VBall Recap -- WSoc Visits Clemson -- HALLOWEEN THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JARED'S ANNUAL HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Volleyball Sweeps Notre Dame

Fans packed L&N Arena for a match between Louisville and Notre Dame. It certainly was not A Quiet Place as the Scream of the fans could be heard out to Floyd Street. Jeff and I were fortunate enough to get inside the packed arena and we Saw the entire match. Louisville's marketing team promoted it as a Halloween theme with special song choices throughout the match.

The Cards brought out the brooms en route to a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-17, 25-21). The blowout win meant Irish fans were quick to Get Out of L&N Arena. Things didn't appear to be going the direction of a blowout in the beginning.

Notre Dame raced out a 6-1 lead and then led 8-2 before Louisville settled in. The Cards rallied to go on a 7-1 run to tie the score at 9-9. Notre Dame's last lead in the set was at 14-13 and then it was all Louisville, who ended the match on a 12-3 run.

The second set saw some similar struggles early on with the Irish holding a 10-9 advantage. Louisville showed why they're the #4 team in the country from there, dominating the remainder of the set.

Coming out of halftime, things got out of hand quickly. The Cards found themselves up 19-7 and Dani Busboom Kelly decided it was time to empty the bench. The set felt like Child's Play up to that point. With several seniors set to graduate after this season, DBK knew it was time to let other players get some experience on the court. Notre Dame capitalized on the inexperience and cut Louisville's lead to 22-20. The Cards held steady and walked away with the win.

Louisville's Monster Squad pulled off some monster blocks, tallying 10 on the match. Middles Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman led the way in that department.

One item to note is that Charitie Luper, who has been a Shining star for Louisville, sat out this match. She was seen wearing a sling at one point, but everything appeared to be just a precaution. Her replacement for the match, Payton Petersen, was all over the place. Notre Dame would've needed an Exorcist to stop her. Petersen posted nine kills, five digs, one ace, and one block.

Anna DeBeer did what she does best and led all players with 10 kills. Elena Scott had Goosebumps seeing a big time cheering section spelling out "We <3 Elena!", but that did not stop her on court performance of 13 digs and an assist.

"We <3 Elena!"

Notre Dame was left scratching their heads hoping it was nothing but a bunch of Hocus Pocus, but this match was no dream, just a true Nightmare On Elm Street (or Floyd Street). These two teams will meet in a rematch this coming Saturday in South Bend.

The Cards (18-3, 10-1 ACC) continue to chase a national championship, hoping to get The Ring this year. Let's hope DBK and Co are Conjuring up the right recipe to make that happen.

Women's Soccer Visits Clemson

Photo by GoCards

Wrapping up their regular season tonight, Louisville women's soccer hits the road to face Clemson. The match is slated for a 7:00pm kickoff time on ACCNX. This match should kick off when it is Near Dark and go well into the night. Thankfully, Historic Riggs Stadium is far from the Children of the Corn that you may encounter as you move further away from campus. 

Clemson enters the match 6-8-2 on the year with a 2-7 mark in the ACC. This is certainly not the same Clemson team that earned a 1-seed in last year's NCAA Tournament and made it to the Final Four. The Tigers started conference play losing four in a row and currently ride a three-game losing streak with a pair of wins sandwiched in between.

Photo by GoCards

Louisville enters the match with a slightly better record of 7-6-4 overall and 2-5-2. Despite this, the Tigers hold a slight edge in RPI. 

The Tigers have been outscored 28-20 on the year with 21 of those goals allowed coming in conference play. The Cards have run into a similar issue in goal differential in the ACC. Both teams are looking to Purge whatever woes they have had this season.

Mackenzie Duff, Christian Brathwaite, and Kendall Bodak have each scored three goals for Clemson. Defensively, Nona Reason and Addy Holgorsen have split the most time in goal. The former has had the most success with 49 saves and a 0.754 save percentage.

Photo by GoCards

For Louisville, Karsyn Cherry has been a Hellraiser for opposing teams. The center back has helped lock down the back line of defense while also scoring six goals. Makenzie Geigle has had a bit of a Sixth Sense this year, allowing her to score seven goals.

A win would help Louisville's chances at an NCAA Tournament bid, but the Cards might need to rely on the skills of Beetlejuice to help make that happen.

Field Hockey Awaits Their Destiny

Photo by GoCards

Louisville field hockey will find out if their season is over or will continue with a key game tonight. No, IT does not actually involve Louisville playing in a game. Instead, this one features California visiting Stanford for a 9:00pm start time on ACCNX. With such a late start time, hopefully they do not play From Dusk Till Dawn.

While this season has felt like A Scary Movie for the Cards, there is a chance their season is still alive. The loser of Cal vs Stanford will finish tied for last in the ACC with Louisville. Louisville would hold the tiebreaker over Stanford but not over Cal. In this case we want Cal to win, allowing the Cards to beat out the Cardinal for the final position in the ACC Tournament.

Most recently, Louisville concluded the regular season with a blowout victory over UC Davis. Stanford also took down UC Davis by a score of 1-0 back in September on Friday the 13th.

The Cards have had some major struggles this year that are nothing short of A Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not even sure that The Ghostbusters could come in to solve the woes this year. 

We hope you got a good Smile and maybe even a Trick or Treat out of today's Halloween special.

Happy Thursday, Happy Halloween, and Go Cards!

Jared

Curry named to Drysdale Watch List -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE.

 CURRY ONE OF 20 GUARD ON PRESEASON SHOOTING GUARD LIST. 

Senior Cards shooting guard Jayda Curry can fill up a basket, we saw that several times last season, and now...less than a week away from the Cards opening game in Paris vs. UCLA...Curry has been named to the Anne Meyers Drysdale award list...the list of the best shooting guards in women's college basketball. 

Jayda is one of four ACC guards on the list. Ta'niya Latson (FSU), Sanya Rivers (NCST) and Sonia Citron (Notre Dame) are also part of the twenty players named, as well as former Cardinals guard Hailey Van Lith (TCU), Azzi Fudd (UConn), Jewel Spear (Tennessee) and Sarah Andrews (Baylor).

Curry sank 45 - 3 pointers in her first season at Lousiville, and averaged 9.2 points per game in a mostly reserve role for the Cards. One would expect she'd be a contender for a starting role this season...along with Merissah Russell, Nyla Harris, Olivia Cochran, Ja'Leah Williams and Elif Istanbulluoglu. 

Curry began her career at Cal, where she was naamed the Pac 12 Freshman of the Year and also to the All- PAC 12 conference squad.  she averaed 18,.6 points her freshman year. As a sophomore, she started every game for the Golden Bears and averaged 15.5 points a contest. She sank 59 three-pointers and made at least one three in every game for California. 

As a junior at UofL she was a highly valued reserve guard, behind Sydney Taylor and Nina Rickards.  

Lauren Betts

The Cards begin the 2024-25 season against UCLA,. The Bruins, of course, have 6'7" junior center Lauren Betts returning , who Curry faced when Betts was at Stanford and UCLA. The Bruins are now a part of the Big 10, after the demise of the Pac 12.  Btts will be a tough one to stop, Most in the now are pointing to her as a probable All-American and maybe the best center in the Big 10. 

We'll have more on the Cards WBB  opener as we get closer to the Monday, Nov 4th contest between the Cards and Bruins in Paris, France. 

paulie

 

Postseason Odds for Fall Sports -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Which Fall Sports Will Play in Postseason?

With fall sports seasons wrapping up soon or having already wrapped up, we take a look at which sports have a shot at making their respective postseasons, both conference tournaments and NCAA Tournaments.

Field Hockey

Record: 6-11

ACC Record: 1-7

ACC Tournament: 8 of the 9 teams make the tournament

This is a tricky situation. The Cards will finish tied for last with either Stanford or California. The Cardinal and Bears meet on Halloween so one team will finish 2-6 and one team will finish 1-7. Louisville's lone conference win came against Stanford so any ACC Tournament hopes for the Cards comes down to this game.

If California wins, Louisville holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Stanford and earns the 8-seed.

If Stanford wins, Cal holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Louisville and the Cards do not make the ACC Tournament.

Unless Louisville wins the ACC Tournament to earn the automatic qualifier, the Cards are not eligible to make the NCAA Tournament.

Women's Soccer

Record: 7-6-4

ACC Record: 2-5-2 

ACC Tournament: 6 of the 17 teams make the tournament

All ACC Tournament hopes are over for Louisville. Why the ACC still only takes six teams for the conference tournament is baffling, but it is what it is. With eight points in conference play, the Cards cannot catch up to finish in the top six with just a match at Clemson remaining.

NCAA Tournament chances are pretty slim, but not entirely impossible. Louisville is 54th in RPI and Clemson is 51st. A win on the road on Halloween would improve their chances but a draw or loss would not do much in terms of improving the RPI. Even a win would not guarantee a spot in the NCAA Tournament. 

Volleyball

Record: 17-3

ACC Record: 9-1 

ACC Tournament: (Volleyball does not hold a postseason conference tournament)

The ACC does not play a conference tournament for volleyball and instead plays an extra weekend giving each team a couple extra matches. Several other conferences have gone this route in recent years too. The regular season champion earns the automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville's only losses are against the top three teams in the latest AVCA rankings so they do not have a "bad" loss. They do have eight ranked wins, including multiple ranked wins on the road.

There are still 10 matches remaining including rematches against Pitt and Stanford so anything can still happen. Pending nothing crazy in those final 10 matches, Louisville appears to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament. 

The Cards are in a good position to earn a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament and host the entire tournament at the KFC Yum! Center, which certainly adds to the home court advantage.

Louisville plays tomorrow night at home against Notre Dame. This one is a Halloween theme. Halloween shirts and costumes are encouraged.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!
Jared

Cards VB, FH gather road wins -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 #4 VOLLEYCARDS CORRAL MUSTANGS IN 4 SETS. 

It was a top 20 DI Volleyball matchup in Dallas on Sunday and the Louisville Cardinals got back to their winning ways with a four set match triumph over new ACC Conference member SMU. in California,  The Stick Cards closed out the regular season with a 6-2 triumph over Cal Davis. 

VOLLEYBALL

Anna DeBeer had 16 kills in the Cards win 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 25-21. The Cards are now 9-1 in ACC play, 17-3 overall and in a three way tie for top spot in the conference standings with Pittsburgh and North Carlina.

SET ONE

The Cards used an early 6-1 run to grab a 10-6 lead over SMU and force the Mustangs to use a timeout. The timeout did nothing to quell the Cards early dominance , though, and UofL went on  a 7-2 run that had the visitors up 17-8 after a Charitie Luper kill. A PK kill created a 21-11 lead for UofL and the Cards got the 25-14 set win on a block from Cara Cresse and Sofia Diaz Maldonado. 

SET TWO

The two opponents were close early at 4-3 SMU, but the Mustangs went on a  5-1 run to take control at 9-4 after a Cardinals attack error. SMU still lead a 14-8 on a Natalie Foster kill and Louisville still trailed at 18-13 after a DeBeer kill. The Cards got with 23-20 on a SMU bad set, but the Mustangs took the set 25-21 on a Louisville serving error.

SET THREE

This set was also close early, with ties at 3-3 and 5-5 before Louisville went on a 7 -1 run to grab a 12-6 lead on a SMU hitting error. The Mustangs battled back to a 16-14 deficit on a Cards hitting error. but Louisville roared back to grab a 20-15 edge on an SMU hitting error. It was 22-20 Cards recorded the final three point...the f=inal coming when Louisville got the set win 25-20 on a block by Cresse and Luper

SET FOUR

The set was close early, too at 6-6, but Louisville went on a brief run to lead 10-8 on a DeBeer kill. SMU rallied to tie it at 10-10, though, and things were still close at 15-15 after a SMU block. A key 5-0 UofL run followed to give the Cards a 20-15 advantage, cculminating on a Cresse kill, and a Reese Robins kill ended set and match with the 25-21 win. 

FIELD HOCKEY

Meanwhile, in California, Louisville Field Hockey closed out their 2024 regular season with a 6-2 over homestanding UC Davis. 

The win snaps a eight game losing streak for Louisville and gives them a 1-7 mark in ACC play. 

Louisville was hot early and scored three first quarter goals...Lauren Masters getting it started early six minutes in with a follow up on a deflection, two minutes later Sophia Parker connected on a penalty corner, and with four minutes left in the quarter, it was Rylie Wollerton's turn, she was in front of goal to tap in a deflected shot on UC Davis' goalkeeper.

Louisvville increased the lead to 4-0 in the second quarter when Filippa Niebuhr got her first  goal of the year, off a pass from Tatum Kroon. A late second quarter Cal Davis goal created a  4-1 Cards advantage at the half. 

Louisville picked up two more scores in the third quarter, both off penalty quarters. Izzy Bianco tallied the first one and Masters got her second goal of the match about a minute later. 

UC Davis scored in the fourth quarter for the final 6-2 Louisville margin of victory. 

At 1-7 in conference the Cards are in the cellar of the ACC standings.  Above them, at 1-6, are California and Stanford. All those two would normally have to do have to do is win their final ACC regular season games to make the ACC Tounament. but since they are playing each other -- the winner grabs a spot and the loser ends up in a tie with the Cards for last place, Louisville did defeat Stanford in their lone regular season match, so one would assume the Cards would advance to #8 seed in the tourney if the Cardinal fall to the Golden Bears. Cal defeated Louisville in regular season and would make the tournament whether they win or lose to Stanford. 

Field Hockey Wraps, Volleyball Continues

Field Hockey Wraps the Season

Hanging around in California generally sounds like a pretty good way to spend a weekend, though I'm sure the Field Hockey squad would've enjoyed the weekend a bit more if they had started it off with a win, but what's done is done, and the team has one more game to finish out their regular season play.

The flock will match up against UC Davis today at 2pm EST, 11am PST.  Live video appears to be available a site called America East TV.  The link provided: https://americaeast.com/watch/default.aspx?Live=16209&path=conf

This game will have no bearing on the conference tournament prospect for UofL, of course, so the Cards' prospects of even playing in the ACC tournament at all are in the hands of other teams.

NCAA tournament play for the Cards seems like it's out of reach this year.  The NCAA tournament is an 18 team tournament, and with an RPI of 26, the prospects are dim.

So today will be a game for pride, for development of players and experience, and looking ahead to next year.

Volleyball

After an epic (it was over three hours long) five set loss to rival Pitt on Friday, the VolleyCards are really looking for a win today against 12th ranked SMU at 1pm EST, 2pm CST.

DBK and the squad, while taking things one game at a time, are really looking to hang on to that four seed in the NCAA tournament in order to ensure a whole tournament run at the KFC Yum! Center.

SMU is a team that kinda came out of nowhere this year, but they are heavy-laden with graduate students and seniors that won't be returning next year, so this is sort of a "one shot" deal for them this season.

The Cards will likely not be heavily punished for the loss at Pitt on Friday.  The team played well, and the outcome was certainly competitive.  Given that the match was against the number one team in the country and the Cards were the first team to win even a single set against Pitt in Pittsburgh (Pitt's previous set losses were one to Boston College in Chestnut Hill, and two to SMU in Dallas), polling is not likely to drop the Cards much, if at all if they win today over SMU.

For tournament seeding purposes, generally the NCAA committee looks more closely at the RPI, where Louisville is officially still in 1st (the more real time figstats site shows Nebraska eeking out a tiny advantage for 1st place today).

This may be considered one of the toughest weekends of the season for teams in the ACC, to play against Pitt and SMU in one weekend thanks to the ACC travel partner system.  Louisville will have hopefully gotten some good rest last night and looking to come into today's game strong.  As always, blocking will be one of the keys for the Cards, it really does drive the whole complexion of the team, leading to more floor defense, in-system offense and spreading the offense.  Otherwise, they need to minimize the errors and they should be able to beat the Mustangs, though it won't be easy.

This match is getting highlighted treatment today as it was "flexed" up onto the main ESPN flagship channel for the 1pm EST slot.  So lots of eyes will be on the teams this afternoon.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

As Case mentioned yesterday, the CCRHP crew was scattered to the four winds yesterday, so there was no opportunity to get together for the CCRHP recording.

We should be back next week, with our normal antics.

--

JMcA

FH and Volleyball Fall on the Road -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Drops ACC Finale at Cal 2-1

Louisville field hockey's offensive woes continued Friday night, as a swing out to the west coast didn't jolt any life into the goal scoring sticks. Facing a Cal team that had not yet won an ACC game, Louisville needed a win to ensure they would make the ACC tournament. At 6-7 (0-5) entering yesterday, Cal had given up 26 goals and only scored 23 on the season. As we discussed on last week's CCRHP, that number in conference was markedly worse. Unfortunately, Louisville couldn't find the back of the cage consistently enough to get the win. 

Cal scored twice in the first ten minutes of the game, with both coming from Liz Klompmaker. Klompmaker is the leading scorer for Cal, and her second goal in this game was her thirteenth of the year. The first quarter saw Louisville give up 11 shots to Cal, with seven of those being on target. Those came with the help of five penalty corners. The Cards managed to earn zero shots in the first quarter. 

Louisville's offense and midfield did manage to turn it around throughout the rest of the game, but they just couldn't score. Despite the massive difference in the first quarter, Louisville and Cal finished the game tied with 14 total shots. Louisville managed to get one more shot on target, finishing with 10, and the Cards took a total of nine penalty corners, while Cal got just one more to finish with six. Louisville managed to cut the deficit to one goal with three minutes remaining in the first half, but they were unable to find an equalizer in the second. 

Rylie Wollerton scored the lone goal for the Cards, and she was assisted by Aimee Plumb. The box score doesn't say it outright, but the goal came four seconds after a penalty corner, so I'm counting it as a PC conversion. That still means Louisville only converted 11%, but it's better than 0. The goal was Wollerton's sixth of the year. 

In goal, Brandelynn Heinbaugh took the start this game and played 56 minutes. Louisville went empty net in the waning minutes to try to tie. Heinbaugh finished with seven saves, which should have been plenty for Louisville's offense to keep them in this game. 

The Cards have one more regular season match before they find out their fate about the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Louisville will take on UC Davis tomorrow at 2PM Eastern. The match will be available on America East TV and the link can be found on GoCards as well. As with pretty much every other match in the current skid, Louisville needs a win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. Unfortunately, their ACC tournament fate is out of their control. Last night saw both Cal and Stanford pick up their first ACC wins as Stanford beat Wake 1-0. Cal will play Wake tomorrow and the two California teams will face off on Halloween. Since one team is guaranteed to finish with two wins, it will come down to tiebreakers for the last spot. As best I can tell, Louisville needs Wake Forest to beat Cal and for Cal to beat Stanford. All four teams currently have one win and Louisville only holds the tiebreaker over Stanford. Wake also plays Virginia, so the wrong results for the Cards could potentially see them as the only ACC team to finish 1-7 and out of the conference tournament. 

Volleyball Loses 5-Set Thriller at Pitt

Two of the top teams in the country went head to head last night and the battle for the top of the ACC went down to the wire. Facing a team that had only dropped four sets all season entering the match, Louisville was able to add just two to that total. The Cards and Panthers went hammer and tongs for the entire match before the Cards ultimately fell 15-12 in the deciding fifth set. Given the pattern, Louisville may have very well won a sixth set if they played it, but they potentially would have lost a seventh. Louisville won the evens and lost the odds, with the final scoreline being 21-25, 28-26, 17-25 (eek), 25-22, 12-15. 

This match was everything you'd expect: even almost across the board. Louisville finished with more kills (70-68), but they were surprisingly outblocked (13-16). Statistically, the serving line was almost a non-factor. Louisville went 1-7 and Pitt went 3-12, giving the Cards a net +3. However, stats don't tell the whole story with serving, and when those plays happened could matter a lot. The big differentiator was the total errors and playing in system. Louisville had 70 assists on their 70 kills, so every kill was played through the offense. Pitt had only 65 assists, meaning they had three free points from Louisville over passes. Louisville also finished with 35 errors to Pitt's 20. Since blocks count as errors for the hitter, that means Louisville had 19 true hitting errors and Pitt had seven. That'll do it, folks. 

Pitt set the tone straight out of the gate by blocking Anna DeBeer for the match's first point. Charitie Luper tied it up, but Pitt went on an 8-2 run to take a 9-3 lead. The Panthers kept Louisville at arm's length for nearly the remainder of the set. As I mentioned, though, the timing of service line swing plays can be very important. With a 23-17 lead, Pitt had a service error, starting a three-point run that gave Louisville life at 20-23. Unfortunately, that knife cuts both ways. A service error from Louisville gave Pitt set point and the Cards could win just one more before the bell. 

The second set appeared to flip the script entirely, with Louisville taking the early 9-3 lead and looking to be in control. As the scores crept up, points were largely exchanged one-for-one and Louisville was flying high at 19-13. All good things must end, it is said, and so it was for the Cards as an 8-2 Pittsburgh run tied the second set at 21. With the Panthers at home and carrying all the momentum, Louisville was in danger. They won two quick points to go up 23-21 and could take a breath, but Pitt punched right back to take set point at 24-23. From there, it was do or die for both teams. Louisville won a pair for their own set point, and the teams traded to tie it at 26. In came another key service error, and Louisville finished the set with a big block to win 28-26.

The third set was nothing to write home about. It was Louisville's worst set from a hitting perspective and Pitt's best. The Cards hit 0.182 and Pitt put up a whopping 0.433. Surprisingly, Louisville's error number (8) was not their highest of the match (they had 10 in the second), but a hitting deficit of 25% is pretty tough to overcome. Unlike the first two sets, the third was close early, with Louisville keeping it within two points up to 13-15. Unforced errors and Pitt blocks came home to roost, though, and Louisville dropped the set out of the halftime break 25-17. 

Down 2-1 against the top team in the country in a very hostile environment, Louisville was on the ropes. The Cards continued to struggle offensively to start the fourth, but the Panthers very generously gifted them three service errors in the first 15 points. Those points were crucial for the Cards, as they were blocked twice and had two hitting errors over the same stretch. Trailing just 7-8, though, Louisville was able to put their heads down and get on track. The Cards committed just two more errors over the remainder of the fourth set and managed to stretch a lead over time to 20-17. They took a 23-20 lead, and it looked briefly similar to the second set. This time, though, they held strong, putting the brakes on a Pitt run after two points and holding on to the 23-22 lead. Louisville won the next two to set up the tiebreaking fifth. 

In retrospect, the start of the fifth may have been a sign that a win wasn't on the books last night. As the match started with a block of DeBeer, the fifth began with a DeBeer service error. Pitt won five of the first seven points, and the Cards looked like they could be in trouble. Louisville managed to bring it back to 6-7, but the ball just wouldn't fall their way. After a kill by Charitie Luper looked to keep the Cards alive with the score at 8-10, Elena Scott had a crucial service error, her only one of the night (DeBeer only committed two). Instead of a chance to make it 9-10, Louisville was down 8-11 and that quickly became 8-12. In a set to 25, that wouldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, the fifth set is a race to 15. Again, Louisville managed to chop out a point and, again, an untimely service error flipped the ball right back. This time, it was Nayelis Cabello committing her only service error of the night. The Cards had just seven service errors and three came in the fifth set. Brutal. Louisville managed to go on a short burst thanks to back-to-back blocks and drew to within 12-13, but Pitt took the last two points to secure the win. 

Obviously, Pitt is very good, but they've been proven to be beatable and this match looked very winnable for Louisville. It's a tough way to end, but the Cards will get another shot at the Panthers on Thanksgiving week in the Yum! Center. In last night's match, Louisville was led by Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper. DeBeer tied the match high of 22 kills with Pitt's Olivia Babcock. Luper was third among all players with 19. Louisville also got double-digits from Reese Robins, who had 10. Cara Cresse finished with nine kills and Sofia Maldonado Diaz had seven.

Defensively, Elena Scott finished with 21 digs and was forced into seven assists. Both Luper and DeBeer completed double-doubles, finishing with 17 and 14 digs, respectively. Elle Glock also had a double-double (technically) as she picked up 11 digs to go along with her 38 assists. Phekran Kong led the team with six block assists, while DeBeer was close behind with three BA and the only solo block of the night for Louisville.

The Cards are back in action tomorrow as they head deep into the heart of Texas to take on SMU. The Mustangs have been giant killers this season, so Louisville needs to have maximum focus to avoid a losing streak. SMU is ranked 12th in the country and swept Notre Dame last night. Tomorrow's match will get underway at 1PM and will be on ESPN. I'm sure Jeff will have more to say tomorrow about both matches as he was in Pittsburgh last night.

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast This Week

With Cardinal Couplers scattered to the wind this week, the choice was down to me as to whether I'd like to monologue the hour. Had things gone a bit better for the Cards this week, perhaps I would have considered it. As it stands, though, we'll have no show this week. We should be back next week barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Soccer Asserts, While Volleyball and Field Hockey Prepare - Friday Cardinal Couple

Louisville Women's Soccer Asserts Themselves

Cards women's Soccer dominated the play against Boston College last night at Lynn Stadium, maintaining most of the offensive control, and making many more shots that the Eagles, but they had  trouble finishing.

The result was a game where the Cards outshot the Eagles 26-7, had an 11-1 advantage in shots on goal, and a 9-5 advantage on corners, that ended...in a scoreless draw.

Comments from Jared and Case, who were in attendance, suggests that the Cards were flummoxed when the ball got into, or just outside the BC, with lots of dribbling, and shots that didn't have much power on them.

The soccer squad will have one more chance to put up a result in the win column this season when they travel to Clemson next week for the final game of the season.

Field Hockey Heads West

The Field Hockey squad has headed west to take on one of the ACC newcomers in Cal.

Louisville is looking for a couple of wins to close out their season that has been surprisingly challenging.  They've got a real chance to pick up a couple.

Cal is 6-7 overall, but they haven't yet won a game in the ACC.  Welcome to ACC Field Hockey, Cal.

This will be the final game for the Cards in the ACC season this year, with another out of conference game, vs UC Davis, on Sunday.  The Cards are not in danger of not making the ACC tournament, but they're definitely looking to finish off the season in the win column.

The game starts at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern and will be available for viewing on the ACC Network Extra streaming.

Volleyball Heads...To The Top

OK, directionally, it's a bit north, but mostly east.  The important aspect is that it's a trip to the top...of the volleyball rankings.

This is a match that has been circled on many volleyball fans calendars since the schedule was released.  It was expected to be a meetup of top teams, and, well, it is.  Pitt is ranked number one in the country, and has been most of the season.  Louisville is number one in the ACC standings, with the Cards being undefeated in conference.  The Cards are also number one in RPI, largely thanks to having one of the toughest strengths of schedule in the nation.

For nearly all of the season Pitt has looked like a pretty much unbeatable team, wading through about the first half of the season before they even dropped a single set.  Then SMU showed up and...well, they got thumped in Pittsburgh, but the 2nd half of the home and home for the travel partners saw them learn from the first meeting and giving Pitt their only loss of the season in Dallas.

In good news for the Cards, the sets that SMU won were where they were blocking well, and with UofL being one of the best blocking teams in the country, it could be great if that turns out to be a weakness of the Panthers.

As is typical for Friday matches, it's a 7pm start time, and coverage is on ACC Network Extra streaming.  It'll be contested at the Petersen Events Center, the bigger arena available to Pitt volleyball, and your scribe for the day will be in attendance.  (I suspect I've seen the inside of Fitzgerald Fieldhouse for the last time ever, and that's fine.  It's a fine arena, but the Pete is definitely a step up.)

-- 

JMcA

Women's Soccer Hosts Boston College for Senior Day -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Will Honor Four Seniors

Photo by GoCards

Louisville women's soccer concludes their home schedule tonight against Boston College. The Cards and Eagles will kick off at 7:00 pm on ACCNX. 

Prior to the match, Louisville will honor its four seniors- Brooke Dardano, Amber Jackson, Ava Nielsen, and Jolie St Louis. 

Photo by GoCards

Boston College enters the match 10-5-1 and 2-4-1 in the ACC. The Eagles are currently riding a three-game losing streak after falling to Clemson, Florida State, and Duke. They have outscored opponents 32-21. Aislin Streicek, Paige Peltier, and Ava Lung have each tallied five goals. Wiebke Willebrandt has commanded a majority of the minutes in goal with 55 saves.

Brooke Dardano has spent four seasons at Louisville. She played a strong reserve role in her first two years before missing her junior year due to injury. This season, Dardano has logged two goals and seven assists. 

Photo by GoCards

Ava Nielsen is another four-year player at Louisville. After playing a reserve role her freshman season, Nielsen has battled injuries the last three seasons.

Amber Jackson played three seasons at Oregon State prior to joining the Cards. She sat out last season due to injury but has scored three goals this season.

Jolie St Louis played two seasons at Seattle, then played a year at UAB, and wrapped up her final season at Louisville. St Louis has been injured this season.

Louisville will close out their regular season at Clemson on Halloween. 

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Kentucky High School star Grace Mbugua commits to UofL WBB -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 6'5" DANVILLE CHRISTIAN STAR HEADED TO LOUISVILLE WBB

(picture courtesy of UofL athletics) 

There's a nice side to the Louisville WBB squad getting their first commit of the 2025 WBB class. You might say..they've been" graced". 

Grace Mbugua is a 6'5" senior this year at Danville Christian in Kentucky. She is a dual dynamo on the court, and was in the top five in scoring and rebounding in the state last year...as a junior.  She averaged 25.7 points per game and 15.7 rebounds. She was seleced to the Courier-Journal's 2023-24 All-State First Team as a junior. 

She chose the Cards over Baylor, Duke, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, NC State and West Virginia. 

Behind her skills, Danville Christian Academy made it to the Kentucky Girls Basketball Sweet Sixteen last year , but narrowly got defeated in the first round by Cooper High School (Union, KY) 65-63.

Mbugna had an early interest in Liberty University but after her outstanding sophomore and junior seasons, the rest of the women's college basketball world started paying attention to the power forward that came from Kenya to the United States when she was 13.

In three years at Danville Christian, she scored 2007 points and grabbed 1527 rebounds. 

The big question now is...how will the recovery go? She tore an ACL during the summer. In most cases it is a 6-9 month recovery before an athlete can return to competition....which means we probably won't have any stats on her senior season early on and it is still up in the air if she will get on the court at all her senior year at DCA. The good news is that most ACL repairs are very successful and Mbugua should be a factor for her freshman year at UofL.

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SPEAKING OF CARDS WBB...

Louisville women's basketball will have their annual Walz preseason presser and player 

breakout interviews today today at the Kueber Center women's gym starting at noon. We usually have someone covering the event each year but may not this year because of a schedulng conflict for me and the other Cardinal Couple writers being at their day jobs.

Maybe it's a good thing I don't go. My last two years at the event had me doing extensive chats with players Alexia Mobley and Imani Lester...and, well, they aren't gonna be seen on the UofL campus any time soon since Lester transferred to Kansas State  and Mobley now plays for the Florida Gators.  

 paulie. 

VolleyCards #4 in Committee Rankings -- Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Earns #4 Spot in First Committee Rankings

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released their first Top 16 over the weekend. Louisville came in at the #4 spot, positioning themselves to play host in the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament if everything holds.

Pitt has commanded the top spot in the AVCA Rankings for a few weeks, but the NCAA Committee disagreed, putting Nebraska at #1. They put Pitt at #2. The Huskers are 18-1 and the Panthers are 17-1. Penn State, also 18-1, came in at #3 in the NCAA Committee's eyes. Louisville, 16-2, rounds out the top four.

The rest of the NCAA Committee's current rankings are as follows:

#5 Stanford (14-3)

#6 Creighton (17-2)

#7 SMU (14-5)

#8 Texas (12-3)

#9 Wisconsin (13-4)

#10 Oregon (14-3)

#11 Kansas (16-1)

#12 Purdue (15-4)

#13 Utah (15-3)

#14 TCU (14-4)

#15 USC (14-4)

#16 Minnesota (12-6)

The Committee will come out with more rankings in the future with the true NCAA Selection Show happening on Sunday, December 1.

Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week

For the third time this season, Louisville setter Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week. Over the weekend against Wake Forest and NC State, Cabello recorded 31 assists, 10 digs, two blocks, and two aces. She is up to 334 assists, 90 digs, and eight aces on the year.

Cabello has split time with Elle Glock in the 6-2 rotation Louisville has been running this year. The 6-2 rotation allows a team to utilize two setters in a set through normal rotation, but can then limit number of substitutions for other positions such as back row defense.

Cabello is the only player to earn ACC FOTW honors three times this year. Duke's Breonna Goss has received the accolade twice and no other player has earned the honor more than once.

Louisville's schedule becomes much tougher this weekend as they hit the road for Pitt on Friday night and SMU on Sunday. The Panthers have only lost four sets all year, with three of those coming in a five-set loss to SMU. The Mustangs have played giant killer by sweeping Nebraska and Georgia Tech, and defeating Pitt and Baylor.

Women's Soccer Alumnae Game

Louisville Women's Soccer held their annual Alumnae Game when they defeated ranked Cal over the weekend. Here are some photos of a few alums we got to see and catch up with.

Kiana Klein, Morgan Everett, Ravin Alexander, and Delaney Snyder

Kennadi Carbin and Sanela Hodzic

Maisie Whitsett and Taylor Kerwin

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Soccer Upsets, Volleyball Rolls - Monday Cardinal Couple

Soccer and Volleyball Both Win

(Jeff back with you on this Monday morning covering for a medical sidelining.  We send best wishes to Paulie.)

Soccer Upsets Cal

It was a game mostly played in the first half, with all of the scoring happening before intermission, before settling into a defensive set for the Cards with Cal pushing hard to find an equalizer, but not succeeding.  The Cards ended up victorious with the 2-1 win.

Mackenzie Geigle did the job in scoring for the Cards, putting both shots in the Cal net in the first half.  The first goal came about 13 minutes in with Geigle getting the play underway with a pass out to Brooke Dardano on the left side.  Dardano crossed the ball to the far post where Geigle won the foot race to be able to deflect it into the goal.

After Cal answered to tie the game within just a few minutes, the game settled a bit.  In the 42nd minutes, however Lee Brooklyn corralled a loose ball just outside the Cal box, passed it over to Geigle at the top of the box.  A quick settle, and a shot that angled off the far post and into the net got Geigle, and the Cards, their second, and ultimately winning, goal of the game.

Strong defense in the second half only allowed two shots on goal by the Cal pressure, and Erynn Floyd was there to collect both.  She had five saves in the whole game.

The Cards defied expectations and took three points in the standings off of a ranked team.  The last time that happened was at the end of last season, where the Cards got a 1-0 win over Duke, who was also ranked 25th at the time.

An encouraging result for Louisville, though I don't think it much changes the prospects for post-season play.  What it does do, however, is give the players on the team some more experience, and a taste of what winning against a good team is like, with hopes of building for the future.

Soccer will be back in action Thursday, welcoming Boston College to Floyd Street.  The Louisville squad will celebrate their seniors Thursday before the game.

Volleyball Cruises to Victory Over NC State

The Cabello/Cuebas family had almost two whole rows of people in attendance as the Cabello sisters, Naomi and Nayelis, squared off on opposite sides of the net in the Louisville vs NC State matchup.

Nayelis and Louisville came away with the three set sweep, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19.

The first set was not as close as the score would suggest as the Cards came out, apparently remembering last year's defeat in Raleigh and determined not to let the Wolfpack spoil their NCAA seeding again.

The Cards jumped out to a 8-2 lead before it seems NC State really found the floor.  Louisville then went on a five point run to push the lead out to 19-8.  They would reach set point with 11 on the NC State side of the scoreboard and the Pack would put a bit of a run together to get to 15 before the Cards would finally put a close to the set.

The second set started out with some quality back and forth play with score reaching 11-10 in the Cards favor before they put a mini-run together to stretch it out to 14-10.  NC State would get no close than a three point margin the rest of the set.

The Cabello sisters, Nayelis
and Naomi, hug after the match.

NC State would get their first lead of the match to start out the third set, getting a quick 3-0 run to open the set.  The Cards answered, though, and the teams stayed close with mostly ties or small NC State leads, before UofL would get back in front at 11-10 and would never trail the rest of the way.

A nice moment after the match concluded with the Cabello sisters both being at the end of their respective team's handshake lines.  Meaning they were the last players to meet at the net.  Naomi ducked under the net and wrapped younger sister Nayelis in a huge hug.  This is the only time the sisters have faced off against each other on the court, and will almost certainly remain the only time as Naomi is a graduate student and will be finishing her NCAA eligibility at the end of the season.  The only possibility for a rematch would potentially be in the NCAA tournament.

Volleyball heads off for maybe one of the biggest matches in volleyball nationally this season as they head up to Pittsburgh for a bout with the top-ranked Panthers.  In the coach's poll, this is a 1 versus 4 matchup.  That's unlikely to change with the new coach's poll coming out later today.  In RPI Louisville is number one, with Pitt only a couple of spots back at three.

-- 

JMcA

Volleyball and Soccer - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Hosts NC State

The Wolfpack are in Louisville today as NC State comes to town to play at LNFCU Arena.

NC State comes to Louisville after upsetting the Cards last year in Raleigh.  While it takes a body of work over the whole season, it's not unreasonable to opine that the loss to NC State last year dropped UofL off the four seed in the NCAA tournament, leading to the Cards playing Pitt at Pitt in the quarterfinals rather than on their home floor.  And, well, you probably know how that went.

So the Cards should be looking for a touch of revenge, here.  Even though NC State is not a top-of-the-rankings powerhouse team, they're unranked, and 33rd in RPI, they have a history of reaching up and punching high level teams, and this would be a signature win for them, so expect them to be highly motivated.

We do have an individual storyline in this match as well.  Naomi Cabello is the big sister to Nayelis Cabello (Naomi is 6'1" to Nayelis' 6'0"), also plays setter, and also wears number 8.  Naomi is a setter for the Pack, looking at stats, she has a solid lead on assists compared to the other setter, Katie Peterson, getting time, though it appears that they may be running a 6-2 offense using both, again, like Louisville does.  (I call ours a 6-3 to recognize the "backup setter" role that Elena Scott plays on the court).  A large contingent of Naomi and Nayelis' family is here this weekend, having had this weekend circled on their calendar since the conference schedule was released.

Louisville cruised to the win Friday over Wake Forest, the Cards need to come out ready to play today against a bit more dangerous team.

Start time is 1pm at LNFCU, and video is on the ACC Network Extra streaming.

Soccer

The soccer team is looking for some positives as Cal comes to Lynn Stadium on Floyd St.

I guess you could say it is getting a little easier as the last outing was against 6th ranked Stanford, and Cal is "only" ranked 25th.  To be fair, though, Louisville played Stanford to a draw for 89 minutes and 58 seconds (not 59 minutes as I initially said on the CCRHP yesterday).

Realistically, however, I don't think anyone would claim that Louisville is as good of a team as Cal, but Soccer is a game where flukes can happen.  Post-season play is mostly beyond expectations at this point for the Cards, though I haven't crunched the numbers to see if they're mathematically eliminated, yet.

The Bears are 10-4-2, 3-3-1 in conference and are arriving in Louisville on the three game losing streak.  The first two losses are understandable, to 1st ranked UNC and 3rd ranked Duke, and the third to a good, but unranked Notre Dame squad.

Given the scenario, I suspect Cal will be ready to go and looking to take out some frustrations on this Louisville squad, so it will be important for the Cards to come out in top form.

It's an early start for soccer, with the first kick at noon, and video coverage is available on the linear ACC Network.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With Daryl and Jared out at the football game, the CCRHP had Case, Paulie, and myself on the call again.

Coverage of our three big fall sports, with a wish for more of it to be "joy and excitement", beyond just the volleyball court, was on tap.  Check it out!

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-Keeps-Winning-e2psn51

 

-- 

JMcA