CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
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Saturday, October 11, 2025

Volleyball Sweeps Again; FH Falls Short -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Continue ACC Win Streak


Although their run of sweeps was broken Sunday by Stanford, Louisville upset the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion to continue their hot start in the ACC. That hot start was extended last night with a 3-0 victory over Virginia Tech in L&N FCU Arena. The Hokies didn't come in with a stellar record, but they are above .500 overall. Taking care of business at home is an important part of staying on track for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Louisville won fairly handily, slipping just a tad in the third set with a final score of 25-11, 25-12, 25-17.

The Cards mostly dominated statistically. They finished with a .430 hitting percentage in the match and only had six errors overall. VT had 15 errors and hit .172. Ten of those VT errors were Louisville blocks, and the Cards dominated the serving battle with ten aces to VT's zero. Louisville was on fire at the line, as they had just four service errors, while VT dumped ten. That gave Louisville a net +16 in the category, which is going to be tough to overcome for the opposition. 

Points coming in different ways meant that kills were actually at somewhat of a premium. Louisville only had 40 as a team, and they were fairly well spread out. Chloe Chicoine (11) and Kalyssa Blackshear (10) led the way, as has become the norm, with only one error between the pair of them. Cara Cresse and Payton Petersen each had five while Hannah Sherman and Ava Utterback had four apiece. Cresse's five kills came on five attempts, giving her a hitting percentage of 1.000, and she had a solo block and two assists. Sherman and Blackshear each had five block assists. 

Louisville is back in action tomorrow at 1PM when they host the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA is very similar to VT, as they now sit at 8-7 overall (VT is 9-7) and both teams are 1-4 in conference play. Virginia is coming off a sweep at the hands of Notre Dame last night. Tomorrow's match will be carried on ACC Network Extra.

FH Drops Close Match at Duke


It's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as this season: Louisville field hockey came up just short with an opportunity for a marquee win. The Cards scored first in Durham yesterday, but Duke answered the goal in the third quarter and scored a winner in the fourth. Louisville wasn't able to find the back of the cage more than once, and it doomed them once more. 

Louisville field hockey has plenty of chances this season, and they do have some good wins, but the biggest victories have eluded them. Nearly beating Northwestern hurt a lot. Now, facing an incredibly difficult road trip against Duke and North Carolina, nearly beating Duke doesn't get it done. The Cards face UNC tomorrow and the #3 team will be looking to ensure the Cards can't finish over .500 in conference play. 

Rylie Wollerton scored her 8th goal of the season, which leads the team. Her goal came after a great pass by Gigi Edwards, who is now tied for third on the team in assists with three. Wollerton herself is second with four. Louisville faced significant pressure from Duke, with the Blue Devils putting up seven total shots, compared to just two for the Cards. Duke also had four corners (Louisville one), which they took advantage of by converting one for their equalizing goal. The Cards earned a chance late in the fourth when they won possession with an extra player on the pitch due to the empty net, but they weren't able to find a chance for a shot. 

After the match, Coach Justine Sowry lamented the mental lapses that prevented the Cards from closing out the game. Louisville has been susceptible to giving up the ball in critical situations late in games, and yesterday saw that unfortunate trend come into play once more. The Cards fall to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play. With five conference games to go, they'll have to run the table to finish over .500 in the ACC. Louisville gets a very difficult opponent to open that final stretch when they take on UNC in Chapel Hill tomorrow. The match gets underway at noon on ACC Network.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast


We'll have three on hand this week as Daryl took the opportunity to grab a tee time with Louisville football off. Paulie, Jared, and I will discuss the joy and excitement that have been brought by all three teams this week, while also touching on some of the other news that has come and gone. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 


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Until next time, Go Cards!
Case

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