LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville Cardinals had home field advantage and won the most emotional set of the NCAA women’s volleyball final on Sunday. But Penn State won the other three sets and captured the program’s eighth national championship at the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville.

Penn State University’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in September but stayed with her team throughout the season, became the first female head coach to win the national championship since the NCAA Tournament began in 1981.

“I’m inspired by the sick little children,” Schumacher-Cawley said of the children she sees who are struggling with cancer. “If I can be an inspiration, I’ll take it. But I feel good. I’m lucky to be surrounded by so many great people.”

Schumacher-Cawley played and was an assistant to Russ Rose, the legendary coach who led the Nittany Lions to their seven other NCAA titles before retiring after the 2021 season. Schumacher-Cawley downplayed the fact that she was the first female coach to win, but it was a milestone for the sport.

This historic first was guaranteed for this final because Louisville is also coached by a woman, Dani Busboom Kelly. Both won NCAA titles as players, Schumacher-Cawley with Penn State in 1999 and Busboom Kelly with Nebraska in 2006.

“I’m really happy for Katie and it’s a big deal for this sport,” said Busboom Kelly. “I’m grateful … that we can continue and that there will be more women in this position in the future.”

All four No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four, the fourth time since seeding began in 1993 that the tournament’s top four seeds made it that far. Pitt and Nebraska were considered by many to be favorites to advance to the championship game. Instead, Louisville defeated ACC rival Pitt 3-1, and Penn State earned a 3-2 win over Big Ten rival Nebraska in Thursday’s semifinals.

On Sunday, a sellout crowd of 21,860 — a volleyball championship record — gathered primarily to watch the Cardinals. They played for the title for the second time in program history after losing to Texas in 2022. But without veteran outside hitter Anna DeBeer, who suffered an ankle injury in Thursday’s semifinal, Louisville was at a disadvantage.

DeBeer, a Louisville native in her fifth year with the program, led the Cardinals in kills per set and points per set this season. It was too much of a personnel loss for Louisville to absorb, especially because Penn State senior Jess Mruzik was playing at such a high level.

Mruzik, a fifth-grader who spent her first three seasons at Michigan before transferring to Penn State, had 29 kills and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.

“I think what really clicked was when all my teammates looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got your back, swing away, let it go,'” Mruzik said. “It just allowed me to play freely.

“The standard at Penn State is to win national championships. So this is like a dream come true.”

The first set was close throughout, with Penn State winning 25-23. Then the Nittany Lions seemed to be on their way to a 2-0 set lead and led 24-19 in the second round. But the Cardinals put in a remarkable performance, securing ten set points before prevailing 34-32.

It was the most combined points ever scored in a single set in the NCAA Tournament, going into the 2001 season. (Prior to this change, volleyball teams could only score points on their serve, and games were worth 15 points, with a win by at least two points required.)

But Louisville needed everything to win the second set. Penn State came back and won the next two, 25-20 and 25-17, as well as the game.

“It was unbelievable,” Busboom Kelly said of the rally in the second set. “I thought that gave us momentum, but unfortunately that didn’t show on the scoreboard.”

Meanwhile, Penn State really wasn’t concerned that so many set points went unused – in large part because the Nittany Lions ran out of allowed substitutes late in the set, forcing some players to move to unfamiliar positions.

“After that second set, the mood in the locker room was pretty good,” Mruzik said. “We were just laughing about what just happened. We knew we had more left in the tank for the next two sets.”

Charitie Luper led the Cardinals with 21 kills. Busboom Kelly was emotional after the game and spoke about DeBeer, who didn’t get the chance to play in her final college game because of her injury. Busboom Kelly was also optimistic about what this Final Four meant for the sport. For the second consecutive year, the national championship game was broadcast on ABC.

“I think it just shows that people want to watch volleyball, they want to watch women’s sports,” she said. “When you watch, you don’t just see that they’re athletes. I think you can see the joy and the personalities and the way they play that makes our sport so much fun.”

This was only the second time an ACC team played in the finals. Louisville did it for the first time in 2022. Stanford brought its record nine NCAA titles to the ACC this year, but the ACC is still waiting for its own breakthrough.

A decade-long wait for an eighth title ended for Penn State; The Nittany Lions last won against BYU in 2014. They won this championship the hard way, overcoming a 2-0 loss to Nebraska in the semifinals and then defeating the hometown Cardinals in the finals. Penn State middle blocker Taylor Trammell credited the Nittany Lions’ determination to do so. And teammate Camryn Hannah, who had 19 kills, praised Schumacher-Cawley for how she led them.

“As a woman, you’re generally always told that you have to be totally focused on one thing,” Hannah said. “You have to be a mother and give it 100%. You have to be a volleyball player. Katie teaches us that you can give 100% in any situation, but there are different times for everything.”

Mruzik added: “The biggest thing I take away from this season is that you can do anything you put your mind to. I think that (Schumacher-Cawley) did everything she did, that also helped us as a group believe that we were capable of doing that.”