Louisvilles first women's volleyball season came in 1977 under head coach Susan Johns. She held the job for 3 seasons finishing with a record of 28–60.[2]
Scott Luster (1980–1984)
Scott Luster was hired as the head coach in 1980. In 1982, he led the Cards to their first conference title in program history and first NCAA tournament berth. He would total two Metro Conference title and two NCAA tournament bids in 5 seasons at Louisville.[3]
Bob McCarthy (1985–1987)
Don Hardin (1988–1995)
Don Hardin finished his tenure at Louisville as the most successful coach in program history and set the program up for its future success. He finished with an overall record of 192–76 after eight seasons at Louisivlle. He led the Cards to six regular season conference titles and six NCAA tournament berths.[4]
Leonid Yelin (1996–2010)
Leonid Yelin is the programs all-time winningest head coach. Under Yelin, the Cardinals won mulitple CUSA regular season and tournament titles. In 1996, Louisville reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in program history. The Cards would reach the Sweet Sixteen a total four times in 1996, 1998, 2004, and 2005.
[5]
Anne Kordes (2011–2016)
Following the retirement of Leonid Yelin in 2011, former Louisville player Anne Kordes was hired. In 2016, Kordes announced her resignation to spend more time with her family.
[6]
Dani Busboom Kelly (2017–present)
Dani Busboom Kelly was hired as the head coach at Louisivlle in 2017. Under Kelly, the program would reach new heights including reaching the first Elite Eight in program history and reaching the national championship twice.[7][8]
Conference affiliations
Louisville has been affiliated with multiple conferences.
Louisville claims twenty-one conference regular season titles and ten conference tournament championships.
Big East Championships
Louisville joined the Big East Conference in 1995. Louisville would win four conference tournaments in 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2004 and six conference regular season titles in 1995, 1996, 199, 2002, 2003, and 2004.
ACC Championships
Louisville became a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 2014 and won its first ACC championship in 2015, the first by any Louisville team. The Cards would then win the conference in 2017, 2020, 2021, and tied with Pittsburgh in 2022. The ACC recognizes the regular season champion as the conference champion and has not held a conference championship tournament since Pitt joined the conference.
Rivalries
Pittsburgh
The volleyball rivalry between Louisville and Pittsburgh began in 1981. As of 2024, Louisville is 21–18 in the series. The series became a conference rivalry after Louisville joined the Big East and after both programs moved to the ACC.
The rivalry reached a new level after Dani Busboom Kelly was hired at Louisville, with both programs regularly competing for the conference regular season and tournament titles. Both programs began having sustained success at the national level with Louisville and Pitt making their programs first Elite Eight in 2019 and 2020 respectively and regularly earning top seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
In 2022, the two programs met in the Final Four for the first time. Louisville would go on to beat Pitt 3–2 to reach the first national championship berth in program history. The two program would meet in the Final Four again in 2024 where Louisville would once again defeat Pitt 3–1 to advance to its second national championship berth in 3 seasons.[9]
Kentucky
The in-state rivalry with Kentucky began in 1976 when the two programs played for the first time. As of 2024, Louisville is 29–37 in the series.[10]
