Panthers Upset No. 3 Seed Minnesota in NCAA Regional Semifinal
OMAHA, Neb. (PittsburghPanthers.com) – The unseeded Pitt volleyball team (19-4, 14-4 ACC) made history with a thrilling five-set upset of No. 3 seed Minnesota (16-3, 15-2 Big Ten) to advance to its first NCAA Regional Final in program history Sunday afternoon at CHI Health Center Omaha.
Pitt earned the gritty victory by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 15-11. It was the Panthers' third win in five days, after sweeping LIU (April 14) and No. 14 seed Utah (April 15) to advance to the Regional Semifinal. Pitt holds a 10-15 all-time record when competing in the NCAA Tournament.
Senior right side hitter Chinaza Ndee led Pitt with 19 kills on .213 hitting. Sophomore middle blocker Chiamaka Nwokolo was on fire with a career-high 13 kills on .647 hitting, to go along with three blocks.
Two Panthers recorded double-doubles, including senior outside hitter Kayla Lund, who produced her ninth of the year with 17 kills and 10 digs. Redshirt senior setter Kylee Levers recorded her second of the season with 33 assists and 10 digs.
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez was one kill away from a double-double with nine kills and a match-high 17 digs.
Junior middle blocker Sabrina Starks of Springfield, Neb., led Pitt with eight blocks, including two solos.
Pitt had the advantage in kills (70-60), assists (67-58) and service aces (4-3). The Gophers recorded more digs (65-60) and blocks (16.0-11.0) and out-hit the Panthers (.233-.205).
No. 11 seeded Cardinals Fall to No. 6 seeded Washington in NCAAs
OMAHA (GoCards.com) -- Freshman Anna DeBeer had a career-high 17 kills with 13 digs and two blocks but the No. 11-seeded University of Louisville volleyball team could not close out a tenacious team in No. 6-seed Washington, falling 3-2 in the NCAA Regional Semi-final match Sunday evening in the CHI Health Convention Center.
The Cardinals dropped the first set 25-23, came back to win the second and third sets with the identical score of 25-21. Washington overpowered the Cards in the fourth, winning 25-14 and then held on to win 15-13 in the fifth. The Cardinals bow out of the Sweet Sixteen with a 15-3 mark to end their season. Washington will advance to play Pitt in the Regional Final Monday at noon ET.
"It was a disappointing way to end a season,: said Dani Busboom Kelly, UofL head coach. "To blow a great lead is one of the worst ways to go down at the end of the year in my opinion. I don't know if it has sunk in yet, that we lost that game quite yet because we were in it. It felt like we had all the momentum and that we were going to win it. But, at the end of the day, I am really proud of the way our team performed over the course of nine months. In the locker room we were talking about the way that we played great for nine months. We all go along for nine months and overcame a lot of adversity. We weathered breaks. We had a lot of different players who stepped up in different moments. You can't be disappointed about the season or have any regrets but this game is going to hurt. Hopefully, it is a learning experience for the players who are going to be back next year. It comes down to little things like fundamentals. Washington is a team that is really good at those. We knew that going in. We just didn't execute at the end of the game."
UofL hit .191 for the match with five aces and 15 blocks. Setter Tori Dilfer ran the offense with 48 assists, three kills and two aces. On the defensive side, senior Alexis Hamilton had 17 kills with Amaya Tillman adding 10 blocks.