“That was a match we went into with a great mentality — especially knowing the level of opponent we were up against. We had a great approach to everything,” said coach Travers Green, whose team lost in four tension-filled sets, 25-20, 18-25, 20-25, 24-26.
“The fourth set flipped away from us. We were in a pretty good position to close that out. It was the kind of match where you left and said, ‘Man, I wish we could’ve seen what would happen if we went to five.’”
The Raiders will get another crack at the Cardinals in a first-round NCAA tournament game at the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Louisville (24-4) is seeded second in the region, having been barely edged out by Pittsburgh for one of the overall top four seeds.
The Cardinals made the national semifinals last year and were NCAA runners-up in 2021.
No. 7 seed Auburn (20-9) will play in the same pod at 4 p.m. Thursday against Western Michigan (30-2), which joined Dayton as the only 30-win teams in the 64-team field.
The winners meet at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Raiders (21-10), who have won nine straight matches and 12 of their last 13, are making their fourth NCAA appearance in five years.
They were eliminated in previous trips by major conference powers Purdue, Texas and Georgia Tech in straight sets.
They beat Samford in the first round of the 2020 tourney, but the field was reduced to 48 teams because of the pandemic, and the top 16 seeds received byes into the second round.
That’s the lone win for the Horizon League, which is 1-32 all-time in the tourney.
“You can have an underdog mentality, but sometimes with that, you lose sight that we’re one of the 64 teams selected to be in this tournament. Even though we might be an underdog, it doesn’t change our belief that we can go in and be successful,” Green said.
“You never want to be hesitant. You just want to go for it, and let the chips fall where they may.”
The Raiders played three other NCAA tourney teams this season, losing to No. 5 seed Dayton and No. 4 seed Washington State, 3-0, and falling to Texas A&M in Bowling Green’s event, 3-2.
In the RPI ratings, Louisville is fourth, Auburn 29th, Western Michigan 40th and Wright State 80th.
League player of the year Callie Martin is from Louisville, as is another stalwart, Jenny Wessling.
The Raiders played in Marquette’s arena in the first round last season and are hoping for more support this time.
“There will be fans that will come for those two players, and I know there will be a contingent from Wright State and Dayton just because it’s a short distance,” Green said.
“It’ll be a cool thing to see.”
THURSDAY’S MATCH
Wright State at Louisville, 7 p.m., ESPN+
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