VB Alumnae Scrimmage Draws Closer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Current Cards vs Former Cards Showdown Happening Soon

Charitie Luper

The return of the Alumnae Match for Louisville volleyball has brought much excitement and anticipation. Most years, there are not enough alums available to make this doable, but this year, it sounds like there are enough to produce a good chunk of a team, but they may need some assistance filling out a rotation.

Aiko Jones

Confirmed Alumnae

Elena Scott, defensive specialist/libero, class of 2024

Charitie Luper, outside hitter, class of 2024

Aiko Jones, opposite side hitter, class of 2023

Elena Scott

Rumored Alumnae

Claire Chaussee, outside hitter, class of 2022

Confirmed Unavailable Alumnae

Anna DeBeer, outside hitter, class of 2024 (recovering from injury)

Tori Dilfer Stringer, setter, class of 2021 (pregnant)

Anna Stevenson Hall, middle blocker, class of 2021 (pregnant)

Amaya Tillman, middle blocker, class of 2022 (asst coach for Kentucky)

Ayden Bartlett, defensive specialist, class of 2023 (asst coach for UTSA)

Raquel Lazaro, setter, class of 2023, (playing overseas)

Anna DeBeer

Possible Alumnae But No Confirmation if Available or Not

Sarah Drury Petkovic, Chief of Staff Volleyball, class of 2002 (has not played collegiate or professional volleyball in nearly two decades)

Alexa Hendricks, defensive specialist, class of 2022 (currently traveling internationally)

Sofia Maldonado Diaz, opposite side hitter, class of 2024 (currently traveling internationally)

Ceci Rush, serving specialist, class of 2022 (lives local, unknown if available)

Elle Glock, server, class of 2024 (recently retired from volleyball, unknown if available)

Claire Chaussee

How many more alumnae will we see join the roster for Saturday? While I don't believe it will be a full rotation of players, it is certainly a good thing to have enough alumnae available and interested in playing. While many, many alumnae were extended the invitation to join, each one may have her own reasons why the can or cannot play. We will make sure to have some coverage for the match Saturday.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Breakout Candidates for Volleyball -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Breakout Candidates for Volleyball

Jared checking back in this week as we played some musical chairs with coverage this week. All good for everyone here at Team Cardinal Couple. 

With things still pretty slow this summer, we continue to look forward to the upcoming fall seasons. Each season, we see players have breakout years and go well above and beyond what their expectations are. Star players and players that are preseason All-American or All-Conference do not qualify as they are already expected to have big years.

Payton Petersen

With the graduation of key players such as Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Charitie Luper, there are plenty of key roles that need to be filled. Transfer Chloe Chicoine is already a top-tier player with high expectations and returners Cara Cresse and Nayelis Cabello already have preseason and postseason honors to their names, so we won't give them breakout contender marks.

Hannah Sherman has played a backseat role to Cresse and Phekran Kong in past years. PK has graduated so her biggest competition is Cresse. You often rotate a pair of middle blockers in a match so it is Sherman's time to step in and shine. She has shown glimpses of her raw strength in the past and she could be one of the top blockers in the ACC this year.

Hannah Kenny

Payton Petersen played a limited role last year as an outside hitter. She sat behind DeBeer, Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, and Reese Robins, and often only played as a sub in blowout matches. When DeBeer went down, Petersen had a chance to show off what she is capable of and didn't let the fans down. She will see plenty of reps this year and can truly make a name for herself this year.

Hannah Kenny is a true freshman that could see valuable minutes. I think Kamden Schrand gets the nod at libero, but Kenny is similar to Scott in terms of size, versatility, and having a background as a setter in high school. If she cleans up her serve receive a little then she could be fighting for that libero spot by the end of the year.

Hannah Sherman

The Cards are two weeks away from their Red and Black Scrimmage at LN Arena on Friday 6:00pm ET.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Jared Looks at Volleyball Schedule -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Take Court in One Month

The last of the 'Big Three' women's sports that take place in the fall that we cover at Cardinal Couple is Louisville volleyball. The VolleyCards are typically the last of the women's sports to kick off their season as is the case this year. UofL has a scrimmage in a month on August 23 but won't truly start until August 29.

Louisville hosts the Cardinal Classic by welcoming Auburn, Morehead State, and St Johns to LNFCU Arena. While the Eagles won their conference last year and made the NCAA Tournament, they were quickly disposed of by Pitt. The other two did not make it. Louisville should open the season 3-0.

A road trip to Fort Worth for a primetime match-up against Texas will be next. Most likely, ESPN or ABC will take this one. The Longhorns are a powerhouse program and the Cards have traded off wins in the past. Playing on the road this early in the season while still adjusting to the departure of players like Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, and Elena Scott, this will be a battle with the Cards falling on the wrong side.

The road trip continues with a three-match stint in Omaha against Creighton, Northern Iowa, and Rice. This will be the continuation of a brutal stretch for the Cards, especially three matches in three days, that I think Louisville will take a loss, possibly two. I'm giving the Cards the benefit of the doubt and give them two wins on the weekend to improve to 5-2.

Returning home, Louisville gets to play at the KFC Yum! Center for the first when they host rival Kentucky. The Cards have had the Cats' number the last few seasons and they should continue that this season with a crowd of 10,000+. Western Kentucky makes a visit to the Yum shortly after. The Hilltoppers have had a history of being a strong program, but Louisville owned the all-time series 19-0 and I see that streak continuing. Wins against in-state foes propels the Cards to 7-2.

ACC play begins after that with the Cards hosting Boston College and Syracuse. Louisville goes back to LNFCU Arena for these matches and I see the Cards cruising along to two wins.

A trip out west comes next with Louisville visiting California and Stanford. The Cards should be able to handle Cal but Stanford will be another tough match and a possible top-10 match-up. Louisville traded wins with the Cardinal, each taking a win at home in the regular season. UofL took another win at Freedom Hall to advance to the Final Four. Playing out west, this is a time we will see Stanford get some revenge. Louisville will return home 10-3.

A four match homestand comes next with Virginia Tech, Virginia, SMU, and Pitt visiting. Surprisingly, all four will be held on campus. SMU was a 2-seed last year and Pitt was a 1-seed, showcasing the strength of the ACC. Louisville should handle the Hokies and Cavaliers fairly easily unless their eyes are looking too far into the future. While SMU will be a challenge, playing at home will help playing in the favor of the Cards for a win. Pitt will be the toughest test. The Panthers swept the regular season over the Cards before UofL claimed the most important match in the Final Four... the one where DeBeer went down... and advanced to their second ever championship appearance. Without DeBeer and Scott on this squad this year, I think Pitt comes in and steals a win. Louisville will come out of this stretch 13-4.

Louisville hits the road against Duke, North Carolina, and Notre Dame next. UofL swept all of them last year and they should have no problem cruising along to easy wins again and improve their record to 16-4. Louisville turns around for a quick home match for Notre Dame, another should-be-easy-win.

The Cards quickly hit the road again to visit NC State and Wake Forest. These are a couple middle of the pack ACC teams that the Cards should be able to handle, improving their record to 16-4. 

Louisville comes home to host Florida State and Miami. The Seminoles and Hurricanes are both teams that regular sit right behind Louisville, Pitt, Georgia Tech, and Stanford. I see the Cards getting challenged some but pulling off victories in both.

One final road trip on the season sees the Cards visiting Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Pitt. The Yellow Jackets are a tough team and one of the best in the ACC. This will be a difficult road test that I think the Cards grind out. Clemson has been one of the bottom teams in the ACC in volleyball that UofL should handle well. Playing at Pitt for their Senior Day is a tall task. Pitt defends their home court well and I think the Panthers win that one.

UofL closes out the regular season at home against Stanford at the KFC Yum! Center. I think UofL rides the energy of the crowd downtown on Senior Day to get the win. The Cards will close out the regular season 21-5 and ranked in the top five in the country.

At worst, I see UofL being a 2-seed with the ceiling being a 1-seed. This should be another Elite Eight visit at the minimum with a good chance to go further.

We plan to continue coverage of them this fall.

Many of the regular photographers that cover UofL games

(Photos by Jared)

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Roster Update -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UofL Volleyball Roster Update

In an unsurprising announcement, UofL volleyball player Sam Untiedt posted that she has transferred to South Dakota. Untiedt just concluded her freshman season with the Cards and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

During her season with the Cards, Untiedt saw action in 10 matches, tallying one assist, three service aces, and five digs. As the Louisville roster grows, it was expected we would see a player or two transfer out.

Kamden Schrand with the serve receive

Louisville pulled in a couple key transfers while bringing in a strong recruiting class. Chloe Chicoine is an outside hitter from Purdue with two years of eligibility left. Chicoine was one of the top recruits out of high school and in the transfer portal. She should be a full rotation player both offensively and in the back row.

Molly Wilson transferred in from Washington and will have one year of eligibility remaining. The setter earned Big Ten honors (Washington just completed their first year in the Big Ten) and should be in competition with Nayelis Cabello for the starting setter position.

Hannah Kenny setting

Payton Petersen, Reese Robins, Alanna Bankston, and Ava Utterback are all vying for an outside hitter position alongside Chicoine. Petersen made her name known following Anna DeBeer's injury in the Final Four and Robins was a regular on rotation last season.

Kamden Schrand is the favorite to take over the libero position but has been in a battle for that role with incoming freshman Hannah Kenny. Kenny has a similar backstory as recent graduate Elena Scott in that both were all-conference/all-district setters at successful high school programs and transitioned to a defensive specialist position in college. Having a DS with setter experience can be an asset in out of system plays. Molly Urban and Jessica Drapp help fill up the DS room.

Chloe Chicoine on the outside

The middle blockers haven't changed much. Phekran Kong graduated and is using her final year of eligibility out at UCLA while working on her masters degree. Cara Cresse and Hannah Sherman are both back and should be the regular middle blocker rotation. Kalyssa Blackshear comes in as a highly touted freshman that could see some court time too.

We should see the VolleyCards in some action in late August as they get ready for the season.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

VB Final Four Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

All Top Seeds Advanced to Final Four

In a tournament where we saw a fair share of upsets, the NCAA Volleyball Regional Tournaments ended with a chalk result as all four 1-seeds from their respective regionals advanced to the National Semifinals.

Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville all won their regions and will prepare for the Final Four, hosted at the KFC Yum! Center. For us Louisville folks, playing in town makes the trip much easier. Louisville's other two Final Four appearances were in Columbus, Ohio and Omaha, Nebraska.

Let's take a look at each team's journey to the Final Four...

Pittsburgh

Photo by Pitt Athletics

vs Morehead State 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-15)

vs 8-seed Oklahoma 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-19)

vs 4-seed Oregon 3-2 (25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12)

vs 3-seed Kentucky 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17)

The toughest match for the Panthers came in the Sweet Sixteen against Oregon. The Ducks, who upset 2-seed Nebraska as a 3-seed in 2022 tried to pull off another tournament upset but the hostile crowd at the Petersen Events Center proved to be too much.

Penn State

Photo by Penn State Athletics

vs Delaware State 3-0 (25-4, 25-20, 25-18)

vs 8-seed North Carolina 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-15)

vs 5-seed Marquette 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20)

vs 2-seed Creighton 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-7)

Creighton nearly pulled off the upset against the Nittany Lions. The Blue Jays took Penn State to five sets, but could not get anything going in the final lap. North Carolina and Marquette both were competitive but were overpowered.

Nebraska

Photo by Nebraska Athletics

vs Florida A&M 3-0 (25-3, 25-9, 25-17)

vs 8-seed Miami 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18)

vs 5-seed Dayton 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 25-13)

vs 2-seed Wisconsin 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-21)

Nebraska hasn't truly had a tough test up to this point of the tournament. While Dayton was able to steal a set from the Huskers, the Flyers weren't too competitive the rest of the time. Wisconsin was the only team to score in the 20's on two different sets.

Louisville

Photo by Louisville Athletics

vs Chicago State 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-13)

vs 8-seed Northern Iowa (26-28, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 22-20)

vs 4-seed Purdue (25-17, 25-18, 25-18)

vs 2-seed Stanford (22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20)

Louisville nearly saw an early exit from the tournament after Northern Iowa had multiple match point chances. The Cards found a way to pull out a win. Stanford played the Cards tough in a pair of sets but Louisville prevailed.

Facts and Tidbits

Photo by Jared Anderson

Pittsburgh has advanced to four straight Final Fours. Louisville has advanced to three Final Fours over the last four years. The ACC vs ACC match-up will guarantee the conference has a team in the title game for just the second time in history. Stanford has multiple titles, but they were not a member of the ACC at the time.

Nebraska has been to three of the last four Final Fours. This is Penn State's first Final Four appearance since 2017. In this Big Ten vs Big Ten match-up, the conference is guaranteed to have a team in the title game. The Big Ten has been represented in the national championship every year since 2007 with the exception of 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2022.

The top two teams in the ACC and the top two teams in the Big Ten make up the Final Four. This is the first time since 2008 that the top four seeds advanced to the Final Four. That year, the top overall seeded team beat the second overall seeded team in the final.

Stanford has won the most volleyball championships with nine. Penn State has seven titles and Nebraska has five. Texas and UCLA have both won four times. Hawai'i, Long Beach State, and USC each have three titles. Pacific is the only other school with multiple championships with two.

Louisville will face Pittsburgh at 6:30pm on Thursday. Nebraska and Penn State will play about 30 minutes after the first match ends.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards Fall to Pitt — Happy Thanksgiving — THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Falls at Home to Pitt

Louisville volleyball concluded their home finale of the regular by welcoming #1 Pittsburgh to the KFC Yum! Center. 12,510 fans packed the arena for one of the biggest NCAA Volleyball matches of the season. The crowd was the third largest in Louisville history for a home regular season match. 

Set One: Pitt 25, Louisville 23

After Pitt jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Cards were able to battle back and bring it within one multiple times. The Panthers relied on aggressive blocking to push ahead12-8. Pitt led 15-11 at the first media timeout. Louisville called its first timeout when a Pitt block pushed the Panthers lead to 18-14. Service and attack errors by the Cards gave Pitt a sizable lead but the Cards rallied to the deficit to one, forcing Pitt to call a timeout. The Panthers survived and took the first set by a slim margin.

Set Two: Louisville 25, Pitt 18

The Cards and Panthers traded points early on before Louisville was able to gain an 8-5 advantage thanks to a monster block, forcing a Pitt timeout. Aggressive serving and blocking propelled the Cards to a 14-9 lead. Pitt wasn’t ready to go away, though, and cut the score to 15-13 and then 17-16. Louisville bent, but did not break, and went back up 20-16, leading to Pitt to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout, Louisville stayed hot, winning three more in a row and then going on to win the second set by seven.

Set Three: Pitt 25, Louisville 20

Attack errors and serve receive errors by Louisville gave Pitt an early 6-3 edge. The Panthers pushed their lead to 9-5. After Pitt went up 11-5, the Cards called a timeout to regroup. After going down 14-6, the Cards went on a 3-0 run and Pitt took their first timeout of the set. Pitt took a commanding lead in the third set, going up 21-15. The Cards answered with a quick 3-0 spurt. The Panthers put the rally to rest, winning the third set by five.

Set Four: Pitt 25, Louisville 

Similar to the second set, the two foes traded points early on before the Panthers took a 9-7 advantage. A questionable call by the officials that had the entire arena in an uproar extended their lead another point… the officials didn’t have a strong explanation there so we’ll say Pitt got a freebie. The Panthers continued to pull ahead and extended their lead to seven at 20-13. The Panthers went on cruise control the rest of the way for the win.

Louisville hit .289 on the night. Serving continued to be a struggle as the Cards had more errors (9) than aces (6). Anna DeBeer led the team with 14 kills and Reese Robins added 10. Pitt hit .310 and Olivia Babcock had one of the best games of her career with 23 kills, five digs, and five blocks. Too many unforced errors, whether attack errors, service errors, or serve receive errors were the Achilles Heel for the Cards tonight.

All of Louisville’s losses have come to teams in the top four. Unfortunately, last night was one of them as Pitt played one of their best matches all season and Louisville seemed to be a step slow at times. Don’t worry, Louisville will get their revenge when it matters- in the NCAA Tournament. 

Louisville hits the road to face #7 Stanford on Black Friday to close out the regular season. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be at 6:00pm on Sunday. The Cards will play the opening weekend at the KFC Yum! Center.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the past, we have chosen to forgo a regular article on Thanksgiving in recognition of the holiday. However, we are quite fortunate to have a top-five volleyball team playing on national tv on Thanksgiving Eve that we get to report on.

We at Cardinal Couple are thankful for the opportunity to cover so many great UofL women’s sports each year. We are also especially grateful to YOU for your constant support of everything we do. Whether you interact daily, listen to the podcast each week, or just check in every once in a while to see how things are going, we appreciate you.

Happy Thanksgiving from Jared, Paulie, Jeff, Case, Daryl and Sonya and .....Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards Remain #3 -- Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Stays Put at #3 in AVCA Rankings

To no surprise, Louisville volleyball retained their #3 ranking in the latest AVCA poll, sitting behind Pitt and Nebraska. The Cards easily swept Duke and North Carolina at home over the weekend, the latter of whom has lost four of their last five matches as they have reached the tougher part of the ACC slate.

Louisville has improved their record to 23-3 on the season and 15-1 in conference play. The only loss for the Cards in the ACC came on the road against Pitt in five sets. The Cards have had six straight sweeps and 12 overall since the ACC portion of the schedule began.

Pitt swept Florida State and Miami to improve to 25-1 and 15-1. The Panthers have won 10 straight since falling to SMU. 

Nebraska is 26-1 on the year and 16-0 in Big 10 play following victories against Indiana and Minnesota. The Huskers were swept by SMU over Labor Day Weekend and have surrendered just seven sets since then.

A rare black & white photo from Jared

Behind Louisville sits a Penn State team who defeated the Cards early in the season. The rest of the top 10 remained unchanged too- Creighton, Wisconsin, Stanford, Purdue, Arizona State, and SMU. Other Louisville opponents in the rankings include #12 Kentucky, #15 Georgia Tech, and #23 Florida State. North Carolina and Miami both received votes in the latest AVCA poll.

Next on the schedule is a trip to the Commonwealth of Virginia with matches against Virginia and Virginia Tech. They will follow that with a home match against Pitt Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and a trip to Stanford on Black Friday.

Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week

For the fifth time this season, Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week for Louisville volleyball. The freshman setter tallied 33 assists, eight digs, one ace, and one block over the weekend.

Cabello has placed herself as one of the frontrunners for ACC Freshman of the Year. Her case for ACC Setter of the Year is not as strong as Cabello has split time in that role with Elle Glock. Louisville has run a 6-2 offense this season, which affords a team to work with two setters in a rotation.

Women's Basketball Road Trip Thoughts

While we are now three days removed from Louisville women's basketball's trip down I-64 to Lexington, I haven't said much regarding the trip. Instead of digging into the game any more than we already have, I'll spend some time recapping our trip instead.

I met up with Paulie and Sonyain mid-afternoon to make the trip to Wildcat Country. Lexington traffic was heavier than normal due to their football team and women's basketball team both playing at home. While we normally park in the lot adjacent to Memorial Coliseum in past trips, we were declined a spot to park... despite being media and having a handicapped parking pass. 

Paulie, Sonya, and I ventured down the road to the true media parking lot, roughly 2.5 blocks from the arena. We were told that there was no transportation to the arena from the lot so I turned around and dropped our Cardinal Couple "OG's" off at the front door before driving back to the media lot.

Upon meeting back up with Paulie and Sonya, we were informed that the media entrance was in a different spot due to construction and had to walk to the far side of the arena. Once we checked in, we were informed that the elevator for us to use was then at the opposite side of the arena from us, which would take us down to the floor. We get down to the floor and... the media room is the far side of the court.

By now, we've certainly gotten our steps in. Poor Paulie and Sonya, though. While the KFC Yum! Center offers plenty of floor media seating, all media seating at Memorial Coliseum was up a flight of stairs. Talk about a workout with all of the walking back-and-forth and up-and-down. Paulie wryly commented that he hadn't done as much walking since there had been a Carter in the White House. A special "thank you" to UK WBB SID  Cami Moore Williams, who assigned a student to show Paulie and Sonya how to get from the media break room to their seats. in the confusing labyrinth that is the new Memorial Coliseum  All this, after a huge renovatuon...it was much easier to get from the media room to sideline press seats in the old facility. UK has basically snubbed their nose at the independent media who provide them coverage.  

I was a bit more fortunate as I was on the floor in the end zone with the rest of the Louisville photographers. It was nice to have some friendly faces around me. I still felt the effect of being on the road as the Kentucky fans sitting courtside behind us didn't understand that you wave pom-poms in the air and not in a spot that hits photographers in the back of the head. They also really didn't like the way Dee Kanter and her crew officiated the game. While the stripes may not have heard their yelling, my ringing ears caught every word and spit.

Oy vey. The things we do as media to cover the school we love... Rain or shine, red or blue, we will continue to cover our beloved Cardinals.

POST GAME

On a side note, don't try to bait an opposing team's coach into commenting on the officiating. Props to Jeff Walz on handling that situation with aplomb and deference concerning the reporter who tried to bait him over the weekend. Walz saw Cards' free throws woes as the deciding factor in the game, the Cards were 9-15 (60%), UK was 13-18 (72%). As Donovan Clingan's mom Stacy told hom years ago.."Make your free throws, win games.."  It's the easiest shot you'll get on the court....next to a uncontsted layup.  

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards ground Eagles in a sweep -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUSVILLE VOLLEYBALL GOES TO 21-3 WITH WIN IN BOSTON

To steal a phrase from the 1965 rockin' classic by the Yardbirds, the train kept a rollin' all night long for Louisville Volleyball Sunday afternoon, getting their fifth win in a row over Boston College 25-21, 25-18 and 25-8. (Here's a link to the hit from the band that had Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton all in it at one time or another): 

"Train Kept A Rollin'"

These Cards didnt have screaming guitars, frantic harmonica or a solid, driving bass/drum rhythm section, but they did have the power of Charitie Luper serves, Anna DeBeer kills and Reese Robins power at the net. Reese supplied the power in Power Gym, ironically.  B.C., playing in tiny Power Gym, just may have inadvertantly reminded Louisville of games at the LNFCU on the UofL campus...a small cozy environment that also hads a lot of red in it. 

Here's the details: 

SET ONE

It was actually BC early in the first set, scoring the first three points and grabbing a 6-2 lead on the visitors from Derby City, but UofL battled back behind Anna DeBeer, Luper and Hannah Sherman to grab a 13-11 lead. The Cards stay pretty much on the three-point lead, going up 23-20 on a block..then kills from DeBeer and Sofia Maldonado closed the door on set one. B.C, had fought the good fight but ended up on the short side of the score. 

SET TWO

Louisville did not make the same mistake of letting BC get up early in set two like they did in set one,...the Cards flew out to a 6-2 lead, with a DeBeer ace and kills from DeBeer, Luper and Robins. Louisville had no interntions of slowing down, and built that lead to 15-8,  but Boston College rallied behind the home crowd and cut the Cardinals lead to 17-15.  When the score reached 21-18, the Cards said "enough of this nonsense" and put on the final four points behind kills from Luper, Maldonado-Diaz, Robins and a service ace from Kamden Schrand, A Luper kill brought the final point in win by seven for the Cards. 

SET 3 

(Dare we say it? Charitie may begin at home, but she does pretty well on the road,too)

The Cards toyed with the Eagles early in the final set..leading just 4-2, but Luper delivered three straight service aces and a couple of kills pushed this set to a 9-3 Louisville lead. The Cards kept rolling, and put together a five-point run to take a commanding 16-5. Boston College had effectively tossed in the towel, and Louisville went on a 9-3 game ending run to close out the set at 25-8 and get the sweep of the match. 

Next up....Louisville brings in Duke for a Friday, 7 p.m. contest. The Blue Devils lost in straight sets Sunday at Pitt and they have not fared so well this season...going 5-9 in ACC play and 9-16 overall. The two will meet in the Cards on campus arena...the LNFCU (Louisville & Nashville Federal Credit Union Arena) Let's hope the train keeps rolling on the home tracks, too.

paulie

A Volleyball Kind Of Day - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Visits Beantown

(Volleyball heads to Boston, but they wont be looking for Norm, Sam or Diane)

With a few specific exceptions, it feels like this weekend and last has been a little...dull?...in volleyball, across the country.  That's not to say that good teams aren't still playing quite well, they are, but by and large, they've been playing teams that fall down in the mid-ranks of their various conferences.

For the most part.

This is mostly intentional on the part of conferences, as they want to put the big splashy matchups late in the season, right before NCAA selection, to benefit from the recency bias that the committee uses.

(The B.C. court)

So the Cards had their home-and-home travel partners matches with a not-very-good Notre Dame last week, and this week take the northern swing for the ACC where they played a definitely not-very-good Syracuse team on Friday, and today take on an only-a-little-bit-better Boston College.  Syracuse, as Case mentioned yesterday, only has a single win in conference, Notre Dame only has a pair.  They play today, so someone is going to improve their record...a little.  Boston College is 5-8, though, which is, well, not great, but it's something anyway?

So the Cards, at 12-1 in conference are playing the Eagles, at 5-8.  You don't have to follow volleyball very closely to know who the favored team is, here.  As always in the ACC, however, BC is not a team to be taken for granted.  They were responsible for handing set losses to several of the undefeated teams in early conference play.  Stanford, Pitt, and UNC all had their first set loss in conference play come at the hands of BC, and in Pitt's case, it was their first set loss of the whole season.

(when we refer to "B.C." we mean Boston College, not the comic strip...)

As long as UofL continues their balanced attack, solid defense, and gets some good blocking, they'll win this game without too much trouble.  Get cocky, however, and the wheels could fall off.

 

The match today is at 1pm, as is typical for Sunday matches, and you can find the video (not always a given, at BC) on ACC Network Extra (streaming).

 

A Quick Look at Rankings

While I mentioned that this weekend and last has been a bit dull in volleyball across the nation, we haven't been completely bereft of spicy matches.  Last weekend, Miami upset Stanford which really helped solidify our hold on the 4th place ranking, dropping Stanford to 6th from their previous 5th.  Creighton was the big beneficiary of that ranking change, stepping up into the 5th place ranking.  That weekend also saw Georgia Tech vs North Carolina, two pretty good teams, go at it with the YellowJackets coming out on top...barely (25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25, 15-12).

And we look beyond the ACC for another spicy matchup, that should help the Cards out, as 7th ranked Wisconsin, swept 3rd ranked Penn State.  And after the first set completed 25-23, it wasn't even that close, with the 2nd and 3rd sets going 25-12, and 25-13.

That should drop the Nittany Lions down a spot or two leaving an opening for Louisville to move up into 3rd.

(Sweet Home...KFC YUM Center...wher the Cards are so true...)

Looking ahead, there's definitely a good path for Louisville to play their full NCAA tournament run at the KFC Yum! Center.  They have to get a top four seeding from the committee to assure that, and they got that seeing in the early reveal back on October 20th, and that seeding, or better, has only gotten stronger support since then.  Of course, the Cards still have to close out the season with matches against Pitt and Stanford, so there are some potential stumbling blocks in the way, but overall the Cards are in a pretty good place right now.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(Paulie loves volleyball, it is a inside sport where it isn't freezing)

It was just the two of us (cue Bill Withers) on the CCRHP yesterday, as Paulie and I held it down. We know not where Case or Jared were, just that they were out (conspiratorial theorist..begin...now) and Daryl was having work done o n the house 

We were thankful as we move into the Fall/Winter sports overlap, giving us both Basketball and Volleyball to cover.  OK, neither competition was against very competitive teams, but it was great to have basketball play to be talking about again.

Check it out at Spotify or your favorite podcast directory:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-Begin-in-Earnest--Volleyball-Cruises-e2qpnph

-- JMcA