Volleyball Upsets Stanford on the Road -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Over Cardinal in Upset Win

Photo by Go Cards

#6 Louisville volleyball wrapped up their west coast trip with an upset win over ACC foe #4 Stanford 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 26-24). The Cards ended Stanford's 21-home match win streak.

 

The match wasn't too clean for Louisville, but they made things count when they needed to including winning the attacking battle .304 - .258. The Cards had 17 attack errors to 62 kills and four service errors to go along with four service aces. Fortunately, Stanford was a bit more sloppy with 20 attack errors and a whopping 10 service errors.

 

Photo by Jared

Payton Petersen led the charge with a double-double of 15 kills and 14 digs. Chloe Chicoine also posted a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs. Cara Cresse posted pore than twice as many blocks as anyone else with eight.

The match was more of a game of runs to take and lose momentum. Each set saw notable runs. In the first set, Louisville use a 5-0 run to take a 10-8 lead but Stanford claimed five of the final seven points for the win. In the second set, Louisville had an early 6-0 run for a 10-5 lead. Stanford never really threatened after that.

Photo by Jared

After halftime, the Cards posted another 6-0 run for an early 6-1 lead. A 5-0 run gave them an almost comfortable 17-9 advantage. Stanford posted quite an answer with an 11-3 run to even the score at 20 apiece. A third run of 5-0 or better for the Cards in the set helped claim the 2-1 lead.

The fourth set followed suit with another big run. The Cards pieced together a 6-0 run for an 8-4 lead. The two foes spent more time trading points the rest of the way through the set with 10 ties from then on out before Louisville took the win.

Photo by Jared

The Cards improve to 12-2 on the year and 4-0 in the ACC. The Cards join Pitt, Miami, and North Carolina as the only 4-0 teams in the conference. Next on the schedule, Louisville returns home to host Virginia Tech and Virginia.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball continues west coast swing at Stanford -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 A TOP SIX VOLLEYBALL MATCHUP BETWEEN STANFORD AND LOUISVILLE

A 5 p.m. matchup (EST) between #4 Stanford and #6 Louisville tomorrow on ESPN will help give you a break from football today..as the two squads match up in Palo Alto in Maples Pavilion.

Just who is Maples Pavilion named after? A guy named Roscoe Maples, who was a part of the 1904 graduation class at Stanford and was the principle donor for the building of the pavilion, which was built in 1969 and renovated in 2006.  

The Stanford squad is 12-2 with loses to Texas and Nebraska and wins over Florida, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Missouri, Utah State, UC Davis, Hawaii, Texas State, UCLA, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame.

Elia Rubin leads Stanford in kills with 148 and Logan Parks has 401 assists. 

Kevin Hamby is the Stanford head coach. he's in his ninth year of coaching there.

Stanford is known as the Cardinal (no "s" on the end) and named after a color (Cardinal red) not a religious figure, bird or a primary or principle entity in various fields.. including mathematics. The program also has a unofficial nickname..."The Trees" and they have a tree mascot, designed by students each year, who dresses for home basketball, football and other home athletic events. They even have "tree week" to celebrate the choosing of the year's mascot .

Can you name five D1 schools with the Cardinals or Cardinal nickname? Answer at the end of today's column

The schools have played each other five times, with Louisville holding a 3-2 advantage. Three of those matches were ln 2024. Louisville won all three in 2024, including their NCAA Elite Eight matchup. 

Dan Meske's Cardinals are 10-2 with losses to Kentucky and Texas and wins over Auburn, Morehead State, St.John's, Illinois, Creighton, Northern Iowa, Rice, Western Kentucky, Boston College and California.  it should be a fun one and we'll have a review of the match in Monday's Cardinal Couple

                                                                  ******

                                                                  ******

                                                                  ******

(the five schools that are Cardinals or Cardinal...Louisville, Ball State Lamar University, Catholic University and Wesleyan University (in Connecticut). 

Paulie

Volleyball Survives Friday Night Frights -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Cal

Louisville volleyball was the last team to get underway for the Cards last night, but they were only one of the three to come away with a win. The only drama in the 3-0 victory came in the second set when the question was just how badly would Louisville win the set. Sandwiched between a pair of 25-16 wins, the Cards beat the brakes off the Bears in the second with a 25-5 victory. 

Cal is... not very good. They hit for 0.000 on the match, and Louisville only finished with eight total blocks. The Bears hit 22 total errors, although they did have fewer service errors that the Cards (3-5). Both teams had two aces. Louisville's offense was fairly efficient in their own right, finishing with a .384 hitting percentage. The Cards had eight total errors and five of those were blocks by Cal. Only hitting the ball out of the court on your own three times is pretty good. 

Chloe Chicoine led the way for Louisville with 13 kills and no errors. Kalyssa Blackshear also hit for no errors as she finished with eight kills. Payton Petersen had eight kills as well, but she was more covered by Cal and had four errors. Cara Cresse was first in efficiency among hitters as she finished with a .538 percentage and had nine kills.

Louisville's defense was all over the place as Petersen and Hannah Kenny led in digs with ten apiece and three players (Chicoine, Kamden Schrand, and Nayelis Cabello) finished with eight. Cresse led the team with four block assists and Cabello tied Hannah Sherman for second with two assists and one solo block. 

This one was never really in doubt, but it serves as a good preparation match on the west coast for Louisville. The Cards have a big test coming up tomorrow when they take on Stanford. The Cardinal are ranked 3rd in the country and have won 20 straight matches at Maples Pavilion. Notre Dame gave them a ride in the second set last night when they pushed it to extra points, but Stanford came out ahead in that one and finished with a 25-22, 26-24, 25-14 sweep. Tomorrow's match is on ESPN at 5PM. 

Overturned Goal Sinks Field Hockey

Louisville field hockey tried to give Justine Sowry a good birthday present yesterday against Wake Forest, but they weren't able to overcome a tough call in the fourth quarter. The 18th-ranked Cards fell to 5-5 (0-2) on the season with a 2-0 loss to #7 Wake Forest. 

Louisville struggled offensively early in the match, with Wake suffocating them every time they received the ball. That pressure paid off for the Demon Deacons in the second quarter, when they used a turnover to work forward and score the first goal of the match. That goal came about halfway through the second quarter, and both teams continued to keep the opponent at bay afterwards.

Louisville's offense finally showed up in the fourth quarter. After failing to record a shot for the first three periods, the Cards put up five in the fourth. Early on, they appeared to equalize, but the goal was overturned on replay review. Instead of a 1-1 match in which they had some momentum, Louisville found themselves still trailing and a bit deflated. Wake ultimately earned the first penalty corner of the game for either team and scored to double Louisville's deficit. The Cards weren't able to find the back of the cage and the final score was 2-0. 

Each team finished with five total shots and three on target. That's an unfortunate stat when you consider how good Emily Young has been this season. Louisville has to avoid giving up clean looks to the opponent and they have to be able to score more effectively. 

Nevertheless, the Cards are back in action Tuesday at Trager Stadium. Louisville will play their last non-conference match of the regular season when they take on Bellarmine at 5PM. 

Soccer Falls Short in Second Half

Louisville women's soccer had the toughest draw of the evening for the three sports, as they faced a road game against the second-ranked team in the country. For the first 45 minutes, Louisville looked every bit as if they could pull off a big upset. Adjustments at halftime for Notre Dame found the mark, though, and back-to-back goals early in the second set the final score. 

Louisville came out on a mission in the first half, and their tenacity got them an early lead. Notre Dame had the first shot inside the first minute, but Louisville settled in and held them at bay until their second shot in the ninth. Erynn Floyd picked up her first save of the match on that one and Notre Dame was offsides a minute later. Then it was Louisville's turn to play offense. Over the next eight minutes, they had three corner kicks and eight total shots. The eighth shot finally found the mark. Following a corner, Ella Bard had an attempt that was blocked and came to Hadley Snyder's feet. Snyder settled and sent it into the back of the net for her second goal of the season. 

Notre Dame didn't allow Louisville to celebrate for long, as the Irish equalized just seven minutes later on strong team play. What was extra unfortunate for the Cards is that their early goal seemed to wake up the Notre Dame midfield and defense. Over that eight minute stretch, Louisville had three corners and eight shots with two on target. Over the final 72 minutes of the match, Louisville had no corners and just three shots with one on target. 

Don't get me wrong: Notre Dame is very good, but man that is a disappointing final stat line after a frenzied start. Notre Dame, on the other hand, was relentless in the second half. The Irish had Floyd under constant pressure as they took five corner kicks, earned 13 shots, and put eight shots on target. Erynn Floyd finished the match with seven saves, but you can't blame someone for yielding a couple of goals when they're getting that much work from a top offense like Notre Dame. 

At the end of the day, this is another two-goal road loss for the Cards. Is that frustrating? Yeah, a bit, but if your only three losses so far have all come by just two goals on the road to teams in the top-25, that's not terrible. Louisville's next opponent won't be any easier, though. The Cards take on Wake Forest on Thursday in Winston-Salem. While the Demon Deacons will lose some of the shine from their #12 ranking after their last match, a shocking 2-1 loss to NC State will have them fired up to get revenge on the Cards. Wake is 9-2-2 (3-1-1) with a 3-2 victory over Duke on the resume. 

No CCRHP This Week

With a couple of hosts out and about and other obligations keeping me away, we'll take this week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We'll look to return next week to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Big Day for Fall Sports -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Faces 2nd-Ranked Notre Dame

All three of Louisville's traditional fall women's sports teams are in action this evening, and soccer will be the first one to get underway. The Cards are on the road, taking on the Irish in South Bend, Indiana. Notre Dame has moved up to the #2 spot in the country on the back of an undefeated start to the season. The Irish are 9-0-1 this year, with their only non-win coming in Fayetteville, where they drew Arkansas 2-2. The Razorbacks were ranked 6th at the time and are currently tied for 7th. 

Notre Dame opened the season with a 2-1 win over Western Michigan before the Arkansas match. After that, they didn't give up another goal in non-conference play, beating Cincinnati, Michigan, Oakland, and Michigan State by a combined 18-0 score. A scheduled match against Marquette, their last in non-con, was canceled. The Irish haven't been as tight defensively since ACC play started, as they have yet to record a clean sheet. That said, their wins have come over NC State, Duke, North Carolina, and Clemson, so it hasn't exactly been easy sledding. The most recent game was on Sunday, where they posted five goals against the stingy Clemson Tigers defense. 

Louisville's offense may be able to find success against Notre Dame, so this one could go back-and-forth. The Irish have scored 14 goals in ACC play, but they've also given up seven. The 10-2 Cards have been a bit quieter on offense in conference play after lighting the world on fire in non-con, but Louisville has still scored four and only allowed two in their four conference games. Louisville is 3-1 in those games with three shutouts.

The Cards are getting more love from TopDrawer than they are from the Coaches' Poll, as TDS has Louisville ranked 10th, but tonight is still a ranked matchup nonetheless. The Cards have moved into the top-25 with a ranking of 23rd in the Coaches' Poll. Louisville is 20th in RPI. Tonight will also be just Louisville's fourth road game of the season. The Cards are 1-2 in those games, with the 1-0 win over Auburn to open the year and the two 2-0 losses to Vandy and FSU. Tonight would be a fantastic time to move that road record back to .500.

The match this evening gets underway at 6PM on ACC Network Extra.

FH Hosts Wake Forest

Louisville will face another top-10 opponent tonight when Justine Sowry's squad welcomes #7 Wake Forest to Trager Stadium. Wake is 7-2 this year with their only losses coming when they opened the season 0-2 against Iowa and Michigan. The Demon Deacons have a 3-0 conference record against tough opponents, and they've set a matching final score of 2-1 against Syracuse, Boston College, and North Carolina. The matches against Syracuse and UNC both went to overtime. 

Louisville is coming off of a tough loss to open their conference slate after the shootout loss at Stanford last week. The Cards have been up and down this season and currently sit at 5-4. They've had some successes with victories over ranked OSU and St. Joseph's, but it's the matches that have gotten away (Northwestern, Iowa, Stanford) that may haunt them going forward. 

Wake is a very good team, but Louisville has shown their ability to matchup against difficult opponents. The road ahead doesn't get much easier for the Cards, as they'll head to North Carolina for matches against Duke and UNC next weekend. That means tonight is a great opportunity to keep the season on track and carry some momentum into the rest of conference play. The match will be played at 6:30 and will also air on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball in California Swing

The wide-net Cards have the late show tonight as they're in California to take on Cal and Stanford this weekend. Tonight's match won't get started until 10PM, so make sure to take a nap before the soccer match or after field hockey ends. 

The Golden Bears got off to a rocky start this year, as they sit at just 5-7, but they got a nice boost to open their conference play. Cal traveled to Virginia last weekend and took down Virginia Tech and Virginia with a final set score of 6-1 between the two matches. While those two teams aren't very good, they were road victories across the country for a Cal team that desperately needed some juice. Welcoming in the 6th-ranked Cardinals will be plenty of motivation for them to continue their good start to conference play. 

Louisville will look to continue their run of form as well. After a slew of matches in which the Cards dropped sets, they suddenly find themselves on a run of three straight sweeps, their longest stretch since the Cardinal Classic to open the year. Another sweep over Cal would help Louisville put some of the ghosts of the non-conference schedule behind them before a tough matchup against the Cardinal on Sunday. Like the other two matches tonight, the volleyball match will be on ACC Network Extra.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WGolf moves up to finish fifth at Blessings -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers, 

It's Daryl checking in on a Thursday!  Nothing on the slate today for UofL programs, but the Cardinals wrapped up their trip to Arkansas yesterday and we've got some final stats to share. 

Photo: gocards.com

Golf

The golfing Women Cards moved up one spot to finish 5th overall after the final round of the Blessings Collegiate Wednesday afternoon at the Blessings Golf Club.   UofL tallied a 19-over-par 307 on Wednesday to finish the tournament 52-over-par 916. It is the highest finish as a team in the three tournaments this fall for Louisville. 

Bailey Burkett finished the tournament tied for 13th overall and tallied her second-straight Top 15 finish at the Blessings and tournament she has led the Cardinals. She was 6-over-par 78 in the final round to finish the tournament at 10-over-par 226.

Veronika Exposito tallied her 2nd Top 20 finish of the season after she was 14-over-par 230 for the tournament and finished 20th overall.  She went 6-over-par 78 in her final round.

Millie Cottrell had her best round of the week with a 3-over-par 75 in the final round. She finished tied for 21st overall at 15-over-par 231 for the tournament. The 21st place finish was the best finish she has had in three tournaments this season.

Madison Moman finished tied for 26th overall at 16-over-par 232 for the tournament. In her final round on Wednesday, she carded a 9-over-par 79. Thienna Huynh also had her best round of the tournament on Wednesday with a 4-over-par 76. She finished tied for 30th overall at 18-over-par 234. 

The Cardinals will be back in action next week as they travel to Greenville, North Carolina to take part in the Pirate Collegiate Classic. The two-day tournament begins in Greenville on Monday, October 6.


INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
T13. Bailey Burkett (74-74-78=226) +10
20. Veronika Exposito (76-76-78=230) +14
T21. Millie Cottrell (78-78-75=231) +15
T26. Madison Moman (75-78-79=232) +16
T36. Thienna Huynh (80-78-76=234) +18

Im out for a weekend, Ill check back in with yall next week! 

As Always, 
Go Cards 

~Daryl

Louisville women's golf in Blessings Invitational -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS IN SIXTH PLACE GOING INTO FINAL DAY AT BLESSINGS INVITATIONAL

We haven't done a lot of coverage on the Louisville women's golf team this year but we see that they are in sIXTH place in the Blessings Invitational. 

The Blessings...an event in Fayetteville, Ark...is an event that invites 10 teams to participate in the three day tournament. This year's participants are Arkansas, BYU, Kansas St. , Kent St., Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi St., Missouri, UNC Greensboro and Washington St.

The teams go 18 holes each day for three days and Arkansas (the home squad) is blowing the competition out of the water hazard with a two-day score of -7 under par. 

In second is Kent State, at +20 over par. The Louisville squad is +33. 

Bailey Burkett leads Louisville at +4 over par. Burkett is a sophomore and is out of Kansas Ciry, MO. where  she attended Liberty North high school. 

Veronika Esposito has the next lowest score for the Cards at +8 over par. Madison Moman is+9 over par, Millie Cottrell is +12 over par and Thienna Huynh is +14 over par as the squads go into the final round Wednesday. 

Here's hoping for easy putts and lots of birdies for the Cards today!

paulie

Women's Soccer Climbs Rankings -- Volleyball Weekend Photos -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Jump High in Top Drawer Soccer Poll

The continued success of the 2025 season for Louisville women's soccer has not gone unnoticed. The NCAA rpi currently puts the Cards at #21. Top Drawer Soccer seems to have been impressed by Louisville's strong push and has rewarded them with a #10 ranking. The updated coaches poll should come out today or tomorrow.

Louisville sits at 10-2 on the season and 3-1 in ACC play. The road ahead quickly becomes bumpy. Louisville visits #2 Notre Dame (United Soccer Coaches Poll) on Friday and then #18 Wake Forest in a week and a half. Road matches against ranked opponents will prove to be a tough test, but a draw or win on the road might help "wow" the tournament committee when it comes time to determine hosts. A trip to rpi-#112 Boston College follows after that before the Cards finally return home on Oct 18 to host #1 Virginia.

Volleyball Weekend Mini Photo Galleries

Louisville volleyball opened ACC about as easy as possible, with two commanding sweeps over Boston College and Syracuse. The Eagles and Orange both entered the weekend with impressive non-conference records, but those were a bit deceiving as the quality of those opponents was rather low. Louisville, being a top-six team, had no trouble earning the wins. Here are a few pictures from both matches.

Volleyball vs Boston College

Volleyball vs Syracuse

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCARDS sweep Syracuse 3-0 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Good morning yall, 

We are closing in on the month of October which means a couple weekend getaways for me, so you'll be hearing from the guys in my absence.  Always appreciate their willingness to step in. 

I'm also looking forward to the leaves changing on campus in the coming weeks... Paulie and I mentioned on the podcast Saturday how crazy it is that the WSoc post season is upon us and NCAA watch party plans are being discussed.  

Volleyball

Louisville 3 - Syracuse 0

Louisville volleyball was in action Sunday afternoon when they hosted the Syracuse Orange.  The Cardinals dismantled the visitors from the get go, winning set 1 25-8, set 25-17, and set 3 25-20.

Cara Cresse led the scoring efforts for UofL with 12 kills on 19 attempts and contributed five blocks to the defense. Kalyssa Blackshear totaled 11 kills, three blocks and three digs on the match.  Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen both recorded 12 digs and Kamden Schrand contributed 10 of their own. Setter Nayelis Cabello served three of the Cards' seven aces, while Chicoine added two and Schrand served one.

Photo: Jared Anderson

Set 1: Syracuse 8, Louisville 25
A pair of 4-0 scoring runs allowed Louisville to get out to an early 10-3 and force Syracuse to use its first timeout. After trading points, another 4-0 scoring run put the Cards up by 11 at 16-5, highlighted by kills from Cresse, Chicoine and Blackshear and an ace from Cabello. The Orange burned their second timeout and UofL continued its run to 11-0, going up 23-5. Syracuse was able to add three more points, but Blackshear gave Louisville set point with a kill and Petersen sealed the set 25-8.

Set 2: Syracuse 17, Louisville 25
Chicoine and Hannah Sherman connected for a block to start the set, and the Cards pulled out to an 8-3 lead to force a Syracuse timeout. The Orange fought to get back within four at 13-9, but UofL went on a 6-0 scoring run to extend its lead to 10 at 19-9. Chicoine put Louisville at set point with a kill at 24-15. Syracuse held off the end of the set for two more points, but Cresse clinched the set 25-17.

Set 3: Syracuse 20, Louisville 25
Through the first 18 points, there were six ties before the Orange got out to an 11-9 lead and forced UofL to use its first timeout. Syracuse continued on a 7-0 run to lead 13-9, but the Cards got within one at 17-16 to force a timeout from the Orange. A kill from Cabello tied the set at 17, while two attack errors from Syracuse and a kill from Addison Makun gave Louisville a 20-17 lead as the Orange burned their second timeout. A service error from Syracuse gave UofL set point at 24-19, and the Cards won the set 25-20 after an attack error by the Orange.

UP NEXT

Louisville vs California

Friday October 3

10:00 PM

WGolf

Louisville is one of 10 women's teams competing this weekend in the split tournament with 10 men's teams as the UofL men's program is also competing this week. The 3 day tournament begins on Monday morning in Fayetteville, Arkansas.


Last season, the Cardinals placed 8th overall and they were 9th back in 2022. This week, the Cardinals will have the same 5 players they have used in both of the previous 2 fall tournaments played 9/8-9/9 and 9/19-9/21.

Bailey Burkett and Veronika Exposito lead the Cards with a 71.83 scoring average through the first two tournaments of the fall. Exposito was one of three Cardinals under par at the Sam Golden Invitational as she finished tied for 12th at 6-under-par. Burkett led the Cardinals at the Mason Rudolph Championship and finished a team-best tied for 13th overall. This is the third time in the last four seasons the Cardinals will compete in the Blessings Invitational. 

CARDINALS LINEUP

Bailey Burkett

Thienna Huynh

Veronika Exposito

Madison Moman

Millie Cottrell

As Always, 
Go Cards

~Daryl

VOLLEYCARDS HOST SYRACUSE TODAY -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 9-2 ORANGE COME TO LNFCUA TO FACE CARDS

The unranked Orange travel to Louisville for a 1 p.m. Sunday match against the Louisville Cardinals in the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Overall, the Cards are 29-4 over the 'Cuse and in 2024, the Cards won in straight sets over the school that is the home of Jim Brown, numerous sportscasters...Beth Mowins and Mike Tirico, just to name a couple... and where ex-Louisville Volleyball coach Leonid Yelin went after the Cards forced him into retirement. Bakeer Gaineshaatnam is the skipper at SU these days and my guess he's a easier to understand and interview than Yelin was....but hard to spell (I had to check three times and probably still didnt get it right)

The 'Cuse's losses have come to Colgate twice o back-to-back days on September 12-13. They did most recently take down Notre Dame 3-1 in South Bend. 

Gabriella McLaughlin leads the Orange in kills. 

It'll be the second ACC Conference game for the Cards, who knocked off Boston College in straight sets to open the conference slate. After the home stand, UofL will travel to the west coast to face Cal and Stanford. 

Syracuse has no Kentucky or New York player on their roster, but does have imports from Hawaii and Japan...and four volleyballers from California. 

The Cards are led by Payton Petersen's in kills with 141 and the have 552 as a team. Louisville's two losses have come to Texas and Kentucky and the #6 Cards have only gone five sets twice...against those to schools. 

This one will be available on the ACCNX if you can't get over to campus...and if you plan on seeing this one live and in person at the LNFCUA, my guess is you better be in line to get in around 11 a.m....capacity for seating is slightly below 1200 folks. 

I won't go into my usual tirade about needing a larger arena for Louisville volleyball here. But...that spot adjacent to Lynn Stadium would be a nice spot and all it does now is store cars for Ford. I guess the "building" das of Tom Jurich will never return.

We'll recap it Monday here at Cardinal Couple. 

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST

IT was just Daryl and I on the podcast Saturday, with Case and Jared busy taking care of issues with visitors and family...but we had a great discussion on the current fall sports at UofL and more! 

Give the re-broadcast a listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdEIWi80oYU&list=PL1b1cLmDIkuqdZZ6JxJjQnvKVWnHWVOIy&index=1

We apologize for the choppy cut-in and cut-out of the re-broadcast. Gremlins and the absence of Case teamed up for the listening quality.  

paulie

Cards Split ACC Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps BC

Louisville volleyball opened their ACC slate at home against Boston College and took care of the Eagles in fairly short order. There wasn't a lot of drama in any set as the Cards won 25-12, 25-17, 25-15. Louisville hit .422 on the evening, compared to just .049 for BC, and that was despite BC winning the blocking battle. 

Outside of 8 total blocks, BC was not stellar on defense (as evidenced by Louisville's hitting percentage). Louisville's offensive leaders were incredibly efficient. Payton Petersen led the way with 13 kills and just two errors on only 21 attempts. That equates to a .524 hitting percentage from a pin hitter. Yeesh. Chloe Chicoine was also strong, going nine and one on 17 attempts for a .471. Kalyssa Blackshear rounded out the pin attackers (for the most part) with a .263 hitting percentage and seven kills. The middles were actually defended a bit better, with Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman combining for eight kills and four errors on only 15 attempts. 

Nayelis Cabello continued to play well on the floor, as she finished with 35 assists and went three for three on offensive attempts. I say "on the floor" as she was one of many who stumbled a bit at the serving line. Louisville finished with seven aces, but they also had twelve service errors. Cabello had none of the aces and three of the errors. So it goes sometimes. Hannah Kenny led the way with three aces, but she had two errors as well, so Molly Wilson actually had the best day at the line with two aces and no errors. Kamden Schrand and Ava Utterback had the remaining two aces. 

Defensively, BC made it pretty easy. They did the thing you aren't supposed to do on offense, which is hit it basically straight to the libero every time. Schrand finished with 21 of Louisville's 40 total digs. Hannah Sherman had the best day at the net, racking up four block assists and one of Louisville's two solo blocks (Alanna Bankston had the other). Blackshear finished with three block assists and Cresse, Cabello, and Petersen all contributed one each. 

As I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a lot of drama in this match. Louisville trailed just once, and that wasn't until the third set. With the help of a block, a Louisville unforced error, and one of their three aces, BC had a three point run early in the third set to go from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 lead. Louisville won the next four points and didn't look back. 

They won't always be so easy, but after I mentioned that Louisville had been prone to dropping sets on last week's show, they responded by sweeping both opponents this week. The Cards are back in action tomorrow when Syracuse comes to L&N Arena for a 1PM match. The Orange are having a bit of a renaissance season, though their competition has been questionable, as they sit at 9-2 on the year. Their two losses came on back-to-back days in a home-and-away match up with Colgate. Syracuse defeated Notre Dame 3-1 Friday evening in South Bend. 

Field Hockey Falls in Shootout

Louisville hit the road to open their conference schedule and played a nail biter of a match with Stanford. Ultimately, Louisville was unable to find a game-winning goal, and they lost in a shootout. The final score of 2-1 represents the single point awarded to Stanford winning the shootout after each team scored one goal in regulation. Coincidentally, the final score of the shootout was also 2-1. 

The match was a constant struggle of early offensive action followed by periods of strong defensive play. Stanford scored the first goal on a penalty corner in the first quarter. Louisville matched that with a PC goal of their own in the second. After halftime, both teams were able to amass just one shot on target for the entire second half. Louisville's goal came from Rylie Wollerton, her seventh of the season. Assists went to Tatum Kroon and Annabel Sep. 

The overtime periods played out very similarly. Louisville survived a PC attempt from Stanford early in the first OT and managed to find three shots late in the period, but neither team found a Golden Goal. Their search continued in the second overtime, but the efforts were even more fruitless: neither team was able to even find a shot. 

Even the shootout had a similar flavor. Louisville scored on their first attempt (Gracie Potter) while Stanford scored their first two. The Cards were blanked for their remaining four attempts, and while Stanford was unable to extend their lead any further, one extra goal was all they needed. Interestingly, after Emily Young made three saves during the game, she was substituted for Alessia Cicuto for the penalty shootout. I won't second guess the goalie whisperer that is Justine Sowry, so I'll just assume that Cicuto has shown more in practice in the way of penalty acumen. 

It's a tough way to start the conference season, as Louisville's mercurial offensive play continues, but they'll have a long week to recover. It was a single game weekend for the Cards on the west coast, as they get a Sunday bye. Louisville is back in action Friday, when they return to Trager Stadium to host Wake Forest. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared is off galivanting around Louisville, so he'll miss this week, but we'll have three on board the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. Daryl will be forced to give us her rundown of the past two weekends and Louisville's annual music festivals before we get into the week that was in Louisville women's athletics. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Kickin' Cards boot Miami 2-0 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Goood morning readers and welcome back to the weekend, finally!!! I will be taking a much needed R&R weekend and I hope you enjoy yours as, well! 

A lot to cover for the Cards so lets hop right in.  

Soccer

Photo: Jared Anderson

Recap

Louisville 2 vs Miami 0 


It was a nice evening out at Lynn Stadium for ACC soccer as Louisville welcomed the Miami Hurricanes to town.  The Cards came out on top 2-0 to make it 8-2-1 all time against the Canes.  UofL is now 10-2 on the season, its first 10 win season since 2019 when they went 13-5-2. 

UofL scored in the first 16 min in when Grace Maddox connected with Emerson Jennings on a boot into the back of the net.  It was beautifully orchestrated pass back to the top of the box and over the Miami goalkeeper.    It was Jennings 5th goal of the season. 

You can take your pick of which Louisville goal was more poetic as the Cards were able to net another goal before the halftime break when Kiley Peat managed to sneak a rebound through the Miami keeper's legs when she was unable to corral it after a shot attempt from Lizzie Sexton was saved by Emily Bredek. 

Miami switched out its goalkeepers for the second half where they still had work cut out for them recording 4 saves on attempts by the Cards.  Erynn Floyd recorded 2 saves in the match.  

NEXT UP 

Louisville at Notre Dame 

10/3 6pm

Field Hockey

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville vs Stanford preview

The Cards are heading west to visit the Stanford Cardinal (3-5, 0-2 ACC) in an ACC battle.  The match is scheduled for 8pm and is available on the ACCNX.  

Stanford has played Top 10 opponents in their last 3 matches and lost by a combined score of 13-3.

Stanford is led in scoring by Kate Nemec who owns the team-lead in goals (3) and points (6) at the halfway mark of the season. Following suit, Liv Martin and Summer Knight-Thompson sit second with five points a piece courtesy of a 2-1-5 line. Lending a helping hand, Mia Clark leads the Cardinal with two assists this season and is one of three Cardinal to have started every game this season (Maroussia Walckiers and Scout Butler). Overall, 12 players have recorded a point this season for the Cardinal.

Defensively, the Cardinal is led by Scout Butler and Natalie Hoppe.  Butler also leads the Cardinal in shots this season with 15 while Hoppe sits second in freshman scoring with four points which also slots tied for fourth overall on the team.

In the goal, Daisy Ford and Anya Jackson have seen action this season with the former starting seven of Stanford’s eight matches this season. Ford, who owns a 2-4 record with one shutout this season, leads the conference in saves with 34 and in saves per game (4.86). Ford also boasts a 2.34 goals-against average coupled with a .694 save percentage. Jackson, who sits with a 1-1 record that includes a shootout loss to No. 6 Harvard, owns a 2.40 goals-against average and a .667 save percentage in three games this season.

Volleyball

Photo: Jared Anderson

Louisville vs BC preview

Louisville welcomes Boston College to L&N FCUA today at 7:00pm. 

 You can watch the match on the ACCNX. 

The Eagles have an 11-1 record (good for 2nd in the ACC), are 3-0 on the road and coming off their first loss of the season, a 5 setter against Bryant. 

In the match, junior outside hitter Audrey Ross recorded 18 kills, Sophomore Lucy Mott tallied 25 assists, adding 10 digs to earn a double-double. Cornelia Roach contributed 6 kills and 4 blocks including a single solo. Freshman Bella Ehrlich posted eight kills, four blocks and 10 points Junior Sam Hoppes recorded 12 kills, three blocks and 13 points Brooklyn Yelland recorded 22 digs and two aces Senior Anna Herrington posted 11 kills and 12 points Hanna Hoffman recorded four service aces, a new career high for the senior.


BC is second in the ACC in total kills (565) and third in the conference in total blocks (117.0). Boston College is first in the conference and ninth nationally in opponent hitting percentage, holding opponents to a combined .141 clip this season.

As Always, 
Go Cards
~Daryl

Soccer Takes on Miami -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Look for Third ACC Win

As Paulie wrote in his column yesterday, Louisville women's soccer is off to a great start, but the road gets very tough soon. The Cards will work to stay on track when they take on the Miami Hurricanes tonight at Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium. It's Throwback Night tonight, so who knows what exactly that promotion will mean, but it should be a nice night to take in a match if you haven't had the opportunity to get out to the stadium yet. Louisville has just two regular season home matches after this one, so you're getting into now or never territory. 

Miami is having a fairly strong season themselves, currently sitting at 6-3-1. Their biggest head scratcher is a 1-0 loss at App State in their second match of the season, but the opening conference losses to #17 Wake Forest (away) and #2 Duke (home) aren't terrible. The Canes lost that Duke match just 1-0. Miami's draw came against Princeton to open their September slate. 

The Cards and Canes are both coming off of a Sunday bye, but Miami is actually more rested than Louisville, having played on Thursday instead of Friday last week. Miami also hasn't played a conference game since the Duke match on Sunday the 14th. Their Thursday match last week was on the road against VCU; they won it 2-0. 

Miami has already surpassed their win total from last season, as they finished the year 5-8-4, and they were just 1-6-3 in conference play. Their lone conference win in 2024 came against Syracuse, who finished last in the conference at 0-9-1. Miami's improvements must be compared against Louisville's, though, as the Cards seem to be a completely different team than last season. Louisville didn't play Miami or Syracuse last season, but they picked up wins against NC State and Cal, and closed the year on a 1-1-3 run in which they allowed just one goal each to Stanford and Cal. The Cards would likely win some of those draws last year if they had the offensive performance that we've seen so far this season, as evidenced by turning last year's 0-0 draw at Clemson into a 1-0 victory this season. 

Louisville and Miami have faced off in women's soccer 10 times, all coming since Louisville joined the ACC. The Cards hold a 7-2-1 advantage in those meetings, with the draw coming in the first game they played back in 2014. Miami took their second win over the Cards in 2023. All three results earned by Miami have been in Coral Gables, with the Cards sitting at 4-0 against Miami at home. As such, tonight's match will see Louisville trying to maintain two home undefeated records: the one against the Canes and the one for the 2025 season overall. 

Miami has give up just nine goals on the season, and six of those came against Princeton, Wake Forest, and Duke. The Canes have earned clean sheets in every win except for a 3-2 victory over Lipscomb. They've scored 16 goals overall. Miami's offense can be a bit one dimensional, though, and their defense can be broken down. Of nine opponent goals, nine have been assisted. On 16 Miami goals, they've earned just seven assists. Louisville, on the other hand, has 45 assists on 39 goals, with opponents earning three assists on six goals. (Louisville is a bit more generous with second assist scoring.) Two of Louisville's six conceded goals have come on penalties and all six of their goals have been given up in just three games. We'll look for the defense to continue to be stout tonight. 

Action is scheduled to begin at 7PM, and the weather currently looks like it will cooperate. I'll be keeping tabs on this one virtually, unfortunately, as other obligations will keep me away from the stadium. You can tune into ACC Network Extra to watch it for yourself. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WSOC at 9-2 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WOMENS SOCCER OFF TO GREAT START

So...let's see a show of hands of folks that thought Louisville women's soccer would get off to a 9-2 start to the season?  Or, that they would be outscoring their opponents 39-6? Or that they would have eight shutouts on their list of accomplishments so far? 

A great start...no doubt...with losses to only FSU and Vandy, who are ranked #6 and #13 in DI WSOC. Both were away matches for Louisville, too. and each loss was 2-0 in score. The Cards are receiving votes to get in the top 25...they aren't there yet. Amelia Swinarski leads the Kickin' Cards in goals with seven, Mackenzie Geigle has 6, Liza Suydam has five and Emersen Jennings and Karsyn Cherry have three each to lead the way for UofL. 

In conference...Louisville is 2-1 and plays Miami next...on Thursday. 

The ACC does have several top 25 teams in the polls. Virginia is ranked #1, Notre Dame #2 , Stanford #3, FSU #6, Duke #9, Wake Forest #18 and North Carolina #22

The Cards have allowed just two goals in their last seven games while scoring 23. 

I do apologize that I haven't been able to get an interview with head coach Karen Ferguson Dayes yet about the season's successes. Due to health issues, I haven't been straying too far from home except for my dialysis treatment three days a week and to Indianapolis to talk with the kidney transplant team for IU in Indianapolis. Sadly, my oxygen levels now tend to drop pretty quickly and I do use oxygen...a rather tough thing to transport to an outdoor contest....where the press boxes involve a whole lotta steps.  

I am very fortunate to have three great writers on board in Jared, Daryl and Case. Jared, as we all know , takes excellent pictures. It does sadden me that I have not seen a live, at the facility, Field Hockey or Soccer game this season...but I follow them all on ACCNX and the other broadcast venues Louisville has access to. 

A look at the upcoming schedule for the Cards is a doozy, to say the least. Notre Dame, Virginia and Wake Forest are three of the next five opponents.

Let's hope the Cards can do well in their final seven regular season games and get a bid to play in the NCAA Tournament.

paulie