Golf Makes NCAAs; Winning Programs -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Women's Golf in Lexington Regional

Louisville women's golf was named to the Lexington regional as the number 8 seed in the NCAA selection process this week. The team is making their first regional appearance since 2022, with individuals having advanced to this point in prior seasons. Louisville will be joined by Florida State, USC, TCU, Vanderbilt, Kansas State, Georgia Southern, Pepperdine, Miami, WKU, Morehead State, and Fairleigh Dickinson in the three-day event at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville. 

The regional event is a 54-hole tournament that will take place from May 5th to May 7th. Five teams will advance and the top individual outside of the top five teams will also advance. Carmen Griffiths is playing in her fourth regional in as many seasons, making the Albuquerque Regional with the team in 2022 and being selected as an individual in the last two seasons. Griffiths was one of Louisville's top performers at the ACC Championships last week, finishing tied for 25th at +5. Griffiths was joined by freshman Veronika Exposito at that score in Greensboro.

The Cards have stiff competition in their quest to move on to the NCAA Championships which will be in Carlsbad, California May 16-21. FSU, USC, TCU, and Vandy are all ranked in the Top 25 nationally and the top eight seeds in the regional are all top-50 (Louisville is 46th). With only five spots available for advancement, Louisville will need a strong performance across the board. Playing close to home should help, if for no other reason than being accustomed to the weather. 

We'll have more on this team as the event gets underway just after Derby. 

UofL Tops Among Power 4 Fall/Winter Sports

The University of Louisville athletic program is getting close to firing on all cylinders again. They're at least close enough to be the winningest program among Power 4 schools for the 2024-25 season in the primary four fall/winter sports. Louisville's football, volleyball, and men's/women's basketball teams finished the year with a combined 75.2% winning percentage, better than all others. Those marks came over significant teams you may have heard of in all of those sports, as the Cards bested Texas (74.4), Oregon (72.5), TCU (71.7), and Florida (71.1) to round out the top five. 

Despite what felt like a year where more was possible in women's basketball, the Cards still finished with a 22-11 record overall. They were 13-5 in conference and advanced in both the ACC and NCAA tournaments. Walz's squad was only narrowly outperformed by the surprise resurgence of the men's team, which finished 27-8 on the year. The volleyball performance was certainly a major driver in Louisville's overall program success, as Dani Busboom Kelly led the team to a 30-6 record and an NCAA runner-up finish in her final season at the helm. As we've mentioned on the site and the show, Dan Meske looks to have another strong group on his hands in spring play as the Cards move into a new phase as a team. 

As a college sports town, Louisville just feels more vibrant when UofL is doing well. The energy in the city is better and that was apparent in the fall. As Louisville baseball makes its return to the national ranks, vibes are good on one end of UofL's campus, while softball works to find consistency on the other. A rising tide lifts all ships, as they say, so here's hoping the success among the teams doing very well continues to buoy those that could be doing better. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

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