Red and Black Volleyball Scrimmage
Summer is over.
OK, maybe only for college athletics.
Last night saw the kick off of fall women's sports at UofL with both Volleyball and Women's Soccer in action, albeit both in pre-season scrimmage form.
The Volleyball split up and played intra-squad competition, with the bolstering of a couple of the practice players that have been helping out in the pre-season training. There are no official stats available for this one, and honestly, stats for an event like this are usually not terribly meaningful, so we'll be sticking with general observations and analysis.
First, the usual suspect...Melanie McHenry was limited in her play as she is dealing with a minor abdominal pull. She's played, didn't serve, did play defense, and did some hitting, but definitely wasn't swinging with full power.
So who did impress? Aiko Jones made good use of her red-shirt year and played a major role on the red squad with 13 kills, along with Claire Chaussee's 14. On the victorious black squad side of the net, transfer Anna Stevenson, and freshman Amber Stivrins led the attack with 5 apiece. Anna is part of the major position battle happening for middle hitters and blocks, while Amber swings from the outside.
Amaya Tillman played predominantly in the middle for this scrimmage, though I expect she will see some significant time at the opposite/right side position. Unfortunately, she did go down in the middle of the scrimmage when it appeared that she landed on another player's foot and rolled her ankle. The injury didn't appear to be severe to myself, or to several other spectators that I spoke with who were sitting in different locations around the arena. We'll hope there's no significant damage and a few days rest (and probably wearing a boot) will get her back into action healthy.
One not-really-a-position-battle, but discussion only really relevant to this scrimmage was, who would be the second libero on the team? Alexis Hamilton clearly has the primary libero jersey claimed, but who's the first backup? Let's just say that this question still isn't solidly answered. The candidates were Alexa Hendricks (freshman), and Mia Stander. They played 4 sets in the scrimmage, and each donned the libero jersey for two of them.
We knew the starting setter question wouldn't be answered last night, as transfer Tori Dilfer, and freshman Shannon Shields were split between the two teams. Might we even see a 6-2 offense with two quality setters of similar style and play? I keep getting hints that it might happen some this year.
Prior to the scrimmage there was the seemingly now annual Volleyball picnic for season ticket holders and Side Out Club members. My mother and I got a chance to mix and mingle and chat with various of the players. We got an introduction to the whole team and found out some amusing facts about each player. Mia Standar is slightly allergic to the sun, despite being the most tanned member of the team; Jamie Vasilou is a former gymnast and may be, for her height, one of the best jumpers on the team.
All in all it was a fun evening, and encouraging to everyone to see the depth and talent pool on this team. Bolstered by the #16 recruiting class in the country, the squad is poised to have a great year.
Volleyball will be back in exhibition action next Saturday at 3pm against Miami (OH). The season will get underway with the Cardinal Classic on Friday the 30th.
Women's Soccer
Women's Soccer was also in action last night in an exhibition match against Butler at Lynn Stadium on Floyd Street. There were no tweets emanating from the stadium with any updates on the action, and I was unable to attend, so I have no observations at all to share with you. Since Jared was there, we do have some pictures, which I'll add in below (along with another couple of Volleyball pictures for good measure)...plus Paulie's observations.
Case Hoskins provided excellent analysis and commentary on the action. You're gonna love his reports when the season "officially" starts.
PAULIE'S "SIX PACK" OF THE SCRIMMAGE:
Since the UofL women's soccer coaching staff wanted us to refrain from revealing scores, stats and such (can't be giving "THE" Ohio St. OR ACC foes any fodder, right?) we didn't post any Tweets or do an in-depth article.
So, here are six non-game detail events of the night. If you were there, you saw the score.
1) No EHRLER's . We have been spoiled over the last couple of years with free Ehrler's ice cream cups in the press box. None for this scrimmage, however. We can only hope this changes.
2) DAILY DOUBLE. It's always a treat to see a "J.J." at any UofL Sporting event. We hit the Daily Double last night with two J.J.'s -- WBB's Jaz Jones and softball great Jenna Jordan.
3) STAT STATUS. One stat we can share with you. A total of three trains passed by the north side of the field during the contest. This will be the over/under line for the remainder of the season. It's got to be a bit confusing to opponents to suddenly hear bells and then the roar of a train while they're playing. Plus hard for them to hear the coach's instructions. Place your bets.
4) SCOREBOARD LOOKING GOOD! The improvements to the main scoreboard are fantastic. Better clarity and resolution the most noticeable. Look what we can do, Louisville!
5) PRESEASON FOR THE REFS. WE DON'T NORMALLY BASH THE OFFICIATING CREW, but they need work on calling fouls correctly and off-sides. Enough said.
6) YES, THEY WILL CHECK. Security is earning their checks. It took them five minutes to go through my media bag and ask questions on what my assorted game day devices do. And, I was scaled down from what I normally bring. Also, they need to remember to set up a check-point table. My search was conducted on the top of a trash can. Preseason for them, too, I'm guessing.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour
Paulie, Case, and I were in the studio again for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, along with the
prominently identified Floyd the Touchdown Squirrel. Apparently Floyd has become quite the WCHQ celebrity.
He's been happily living at WCHQ for a couple of years now, but some of the other show hosts have apparently only recently become aware of his presence. We just hope, in his newfound celebrity, that he doesn't forget about us at The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.
In addition to basking in the reflected celebrity of Floyd, we did also talk quite a bit about the Soccer and Volleyball exhibition play going on. We had fun as always. You can check out the fun at:
You can also look through the other updates at WCHQ at:
and maybe check out some of the other show streams and see if you can spot other appearances by Floyd.
--
JMcA
The annual Alumnae Game is on the docket for Trager Stadium today, as the Louisville Field Hockey team looks to knock away the rust. This match will be a good time for Coach Justine Sowry to see what she has in some of her players, especially as she tries to replace some fantastic starters. The primary position battle everyone will be keeping an eye on will be that of the goalie. Hollyn Barr and Sam Minrath will likely both play for each team in order to get a view of both goalies in "equal" situations. Barr comes in as the "heir apparent" to the seat left open by the graduation of Ayeisha McFerran, having impressed in multiple starts last season during McFerran's international duties. However, Minrath has impressed heavily and has received high praise from Coach Sowry. I get the feeling this is a battle that will not be settled particularly soon.
Speaking of Miami (OH), I wonder if the field hockey team and volleyball team are taking the same bus. Louisville Volleyball will host its first scrimmage against an outside team this afternoon at 3PM when the Redhawks come in to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Louisville has not faced Miami (OH) since 2015, when the Cards were victorious 3-1 against the Redhawks in a season opening tournament hosted by Illinois. Obviously both teams will be quite different this year, with Louisville having changed coaches in that time and almost all players from those teams having graduated or transferred. 
It's here. Louisville athletics are back on track, and the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour can finally break down sanctioned games on the air again. Join Paulie, Jeff, and me as we hit the airwaves on WCHQ FM at 11AM to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. We'll talk about the big win women's soccer had over Ohio State on Thursday, look ahead at Morehead State, and check in with Jeff about what he saw at the Red and Black scrimmage last week. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 100.9FM, wchqfm.com, using the WCHQ App, or on Facebook Live.
