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COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL: Rush, Cards down Hornung, Boilers in NCAA tourney

josh cook, the evening news and the tribune, jeffersonville, ind.
·5 min read

Dec. 6—LOUISVILLE — One former Pioneer beat another to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen on Saturday night.

Ceci Rush, a 2020 Providence graduate, and top-seeded Louisville swept No. 8 seed Purdue, and '21 PHS alum Ali Hornung, 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 in the second round of the Big Dance at the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena on the UofL campus.

Louisville (28-2) will next face fourth-seeded Baylor (25-6) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon in a regional semifinal match at the KFC Yum! Center. Second-seeded Nebraska (26-5) will take on No. 3 seed Oregon (25-5) at 11 a.m. Thursday in the first Sweet Sixteen match that day. The winners will meet in the regional final at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

The Cards advanced with a 25-9, 25-13, 25-12 sweep of Samford in a first-round match Friday. In that win, Rush recorded one dig.

The Boilermakers, meanwhile, had to rally for a 14-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11 victory over Tennessee. In that victory, Hornung compiled 11 digs, three service aces and one assist.

Saturday evening's matchup between UofL and PU was the second of the season between the two teams. The Cards won the first one 25-18, 25-20, 27-25 back on Sept. 9 at the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

In the rematch, Louisville opened up an early 10-5 lead in the first set before taking control with a 5-1 run. The Boilermakers didn't go away easily, though. They cut it to 15-12 before the Cardinals responded with a 6-2 surge. UofL closed out the set a short time later on a kill by Phekran Kong.

The second set was tied at 4 and 5 before the Cards edged ahead 8-7. They then reeled off five of the next six points to take control. Purdue would get within two a few times after that, the last at 23-21. Louisville, though, tallied two points to end the set. The final one began with a serve by Rush that ended with an attack error by Eva Hudson.

The Boilermakers, who didn't hold a lead in the first two sets, scored the first four points of the third. Hudson, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, capped that with a kill.

The Cards responded and eventually tied it at 6. It was back-and-forth from there before another 4-0 run by Purdue gave it a 16-13 lead. The Boilers still led 17-14, when Louisville ran off six of the next seven points. Rush served the final three points of that surge.

Purdue retook the lead late, at 22-21, after a pair of Hornung serves, but it didn't last long. Back-to-back attack errors by the Boilermakers clinched the set, and the match, for the Cardinals.

Claire Chaussee led Louisville's attack with 12 kills while Amaya Tillman added 11 and Kong seven. Raquel Lazaro dished out 39 assists and had a pair of service aces while Elena Scott tallied 22 digs and Kong recorded six block assists. Rush played in two sets, but didn't record a statistic.

"I'm really proud of our team," Cards coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. "I felt like we had a lot of pressure on us to get to the KFC Yum! Center and that's the first time we've ever really played with that type of pressure. We responded so well. I thought our middles, Amaya and Phekran, were phenomenal and they really took over that match. When your middles are playing great in December, good things usually happen. It was an exciting win. We're really excited to get the opportunity to play at the Yum! Center and see how many fans we can get in there this year."

Hudson led Purdue (21-11) with 12 kills while Madeline Koch added 11 and Raven Colvin 10. Grace Balensiefer dished out 32 assists while Maddie Schermerhorn compiled 19 digs. Hornung was second on her squad with 11 digs.

"Obviously, I am sorry to see our season come to a close," said Boilermakers head coach Dave Shondell, who is assisted by Providence graduate Kathy Jewell. "This was a group that we, as a staff, totally enjoy being with in the gym. We never want to see this day come. It's been a special group, the way that they cared about each other, and sacrificed for each other as so many teams do, but when it's your own team, it becomes personal to see those things. Tonight, we just didn't settle in until midway through the match. When that happens, sometimes you're playing on the road against one of the top seeds in the country. We thought we were ready, but we just made way too many errors in the first two sets to be able to compete, and that's the sad news. The good news is I think that we showed people that we're here, that we can compete with one of the top seeds in the country. We just have some things to learn, but I'm proud of my team. Best of luck to Louisville, and I look forward to the future."

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NCAA TOURNAMENT

Second round

Saturday at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, Louisville

LOUISVILLE 3, PURDUE 0

Purdue 19 21 23

Louisville 25 25 25

MATCH STATISTICS

Kills — Purdue: Eva Hudson 12, Madeline Koch 11, Raven Colvin 10, Lourdes Myers 4, Emma Ellis 2, Grace Balensiefer 1, Maddy Chinn 1, Hannah Clayton 1; Louisville: Claire Chaussee 12, Amaya Tillman 11, Phekran Kong 7, Aiko Jones 5, Nena Mbonu 4, Anna DeBeer 4.

Assists — Purdue: Balensiefer 32, Maddie Schermerhorn 5, Emily Brown 1; Louisville: Raquel Lazaro 39, Chaussee 2, Elena Scott 2.

Aces — Purdue: none; Louisville: Lazaro 2, DeBeer 1, Jones 1.

Blocks — Purdue: Chinn 1, Koch 1, Colvin 1, Hudson 1, Myers 1; Louisville: Kong 6, Chaussee 4, Jones 2, Tillman 2, Mbonu 2, Lazaro 2.

Digs — Purdue: Schermerhorn 19, Ali Hornung 11, Brown 10, Balensiefer 5, Hudson 5, Koch 2; Louisville: Scott 22, DeBeer 11, Lazaro 5, Chaussee 3, Tillman 3, Jones 2, Hendricks 1, Mbonu 1, Kong 1.