U of L volleyball looks to make another NCAA Tournament run

No. 7 Louisville volleyball wrapped up its regular season Wednesday night with a 3-1 win over No. 12 Georgia Tech.

The Cardinals were voted preseason favorites to win the ACC, but they will finish third behind Pittsburgh and Florida State. U of L coach Dani Busboom Kelly's squad has plenty to play for in the NCAA Tournament as it seeks to make another run toward its first national championship.

Recent tournament success

The Cardinals have been crowned ACC champions 29 times, have 31 NCAA appearances, eight Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and two Final Four appearances.

Busboom Kelly joined the Cardinals staff in 2016 as an assistant coach; in 2017, she was hired as the head coach.

Under Busboom Kelly, the Cards have won three ACC championships. Pitt is the only team in the conference with more championships (four) in the same period.

The Cardinals' best seed was No. 1 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Their next highest tournament seeds were No. 2 in 2022, No. 9 in 2005, No. 10 in 2012 and No. 11 in 2020.

The Cards' tournament success took a big uptick in 2019. Redshirt senior Aiko Jones was a freshman on the team that upset second-seeded Texas. Jones had a career night with 23 kills in the five-set thriller.

The Cards lost in their first Elite Eight appearance in school history, to Minnesota in the next round.

In 2020, Louisville lost to Washington in the second round.

In 2021, the Cards finished the season undefeated. It was the first time in Division I volleyball that a team with a female head coach finished the regular season unbeaten.

They made it to the Final Four but lost, 3-2, to Wisconsin, which went on to defeat Nebraska in the national championship.

Last year, the Cards had 30+ wins (including the NCAA Tournament) for the seventh time in school history.

They made it to the national championship but lost to Texas.

The NCAA will announce the 64 teams for this season's tournament and the seedings Sunday.

The Cards finished 24-4 (14-1 at home) and will likely receive a No. 2 seed; this would be the third time in as many years the Cards were a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the tournament.

How to watch

Date: Sunday, Nov. 26 Time: 6 p.m. EST Channel: ESPN