In front of an NCAA-record 21,726 fans at the Yum Center in Louisville, the Louisville Cardinals and Penn State Nittany Lions won the chance to face each other in the NCAA women’s volleyball championship on Sunday.

Louisville won the first semifinal of the night. Playing on their home court, the Cardinals outlasted Pittsburgh, their ACC rival, 3-1. But not to be outdone in the drama department, Penn State managed a reverse sweep of Nebraska, winning three straight sets after losing the first two.

The Louisville-Penn State matchup means that two female head coaches will face each other in the title game for the first time, guaranteeing that a woman will lead her team to the NCAA title for the first time in NCAA women’s volleyball history.

How Louisville edged Pittsburgh to advance

Defense, defense, defense. Louisville out-blocked Pittsburgh 12-4 and used that blocking ability to kill the Panthers’ rallies before they could even start.

That defense was particularly key in the third set. Pitt had four different set point opportunities, but it couldn’t convert and win the set. Louisville stayed calm and just kept playing its game to win.

“Honestly, whenever we play Pitt, we know we're going to have to block them to win," Louisville coach Dani Busboom-Kelly said. "I didn't realize we got out-blocked the first two times. That's probably why we didn't win. It's like we have to block some balls. Cara [Cresse] came in starting Game 4, and she said, I promise I'm going to get two blocks in this set, and she did. I thought that kind of blew open that fourth set.”

Cardinals’ depth shines after tough injury

Louisville had to show off its depth early in the fourth set. Anna DeBeer rolled her ankle badly when coming down from a block. The moment DeBeer laid down on the court, the crowd at the Yum Center went silent.

DeBeer is the heart of the team. Her ability to get kills and find her opponents’ weak spots has propelled Louisville to the upper echelons of volleyball. As a Louisville native, she came back for her fifth year in large part because she would get to play for a title in her hometown. The sight of her lying on her stomach, head down on her hands, was scary for every player on the team and every Cardinals fan in the stands.

She was helped off the court, and her teammates knew what they had to do.

“It was just so shocking that it was to the point where we couldn't really say nothing, but our eyes did all the talking," Charitie Luper said after the match. "We looked at each other, and we pretty much said I got you, I got you, I got you, we're doing this for DeBeer. Without verbally saying things, I knew what everyone meant. That's how close we are, and that's just how close we play for each other. Like Payton [Petersen] said earlier, we know DeBeer wouldn't want to go out like this. We know she wants one more game. So we got this thing done for you.”

Freshman Payton Petersen was called on to fill DeBeer’s shoes, and she had two kills and four digs in the few minutes she played.

It was that depth that made the difference for Louisville in the win over Pitt. As the Panthers waned, Louisville fought off four set points to take the third set. Without DeBeer, the Cardinals each stepped up to help the team win.

DeBeer walked back onto the court, and did squats and jumps on the sideline, showing she was ready if her team needed her. Busboom-Kelly said that she still needs to find out more about DeBeer’s injury to know her status for Sunday.

“We'll see if it's severe or not, but if there's any inkling that she can play, she's the type of kid that's going to get out there and play,” she said. “We won't know more until tomorrow.”

How Penn State beat Nebraska

Nebraska lost to Texas in the national championship last year, and that loss motivated the Cornhuskers throughout the tournament. Early in the semifinal, they looked destined to get another shot at a title. Everything was working for Nebraska, which shared the Big Ten title with Penn State.

But Penn State just wouldn’t go away. Jess Mruzik, a grad student who has been through Penn State’s ups and downs over the years, stayed calm as she led her team. In the third set, the Nittany Lions showed more fight. Camryn Hannah’s ace lit a fire under her team, and they held on to stave off Nebraska’s sweep.

Penn State had to play to 28 points to secure the win in the fourth set. Mruzik and Hannah made the final two kills to push the match to the fifth set. By then, momentum was clearly on the Nittany Lions’ side.

“I think in those moments it's a reminder to myself and a reminder to my teammates that we dog it out at Penn State, whether it be our gym in preseason when it’s 90 degrees or we're walking through the snow and getting back at 3:00 a.m., we dog it out," Caroline Jurevicius said with a smile in the postgame press conference. "I looked at every single one of my teammates and gave them a little shove and said, ‘We are doing this. We're dogging it out.’ Whether they got sick of me or not, I thought it worked.”

Led by Mruzik with 26 and Jurevicius with 20, Penn State had six more kills than Nebraska. Nebraska had the better defensive game, with more blocks and digs than Penn State, but the Nittany Lions still found a way to win. This is Penn State’s first trip back to the national title game since 2014.

Penn State's extra motivation

In September, Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has continued to coach as she’s received chemotherapy, and has been open with her team about how she’s feeling throughout her treatment.

Her players and assistant coaches have taken to wearing pink accessories — headbands, scrunchies, shoes, or hair ribbons — during their tournament run. They talked about what their coach means to them before Thursday’s game.

“I think sometimes we can get caught up in the moment," Mruzik said. "We've been playing this sport for most of our lives, so it can seem like the most important thing in your life sometimes. But the way that Coach is able to come in and just be the same every single day, no matter what's going on, puts so much into perspective for us because this really is just a sport. Obviously we want to win, and that's what we're here for. But at the end of the day, it's just a game, and we don't have to take this too seriously because sometimes life outside of sports can be more challenging than what you're dealing with in volleyball.

How to watch the NCAA volleyball national championship

Sunday’s game will air on ABC starting at 3 p.m. ET from the Yum Center, and ESPN+ subscribers can view the game through the app.