LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Compassion? Adjustments? More time on the practice field to develop another player?

The University of Louisville volleyball team didn’t have time for any of that.

Not after the Cardinals knew they were in the NCAA championship game against Penn State on Sunday afternoon at a sold-out KFC Yum! would be without their best and most skilled all-round player, the experienced outside attacker Anna DeBeer. Center.

DeBeer was sidelined by a severe right ankle sprain and did what she could: cheering from the sidelines.

“I knew it was going to be hard, but I knew I just had to do what I could, whatever that role was,” DeBeer said after the game.

Their black warmups contrasted sharply with the red uniform tops their Louisville teammates wore during the game. They were also the first indication that she would not be able to compete in the match, which the Cards lost in four hard-fought sets.

Unfortunately, 2 1/2 days wasn’t enough healing or recovery time for DeBeer to return from the serious injury she sustained in the Cards’ semifinal win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night. As she sat in the locker room after the game with no shoes or socks, DeBeer’s swollen right ankle was nearly twice the size of her left.

When DeBeer walked onto the field more than 45 minutes before the game and remained on the bench instead of warming up with her team, it was clear that a terrible stroke of luck would force her to abandon the attempt at the championship that has haunted her ever since. Miss came to U of L from Assumption High School five seasons ago.

Terribly unfair? You can bet on it.

“It felt like all the stars were preparing for such a perfect game in Louisville and ending my career,” DeBeer said. “We worked incredibly hard to get where we are and it was just so close. That’s what’s really hard.”

So what could coach Dani Busboom Kelly do, bring freshman Payton Petersen and several others into the lineup and ask her team to compete like crazy?

Grind. Throw your bodies across the floor, step up the defense and step up the passing game. Find out point by point. Don’t add anything, not an inch of soil.

And that’s what the Cardinals did. They fought as relentlessly as possible against the second-seeded Nittany Lions, winning 10 set points to rally and win the epic second set

The cards were great. Penn State was simply better, winning the program’s eighth national title 25-23, 32-34, 25-20 and 25-17.

Mark it as the Cards’ second national runner-up finish in the last three seasons, a sign that Louisville is a respected force on the national stage, a program that continues to strive for a national title. They finished with a 30-6 record – and actually played Penn State closer than before, losing their third game of the season in three sets on September 3 at University Park, Pennsylvania.

The Nittany Lions won the first set 25-23 – and it was as close as the result suggests. Neither team led by more than four points.

The Cards scored five of the first eight points. But Penn State rallied through the strength of its front line, getting kills from Taylor Trammell, Caroline Jurevicius, Camryn Hannah and Jess Mruzik to take a 14-10 lead.

Louisville pushed back and tied the set at 15, 19 and 23. But Penn State scored the final two points on a net violation by Louisville and a service ace by Mruzik that handcuffed Louisville’s Charitie Luper.

Set two was a classic. Louisville rebounded powerfully from a 17-10 hole to tie the set at 24 points. That was the first of ten set points that the Cards secured to avoid falling behind 2-0.

The tenth and final save came with a kill from Sofia Maldonado Diaz. Charitie Luper followed with another powerful punch. The Cards won when Maldonado Diaz and Hannah Sherman blocked Hannah.

Penn State showed its superior size and power in the third set. After Louisville took the first point, the Nittany Lions also took the next four. They never lagged behind.

The fifth set was also too much for Penn State. The Nittany Lions opened with back-to-back kills and sprinted to a 7-1 lead. The Cards fought for a championship point but couldn’t survive a second one. Penn State won it on a kill from Hannah, her 19th of the game.

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