LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Elena Scott on Wednesday became just the third Louisville player ever to be named a first-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in typically understated fashion.

After all, there were bigger goals to talk about. First, the team’s third Final Four berth and Thursday’s national semifinal game against Pittsburgh. Scott isn’t often someone who goes to press conferences. She is happy when others take on this task.

But when you can get nearly five million views on a TikTok video like she did earlier this month, who needs press conferences?

And Scott’s game speaks for itself. Loud. The Mercy Academy graduate is now a three-time All-American and consecutive ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Dani Busboom Kelly made her libero in Louisville, and the results were stunning.

She redefined the position in the program, which had a strong tradition when she arrived at libero (a specialist who focuses on receiving serves and defending from the back row). Scott comes from a large volleyball family. She feels comfortable on the pitch. She has become more vocal, but brings with her a modesty that belies her achievements.

Busboom Kelly played on a hunch when he promoted her from setter to libero as a freshman, but even she was blown away, saying, “Her volleyball IQ is off the charts.” She grew up in the gym. Both of her parents play a lot of volleyball. You can tell she knows the game and reads the game very well. That’s what a great libero means. She finds a way to win and she has great instincts.”

And it touches everything.

A favorite motto: “You don’t know if you don’t go.”

Translation: “You have to win every ball.”

Tori Dilfer, who was a first-team AVCA All-American on the 2021 Louisville team along with Anna Stevenson, said in a recent Floyd Street Media podcast interview with Scott that her arrival “made all of us want to “Just playing defense differently.” from watching you.”

Their dedication to chasing and keeping scores is something the Cardinals draw energy from. She accomplished the spectacle expected in Louisville in a way that few athletes here have accomplished. (Think of Lamar Jackson, who had a good chance of being worth the price of admission with a single priceless play in every game.)

Her reckless leaps across the court and occasionally off it can be breathtaking and sometimes worrying to people like WDRB’s Keith Kaiser, her uncle. When he asked her to be a little less adventurous in her pursuit of the ball in a recent interview with WDRB’s Tom Lane, she wasn’t having it.

“That’s my job,” Scott said. “It hurts me as much as it probably hurts you to watch.”

“Elena is a phenomenal player and we are lucky that she decided to come here, take a leap of faith and change positions,” said Busboom Kelly. “The fact that she really excelled as a libero, she’s considered one of the best liberos in the country and probably one of the best players of all time at the University of Louisville and one of the best players of all time from the city of Louisville, it is just pretty amazing.

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.