Louisville to Honor NCAA Runners-Up at Alumnae Match -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Hosts Alumnae All-Star Match Today

Louisville volleyball has been announcing the all-stars that are returning for this afternoon's alumnae match throughout the week, and many of the names are those that were rumored last week. In addition to today's match, UofL will be hosting a season-opening "Block Party" at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, including a ring ceremony for the 2024 runner-up finishers, a team Q&A, an autograph session, and an opportunity for fans to take photos with the runner-up trophy on the court. 

The latest announcement for today's match were the coaching staff for the all-star team. One of those coaches will just be heading across the floor, as Sarah Drury Petkovic moves over from the current staff to take part in leading the group. The other is another one of the all-stars herself, though she is unable to play. Anna DeBeer will join Petkovic at the helm of a stellar alumnae team. 

Though they won't have DeBeer, the all-stars will still have a strong hitting contingent, as Aiko Jones, Claire Chaussee, and Charitie Luper join the team. Louisville's blocking and defense will be put to the test with those three on the attack. On the flip side, Louisville's offense will have to contend with a strong alumnae defense as well. The all-star team will roll with Elena Scott at libero and Emily Scott (no relation) at middle blocker. Emily, if you'll remember, was also a national champion for UofL in the high jump. She finished her volleyball career with 207 kills and 133 blocks, despite playing in just 138 total sets. Also joining the alumnae are Elle Glock at setter and Jamie Vasilou, who primarily served as a serving specialist in her time with the Cards.

Today's match won't be available for streaming, so you'll have to get into the arena to be a part of this one. First serve is scheduled for 2PM and the doors will open at 1PM. I suspect the line is already forming (which may or may not be a joke depending on what time you are reading this). It should be an exciting match and will be Louisville's final competitive tune-up before opening the season on Friday, August 29th against Auburn. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today as Jared takes in the final weekend of the fair. Paulie, Daryl, and I will still have plenty to discuss with the soccer season fully underway and the other two fall sports in their exhibition schedules. 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

Yeast Runs Into Record Books -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Indoor Track and Field Seeing Success

The Cards are once again in the midst of competing in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center for three straight events hosted by three different schools. This weekend, they're participating in UK's Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational. The event began in the snow yesterday and will wrap up starting today at 11am. 

Yesterday saw Louisville pick up eight individual top-five finishes, with two event wins. Surprisingly, Kiyah Yeast didn't pick up one of those top-five finishes, despite a 38.19 in the 300m that took almost two seconds off her personal best and beat the previous school record of 39.10 (Je'Nyia Burton; 2022) by almost a second. Yeast finished just 0.15s behind UCF's Twaniese Johnson in 5th and just 0.71s behind the winner, UK's Oneika McAnnuff.

The Cards' victories came from familiar names in Soledad Jean and Synclair Savage. Both won in the events you may expect, with Savage taking the win in the long jump with a 6.24m leap which would be top 5 in the country and best in the ACC before the meet. Jean, meanwhile, made her season debut in the high jump and cleared 1.75m in her victory. 

Other jumps saw Natalie Lark finish second in the pole vault with Paris Bond (pb for PB) coming home in fourth. On the track, McKenzie Bell ran a 1:33.24 in the 600m to place third and take the second fastest time in program history. Jalasia Lewis took fourth in the event with a 1:37.80. The last top five finisher in a final was Jade Whitfield, with a fifth place finish in the women's weight throw. Olivia Jenkins won her heat in the women's 60m sprint to advance to today's semifinals. 

Pro VolleyCards

As Jeff mentioned yesterday, a number of Cardinals were making their season or career debuts in professional volleyball last night. It went better for some than it did for others. 

In LOVB, Anna Hall and Claire Chaussee's Madison squad was swept by Austin. Hall had two kills on 11 attempts but led the team with three blocks. Chaussee had a bit more success offensively, though not a ton. She was 8/25 with three errors (two blocked). Austin outhit Madison .247 to .093. 

On the PVF side, Aiko Jones and the Atlanta Vibe fell in five sets to the Omaha Supernovas. Jones was hitting into a brick wall, unfortunately, with three blocked hits on four attack attempts. I promised it went well for someone, though, and that was Charitie Luper in the Vegas Thrill vs Grand Rapids Rise match. The Thrill won in reverse sweep fashion, and it was Luper leading the way. In a manner not unfamiliar to her, Luper led all hitters with 18 kills on 50 attempts. She had just three errors and two were blocked. She also added a block of her own, had 15 digs, and dropped in an ace. If you were curious whether Luper's dominance was limited to a Cardinal uniform... it isn't. 

As Jeff mentioned, the remainder of the pro cards will be in action tonight, with Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer playing for Indy and Tori Stringer and Wilma Rivera playing for Columbus. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm back after a couple of weeks off, and we'll have four on the call today for the first time in a bit. We'll talk basketball, volleyball, and some odds and ends. Spring sports are just around the corner, and schedules are being released. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

AIKO JONES LEAVING UOFL? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VOLLEYBALL GREAT TO LEAVE SQUAD/STAFF? 

If one mentions the name Aiko Jones around the UofL campus,any sports followers thee  will immediaely recognize her as one of the best ever to play Volleyball for the Cards. An unconfirmed but highly legitimate source at UofL tells us that her days may ne done on the Belknap Campus, with the word being that she may be leaving the University of Louiville and her graduate teaching assistant position and her playng eligibility has come to an end. .  

Graduate teaching assistants help faculty members teach undergraduate students. Known as GTA's, they are graduate students that take courses and study in a speciaized field. They do normally have eligibility left to play on teams, but there is word that Jones had been a grad assistant since 2018 has no playong time left. . They can have any number of tasks, from grading papers to helping sports information directors verify and proofread publications about the team. 

GTA's are usually on some type of scholarship and the position is sometimes consindered a team manager of sorts 

One listing of the Cards potential Vollleyball roster for 2024, however,  still has her listed as a outside hitter on the 2024 squad, so there is a bit of confusion, Aiko's website (aikojnes.com) doesn't really help clear up anything concerning her status, either.

The actual Cards 2024 roster has not been officially released yet, so we'll see what comes up on it for Dani Busboom Kelly's squad. . 

Jones arrived at UofL in 2018 and redshirted that season. She was an important contributor to the roster as an outside hitter for five seasons... from 2019-2023.

Jones had this to say about her and her life and status last summer. : 

.....The best decision I have ever made was also the hardest and scariest decision I have ever made. It was a decision that would change how people viewed me and how much they respected me. It was a decision that I thought would change my life forever and I was right about that, but I was wrong about what that change would look like. The best decision I have ever made was telling the world a very small detail about me. The best decision I have ever made was “coming out”.

As I write this, I am approaching 24 years old. I am a second-year master’s student in the University of Louisville’s Communication program. I have a dog and a cat, and I love to bake. I like puzzles, I love learning, and I wish I were ambidextrous. I am also engaged … to the most amazing woman I have ever met in my life. As I write this, I am proud, not of rainbows and labels and pride parades, but of my authenticity and my constant effort to live my truth. As I write this, I am proud to be who I am, and to be her publicly......

Whatever Aiko decides to take on next, we certainly wish her the best of luck here at Cardinal Couple. The old adage is: "You can't keep them forever.." but, in Jones case... she is one that a lot of Cardinals fans wish could remain on campus forever...

paulie 

Volleyball Advances to Sweet Sixteen -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sweep WMU to Advance

Louisville hosted Western Michigan in the Yum! Center last night in the second round of the NCAA tournament. As Coach Dani Busboom Kelly noted in her postgame remarks, WMU was a good team that lost only two matches all season. Louisville certainly didn't have a walk in the park, despite the final score. While they finished with a sweep, they had to earn it, winning with scores of 26-24, 25-18, and 25-22. The Cards used a good hitting night to put WMU away, hitting .359 as a team with just 10 errors. Their lowest set percentage was still .300 and every hitter with an attempt hit at least .200.

The Cards jumped out to an early lead in the first, led by a 3-kill streak for Cara Cresse that was part of a 4-0 run to move Louisville ahead 7-3. The Cards had to weather a storm, as WMU brought it back to tie the set at 12 before carrying a two point lead 17-15. After Louisville held close, it looked as though they'd be in dire straights when WMU moved to Set Point 3 with a 24-21 lead. Louisville did no less than rattle off five straight points to win 26-24. 

The second set was closer for longer, but Louisville's brief runs were more frequent that WMU's. The Cards led 15-10 before a quick spurt of energy from the Broncos made it 15-14 again. The trades continued, but they were uneven, and Louisville ultimately took the set 25-18. The second was Louisville's best hitting set, as they were .387 in that one. Somewhat surprisingly, it wasn't WMU's worst set, as that came in the first with a .140 percentage. WMU hit .235 in the second, so Louisville was just more advantageous with their points and opportunities. 

Much like the second, the third set stayed close. Unlike the second, Louisville never had a big run to open the score up. As a result, WMU hung around, threatening to take a set off of the second-seeded hosts. After an error by Charitie Luper brought WMU to within one at 23-22, Luper followed it up with a kill to give the Cards a Match Point opportunity. Cara Cresse took advantage of said opportunity, and the Cards closed it out.

Luper was the leader for Louisville offensively in this one. She finished with 11 kills, which was behind only WMU's Anna Calcagno for the match lead. Calcagno had 13 kills. Luper was the only Card in double figures, but Cresse and Anna DeBeer finished with nine, while Reese Robins had eight, PK added seven, and Aiko Jones rounded out Louisville's kills with five. PK continued her strong tournament as she also had no errors. DeBeer nearly finished with a double-double, as she added nine digs to her kills.

At the net, Louisville was dominant. WMU finished with just three blocks. Louisville had ten. Louisville was even at the serving line, finishing with five aces and five service errors. They lost the category by the narrowest of margins, as WMU put up seven aces and just six errors. Elena Scott, Elle Glock, and Brigitta Petrenko were all busy. Petrenko had 12 assists and two digs, while Scott finished with seven assists to go along with her 22 digs. Glock finished with a double-double as both setters were targeted. Glock had 26 assists and 11 digs, trailing WMU's Logan Case in both categories. Case had 36 assists and 14 digs. That would be part of the reason that DBK said Case and the libero Andelyn Simkins (who also had 14 digs) could play anywhere.

There may have been a couple of spots for improvement, but Louisville will need performances more like last night's than the one on display against Wright State if they want to make a deep run in this year's tournament. As it is, they can only take one match at a time.

Louisville played the only Friday match in their region, so they await tonight's results to determine a location and opponent. The Cards will get either Minnesota or Creighton and they'll plan in either Pittsburgh or Louisville. The match to determine Louisville's opponent is at 7:30 and the one that determines the location (Pitt vs USC) is at 7:00 PM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without Jared this week as some big game is happening in Charlotte or something. We'll have plenty to cover with the knuckleheads on hand, though. We'll talk volleyball, basketball, and whatever else strikes Paulie's fancy. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

ACC Volleyball Awards -- Looking Deeper at the Volleyball Bracket -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Several Cards with ACC Volleyball Awards

The final week of the ACC Volleyball weekly awards were released yesterday, which happened to be the same day the 2023 ACC Volleyball awards were announced.

ACC Weekly Honors

Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Elle Glock were named to ACC Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week, and Setter of the Week, respectively. All three have earned several weekly honors this season so seeing them close out the season with more accolades comes as no surprise.

DeBeer closed out the season with another double-double. She recorded 18 kills and 15 digs and even added a trio of aces and a block in the mix. This is the third time this season DeBeer received the award.

Scott split the defensive accolade with Pitt's Emma Monks. The duo shared the award back in September too. Scott logged 15 digs against Georgia Tech while adding on a pair of aces and three assists. This is Scott's fourth time this season earning the award.

Glock averaged 10.25 assists in the four-set match against the Yellow Jackets, totaling 41 on the match. She snuck in a kill and added a couple of aces. 

ACC Season Awards

Anna DeBeer was named ACC Player of the Year and Elena Scott was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year to power six Cardinals being named to All-ACC teams.

DeBeer shares the POTY award with Florida State's Audrey Koenig. The senior outside hitter finished the season with 216 kills in ACC play (343 on the season), surpassing the 1,000 career kills mark this season.

In conference play, Scott had 288 digs (443 on the season) for a 4.43 digs per set mark. If Louisville wouldn't block opponents attacks so much then she would've had more... good problem to have, though. The junior libero reached the 1,000 career digs earlier this season.

Rachel Fairbanks of Pitt was named ACC Setter of the Year. Olivia Babcock of Pitt was named ACC Freshman of the Year. Chris Poole of FSU was named ACC Coach of the Year.

DeBeer and Scott were named to the All-ACC First Team, where they were joined fellow Cardinal Charitie Luper.

Glock was named to the All-ACC Second Team alonside Aiko Jones and Cara Cresse.

Looking Into the NCAA Volleyball Bracket

Now that we have the 2023 NCAA Volleyball bracket, we have time to look at match-ups, favorites, dark horses, and matches to look out for.

*All predictions below are the opinions of Jared and may not reflect the views of the rest of Cardinal Couple*

Favorite to win the championship: Nebraska. There's little room for debate as the Huskers went 28-1 this season. Their only loss came at the hands of Wisconsin on the road on the Badger's senior day. Wisconsin is another 1-seed so that's not a bad loss at all. They swept 16 of their opponents and went to five sets just three times. Nebraska doesn't lose at home and they'll play their first four matches at home.

Dark horses: 5-seed Dayton went 31-2 this season with their only losses come to Marquette and Louisville, both in five sets. They did sweep Western Kentucky. The Flyers won 3-0 23 times this season and lost just two sets in the A10 regular season.

6-seed Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are riding a 24 match win streak. They fell to Dayton, Penn State, Arkansas, and James Madison, all of whom are in the NCAA Tournament and are seeded. They cruised through Conference USA again without a blemish in the loss column.

4-seed Washington State: A 24-7 team making a deep run? Uh, yeah. The Pac-12 has some tough competition in Stanford, Oregon, Arizona State, and USC. The Cougars held their own in the conference. Don't forget that one of their losses came at the hands of Louisville at the beginning of the season. Washington State was ranked as high as #4 at one point before they lost five of seven in a three-week span. They've now won five straight and have wins over Texas, BYU, Oregon, Arizona State, and USC this year.

Potential Exciting Match-Ups: Louisville vs Pittsburgh, Elite Eight. The two ACC rivals weren't put in the same region by accident. The ACC's top two teams on a regular basis split the series in the regular season the last two years. The Cards defeated the Panthers in the Final Four last year to go to the championship.

Wisconsin vs Penn State, Sweet Sixteen. The Nittany Lions get overshadowed by Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Purdue. Penn State is historically good. They beat the Badgers in the lone match-up this season. Wisconsin is only a couple years removed from a championship and they're the only team to beat Nebraska this year.

Florida vs Georgia Tech, Second Round. Of all of the host schools in the opening weekend, Florida got one of the toughest draws against a Georgia Tech team that arguably deserved a 4-seed. The Yellow Jackets regularly get overshadowed by Louisville and Pittsburgh, plus Florida State this year. Florida has been inconsistent most of the season and haven't won more than three games in a row since early September.

BYU vs Arizona State, Second Round. BYU held their own well in the Big 12 with five of their six losses coming in conference play (two to Texas) and the sixth loss coming against Washington State. The Cougars swept six of their final seven opponents and lost the only match that wasn't a sweep. Arizona State was dominant out of conference, losing just three sets in 12 matches. They hold wins over Stanford, Oregon, and USC and were two points short of defeating Washington State in five. This is a battle of two underrated teams.

Jared's Upset Picks (by seeding):

2-seed Louisville over 1-seed Pittsburgh, Elite Eight

5-seed Georgia Tech over 4-seed Florida, Second Round

5-seed Penn State over 4-seed Kansas, Second Round

6-seed Western Kentucky over 3-seed Tennessee, Second Round

2-seed Oregon over 1-seed Wisconsin, Elite Eight

Unseeded Delaware over 8-seed Missouri, First Round

Unseeded UC Santa Barbara over 8-seed Houston, First Round

Unseeded Minnesota over 6-seed Utah State, First Round

Unseeded Miami over 8-seed UNI, First Round

Who knows what will actually happen in the tournament. If I have time, I'll fill out a full bracket for kicks and giggles and post that here on the site before the tournament starts on Thursday.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Overcome Slow Starts for Friday Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Takes Shootout Victory Over Wake

Louisville field hockey's defense continues to impress. They've now held up for three straight shutouts after having just one on the season prior to the streak. The Cards needed that shutout yesterday, as the offense was unable to capitalize on their fairly significant offensive advantage against Wake Forest. The Cardinals and Demon Deacons needed every minute available to crown a winner, as both teams were scoreless throughout the 60-minute match and both 10-minute 7-on-7 golden goal overtime periods. Louisville ultimately came out on top after they scored on their first four stroke attempts, putting the game out of reach after a pair of misses by Wake Forest.

Louisville was the dominant team on offense in this one, and they jumped on Wake right out of the gate. With a pair of penalty corners in the first minute, you might be wondering why I'm claiming they had a slow start. That would be because those two corners led to one shot and were the first two of nine unsuccessful corners for Louisville on the evening. Wake put a shot wide of the cage in the middle of the quarter and both teams entered the break with just one shot attempt.

Just as they began the first quarter, Louisville opened the second with a shot saved off of a penalty corner. This time it was Julie Kouijzer taking the shot instead of Emilia Kaczmarczyk, but Kazzy got the rebound opportunity and, unfortunately, put it wide. Three more corners for Louisville in the quarter saw two more shots blocked or saved and the Louisville offense was being frustrated at every turn. Wake attempted to steal a goal as the game headed to halftime, getting their second (and final) shot of the game with less than 30 seconds to go in the second quarter. Like the first, it was off target and the teams went to the locker rooms tied at 0-0.

As good as Louisville's defense was at preventing Wake from even attempting to get at goal, Wake's defense was incredible in front of goal. Louisville finished the 80 minute open play periods with 11 shots. Only five of those are listed as on goal, as only five required a save by the Wake goalie. However, Louisville only had two shots go wide of the mark. The other four were blocked away by Wake Forest defenders. Louisville was dangerously close to winning the game a number of times and Wake just kept hanging on. Louisville's 0-9 on penalty corners was an unfortunate final tally, but they at least prevented Wake Forest from taking any. The Cards also kept the Deacs from attempting a shot in the second half or overtime. 

Heading into the shootout, Louisville was at risk of dominating an entire game and still moving to 1-2 in the ACC to match their foe on the night. In pretty much any sport, a shootout is a game of mostly luck. Louisville made their own luck. Izzy Bianco took the first attempt of the shootout for both teams and slotted it home. It looked like we might be in for a stressful shootout when Wake's first shooter also knocked the ball home. Lara Niebler got the second opportunity and, again, put Louisville in front. Then came Merlijn van der Vegt. Wake stepped up to attempt to equalize the shootout and MvdV said, "No, thank you." That brought Rylie Wollerton up to give Louisville a 3-1 lead, which she promptly did. MvdV was up to the task again, holding Louisville's 3-1 advantage with another Wake miss, which gave Aimee Plumb (who else?) the chance to ice the game for the Cards. She did so.

Louisville moved to 10-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play, with the lone loss coming against UNC. The Cards have now outdone their conference win total from a year ago and have looked capable of winning in many different ways. To grind for so long in a game like last night's and not be able to break through would be a perfect opportunity for an opponent to take advantage of a mental lapse. Louisville showed no such weakness. In the end, they came out victorious in what Coach Justine Sowry called a "ripsnorter." Hear that line and more from Coach Sowry at the link below and also hear from senior midfielder Minna Tremonti, who played nearly the entire match for the Cards.

Coach Justine Sowry Postgame

Minna Tremonti Postgame

Louisville is back in action tomorrow when they take on Central Michigan at noon at Trager Stadium. The Cards will try to keep their unblemished home record intact before their next home game welcomes the Iowa Hawkeyes on October 15th. Tomorrow's match will air on ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball Beats UNC 3-1

Louisville volleyball avoided a complete nightmare road trip in North Carolina after their loss on Sunday by recovering from a tough first set to beat UNC 3-1. The win over the Tar Heels was fairly critical as, after a few years of the ACC being Louisville, Pitt, and everyone else, the Cards now find themselves tied for third with Georgia Tech at 4-1 in conference. Miami sits in fifth at 4-2 after they prevented NC State from making it a three-way tie at 4-1 last night. FSU came back to beat Miami in five sets earlier this week to move to 5-0 alongside Pitt, who gave GT their first loss last night. The Seminoles will get a chance to push NC State further down the order when they face off tomorrow.

Enough about the conference standings. Louisville struggled in the fourth set on Sunday, hitting just 0.083 on their way to a 25-15 loss for just their second match loss of the season. Last night, that struggle continued in the first, as Louisville hit just 0.125 with nine attacking errors. They added five service errors and a handling error while giving up three aces to lose that first set 25-19. Apparently the officiating crew was struggling a bit too, as there were at least five challenges in the first set and about 10 on the match. Allow me to remind you that teams get two challenges before the fifth set that they lose if the challenge is unsuccessful.

From there, Louisville turned it up and Cards fans viewing from afar were treated to more of what they expected. Louisville would improve their hitting percentage for the match to 0.246 and committed just 16 errors (still too many) over the next three sets. The Cards also settled in behind the service line, committing just two more service errors over the next three sets and adding three more aces to bring their total on the match to six. 

While Louisville ultimately came out ahead, things were nervy in the second, which very nearly went to extra volleyball. The Cards went up 1-0 and 2-1 before an extended service run by Marissa Meyerhoefer saw UNC jump out to a 7-2 lead. Louisville bounced back with a run by Elena Scott to tie the set at 7, but another stretch by UNC moved the score back to 11-8. The teams continued to trade haymakers and Louisville saw themselves trail as late as 18-17. Three straight points to go up 20-18 and another pair to move to 22-19 seemed to put the Cards in the position to put the set away. Two kills and a block from the Tar Heels put the set in question, though, as they tied it at 22. After the block, Elle Glock went right back to Anna DeBeer, who hadn't had the greatest night to that point, and DeBeer put the Cards within touching distance of the win. Another UNC point tied it at 23, but it was DeBeer once more that gave Louisville set point. PK slammed home an over pass by UNC to take the set 25-23.

The third set gave Louisville the chance to regain their composure. This time it was the Cards that used an early run to seize control of the set, as they took a 9-3 lead and extended it to 11-4. UNC wasn't going away in the 1-1 match, though, especially not at home. The Tar Heels stayed within striking distance for the first half of the set before a four-point run gave Louisville a 22-15 lead. UNC immediately responded with four points of their own to get the deficit back down to three points, but Louisville had seen enough. The Cards won three of the next four points to take the third set 25-20 and move ahead 2-1 in the match.

The fourth was more of the same, but this time with a bit less drama. Louisville again used a pair of early runs to take 6-2 and 10-3 leads. As in the third, UNC tried to hang around, but they were never able to find the big run they needed to get back into the set. The Heels did outscore the Cards 16-15 over the remainder of the set, but when those 15 points were enough for Louisville to win the match, UNC needed a few more to extend it. 

Charitie Luper led Louisville in this one with 15 kills. She did so as a pin hitter with a 0.375 hitting percentage, as well, which is nothing to slouch at. In addition, Luper picked up eight digs, an assist, an ace, and two solo blocks, while contributing one of Louisville's service errors. It was quite the evening for Charitie Luper, and it came when Louisville really needed it. Anna DeBeer was second for Louisville with 12 kills. While her 0.026 hitting percentage is certainly nothing to write home about, recovering to it after hitting -0.429 in the first isn't too shabby. DeBeer matched Luper in digs, aces, and assists, and had a block assist. DeBeer, unfortunately, was the only Cardinal to commit multiple service errors, finishing with three, but it happens. She was still an integral part of the victory.

Joining those two in double digit kills were Cara Cresse with 11 and Aiko Jones with 10. Jones was just one dig off of a double-double and she added four assists, two aces, and two block assists. Cresse had seven digs as UNC did their best to avoid hitting the ball to Elena Scott on defense. Scott still finished with 19 digs, though. No big deal. It was a double-double watch all over the place, by the way, as Scott had seven assists. That means five Louisville players were within three of some stat (digs for four hitters and assists for Scott) of the feat. UNC, for the record, did get a double-double as Louisville hounded the setter defensively. The Tar Heels had three players in double-digit digs and Anita Babic led the way with 13 while claiming 35 of the team's 45 assists.

Both teams finished with seven total blocks, though Luper's were the only solo blocks of the night for either team. The Cards finished even in the service battle, scoring six aces to UNC's five but committing eight errors compared to their seven. Oddly, both teams finished with a pair of handling errors. That said, given some of the calls made on the evening and the number of challenges won, maybe four handling errors in the match isn't too surprising. 

At the end of the night, despite the excitement, Louisville moves to 4-1 in conference and 13-2 overall. UNC drops to 7-7 on the year and now sits in a four-way tie for last among teams not named Syracuse. The Orange's woes continue as they are 2-13 on the year. The Cards will face another team with an upside-down conference record on Sunday when they drive down the road to face the Duke Blue Devils. 

Duke avoided being another team just one game ahead of Syracuse when they beat Notre Dame last night. The Blue Devils are 11-5 on the season and their only home loss was a sweep against Pitt in the first match of the conference slate. Duke opened the season with a pair of losses against Purdue and Loyola Chicago before beating Creighton to start a nine-match win streak to close the book on non-conference play. They went to five sets against Creighton and WVU in that time but lost just two sets in the other seven matches. After losing to Pitt, Duke swept (now 1-4) UVA before a Florida swing saw them drop a pair to Miami and FSU.

Louisville may have started this three-match stretch in North Carolina already looking ahead to Pitt. If so, they paid for it on Sunday against NC State and recovered last night. They cannot afford to overlook Duke, despite the match in the KFC Yum! Center looming. I'm sure they're circling Friday on the calendar as a chance to claw Pitt back down into their clutches in the race for the conference title, but that only works if they take care of business tomorrow. Tomorrow's match is at 1PM on ACC Network Extra, so you'll have to figure out exactly how you plan to watch the end of field hockey (noon) and women's soccer (1PM) at the same time.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm out this week and Daryl is traveling to Albuquerque in a hot air balloon or something, but the rest of the crew should be in the house for an exciting show. Field hockey continues to look strong, women's soccer showed fight against one of the country's top teams, and Jeff is sure to have thoughts after this week's results for volleyball. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

All photos by Jared Anderson

Cards Sweep Irish -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VolleyCards Sweep Notre Dame

A shortened week had no ill effect on the Louisville volleyball as the Cards went on the road to sweep Notre Dame 3-0 (25-12, -18, -16).

While Louisville appears to have completed dominated based on the final score, Notre Dame had some bright spots including keeping the second set close until the Cards closed the set on a 7-0 run.

The Cards handed Notre Dame their third loss of the season and their first in ACC play. Only four teams remain undefeated in conference play.

On the night, the Irish were limited to 17 kills on -0.115 attack percentage. They did end up with more aces (five) than service errors (three). Meanwhile, Louisville doubled up their service errors (eight) over aces (four). The Cards more than doubled up Notre Dame in kills with 39 for the match. Louisville hit .250.

It's not often a middle blocker racks up the most kills, but Phekran "PK" Kong did so with 12 kills on .500 hitting. Aiko Jones (eight kills) and Anna DeBeer (seven kills) also had strong attack nights. Elena Scott and Elle Glock each had eight digs with the latter also recording 30 assists.

Set One: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 12

Louisville looked like one of the best teams in the country after racing out of the gate to a 9-0 lead. Their lead extended to 15-4 before Notre Dame burned their final timeout. The Irish pieced together a 4-0 spurt but Louisville never allowed things to get any closer.

Set Two: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 18

ACC play is rarely easy and Notre Dame reminded Louisville of that in the second set. After the Cards went up 3-0, the Irish battled back to a 7-7 tie. Neither team was able to piece together any type of run for much of the set and Notre Dame a 15-17 lead. After the Cards and Irish came even at 18 apiece, UofL then rallied for a 7-0 spurt to claim the set.

Set Three: Louisville 25, Notre Dame 16

The only good thing for Notre Dame this set was being able to string together three straight points and four straight points. Louisville went on cruise control for a good chunk of the set including building a seven-point lead late in the set. After the Irish cut the Louisville lead to 20-15, the Cards scored five of the final six points to claim the win.

Louisville improves to 12-1 on the season and reaches 3-0 in ACC play for the fifth straight season, COVID-19 season excluded. The Cards have won five straight in the series against Notre Dame and now lead the all-time series 24-23.

Next on the schedule for UofL is NC State. The Cards and Wolfpack will meet in Raleigh on Sunday at 4:00pm. This one will be on ACCN linear.

Exciting Personal News

In what has been an exciting and eventful 2023 year for me highlighted by a wedding and honeymoon, the next big thing to happen this year is becoming a homeowner! Katy and I closed on our first house here in town on Monday. Here's to many years of homeownership!

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Take Care of Business -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Returns to Winning Ways

After suffering their first loss of the season on the road last week against UNC, Louisville field hockey returned home to face a James Madison team that was not quite as big of a threat as they may be normally. At 2-5 entering the game, JMU was looking to get their season back on track with a big road win against a top-5 opponent, but Louisville had other plans. The Cards struck early and often, with Emilia Kaczmarczyk scoring a brace, to cruise to a 4-1 victory.

Louisville (and Kazzy) very nearly kicked things off even earlier than they actually did, as the Cards earned a penalty corner just two minutes into the game. Kaczmarczyk forced a save on the attempt, but it wouldn't be until later in the quarter that Louisville would score their first. I wasn't able to watch the game, and the box score is quite confused about the sequence of events, but the Cards nabbed the lead on a Chloe Plumb goal halfway through the quarter. Plumb was assisted by Julie Kouijzer, but the question is whether it was a penalty corner goal or not. Louisville took two in the quarter, and the second is listed directly above the goal. However, it is also listed as occurring four minutes later. To further complicate the matter, below Plumb's goal, the play-by-play indicates "tipped penalty corner shot." Either way, Louisville held a 1-0 lead.

JMU tried to answer at the end of the quarter, earning a shot from open play, but Merlijn van der Vegt was up to the task, picking up one of two saves on the day. In the second quarter, Louisville wasted no time doubling their advantage. After a hectic play in the circle, Aimee Plumb ultimately came out ahead, scoring her fourth goal of the year on an assist by Riley Wollerton 1:43 into the quarter. A minute later, Louisville earned another penalty corner, but Kouijzer's shot went wide. The Cards continued to apply pressure and picked up a flurry of shots from the Plumbs in the 22nd minute of the match. Chloe had a shot saved away, but Louisville quickly reapplied pressure. Aimee took a shot that was blocked and bounced directly to Chloe, who fired one more at the cage but missed high. A minute and a half later, Emilia Kaczmarczyk put the Cards up 3-0 with a reverse shot assisted by Lara Niebler. 

JMU decided it was time for a goalie change at that point, replacing Brandelynn Heinbaugh with Katie Frick with five minutes left in the half. The change came in response to Louisville winning yet another penalty corner, but the JMU coach used the opportunity to challenge the call. The call was overturned, though Louisville would earn a fourth penalty corner shortly before halftime. The play resulted in nothing for the Cards, and the teams hit the locker rooms with Louisville still holding a 3-0 lead.

Louisville's offense was slowed in the second half, with the Cards being outshot for the first time in the third quarter. Overall, Louisville led the shot battle 10 (7) to 5 (3). Three of JMU's shots came in the third, as they controlled possession for nearly the entire quarter. The Dukes earned a penalty corner six minutes into the third but couldn't get a shot off. A few minutes later, they earned a shot from open play but it was high. Encouraged by the attack, they kept it up, finally scoring with six minutes to go in the quarter. A pass from the right side ended up right in front of the cage and was knocked in. Coach Justine Sowry asked for a video referral, but the call was upheld, and Louisville's lead was cut to 3-1. Louisville earned a corner a minute later, but Izzy Bianco's shot was saved. Another penalty corner for JMU was the last recorded effort of the quarter, with van der Vegt again stepping up for the save. JMU was ultimately 0-3 on penalty corners.

Just like the second quarter, Louisville opened the fourth on the attack. A penalty corner 1:24 into the quarter saw the play go just as they drew it up. Aimee Plumb put the corner into play, where Tatum Kroon stopped the ball for Kazzy to step up and fire it home. Louisville moved their advantage back to three goals with a 4-1 lead and improved their penalty conversion to two (or one?) of six. JMU would get one more chance to cut into that lead with ten to go in the game, but their penalty corner shot was blocked away. 

The Cards were largely dominant in this one, which is what you'd expect in a match against a 2-5 mid-major opponent. You can check out what Coach Justine Sowry and Kazzy had to say after the victory at the links below. Louisville has another non-conference match before returning to ACC play, this time with an unusual Tuesday midday game at Miami (OH). The Cardinals and Redhawks will get underway at 2PM, and no video is listed.

Justine Sowry Postgame

Emilia Kaczmarczyk Postgame

Volleyball Opens ACC with Sweep

In case you weren't already aware, Syracuse isn't quite the threat they used to be in volleyball. As some would say: "How the mighty have fallen." The Orange entered yesterday's match in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena at just 2-8, with wins over Cornell and Morgan State by a combined 6-1 score. All eight losses had been sweeps, including by teams such as Delaware State, Belmont, and Colgate. It has been a tough year. Louisville didn't make that year any easier, sending the Orange up the road to Notre Dame with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-8 sweep. 

Syracuse held a 2-0 lead in the second set. It was their only lead of the match as Louisville dominated while playing a largely rotated lineup. The Cards hit .452 as a team in the match while holding Syracuse to just -0.056. They did so with just eight blocks, meaning Syracuse had 17 "unforced" hitting errors. Yikes. Louisville committed just five errors themselves, with two of those being Syracuse blocks. 

As I mentioned, the Cards put a lot of players on the floor, with 15 earning at least one set played. Aiko Jones and Elle Glock nursing injuries made way for Brigitta Petrenko and Alanna Bankston to see a lot more time. Cara Cresse also sat this one out, allowing Reese Robins and Hannah Sherman to show their stuff in the middle. The middles had perhaps the biggest coming out party. Robins and Sherman combined for 11 kills, with Robins' seven being second on the team behind nine from Anna DeBeer. Robins also added four block assists to Sherman's three BAs and two solo blocks. Bankston had a nice day as well, coming third on the team in kills with six on fourteen attempts. 

Petrenko played well in relief of Glock, picking up 23 assists on Louisville's 36 kills. Glock had 9 more. It was a relatively muted day at the serving line for Louisville, with a final total of four aces and seven service errors. They did still win that battle, though, with Syracuse matching the number of errors and having just two aces of their own. Louisville got one ace each from Petrenko, Elena Scott, serving specialist Kamden Schrand, and redshirt freshman setter Alexis Finnvold. 

In addition to her four kills on four attempts, Aiko Jones added a solo block in her limited minutes. Elena Scott was the usual stalwart at libero, picking up 15 digs. Depending on which stats you look at, that puts the junior at 999 career digs. The problem is that we can't figure out what stats are being used to give her that number. Disagreements between the stats on the volleyball team page and Scott's individual player page are leading to the confusion, with no obvious distinction to identify why the numbers are different. By our calculations, Scott joined the 1000 dig club earlier this season. At any rate, she's sure to meet the mark on Sunday against Boston College.

Louisville was never in danger in this one, with even the 2-0 deficit in the second quickly turning into a 6-2 and then 10-3 advantage. The first set, ultimately the closest, saw Syracuse hang around early, keeping within touching distance by making the score 7-5. The Cards then won five of the next six points to make it 12-6. A service error made it 12-7, but the Orange would get no closer in the set. Up two sets to none entering the third, Louisville put Syracuse out of their misery quickly. Louisville won the first six points and extended their lead to 13-2. After a few traded points kept the deficit at 11, Louisville went on another five point run to go up 22-6. Believe it or not, Syracuse was unable to win 18 of the next 20 points that they would need to extend the set. 

The win was a good one for Louisville to open conference play, coming off of the unfortunate reverse sweep to start the week against Stanford. Sunday's match against BC will give the Cards another chance to get back in their groove before a Wednesday night match on the road against the always irritating Notre Dame. Louisville and BC will get started at 1PM and the match will be on ACCNX.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The crew will be a bit lighter today as Daryl and I continue to abuse our bodies (primarily ears, feet, and skin) with another day at Louder Than Life. Paulie, Jeff, and Jared will make sure the show goes on, though, and there's plenty of positive and exciting stuff happening for Louisville on campus to discuss in this week's episode. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

All photos by Jared Anderson

Volleyball Sweeps; Field Hockey Waits -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FH Season Opener Postponed

After delaying their game from the original afternoon start time due to the heatwave, UofL Field Hockey found themselves at the mercy of another weather event. Right at around the time Friday Night Lights were coming on around Louisville, a massive storm rolled in. Lightning delays cleared high school football stadiums around the area, and the winds, rain, and sometimes hail kept on for a couple of hours. As a result, the news reported game after game was being rescheduled to today or Sunday or canceled outright. One of the postponements that slipped under the radar was the Louisville field hockey game. Louisville and Northeastern moved their game to this morning at 9:00 am. We'll keep you updated on the result and Jeff will give you more information in his write-up tomorrow. The big thing to watch for Louisville is that their road game against Northwestern tomorrow will now begin just about 24 hours after today's game ends. 

Volleyball Sweeps Troy in Chaotic Day 1

While the sky opened up with the air cooling off outside, the action heated up inside the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Louisville opened their season by hosting Troy in the first game of the Cardinal Classic. Louisville will get Washington State and Wright State later in the weekend. The Cards were one of the teams that took care of business yesterday on a day when many teams saw themselves on the wrong side of a result. Three results were of major note to Louisville fans, but there were plenty of other upsets. The biggest of all was #1 Texas, who lost 3-1 to unranked Long Beach State. Another major upset was Kentucky's 3-1 loss to Colorado State. Louisville's conference rival, Pittsburgh, fell to BYU 3-1. More results that fans might be interested in include two from WKU, as they upset 12th ranked Marquette 3-1 before being swept by the hosting Dayton Flyers later in the day. Big ranked matches saw #11 Florida beat #8 Penn State 3-1, #9 Oregon swept #13 San Diego, and #2 Wisconsin took down #15 Baylor. While it's not a major upset, Syracuse had a rough day, being swept by both Navy and UAlbany.

I think that's enough of the chaotic results, so let's take a look at Louisville's match. As expected, Elena Scott was back in action this weekend after missing last week for a minor knock. It was an inauspicious start for her, as she committed an attacking error to give Troy a 1-0 lead in the first set. After each team won another point, Troy saw their last lead of the match disappear when Louisville tied it 2-2 and then went up 3-2.  Troy would later be able to hold ties in the third set up to 6-6, but Louisville was pretty well in control from early in the first. Troy was able to string together three 3-point runs in the match, but all three were late in fairly decided sets. One of which came late in the first, but it served only to stave off set point from 24-15. After those points, a service error ended that game at 25-18.

After the men's basketball team (and women's basketball team to some extent) became known for "booming" their opponents in the early-to-mid 2010s, the volleyball team inherited that mantle a bit when Coach Dani Busboom Kelly came on board. Troy got a taste of that in the second. Louisville jumped to a 10-2 lead, traded about 6 points each, then won seven straight to go to 23-8. Brigitta Petrenko led the charge there with two aces, as Louisville played a 6-2 formation. A service error ended the run, and Troy won four of the next five points including that one. The brief run from Troy moved the score to just 24-12, as they again staved off three set points, but Cara Cresse sent the winning kill to the floor. 

The third was tight early, but Louisville used two separate five-point runs to stretch their wings a bit. Troy's short run came a bit earlier, as they weren't on match point during the run. Those three points moved the score to 21-15, but Louisville closed the door by winning four of the next six points. The final in the third was 25-17, giving Louisville a sweep with 25-18, 25-12, and 25-17 scores.

The big performer last night was Cara Cresse. She led the team with 11 kills, doing so on 12 attempts with no errors. Her .917 came alongside four block assists. The visitors definitely keyed on Louisville's pin hitters, opening the way for Cresse. Anna DeBeer was able to find the most space, finishing with 9 kills on 17 attempts with just two kills. Charitie Luper and Aiko Jones were on the back foot, combining for just five kills on 21 attempts. As a team, though, Louisville committed just eight errors to finish with a team hitting percentage of .403. 

Louisville was also positive in the serving game, scoring 11 aces (Petrenko and Elle Glock with three each) and only committing nine serving errors. Charitie Luper and Elena Scott had two aces each. Freshmen Hannah Sherman (redshirt) and Reese Robins both took advantage of their opportunities, as they combined for seven kills on 11 attempts. Defensively, Louisville swamped Troy, as they put up seven blocks to just one for Troy. Troy also managed just one ace to nine errors. They committed 17 hitting errors to finish with just a .138 hitting percentage as a team. 

Louisville is back in action tonight against Washington State at 7PM. The Cougars are ranked 21st and took care of business with a sweep of Wright State yesterday afternoon. The Cards will look to stay off the list of first weekend upsets.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're back this week with three in the studio. Jared is out as he covers the field hockey game, but Paulie, Jeff, and I will discuss all the results from the week. We'll have plenty to talk about to be sure, and we'll do our best to keep it positive as we bring the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case