LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Volunteers have been busy preparing to spread holiday cheer to more than 300 families in need.

"This is New Day Ministries' annual Christmas Gift Extravaganza," said Tod Moore, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization. "On Saturday, all of these bikes -- and more than 300 turkeys and boxes of food will be given away."

The Christmas Gift Extravaganza will be held Saturday, Dec. 21, from noon until 4 p.m. at the First Gethsemane Center located at 1221 First Gethsemane Avenue in the Algonquin neighborhood.

Although it's not yet Christmas Eve, Moore and his team are already gearing up to ensure many local children and adults will have a memorable holiday.

"We're getting prepared for bringing in 352 turkeys, 300 bicycles, a lot of toys, a lot of gifts," Moore said.

The Christmas Gift Extravaganza provides toys, food boxes, and bicycles to families in need, especially in Louisville's west end, where food access is limited.

"We're in a food desert here in the west end of Louisville," Moore explained. "And they need food for Christmas time."

The bikes were purchased last week, and on Friday morning, more than 350 turkeys and hams were delivered for the food boxes.

The giveaway is presented by Southeast Christian Church's s Prospect Campus and First Gethsemane Church.

Kevin Bryan, a volunteer at the event, shared his excitement about helping out.

"Yes, I do go to Southeast. He's (Moore) in my Bible class," Bryan said with a laugh. "Elves are also very small, and Santa was big. Tod's big, and yeah, so in a way, we're all his elves, that's true."

Moore acknowledged the hardworking volunteers, saying, "They're our Santa elves to be a blessing to God's people."

John Wells, another volunteer, helped deliver the turkeys and stayed to ensure everything was ready for the big event.

"Just trying to help out," Well said. "You know, in the spirit of Christmas, there are a lot of bikes coming in here. Not a whole lot of people here to help. So just joining in."

The event is open to everyone.

"Anybody can come. Everybody can come. Come, one come, all," Moore said.

While the bikes may be the most visible gifts, Moore emphasized that the true gift is one that's not seen.

"It's about giving hope. It's about giving love."

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville and Penn State are set to play for the national championship in women’s volleyball after they secured victories Thursday in the national semifinals before an NCAA postseason record crowd of 21,726.

The championship matchup, set for 3 p.m. ET Sunday at the KFC Yum! Center with televised coverage on ABC, will produce the first female head coach to win a title in the sport as the Cardinals’ Dani Busboom Kelly meets the Nittany Lions’ Katie Schumacher Cawley.

On Thursday night, Louisville (30-5) upset Pittsburgh, top-ranked since September, 21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17. And Penn State (34-2) completed a dramatic reverse sweep against Nebraska, 23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 28-26, 15-13.

The Nittany Lions (34-2) fought off two match points in the fourth set, coming back from five points down late in that set to force a decisive fifth. They denied Nebraska a fifth trip to the championship match in the past eight seasons.

For the Cardinals, the match turned after a third-set comeback from three late, four-point deficits. They fought off four set points, getting three kills from three-time All-American Anna DeBeer and a putaway by Charitie Luper before a double block of Valeria Vazquez Gomez ended the struggle.

DeBeer, a senior outside hitter, went down with a leg injury early in the fourth set. She did not return.

“It was so shocking,” Luper said, “to the point where we couldn’t say anything.”

Payton Peterson replaced DeBeer and helped rally the Cardinals to an unlikely rout in the final set as Pitt’s defense and serve-receive collapsed. Even All-American Olivia Babcock, who hammered 33 kills in the match, could not get the Panthers closer than within six points in the second half of the final set.

Pitt finished at 33-2, losing for the fourth consecutive season in the national semifinals. It previously beat Louisville twice this season. Nebraska (33-3) failed to avenge a November loss against the Nittany Lions.

The status of Louisville’s DeBeer for the final looms as a large question. She is a graduate of Louisville’s Assumption High School and was named to the all-tournament team at the Final Four in 2022, when Texas beat Louisville for the championship.

“If there’s any inkling that she can play,” Busboom Kelly said, “she’s the type of kid who’s going to get out there and play.”

Required reading

(Photo: Jamie Schwaberow / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville native Anna DeBeer recorded 14 kills before leaving with a right ankle injury, Payton Peterson recorded consecutive aces in her place and top-seeded Louisville beat No. 1 overall seed Pittsburgh 3-1 on Thursday night to reach its second NCAA volleyball championship in three years.

What You Need To Know

The host Cardinals (30-5) stopped a four-match losing streak against the Panthers, including two this season, and will face Penn State in Sunday’s championship. The Nittany Lions rallied from an 0-2 deficit to beat Nebraska in five sets. The match will feature two women’s coaches for the first time with Louisville’s Dani Busboom Kelly and Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley.

“Incredible match tonight. Pitt’s an exceptional team, and they have players that you can do everything right and they still can take over the game,” said Busboom Kelly. “I was just so proud of the way our team played and battled and stuck with what we’d worked on this entire week. Just the amount of trust we showed, not only in the team, but in ourselves, was pretty incredible.”

All-American outside hitter/right setter Olivia Babcock had 33 kills for the Panthers (33-2), whose 18-match winning streak was snapped. They entered as the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed and played in their fourth consecutive national semifinal, but couldn’t follow their strong opening set in which they hit .373 with nine kills from Babcock.

“We beat them in transition by an enormous margin, but they were absolutely unstoppable on the first ball,” Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. “We just couldn’t get enough of those. And then you guys all saw what happened in the second, third set, and it was hard for us to swallow.”

Louisville overcame a 25-21 opening-set loss to beat Pitt 25-23, 29-27 and 25-17, taking control after DeBeer went down early in the fourth set, with what UofL called a right ankle injury.

The graduate All-American hitter was helped off the court and into the locker room before returning to the sideline and cheering on her teammates.

A couple of freshmen stood our for Louisville in the match. Setter and ACC Freshman of the Year Nayelis Cabello recorded 44 assists, eight digs, and two aces. Outside hitter Payton Petersen came in for DeBeer and posted two kills, four digs, and two aces.

“At first I thought when she went down, I thought ‘She’s going to be fine, she’s going to get back up,’” said Peterson, who had 4.5 points. “And when it hit me that she was not gonna come back, I wanted to do this for her. For that to be her last game, I didn’t want that to happen.”

Busboom-Kelly said afterward she wasn’t sure about DeBeer’s availability for the championship game.

“It just felt like everybody was so dialed in, we could have put anybody in and had the same outcome,” said Busboom Kelly. “Super proud and a really unbelievable performance against maybe the best team in the country.”

ACC Defensive Player of the Year Elena Scott had 14 digs of the Cards’ 54. Middle blockers Cara Cresse and Phekran Kong both added at least four blocks and seven kills, with Cresse having six blocks and nine kills and Kong with four blocks and adding seven kills.

Sofia Maldonado Diaz and Charitie Luper each recorded 14 kills each for the Cardinals, who hit .320 in the match and .425 on kills. UofL never trailed in the final set, but found another gear after DeBeer left the floor with Louisville up 2-0.

Louisville advances to the National Championship match on Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. ET at the KFC Yum! Center and will play Penn State who beat Nebraska. UofL hopes to win its first NCAA title in program history. The game will air on ABC.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Penn State's women's volleyball team won a historic national semifinal match Thursday to set up even more history Sunday: For the first time since the NCAA tournament for the sport began in 1981, a woman will win the title as head coach.

That's guaranteed, as both teams in Sunday's final (3 p.m. ET, ABC) are coached by women. Penn State is led by Katie Schumacher-Cawley, while its opponent in the championship round, Louisville, is led by Dani Busboom Kelly. Both women won NCAA titles as players: Schumacher-Cawley with Penn State in 1999 and Busboom Kelly with Nebraska in 2006.

"I think we've heard that quite a bit: the first time a woman this or that," Schumacher-Cawley said. "But I'm excited for this team. I think Dani's an exceptional coach, and I'm excited we both get to compete at this level."

It has been an emotional year for the Nittany Lions, with Schumacher-Cawley coaching despite being diagnosed with breast cancer in September. The Nittany Lions say they have been inspired by her.

Penn State will go for the program's eighth national title -- seven came under former coach Russ Rose, who is retired -- and Louisville will go for its first. A Cardinals victory would also mark the ACC's first title.

Nebraska coach John Cook, despite his disappointment in not making the final, called it a "silver lining" that either Busboom Kelly or Schumacher-Cawley will win a title as head coach. Cook coached Busboom Kelly as a player, and she was his assistant at Nebraska before taking the Louisville job in 2017. She has made the NCAA tournament every season with the Cardinals, and this will be her second NCAA final.

"There's two great stories for you guys to write about," Cook said. "Women are tough, and those two are ... I mean look at them as players. They were both great players."

It seemed as if Busboom Kelly, whose Cardinals won the first semifinal 3-1 over Pitt, would play her alma matter in the final, as Nebraska took a 2-0 lead over the Nittany Lions in Thursday's second match.

But Penn State staged an epic rally, becoming just the sixth team to get a reverse sweep -- winning the last three sets after losing the first two -- in the final four. The Nittany Lions are the only program to do it twice; they also got a reverse sweep to win the championship match over Texas in 2009.

Nebraska was the last team to do it, against Illinois in the 2018 semifinals. But Thursday, the stunned Huskers lost just their second NCAA tournament match in any round after winning the first two sets. They are now 104-2 in that situation.

The Penn State-Nebraska match finished after midnight, ending with the Nittany Lions winning the fifth set 15-13. Jess Mruzik led Penn State with 26 kills, and Cook called it one of the best performances he has seen from an outside hitter.

In the night's opening match, Louisville delighted the crowd at the KFC Yum Center in downtown Louisville. The Cardinals played with the pressure of desperately wanting to make it to the final four in their home city. Now, the Cardinals have made it all the way to the last match of the season.

The Panthers had defeated the Cardinals twice in ACC play in the regular season, but Louisville won the match that mattered most.

"That pressure is suffocating, and there were moments in this season when we were suffocated," Busboom Kelly said of the Cardinals' desire to get to the final four. "But this team really rose above that, and we had to put a lot of work in, and a lot of honest conversations about what it was going to take to overcome that."

Then on Thursday, the Cardinals had to overcome several other things: the Panthers winning the first set, trailing Pitt early in the second set, facing four set points in the third set and losing senior standout Anna DeBeer to an ankle injury at the start of the fourth set.

Louisville prevailed over all of it, leaving Pitt to deal with a fourth consecutive season ending in the national semifinals. Pitt also lost to Louisville in the national semis in 2022. The Panthers' only loss this season before Thursday was 3-2 at SMU in October. Olivia Babcock had 33 kills to lead Pitt, which finished the season 33-2.

"We're hurting," Pitt coach Dan Fisher said. "This is one of the tougher losses of my career. It certainly feels like a missed opportunity."

The Panthers and Cardinals have become the ACC's most powerful programs in recent years, although Stanford and Cal joining the league this year brought a lot of volleyball prestige. Stanford has won a record nine NCAA titles, and Cal has made it to the final four.

Pitt won the regular-season matches against Louisville 3-2 in Pittsburgh on Oct. 25 and 3-1 in Louisville on Nov. 27. The Cardinals were the fourth of the No. 1 seeds -- behind Pitt, Nebraska and Penn State -- and were nearly bounced in the second round by Northern Iowa in one of the most intense matches of the NCAA tournament. But Louisville prevailed over UNI 22-20 in the fifth set, which featured nine match points.

Louisville swept Purdue and beat Stanford 3-1 to make its third trip to the final four. On Thursday, the Cardinals were led by DeBeer, Charitie Luper and Sofia Maldonado Diaz each getting 14 kills.

When DeBeer went out after injuring her ankle with the Cardinals up 2-0 in the fourth set, freshman Payton Petersen came in and had two kills and four crucial digs. Petersen's mother, Bobbi, coaches Northern Iowa and her twin sister, Jadyn, plays for UNI, so it had already been an emotional tournament for Payton.

"It just felt weird," Petersen said of facing her mom and sister in an NCAA tournament match, adding that Northern Iowa pushing Louisville so hard ended up helping the Cardinals improve their play for the rest of the tournament.

When DeBeer initially went down Thursday, Petersen figured she would be able to shake it off and return. When it became clear she wouldn't be able to do that, Petersen said, "I wanted to do this for her. She's meant so much to me."

As for DeBeer, Busboom Kelly said in an interview on the ESPN broadcast right after the match that the outside hitter would be back for Sunday's final. But in the postmatch news conference, she tempered that.

"If there's any inkling she can play, she's the type of kid that's going to get out there and play," Busboom Kelly said of DeBeer. "But we won't know more until tomorrow."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville volleyball program is heading back to the national championship.

Squaring off against conference rival Pitt in the national semifinal, the Cardinals were able to avenge their regular season losses to the Panthers, winning in four sets (21-25, 25-23, 29-27, 25-17) on Thursday at the KFC Yum! Center.

In the midst of their third trip to the Final Four in four years, the top-seeded Cardinals (30-5, 17-3 ACC) are making their second ever trip to the national title game, and first since 2022 when they were swept by Texas.

Louisville got sweet revenge against Pitt (33-2, 19-1 ACC), who were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, en route to the championship game. The Panthers downed the Cardinals in five sets in the Steel City back on Oct. 25, then won 3-1 in the Derby City on Nov. 27.

The Cards will face the winner of Nebraska/Penn State in the national championship on Sunday, Dec. 22 at 3:00 p.m. EST. They'll be playing for not only their first national title, but the university's first NCAA team championship outside of men's basketball.

Louisville posted a .320 hitting percentage to Pitt's .316, blocked 12 hits, and committed five less errors (28-to-23).

Charite Luper and Anna DeBeer both finished with 14 kills and nine digs, with the latter having the exit the game early in the fourth set with a right leg injury. Sofi Maldonado Diaz also had 14 kills on a .355 hitting percentage, with Cara Cresse adding nine kills plus a game-high six blocks.

These efforts were enough to overcome a Herculean effort from Pitt's Olivia Babcock. An AVCA National Player of the Year finalist, Babcock tallied a whopping 33 kills. Torrey Stafford also has 18 kills and 15 digs for the Panthers.

Set one got off to an extremely competitive start, with neither team being able to gain much separation over the other in the first few minutes of the match. Following a 14-14 tie, Babcock and the Panthers took over in the middle section with a 9-2 run to put the Cardinals on the brink. While Louisville made a late run and scored five of the set's final seven points, Pitt staved off the push to win.

The second set didn't exactly start Louisville's way. They committed four errors in the first nine services, having to call a timeout after going down 7-2. However, the Cardinals fought back with authority, firing off an 11-4/5-0 run to take the lead and force Pitt to burn a timeout as well. The Panthers briefly jumped back in front at the tail end of the period, but Louisville ended the set on a 4-1 run to tie the game.

In the critical third set, Louisville got off to a similarly slow start, falling behind 5-1 in the opening minutes. The Cardinals were much quicker to respond this time around, putting together an 11-6 run to jump back in front, including a 5-0 stretch that forced Pitt to call a timeout. The Panthers themselves bounced back with a 13-6 run after the timeout, putting the Cardinals on the ropes.

However, Louisville would not be denied. Trailing 23-19, they strung together a 5-1 run to force the set to go long. Down 27-26, a kill by Charite Luper, an ace from Kamden Schrand and a block from Phekran Kong gave them a 3-0 run to clinch the set.

With a trip to the national title game one set away, Louisville went on the offensive out of the gates of the fourth set. They scored nine of the set's first 12 points, including a 6-1 run where Pitt called two separate timeouts and seemed to be getting rattled. The Panthers were able to get within three points and make it 10-7, but the Cardinals out-scored them 15-10 down the stretch, leading by as much as eight points, to put the game to bed.

(Photo of Reese Robins: Jeff Faughender - Courier Journal & USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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