Buoyed by momentum and a six-point lead, Louisville's volleyball team appeared to control the decisive fifth set inSunday's Division I NCAA Championship Sweet 16 match against Washington in Omaha.
But the sixth-seeded Huskies rode Maria Bogomolova's service game to six straight points within a 10-2 run that clinched anElite Eight appearance, and Washington's 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 25-14, 15-3 comeback bid stunned the11th-seeded Cardinals.
“It was a disappointing way to end a season. To blow a great lead is one of the worst ways to go down at the end of the year, in my opinion," Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "I don’t know if it has sunk in yet, that we lost that game, because we were in it. It felt like we had all the momentum, and that we were going to win it."
Previously: Louisville volleyball reaches Sweet 16 with 3-1 win over San Diego
Claire Hoffman's 20 kills and 11 digs propelled the Huskies (19-3) to a Elite Eightmatch againstPittsburgh (19-4) at noon ETMonday at the CHI Health Center Omaha.
Louisville (15-3)absorbed its first loss in 12 matches and was denied anAll-ACC regional final against the Panthers. U of Lsplit with Pitt in the regular season and ended the Panthers'37-home match winning streak in October.
Washington wrote its ticket by amassing 65 kills to U of L's 57 and rackingup eight service aces throughout.
Anna DeBeer led U of L with17 kills and career-high 13 digs whileClaire Chaussee contributed 13 kills and Aiko Jones added 10 kills, five blocks and three digs. Amaya Tillmanhad seven kills and a team-high 10 blocks. Setter Tori Dilfer paced the team with 48 assists and 12 digs.
The Cards had some critical errors -like faltering in the opening set, just like its second-round win over San Diego. Then, after winning two of the first three sets, U of L couldn't maintain its momentum.
"Really, we should have won the fourth set. That's what it comes down to," Tillman said. "We shouldn't have been in that position in the first place."
The Huskies rolled to a 10-3 fourth-set lead, which grewto a 13-5 advantage, and won five straight points to necessitate a fifth set. While Washington entered the match 5-2 in five-setters, the tourney matchmarked theCards' first of theseason.
Tillman didn't think that had much bearing on the match but did feel doubt creepinto the Cardinals' play as the set progressed. DeBeer sensed mounting tension on U of L's side as the Huskies attackedtheir deficit.
"Washington is the type of team that plays very steady, and they're really not going to get high or low. And even when we went on a big run, it felt like we were going to have to work even harder to win that match. I just don't know if we realized that until it was a little bit too late," Kelly said.
"One of the best things they do is serve, and you saw that there in Game Five. They put a lot of pressure on us with their serve, and even when we had opportunities to side out, we just didn't execute."
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Lauren Sanders' kill started an avalanche of points for Washington that continued with Bogomolova's service game. The senior outside hitter entered the match with six services aces in 12 matches this season; she added another three against the Cardinals and dissolved into joyful tears at the match's end.
The Huskies scored three straight points to clinch the outcome. DeBeer was among those who called the post-match feeling "weird."
"This is definitely a learning part of this game. We realized how much this feeling is terrible, and we know we had it right in our hands. We just didn't execute," DeBeer said. "So I really think going into the fall, we have this that's really going to motivate us. We don't want this feeling to happen again, so in the fall, this is really going to make me want to work harder and not take a play off."
The core of U of L's team returns next year with plenty to build upon. The Cards won a third ACC title in the last six seasonsand advanced to a program-sixth Sweet 16. Earlier this season, they were fifth in the AVCA Coaches Top 25, the program's highest ranking since 2005.
While the tourney ending was tough, Kelly is confident that brighter days are ahead.
"We've put Louisville volleyball back on the map. Even today, even though we lost, Washington's the Pac-12 champion. They have pretty much everyone back from their Elite Eight run last year," Kelly said. "Now, that's a very storied program. And we had them on the ropes and just couldn't finish. We've got to learn to finish those matches and expect to be in these situations again."
Reach Shannon Russell atslrussell@gannett.com and follow on Twitter @slrussell.
