OMAHA, Nebraska — On Wednesday at the NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship, each of the four teams practice, they go through interviews and a photo shoot with ESPN, and they visit with the media.
“It’s pretty nice to be here,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said.
In addition to the best quotes from Louisville, Pittsburgh, Texas and San Diego, this report has AVCA All-Americans, some news and notes, and more about the coaching carousel, that keeps on spinning as another Power 5 coach was let go.
As a reminder, Thursday’s matches in the CHI Center:
Texas (26-1) vs. San Diego (31-1), 7 p.m.
Pittsburgh (31-3) vs. Louisville (30-2)
Louisville on playing Pitt
This is the rubber match with the stakes much higher than the ACC regular season.
“They’re also changing and evolving still,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said of Pittsburgh. “And I’ve seen their press clippings and they don’t feel like they’ve peaked yet. I don’t think we have either. I think it’s pretty exciting to go into Thursday’s match with both teams feeling that way.”
Louisville lost in five at Pitt on October 23. The 25-15, 25-13, 25-27, 20-25, 15-12 outcome left the Panthers 10-0 in the ACC at the time and Louisville 9-1. Courtney Buzzerio had 22 kills and five blocks the Pitt and Serena Gray had 15 kills, hit .480, and had five blocks. Claire Chaussee led Louisville with 17 kills, but hit .178 and Anna DeBeer did not play.
Then, on November 18, Louisville blasted visiting Pitt 25-15, 25-21, 25-18. Buzzerio had 10 kills and the Panthers hit .088, while Chaussee had 13 kills and DeBeer was back, but didn’t play front row. She’s back playing all-around now.
Louisville advanced early on Saturday, knocking out Oregon. Later, Pitt pulled its stunner at Wisconsin.
“It was funny when they beat Wisconsin. I was like oh, my gosh,” Busboom Kelly said. “What an amazing win. And then I was, like, ‘Oh, crap, we have to play them now.’ I think it goes both ways.”
“Pitt is obviously an awesome team,” DeBeer said. “The first go around this season we obviously didn’t play our best. We worked through a few things. The second time it was senior night, and I think our team did a better job of playing Louisville volleyball and taking care of business.
“It’s one-and-one. It’s split. It’s going to be an awesome match. And I know they’re going to want some revenge. We want to make sure we’re not going to lose to an ACC team…
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