 44 seconds. Even earlier than she was helped off the court docket, DeBeer knew one thing was very unsuitable.
“I knew proper when it occurred that I used to be in all probability performed,” DeBeer stated on Sunday.
But she held on to hope. She iced it. Elevated it. Iced it once more. But there wasn’t sufficient time. For her long-term well being and professional profession, the teaching workers determined she wouldn’t play. When she went to mattress Saturday night time and fell into an uncomfortable sleep, she knew her position was going to be completely different for the Cardinals.
So she confirmed as much as the championship match in a black jersey, limping as she made her strategy to the sideline. She did not be part of her group for warm-ups, however stood by head coach Dani Busboom Kelly the complete time. When the match began, she stood by the court docket. Sometimes she bent ahead, palms on her thighs, yelling directions to Payton Petersen — who was her alternative — and Charitie Luper. She punched her fists within the air and yelled “Come on!” each time Luper slammed a kill. After Louisville misplaced the primary set, she grabbed her group for a huddle and advised them she believed in them, advised them to maintain their vitality up. Busboom Kelly stood off to the facet and watched.
DeBeer obtained extra animated within the second set when Louisville mounted a comeback after being down 24-19. She slapped her teammates palms and screamed each time they warded off a set level. When Louisville received 32-30 after saving 10 set factors, she grinned — possibly the one time she did the complete day — and nearly walked onto the court docket.
But the Cards could not sustain the momentum with out their star. Petersen, who rose to the event within the fourth and fifth units in opposition to Pittsburgh, tried valiantly to fill DeBeer’s absence, serving three aces. “The means Payton Petersen as a freshman took on such a tough position — I’m simply so proud,” DeBeer stated. But it wasn’t sufficient.
DeBeer put her palms over her mouth after Mruzik slammed her twenty ninth kill of the match to provide Penn State a 20-13 lead within the fourth set. DeBeer knew there was no getting back from that.
When the confetti dropped on the Penn State win, DeBeer hugged her teammates. She tried holding again her tears, however she could not. She allow them to fall down her face. Her profession as a Cardinal was over.
“I’d have performed something to be on the market,” DeBeer stated. “That’s the toughest half.”
Tears streamed down Jess Mruzik’s face as she hugged her teammates. She shook her teammates’ shoulders. They’d performed it. National champions ultimately. During her on-court interview alongside head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, she wiped confetti off Schumacher-Cawley’s head, laughing by way of her tears.
Mruzik, from Livonia, Michigan, performed the primary three years of her profession for the Wolverines. She shined for Michigan, making the Big Ten all-freshman group in 2020, the AVCA all-north area group in her sophomore 12 months and the AVCA all-north area group in her junior season. But, after a disappointing 17-13 season the place Michigan didn’t make the NCAA event, Mruzik entered the switch portal. Schumacher-Cawley swooped in and supplied her a spot on the Penn State group.
Mruzik knew immediately that the bar was excessive. Penn State was a seven-time nationwide champion. So, she set to work. She helped the Nittany Lions attain the regional semifinals in 2023, beginning all 32 matches and recording 519 kills, earlier than the Nittany Lions fell to Wisconsin.
When she determined to come back again to campus this 12 months, she had one objective: to win the nationwide championship.
In September, in the beginning of the season, she heard a bit of data that might solidify her perception that her volleyball journey was about extra than simply the game: coach Schumacher-Cawley introduced to the group that she was identified with stage 2 breast most cancers. She knew her coach would not need the main focus to be on her, so Mruzik generally fielded questions for her and confirmed as much as apply day-after-day to satisfy the motto they’d chosen in the beginning of the 12 months: Bigger than us.
Mruzik had the very best season of her profession. In 37 matches, she recorded double-digit kills in all however 5. In the nationwide semifinals in opposition to Nebraska, after being down two units to none, she lifted up her group. She swung on the ball 70 instances, keen her group again. The Nittany Lions received the fifth set 15-13 and have been headed to the championship sport for the primary time in 10 years because of Mruzik.
In the championship match, as DeBeer watched from the sidelines, generally having an intense urge to lunge into the court docket, Mruzik took 73 swings. Her 29 kills tied her season — and profession — excessive.
Moments earlier than Mruzik walked to the entrance of the presentation ceremony to raise up the 2024 nationwide championship trophy with Schumacher-Cawley and her teammates, she was named probably the most excellent participant of the ultimate 4. She jumped up and down, holding the trophy and grinning.
Just minutes earlier than that, DeBeer limped off the court docket, high-fiving followers on her means again to the locker room.
“I do know she’s an final competitor and to see her go down within the semifinal, I used to be sick to my abdomen,” Mruzik stated. “Because I do know that, if she might play she positively would even when she might barely stroll.”
Mruzik picked up her trophy and walked away from the rostrum. DeBeer sat at her locker questioning “what if.”
