Louisville volleyball advances to face Western Michigan in 2nd round of NCAA Tournament

Wright State came out firing against No. 2 seed Louisville volleyball on Thursday night, but the Cards fought back and won, 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-20, in a tough four-set match.

Middle blockers Phekran Kong and Cara Cresse were key for the Cardinals in the first-round NCAA Tournament win at the KFC Yum! Center. Kong had nine blocks and Cresse led the team with 13 kills.

With the win, the Cardinals will face Western Michigan on their home court Friday at 7 p.m. for a chance to advance to the Pittsburgh regional.

Anna DeBeer, the ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Year, got off to a slow start against Wright State. She had three errors after the first two sets, but her play picked up and she finished the match with eight kills.

The Ravens started the third game on an 11-6 run. After that, Louisville found its rhythm offensively and finished the set on an 8-3 run.

"I feel like this program walks out every single day knowing what we are capable of, and like I said, everybody's going to give us their best run no matter where we are or what we're doing," Kong said. "We're not always going to play our game, unfortunately. But you know, if our starting six isn't able to go out and chrisp things up sooner, I mean, we have subs that are able to do all kinds of things."

The Cardinals held the lead for most of the fourth set; the Raiders fought back and went on a 6-1 run, but two big kills from freshman Reese Robins put the Cards ahead, 23-19, en route to their five-point win in the final game.

"Reese is a really fun player, you know, and we've been trying to figure out how to use her appropriately all year and how to get her reps," Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said, "and throughout the year, we wanted her to be ready for these moments in the tournament.

"I thought, she's probably why we won this match."

Wright State didn't have a stellar night on offense, but its defense caused a lot of problems for the Cardinals.

"Our big focus going into the match is just giving it everything we have. Extending rallies it might not be pretty all the time," Raiders coach Travers Green said. "I thought early, we did a great job of that."

Pair of Louisville natives end college volleyball careers at Yum! Center

Raiders defensive specialist Jenny Wessling, a Louisville native and Assumption High School graduate along with teammate Callie Martin, finished with a game-high 26 digs.

"Whenever our names were being called, I was just looking around, and I was like, 'Wow, I actually can't believe I'm playing in the Yum! Center right now," said Martin, following the final match of her senior season. "I started my career and ended it in the same city, my home. So that's pretty amazing. And having all my family and friends there is really special for me."

Martin and the other seniors in the program helped change the culture and turn Wright State into a winning program. The Raiders have played in the NCAA Tournament four times in the last five years — their first appearances in program history — and won three Horizon League Championships.

The Cards have a quick turnaround for round two of the tournament, as they face a Western Michigan team that already has one upset under its belt with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-19 win over No. 7 seed Auburn on Thursday night.

"(Western Michigan is) going to be a huge challenge," Busboom Kelly said. "I think that is somewhat of a good thing going into tomorrow. We don't have time to focus on ourselves or dwell on our errors or dwell on what we did wrong because we have to prep for what they do."

Friday night's second-round match at the Yum! Center will be the eighth all-time meeting between U of L and the Broncos. Western Michigan, which is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014, leads the series, 4-3. Louisville has won the last three, beating the Broncos in four sets when the two last met in 2003.

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Reach sports reporter Prince James Story at pstory@gannett.com and follow him on X at @PrinceJStory.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: 2023 NCAA Tournament: Louisville volleyball defeats Wright State in 4