Yes, Louisville lost the NCAA volleyball championship. Here's why it's only the beginning

OMAHA, Neb. — Even in a moment of extreme disappointment Saturday night, the Louisville volleyball team did not struggle to capture the magnitude of what it had accomplished this season.

The Cardinals had taken one more step — just not the final step. And, for that, there were tears and hugs and voices choked with emotion.

“Oh my goodness,” graduate student and outside hitter Claire Chaussee said, trying to compose herself nearly 45 minutes after her standout career had ended with a 25-22, 25-14, 26-24 loss to Texas in the NCAA tournament championship match at CHI Health Center Arena.

“I’m just so proud of what this team and past teams here at Louisville have been able to accomplish. I don't know if anyone five years ago when I started playing in the ACC would have thought that an ACC team would be in a national championship. And I think — I'm just so ... I can't even put into words how thankful I am for the coaching staff and how much they pour into each one of us, on and off the court.

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“And the culture that we have at Louisville is truly one of the best things about — I don't even know — one of the best things about us. And I think that is what carries us to moments like this. And next year, I think this team can do it all. And it's kind of an expectation now for Louisville to be in the Sweet 16, go to the Elite Eight, make it to a Final Four. And I'm just excited to see what Louisville can do in the next couple of years.”

It’s been pretty exciting for Cardinals fans to have seen what this program has done in the past couple of years.

A region final in 2019, followed by a second-round exit in the spring-2021 season of the pandemic, then a Final Four appearance last season and now this season’s run to the national final.

The Cardinals (31-3) did not hide their unhappiness with how they played overall Saturday night.

“These opportunities are incredibly hard to get. And when you don't take advantage of them, it's really disappointing,” said coach Dani Busboom Kelly, who learned about the difficulty of the quest during her time with Nebraska, with which she won one national championship as a player and one as an assistant coach. “We're going to look back on this season and be thankful for so many things and be really proud. … Our senior class, it’s unbelievable what they accomplished. But it's tough. It's tough being in this moment and not taking advantage of it.”

In the first set Saturday night, Texas (28-1) showed why it was the nation’s No. 1-ranked team during the season and the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. The Cardinals played very well, hitting .400 and making only a handful of errors. The Longhorns were even better, hitting .533 as national player of year and Final Four most outstanding player Logan Eggleston recorded 10 kills.

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In the second set, Louisville played poorly and got routed.

In a back-and-forth third set, the sellout crowd of 16,952 came to life, even chanting “Go Big Red” — the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ chant — as Louisville edged out to a 24-22 lead, then served for the set and had another chance to win it with a swing at 24-23. But the Longhorns strung together four consecutive points, and just like that, the season was over.

“There's so many things we wish we could have done. We know we didn't play our best,” junior outside hitter Anna DeBeer said. “There was a lot of things (in the match) that I regret, but you can't look at those things. You've just got to look at the whole year and how we got here.”

Perhaps the greatest representation of how far the Cardinals have come was the jacket that Busboom Kelly wore Saturday. It was tailored, black jacket that had all the look of a blazer — except for the three stripes on each sleeve and a combination Adidas/Gucci logo just below one lapel.

It was a special item that had been made for Busboom Kelly by the school’s shoe-and-apparel outfitter, as she explained: “Goes back to last year with Anna Stevenson being obsessed with what I'm wearing for whatever reason. It's kind of been a thing. Adidas came here and surprised me with this jacket. And they gave it to me on Thursday and said, ‘We’re feeling really good that you're going to win. Can you wear it on Saturday?’ So here I am. It's a little tight. Not super comfortable, but I was pretty surprised. It was pretty cool.”

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Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, without prompting from a question, went out his way to praise Busboom Kelly and the Cardinals — and to empathize with their runner-up finish Saturday night.

“I've been on the other side of (winning the championship) a lot of times, and it's really challenging,” said Elliott who claimed his first title since 2012, a span in which the Longhorns lost in the final three times. “But what Dani is building at Louisville is really special. She's building her own brand. She's doing it by empowering women, and it's great where the sport is headed. So much credit to her to get all the way there.”

Well, not quite all the way.

“We’ve changed the program,” Busboom Kelly said, “we've changed a city. We've changed fans. It's been really incredible what we've done. … But it's hard. It's hard, especially when you feel like you could have done more and could have given a little more of a battle.”

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: NCAA Volleyball Tournament: Texas loss just the start for Louisville