Rivals Pitt, Louisville meet again with berth in NCAA volleyball Final Four on line

This is turning into something special.

Two ACC opponents, both quite familiar with each other, will be playing for another chance at a Final Four appearance.

Ah, the Pitt-Louisville women’s volleyball series. No, please, call it a rivalry.

“They talk about Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, and David and Goliath. It’s all of these things,” Pitt outside hitter Cat Flood said. “Every athlete wants to have a rivalry this big. It just makes it all the more exciting. I feel like there’s no rivalry in our program that’s bigger than Louisville. Playing them in a time like this just adds to that.”

Top-seeded Pitt (28-4) and No. 2 Louisville (27-4) will square off at 4 p.m. Saturday in the season’s rubber match — a regional final, the Elite Eight — at Fitzgerald Field House with the winner moving on to the Final Four on Thursday in Tampa, Fla.

“It says a lot about the conference and the competitiveness of of it,” Louisville coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “It’s really impressive.”

Louisville this year won the first regular-season match against Pitt in straight sets, though it was not easy for the Cardinals, who survived a grueling evening at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., by squeaking by the Panthers on narrow margins of 4, 2 and 3 points.

A little more than a month later at Petersen Events Center, Pitt roared back — barely — and turned the trick on Louisville, winning 3-2. After dropping the first two sets, 25-19 and 26-24 (2), Pitt claimed the next three 26-24 (2), 25-21 (4) and 17-15 (2) to secure the victory.

Last year, Louisville and Pitt split their two regular-season matches, but the Cardinals ousted the Panthers in the national semifinals, winning 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-2).

The Cardinals lost to Texas, 3-0, in the national championship.

After dispatching Creighton, 3-2 (25-21, 14-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-8), in the quarterfinals Wednesday behind a combined 39 kills from Charitie Luper (20) and Anna DeBeer (19), Louisville observed Pitt’s dominating 3-0 victory over Washington State (25-20, 25-13, 25-16).

“They’re really good. They played great,” Busboom Kelly said of the Panthers. “I was not surprised by anything they were doing.”

Neither was Pitt coach Dan Fisher, who said that at this time of year, there’s only some minor tweaking that can take place.

Fisher was containing his enthusiasm on Friday’s off-day in the wake of Pitt’s dominating performance a day earlier.

“It’s good to be here,” Fisher said. “The thing I like about this team is we’re getting better. We feel like we’re still making improvements. It’s a chance not only to make the Final Four but to show we’re improving.”

The Panthers, who’ll be making their fourth consecutive Elite Eight appearance, were led Thursday by freshman Olivia Babcock’s 15 kills to go with a .500 hitting percentage, six digs, five blocks and four service aces.

The growing rivalry between Pitt and Louisville will be on display Saturday at storied Fitzgerald Field House, but the most recent time these teams played was at spacious Petersen Events Center, with a capacity of 12,508.

“I would expect there will be sets decided on one block here, one good serve here, one cover,” Fisher said. “We’re preparing for deuce games, for sure.”

While the Panthers’ Flood said it is a thrill to play in front of big crowds at “The Pete,” she called Fitzgerald “our home.”

Said Flood from inside Fitzgerald Fieldhouse: “A lot of people talk about why we’re not in ‘The Pete’ right now. This is where we feel comfortable, and that applied (on Thursday).”

Pitt outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez added her support for the concept of fan support.

No matter where the Panthers play.

“The fans contribute so much,” she said. “Like the game we had at ‘The Pete,’ the fans definitely helped our momentum and celebrating in shutting them down. We can feel the crowd. It definitely helps.”

Saturday’s match at 4,122-seat Fitzgerald Field House is a sellout.

“Pitt and Louisville have needed each other, and it’s really helped us grow and pushed us,” Busboom Kelly said. “You’re always chasing each other and trying to one up each other. It’s special to have a big rivalry and not everybody gets to have one. It’s pretty awesome to experience what it feels like to have a rival like this.”