U of L volleyball falls in NCAA second round

Steve Bittenbender | Special to The Courier-Journal

The University of Louisville volleyball team saw its season end Saturday night, as the Cardinals fell in four sets to Illinois 15-25, 25-22, 25-18, 27-25 in a second-round NCAA tournament match at Cardinal Arena.

After trailing 22-16 in the final set, the Cards (25-7), the No. 15 seed in the tournament, nearly pulled out a rally to extend the match to a fifth-set tiebreak. However, the Illini (21-12) scored the final three points, the final two coming off attack errors by Louisville.

The Cardinals, who lost at Illinois in straight sets to start the season, came out blazing before a capacity crowd at the on-campus arena. They took advantage of seven Illini errors to cruise to a 10-point victory in the first set.

Realizing the season may be getting away from his team, Illinois coach Kevin Hamby pulled his team aside between sets to get his players back on track. He cracked a couple of jokes and pointed to a row of male U of L fans wearing only Speedos to lighten the mood. That seemed to do the trick, as the Illini used their height advantage to their benefit.

“They didn’t make any errors after that,” said U of L senior Katie George, who finished her career with a 47-assist performance.

As the Cards trailed by six in the final set, George thought the end was near and tears started to form. However, she and her teammates had one last comeback attempt in them. Junior Maya McClendon had two kills, including one facing a match point, and Erin Faris had two during a 10-2 run by U of L.

“Down by six points, that’s a lot in volleyball,” said George, fighting back tears in a postgame press conference. “People think that it’s over, and we proved that it wasn’t, and I thought when we tied it up at 24, I thought we had it.”

But the comeback fell short, ending a season that saw the Cardinals win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and return to the NCAA Tournament for the 25th time. Two dozen of those appearances have taken place since 1990.

McClendon finished with 17 kills. Faris added 14.

Illinois was led by Jocelynn Birks' 26 kills.

And while the Cardinals lost their last game on a home court, coach Anne Kordes said that did little to diminish what the team accomplished this season.

“I’m walking out of this match holding my head high,” she said.