On Saturday, No. 2 Stanford women’s volleyball fell to No. 1 Louisville in the regional final of the NCAA tournament by a final score of 3-1 (22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20). Louisville graduate student outside hitter Anna DeBeer led the way for the Cardinals with 15 kills while senior outside hitter Charitie Luper had a double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Stanford junior outside hitter Elia Rubin (14 kills & 8 digs) and redshirt freshman outside hitter Ipar Kurt (13 kills) were the top performers for the Cardinal. Louisville advances to the Final Four, which will be held on their home court.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Louisville-Saturday, December 14th
Stanford got off to a hot start in the first set, leading 6-1 as Sami Francis had a pair of kills already. After a kill by Jordyn Harvey, Stanford led 14-9. Louisville then won two straight points to make it 14-11 before Stanford went on a 3-0 run to lead 17-11 as Harvey had a kill and service ace during the run. Louisville would put a little pressure on Stanford as a kill by Reese Robins made it a 22-19 set. But from there, Stanford would hang on to win 25-22 as a kill by Francis ended the set.
The second set was all Louisville. After a kill by Kami Miner tied it up 3-3 for Stanford, Louisville went on an 8-0 run to lead 11-3 as Sofia Maldonado Diaz had a couple of kills during the run. Stanford never was in this one was a kill by Charitie Luper clinched the set for the Cardinals 25-14. It was now tied up 1-1.
The third set was tied up 3-3 after a kill by Francis and a service ace by Rubin. After a kill by Robins, Louisville led 11-7, but then Stanford went on a 3-0 run to make it 11-10 as Rubin had a kill, Harvey had a service ace, and Louisville had an error. After a kill by Maldonado Diaz, Louisville led 16-13 after which Stanford went on a 3-0 run to tie it up 16-16 as Kurt and Rubin had kills along with a Louisville error.
It continued to be a back and forth set as it would be tied 23-23. After a kill by Rubin, Stanford had set point 24-23, but Maldonado Diaz responded with a kill to tie it up 24-24. Rubin got another kill to make it 25-24 and then once again, Louisville tied it up 25-25 after Rubin committed an error going for a drop shot. After a kill by Rubin staved off a set point to make it 26-26, Louisville won back-to-back points to take the set 28-26 as Luper and Maldonado Diaz got kills. It was now a 2-1 lead for Louisville.
Louisville controlled the fourth set pretty much the whole way. After a kill by Francis gave Stanford a 3-2 lead, Louisville went on a 4-0 run to lead 6-3 as three of those points came off Stanford errors. After a kill by Harvey got Stanford within one point at 11-10, Louisville went on a 3-0 run to lead 14-11 as Robins and Luper each got a kill along with a service ace by Anna DeBeer.
After another kill by DeBeer, Louisville led 20-15, but then Stanford won back-to-back points to make it 20-17 as Sami Francis got a kill followed by a service ace by Taylor Yu. Louisville then responded with back-to-back kills by Maldonado Diaz and DeBeer to make it 22-17. A kill by DeBeer would set up match point for Louisville up 24-18 and then a kill by Cara Cresse ended the match after Stanford won a couple points, making it a 25-20 final score.
With the win Louisville advances to the Final Four, which will be held on their home court. That’s pretty exciting for them. There was a lot of pressure on them to deliver the goods and get to the Final Four given the location, so this is obviously a huge relief and exciting moment for them. Ultimately, they played like the better team and deserved to win. They were cleaner and took advantage of mistakes that Stanford made.
As for Stanford, this is obviously a heartbreaking loss, but it doesn’t sting as much as their Elite Eight losses the last two years when they were at home. This year, it feels like they overachieved to get to this point whereas the last two years, especially last year, it felt like they underachieved. That said, it’s three straight years of losing in the regional final for a Stanford program that expects to win national championships. In that vein, this is a disappointing end to the season and when you consider that they defeated Louisville on The Farm earlier this season, one can’t help but wonder if maybe home court advantage would have made the difference this time.
Up next for Stanford is the offseason. They’re losing some key pieces in middle blocker Sami Francis, libero Elena Oglivie, and setter Kami Miner, but also returning some talented players in outside hitters Jordyn Harvey, Elia Rubin, and Ipar Kurt. I look forward to sharing more thoughts on what’s next for Stanford and analyzing what needs to change for them to get over the hump in the regional final next year.
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