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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Summertime Volleyball News -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Summertime Volleyball News

(Not many better middle blockers than Anna Hall)

For a pair of Louisville volleyball alums, the volleyball life continues on. Anna Stevenson Hall and Tori Dilfer-Stringer were both recently named to the 30-player Women's National Team roster for the 2023 Volleyball Nations League USA Volleyball.

Most recently. both alums have spent time playing professionally overseas. This duo saw many matches together at Louisville, both transferring into Louisville for the final college years, and helped lead Louisville to the program's first ever Final Four.

From their time in Louisville, then Tori Dilfer and then Anna Stevenson, were both named All-Americans and have their names on the wall inside L&N FCU Arena.

(Set 'em up, Tori ! No one did it finer)

Volleyball Nations League is an annual international indoor volleyball tournament. The world's top 16 teams will compete against each other that features each team playing four matches per week for three weeks. Following the conclusion of the preliminary rounds, the top eight teams will advance to the finals.

This year, the VNA will be held at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. Team USA will qualify for the finals by being the host.

Team USA will face Serbia, Italy, Korea, Turkey, Croatia, Thailand, Japan, Brazil, Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, and China.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

More Cards Represent USA - Sunday Cardinal Couple

A Pair of Volleyballers

Collegiate National Team

Case wrote a wonderful article yesterday covering some Field Hockey and Track & Field athletes working to compete at the International level.

Mere minutes after the article went up, UofL Volleyball announced that Claire Chaussee was embarking on her training stint with USA Volleyball as part of the Women's Collegiate National Team.

In past years, USA Volleyball has selected several different Collegiate National Teams that then would train in Colorado Spring for a period of time, before traveling to various parts of the world to compete with top level teams in that part of the world.  Since Covid, the program has shifted to naming a single larger group of athletes that then gather to practice and compete in a more intra-squad approach.

The selection process for the annual Collegiate Team program starts in February when athletes travel to Colorado Springs for the USWNT Open Tryout program.  Louisville has sent anywhere from two to six or seven to the tryouts in the past, and typically has one to three players named to the teams.

Volleyball Nations League

Anna Stevenson has been competing with the US Senior National Team as part of the Volleyball Nations Leagues event.  This multiple week event allows the participating nations to select a different team, from a larger pool of players for each week of play.

Stevenson played this week in the second week of play after some solid contributions in the first week of play two weeks ago (they alternative weeks of men and women competing).

The team finished a match just hours ago to complete the matches for the week.  It was a 3-1 win over Thailand.  In the match, Stevenson had seven kills on 17 attempts with three miscues.  Add a trio of blocks and chalk up a decent outing for the UofL Alumna.

For the week, team USA did very well, sweeping all of their other opponents; China, Poland, and Bulgaria.

Team USA will play another week of matches starting June 30th for the final week of pool play in the VNL competition.  After that week of play, the eight top teams will advance to a tournament format for the final phase of play.  With how USA has been doing, I would expect the team to be a part of that tournament.

Again, with the VNL, each national team can switch the players that play each week, so we'll look again the week of the 30th to see if Stevenson continues to get selected to play.

WNBA

No action in the WNBA yesterday, so just about every team is on the court today, but only two matchups with Louisville rooting interests as we have UofL alumnae going head to head in both matches.

Starting at two o'clock, Myisha Hines-Allen with the Washington Mystics host the Connecticut Sun who of course recently picked up Jaz Jones.  This game has been picked up to be featured on CBS, kind of a big deal for the WNBA.

The other head to head will start at three o'clock.  The Indiana Fever, with Emily Engstler will host the Chicago Sky with Dana Evans.  I don't think much of anyone is expecting this game to be terribly competitive with Chicago near the top of the standings, and the Fever near the bottom.  I also don't think Engstler and Evans would really get matched up on the court with one defending the other, but wow, wouldn't that matchup be interesting to see!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It was a Basketball heavy podcast as we covered the news events of the week.  Discussions covered Angel McCoughtry's appearance in Louisville with the official opening of the basketball court that she has renovated and decorated.  Also up was Beth Burns heading to the University of Southern California and discussing the role, much larger than her official title suggested.  We also turned to the WNBA a bit, celebrating Jaz Jones being picked up by Connecticut, and AD seemingly bouncing back to full competition levels in Atlanta.

Add in some UofL women's soccer news with a new goal keeper transfer announced, and we had plenty to discuss in the show.  Check it out at it's anchor.fm home:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Angels-New-Court-and-Womens-Soccers-New-Keeper-e1k4ht7

JMcA

Jeff Goes in 4 directions -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Guess Who's Back

Yes, I've been gone from the pages of Cardinal Couple for a couple of weeks taking a big vacation, but I'm back in the chair, refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to bring you some joy and excitement around UofL women's sports.

As we are diving into the heart of summer, we will be doing a lot of checking in on former Cards now playing at the next level of their sports, mostly professionally.  Today is certainly no exception.

WNBA

No WNBA play yesterday, so no scores or updates to bring you, but that does mean pretty much the whole league will be hitting the court today.

Asia Durr with the New York Liberty will be hosting the Minnesota Lynx.  The Lynx did have Angel McCoughtry on their roster, but bought her out for the season giving her more time to recover from nagging knee troubles.  2 pm tip time.

Emily Engstler joins her Indiana Fever in a road trip to Atlanta to play the Dream.  3pm start.

Dana Evans and Chicago Sky play host to Myisha Hines-Allen and the Washington Mystics at 6pm

TV coverage for these games is all over the place.  The Fever may have something on their Facebook page?  The Sky/Mystics game seems to be primarily available on Amazon Prime streaming?  It sure would be nice to have something nice and consistently available.

US Open

We've been following former Card Lauren Hartlage as she starts to show up in the LPGA.  The current event is the US Open at Pine Needles in South Carolina.

A rough day yesterday for Hartlage as she tumbled down the ranks with a +7 round.  That puts her 18 strokes away from the lead, in a tie for 53rd place in the event.

Volleyball Nation's League

The Volleyball Nation's League has been playing their first week of play with the first selection of players that, for the US, included former Card Anna Stevenson.

The US squad faced off against Brazil, a country with quite a great tradition in volleyball.  Despite that, the US wins this in a 3-0 sweep; 25-21, 25-20, 25-18.

For Stevenson's part, she's playing in her usual middle blocking position paired with Dana Rettke in the other middle rotation.  Stevenson got four kills and a pair of blocks against Brazil.

Overall in the VNL, the US has not dropped a set, yet.  Their first match in the overall event was against the Dominican Republic, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.  Then after a couple of days off, they swept Canada on Friday; 25-14, 25-22, 25-19, before taking on Brazil yesterday.

The last game of this first week of VNL play for the US is today at 4pm EDT against Japan.  These matches have been played in Shreveport, LA.

The VNL is a multi-week event with the teams able to make different roster selections every week.  So it's possible that we won't see Stevenson play after this week.  The 2nd week of play opens June 7th, so we can check rosters then and see if she made the roster selection for the coming week, at least.

NWSL

Two former Cards are on rosters in the NWSL, of course.  Emina Ekic is making some noise with the local club, Racing Louisville FC, as we well know.  Gaby Vincent, however, is still making appearances with the Washington Spirit.

Both teams were in action yesterday, but both went down to defeat.  Racing lost in a disappointing 3-0 decision against the NC Courage.  Ekic came on in the 67th minute for Alex Chidiac.

The Spirit lost 1-0 against the NY/NJ Gotham FC.  Vincent was not listed as being available for selection in this one.

Both teams in action next Saturday, though the Spirit do have a mid-week game at Chicago against the Red Stars on Wednesday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP is also back.  Case is ensconced in his new home office, Jared, Paul, and myself were all on the call.

The group spent a fair bit of time discussing the permanent hiring of Josh Heird as Athletic Director at UofL.  We also showed some love for Carmyn Greenwood getting the All-American tag in Softball, Kelsi Dahlia joining the Notre Dame Swimming coaching staff, and Lauren Hartlage in golf.  We took a quick look at the Women's College World Series, and a swing around the WNBA.  We had a quick discussion about the WNBA, the Cards playing in it, a few who are not, and potential expansion of the league and potentially coming to Louisville.

It was a full hour for sure.  Check it out at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/News-Galore-in-Cardinal-Country-e1jgfvv

JMcA

Accolades for Several Cardinals -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

No Daryl today. She's working hard running the show at Louisville Slugger Field and welcoming back a fan favorite Cincinnati Reds who is down in Louisville temporarily. You get Jared again, which means you'll get at leasti one "selfie" in today's photos. 

In the world of UofL sports, we have no results to report. But we get to happily brag on several student-athletes!

Volleyball- Anna Stevenson

We'll start with a recent Cardinal alumna. Louisville volleyball's Anna Stevenson has been named to the US National Team. Currently ranked #1 in the world, Team USA holds the 2020 Olympic gold medal and is the three-time defending VNL national champion. Stevenson is one of 25 players to make the roster.

Since her ACC title and Final Four appearance with Louisville, Stevenson has been enjoying the engaged life while playing for Aydin Buyuksehir Belediyespor in Turkey.

A total of 14 players will be selected to travel each week as they play in the Philippines, Canada, and Turkey.

Softball- Carmyn Greenwood and Kendall Smith

Louisville softball had a pair of players named to the College Sports Information Directors of American Academic All-District team. To be considered for the honor, players must be a start or key reserve, maintain at least a 3.30 GPA, and be of sophomore level or higher at their respective institutions.

Greenwood is a two-time All-ACC selection and has been on the ACC Academic honor roll twice. Greenwood has had an All-American caliber season so perhaps there will be more accolades on the way for her?

Smith spent her final year of eligibility with the Cards after transferring in from Western Kentucky. She sat second on the team in batting average behind Greenwood and holds multiple Conference USA awards.

Lacrosse- Hannah Morris, Nicole Perroni, and Caroline Blalock

For Louisville lacrosse, three players received honors.

Hannah Morris and Nicole Perroni were named to the IWLCA All-Region Second Team. Morris was top on the team with 56 goals scored. She scored in 16 of the 18 games this year. Perroni was second on the team with 50 goals scored. Her 28 caused turnovers was a team best.

Caroline Blalock was named a USA Lacrosse Magazine All-American Honorable Mention. She was all named to the All-ACC Second Team. Blalock was top three for Louisville in six statistical categories.

Guess The Athlete

We had some fun a couple weeks back with guessing a couple student-athletes that I had the chance to work with. I worked with another student-athlete last night so I figured we could play "Guess The Athlete" again.

Need a hint? She plays on Jeff's favorite Louisville team. She's a defensive specialist. She graduated high school here in Louisville.

Answer: Alexa Hendricks

We'll play again in the future as the opportunity to work with more of our awesome student-athletes presents itself.

                                                      *******************************

Don't forget to tune into our World Famous Cardinal Couple Radio Podcast tomorrow ay 11:00 a.m. ET. We are happy to be back after taking last week off in honor of the Kentucky Derby.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball News — Almost Back to Basketball — TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball News

Louisville Volleyball’s Tori Dilfer has been named a Honda Sports Award Finalist. She is one of four finalists for volleyball. The Honda Sports Award is given to one female athlete for each women’s sport.

Dilfer was named the first ever ACVA First Team All-American for Louisville Volleyball (Anna Stevenson was also named a First Team All-American this season). She was also named ACC Setter of the Year and East Region Player of the Year. Dilfer was an integral part of the first ever #1 ranking for the Cards, an ACC Championship, and Louisville’s first ever Final Four appearance.

It’s a common saying “You live and die by your setter”, similar to what you see with a quarterback in football or point guard in basketball. .

It wasn’t too difficult for Dilfer to have a successful final year due to the loads of talent she was surrounded by. With fellow All-Americans Anna Stevenson (first team) and Anna DeBeer (third team). Claire Chaussee, Akko Jones, Amaya Tillman, and Elena Scott were all named to the All-ACC Second Team- the other three were named All-ACC First Team- so at any given time during the season, Louisville had enough award winners on the court to fill an entire 'starting seven’.

Speaking of Anna Stevenson, the middle blocker had some great news announced yesterday. Stevenson’s volleyball career will continue as she has signed a professional contract with the Turkish club Aydin Buyuksehir Belediyespor. My iPad doesn’t allow certain characters and said accents on those letters so what you’re reading is the American English keyboard spelling.

Stevenson will be eligible to compete in the second half of the current Turkish Women’s Volleyball League season. The team has already announced on their Instagram page @aydinbuyuksehirbelediyespor the news and how excited they are to have her on the team.

We have seen over the last few seasons just how excellent Stevie’s volleyball skills are and it comes as no surprise she will now being professional volleyball.

For those who don’t follow professional volleyball, it is quite an honor and a high recognition to a player’s skill set to be able to play overseas. Tess Clark and Erin Fairs are other former Cards currently playing overseas. There isn’t much opportunity to play volleyball professionally in the United States at this time, but hopefully as the sport continues to grow we will see a stronger presence here.

Almost Back to Basketball

The Christmas/Holiday break is almost over. For the Louisville Band, Cheerleaders, and Ladybirds, they all boarded a plane to Texas yesterday for the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. Surprisingly, Louisville Football is favored to win this one.

But back on campus, Louisville Women’s Basketball has reported back to campus for workouts and practices. The Cards open ACC play on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., against Boston College at the KFC Yum! Center.

For Louisville, a 10-1 record is a good start, especially after a disappointing season opener to Arizona. Since then, Louisville has taken down ranked opponents Michigan, Kentucky, and UConn. Paul gave you a good rundown (someone tell Jim Halpert what a rundown is) of ACC Women’s Basketball yesterday and just how good or not-so-good some of those teams have been doing.

The Cards have some stiff competition this year. Besides NC State, North Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech, Norte Dame, and Wake Forest have all had hot starts. Similar to ACC Volleyball, ACC Women’s Basketball appears to have a strong number of teams this year. Boston College comes in at 8-3 and has Taylor Soule back, who is averaging almost 17 points a contest.

We’ll preview the UofL vs BC game more thoroughly later this week. Paulie and I both plan to be in attendance for that one as I should be back in town late tomorrow night.

Thankfully, Katy’s family and I have limited our contact with the outside world minus a couple things here and there. Sadly, my family back home has not been as fortunate as many of them have come in contact with my cousin’s partner, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Christmas Day (days after I had already left Louisville). So Katy and I will avoid them for a while when we get back in town, but thankfully everyone has been symptom-free or had symptoms similar to that of a minor cold.

As the holiday season wraps up we encourage everyone to monitor potential symptoms as the CDC has stated they expect a big increase in positive cases over the next couple of weeks. Masks and vaccines can save lives, folks.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

ACC Volleyball Awards -- Lax News -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ACC Volleyball Awards

The ACC announced their postseason awards for volleyball yesterday, and to no surprise, Louisville Volleyball's presence was felt. Dani Busboom Kelly was named ACC Coach of the Year, Tori Dilfer was named ACC Setter of the Year, and seven Cardinals were named to the All-ACC Teams.

Going undefeated in the regular season and winning the ACC by a whopping three matches (!!!) should make the ACC Coach of the Year decision unanimous. Coach Dani Busboom Kelly was given the award for the second straight year. DBK is the second Louisville coach to win ACC Coach of the Year after Anne Kordes received the honor in 2015.

Tori Dilfer also retained her award from last season, ACC Setter of the Year. Similar to a football team running their offense through their quarterback, the setter is crucial in order to run your offense efficiently. Wilma Rivera won the award back-to-back seasons in 2017 and 2018, meaning a Louisville player has held the ACC Setter of the Year title in four of the last five seasons. Katie George won the award in 2015, extended the Cardinals' streak to five of the last seven years.

Anna Stevenson and Anna DeBeer join Dilfer on the All-ACC First Team. All three repeated the honors from last season.

Claire Chaussee, Aiko Jones, Amaya Tillman, and Elena Scott were named to the All-ACC Second Team. Jones and Tillman were All-ACC honorees last year while Chaussee and Scott join the ranks for the first time. Scott was also named to the All-ACC Freshman Team.

Mabrey Shaffmaster (North Carolina) was named ACC Freshman of the Year, Mackenzie Cole (Duke) was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and Julia Bergmann (Georgia Tech) was named ACC Player of the Year.

All 15 coaches in the ACC participate in voting for the awards.

Louisville is one of six teams from the ACC represented in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Pitt (2-seed), Georgia Tech (8-seed), Miami, North Carolina, and Florida State are the other five teams.

The top-seeded Cards will open the tournament on Friday night at 7:00 p.m., against the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). Their match will follow the conclusion of Michigan vs Ball State (4:00 p.m.). The winners will face each other on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.

Season ticket holders have had an opportunity to put a request in for tickets already. The remaining availability for tickets will go on sale on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., ET. We do not know how many tickets, if any, will still be available. We've had some issues with hyperlinks not working on the mobile browser recently, but the link to purchase those tickets Wednesday morning is listed below.

https://am.ticketmaster.com/uofl/ncaavb

Although the NCAA does not require masks to be worn at their events, the University of Louisville requires masks to be worn indoors on campus, including sporting events. Please don't make the mistake of showing up without one as they will turn you away at the door.

Allison Daley to be Named to Canisius Hall of Fame

Louisville Lacrosse assistant coach Allison Daley has been selected to be a part of the next class to be inducted into the Canisius Hall of Fame. Daley is currently in her first season as a part of the Louisville coaching staff.

Daley was a four-year letter winner as a goalkeeper and holds the record at Canisius with 662 career saves. In 2011, she was named the MAAC Championship MVP. She was also named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010.

Following her playing career, Daley played for Team Canada before becoming the associate head coach for them. When Coach Scott Teeter took the head coaching position at Louisville, Daley took over the head coaching duties at Canisius.

The Hall of Fame induction will be held Feb. 6, 2022.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VBall Downs Pitt -- Happy Thanksgiving -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Thanksgiving, Cards fans! Normally we take today off from posting any articles... buuut we have a good reason to post a story today.

Louisville Volleyball Remains Unbeaten, Downs Pittsburgh

#1 Louisville Volleyball had the attention of the entire volleyball world last night when they traveled up north for a match with #3 Pittsburgh. The match was a rematch from a five-set thriller when the two ACC rivals were ranked second and fourth, respectively, at LNFCU Arena.

This match certainly lived up to the hype as the Cards took down the Panthers 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 17-25, 25-21) at Fitzgerald Field House.

The two powerhouse programs through haymakers at each other all night, never giving the other a chance to get comfortable on the court.

Set One: 25-19

The Cards and Panthers traded points back-and-forth for the first half of the opening set all the way up to 14-14. Louisville managed to break through with a 5-0 run highlighted by the 'Anna Show' with Anna Stevenson logging a pair of kills and Anna DeBeer earning a kill and an ace in the run. A mini run of three straight Claire Chaussee kills gave the Cards a 23-16 cushion before a DeBeer kill claimed the first set victory.

Set Two: 25-19

Pitt found themselves ahead 5-2 following a 4-0 run early on. Louisville used their own small run to tie the score at five apiece after Stevenson earned her first two kills of the set. Louisville and Pitt would continue to fight back-and-forth up to a 13-13 tie. Similar to the first set, a mid-set run helped the Cards pull ahead. Two straight Chaussee kills, a Pitt error, and a kill by Amaya Tillman allowed Louisville to take a moment to breathe. Ready to extend their lead, another 4-0 run late in the set pushed the Louisville lead to 22-15. Pitt never got closer than within five the rest of the set as the Cards took a 2-0 lead into halftime.

Set Three: 17-25

When playing the #3 team in the country on their Senior Night, you expect them to battle back. And that's what Pitt did. Much of the set involved Pitt building a one-to-two-point lead and Louisville having to play from behind. Up 18-16, the Panthers were ready to close the door on the third set, using a 6-0 run to go up 24-16. The run was disrupted by an Amaya Tillman kill, but the Cards could not muster up a rally and surrendered the set to the Panthers.

Set Four: 25-21

Allowing a home team to build momentum is never good, and Pittsburgh was ready to run with their momentum. Louisville held an early 4-1 lead, but things seemed to crash and burn right after. Pittsburgh got hot and went on a 9-0 run to build a commanding 10-4 lead. Anna Stevenson was able to put an end to their run with a kill. The two teams would traded points until Louisville went on a mini 3-0 run started by a Pitt service error and ending with an Ayden Bartlett service ace. Not ready to relinquish their lead Pittsburgh scored a quick point and went up 14-10. However, Louisville didn't become #1 by sitting down and quitting. A 5-0 Louisville run that featured a little help on some poor Pitt attacking, gave Louisville a one-point lead.

 Once again, UofL and Pitt traded points until they came to an 18-18 tie. A service error sparked a mini 3-0 Louisville run that ended in controversy. Pitt challenged a kill by Jones, stating that the kill was long. Replay appeared to agree with the Panthers, but the officiating crew stuck with their initial call before awarding an arguable make-up call the next point. Following the theme, it was another series of trading points until Louisville found themselves at match point and a 24-21 lead. It was only fitting that one of the best blocking teams in the country win the match on a block by Stevenson.

The sold out crowd of 3052 was silenced... well, there was a fairly decent Louisville fan base present celebrating, as the Louisville squad rushed to the middle of the court celebrating the big victory. The win secured the sole ACC title for Louisville as well as extended their undefeated season to 27-0.

Three Cardinals were in the double-digits in kills- Claire Chaussee (16), Anna DeBeer (15), and Anna Stevenson (12), with all three hitting north of .380. Nearly all of those kills were credited to Tori Dilfer's game-high 45 assists.

On the serving side, Louisville committed nine service errors as opposed to 10 from Pitt, but Louisville did come up with six aces. Aiko Jones and Ayden Bartlett each had two aces while Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer contributed one apiece.

Louisville's blocking wasn't the difference maker in this match per se (11-10 advantage), but the blocks came at opportune moments. Anna Stevenson was apart of seven blocks (five solo blocks). Aiko Jones was a part of five blocks and Amaya Tillman got in on four.

Louisville will wrap up their regular season at home against Notre Dame this Friday at 5:00 p.m., ET. The match is sold out.

Louisville is also guaranteed to host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament a LNFCU Arena (sold out, but that could change based on the number of tickets each team receives) and they're in good position to host the NCAA Regionals at Freedom Hall. The Final Four will be held in Columbus, Ohio.

Happy Thanksgiving

We normally like to take today off to celebrate and wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. A day off from work and Louisville women's sports is needed every once in a while. Don't forget that we cover 12 UofL women's teams throughout the year as well as try to stay up-to-date with Louisville Alums around the world in their various professional teams.

I think Jeff gave a wonderful Thanksgiving article back on Nov. 14 (it may be on the second page for most devices) and there's no way I can top that. But I do want to go ahead and give thanks.

First, I want to thank everyone that is a part of our Cardinal Couple Crew that allows us to continue to run smoothly (usually) and to stay up-to-date with so many Louisville happenings. Seriously, have you tried knowing everything about every Louisville women's team at the same time? It's definitely not a one-person job. Between our daily coverage, recent photos, personalized player and coach interviews, and a unique and one-of-a-kind podcast, it feels like we have a full army keeping this ship upright.

Secondly, I want to thank YOU. Whether you check out Cardinal Couple to see how one specific sport or player is doing, or you like to get caught up on all the happenings, or you want a unique perspective on many sports, or you enjoy a judgement-free zone to post your thoughts, we would not be able to function without our readers/fans/engagers.

Third, I would be remiss if I did not thank Louisville Athletics. Without Louisville Athletics we have no teams to cover and no purpose here. They bring us great joy (and the occasional frustration) and allows us to do what we love. Included in this would be the terrific Sports Information Directors who provide us with media credentials and all of the resources we need to do our job efficiently.

I am also thankful for the opportunity to continue to grow and share my photo abilities here. Cardinal Couple was the first place to bring me on for photos. Looking back at my early work, I appreciate that Paulie ttook a chance on me when he agreed to bring me on. Over time, my work has improved and I've been able to provide better quality work to share here.

On a non-UofL note, I am also thankful for my family. My parents and brother live no more than a couple minutes from me so I am able to see them regularly. Much of the rest of my family is nearby as well, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, so I get to see them too. Of course, I am absolutely blessed to have such a fantastic and amazing fiancé in Katy. She has been my biggest cheerleader and supporter and I have no idea where I would be without her.

From our Cardinal Couple family to You, have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Tops Duke for ACC Title; WBB Taking on Washington -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Clinches Share of ACC with Another Sweep

Louisville brought Duke into the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena for their second to last home match of the regular season with a chance to clinch a share of the ACC on the line, and they dispatched the Blue Devils with ease. The Cards will face Pittsburgh in the rematch next Wednesday with a win securing the title outright, so moving on from Duke with no drama was a highly desired result. Louisville's offense delivered with an extremely efficient match, finishing with an eye popping 0.547 hitting percentage. On the other side, the Cards defended well, forcing Duke into just an 0.028 percentage. 

The 519 point difference was far and away the best margin for Louisville this year, beating the previous high of 450, set against Boston College on October 8th. Louisville has now hit for at least 0.400 seven times this season and have held opponents to 0.050 or lower nine times. While last night was their best hitting performance of the night, the Cards have held opponents to a lower percentage three times before, with the season best coming when they held Miami (the team now in third in the ACC after GT lost to Pitt) to 0.000 on the night.

Louisville finished with 12 blocks over three sets that night against Miami, while they needed just eight last night. The Cards won the blocking battle 8-1 with Amaya Tillman leading the way. Tillman finished with a pair of solo blocks and a pair of assists, while Tori Dilfer claimed the other solo and another pair of assists. Anna Stevenson, Claire Chaussee, and Aiko Jones earned the remaining blocks, with 3, 2, and 1 block assist, respectively.

Another place where Louisville had a big advantage once more was in the service game. The Cards had nine service errors, but still finished positive with 12 aces. As Jeff pointed out in our group chat, Duke struggled with the serve receive, at one point putting five players back to receive and still getting aced. Duke, to their credit, finished with six aces of their own, but had eight errors to stay in the negative. Louisville was led by Anna DeBeer, who had four aces, with Stevenson following closely behind with three. Ayden Bartlett had two aces with Dilfer, Jones, and Mia Stander adding one apiece. 

Stevenson, unsurprisingly, also topped the charts in the kills column, as she has done frequently recently. Stevenson led both teams with 10 kills, followed by Chaussee with seven, DeBeer with six, Tillman with five, and Jones with four. Every player hit better than .250, which is to be expected with the overall hitting percentage. Jones's .286 was lowest on the team, made that way by just two errors. The team finished with just five total. 

The offense gets a lot of credit in volleyball, but Louisville's defense has been a bright star this season with Elena Scott at the helm. Scott was all over the place again, gathering eight digs, leading all players and nearly matching Duke's total of 11. One of her best came on a scramble drill play that ultimately saw an early over from the Cards and ended with, you guessed it, an Anna Stevenson block. The Cards have had a tradition of great libero play, and Scott has stepped into that role without a blink. She's a major part of what is driving this team's success.

As for the match itself, it was as straightforward as the stats make it out to be. Louisville used both big runs and consistent play to coast to a 25-12, 25-16, 25-15 victory. The closest Duke could come after the 10-point mark came in the second set when they closed the gap to 14-16. The Cards promptly rattled off six of the next seven points to close the door. In the third, Louisville trailed 4-3 before taking eight straight points and 16 of the next 19 to seal the set and the match. 

Pittsburgh knocked off Georgia Tech last night to move 14-2 in the ACC and keep their hopes for a share of the title alive. Louisville still controls their own destiny, though, as they need just one victory in their last two matches to win the league outright. These Cards are playing for more than just the ACC at this point, however. As the number one team in the country, Louisville is playing for its best season ever and for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. The Cards stand to host, at least, a couple of rounds in that tournament, and, while they could still get a seed and host with a loss to Pitt, it would feel a lot sweeter to carry that undefeated record into the postseason.

Louisville will head to Pittsburgh for the Panthers' Senior Night on Wednesday. There is an extremely outside shot that Louisville could win the league outright before that match if Clemson can somehow upset Pitt when they host them tomorrow. Whether the Panthers win or lose, it will benefit the Cards for Pittsburgh to be playing their third match in six days. There's no video listed yet, but this seems like a prime candidate for a ACCN nod. The first serve is scheduled to get the match underway at 5PM on Wednesday. 

Basketball Hits the Road

Louisville retreated to the KFC Yum! Center after the tough opening loss against Arizona and recovered with a pair of big wins. They'll try to carry that confidence back out of the building with them as they start a road trip in Seattle today. The Cards will take on the Huskies of Washington to kick off a three-game swing out west where they'll also take on Cal Poly and Colorado State. It's a bit of a homecoming for a few Louisville players, though the Colorado connection is a bit thin since the departure of Kylee Shook. Nonetheless, Hailey Van Lith will be at home in Washington, with Kianna Smith and Ramani Parker both hailing from about three hours away from San Luis Obispo in California. 

Louisville and Washington have never played each other, but there's a first time for everything. The Huskies are also led by a Ha(i)ley Van, with Haley Van Dyke returning after being named honorable mention for both the All-Pac12 and the All-Pac12 Defensive Teams last season. She is currently leading the team in points and rebounds, averaging a double-double through two games. The Huskies also return Alexis Griggsby, who shot 38% from three last season while starting 18 games. 

Newcomers to the team include head coach Tina Langley, who takes over a team that went 7-14 (3-13) last year. Langley comes from Rice, where she went 126-61 in six years and won the WNIT in her final season. Langley brought along the top two scorers from Rice's 2020-2021 team in (not a misprint) 6'9" center Nancy Mulkey and Lauren Schwartz. Mulkey is preseason All-Pac 12 and on the Lisa Leslie Award Watch List.

Washington is 2-0 on the young season, with a 57-51 victory over San Diego State in the opener and a 72-65 win against Northern Arizona on Sunday. Despite two wins, the Huskies have been mercurial offensively. They're averaging 30 turnovers per game but are shooting 45% from the floor. Washington made seven of sixteen threes against NAU but were quite a bit cooler in the opener. This should be Louisville's opportunity to show their defensive chops against a top division opponent. 

Today's game tips off at 5 PM Eastern and will be carried on the Pac12 Network Plus. Pac12 Network does not have a direct connection with a main distributor like the ACC or SEC has with ESPN or the B1G has with FOX, but there is some availability to watch this one. A fair number of cable providers will give you access to watching this one, but YouTube TV isn't one of them. You can check for yourself if your provider has access at this link.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

After taking last week off, the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast is back live this week and we'll have an exciting show. With a pair of basketball wins and plenty of volleyball still to talk about, we're handling the transition from fall to winter as gracefully as we can. 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

Breaker: 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!

-CH-

Vball Sweeps Notre Dame -- WBB Home Opener -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Notre Dame

In a rare Monday night match, #1 Louisville Volleyball made the trip up to South Bend to square off against Notre Dame. Despite their success in recent years, the Irish entered the match 11-13 on the year and are more than likely not NCAA Tournament bound this year.

Louisville made semi-quick work of the Irish with a 3-0 sweep with all three sets ending with a 25-18 score.

Notre Dame held an early 8-6 lead in the first set and kept the set tight until about midway through the set. Then, the Cards kicked on the gears with a block party and some pretty kills by Claire Chaussee and Anna DeBeer to take the opening set 25-18.

Similar to the first set, Notre Dame had a small 10-9 lead early in the second set. Many thanks to Anna Stevenson for being a part of four straight blocks and earning a kill, the Cards would win seven straight points. The remaining portion of the set was the Anna Stevenson and Claire Chaussee show.

Despite what the score in the third set said, it wasn't all that close. The Irish jumped out to early 3-0 and 5-2 leads as Coach Dani Busboom Kelly started rotating different players in. Then, the Cards settled in and won a remarkable 16 straight points. It was a combined effort from everyone on the floor during that run, which also featured three service aces from Elena Scott. Notre Dame dug their heels in and tried to come up with an answer and did come within six late in the set, but the Cards stood firm and silenced the rally. 25-18 again and the Irish were swept. 

Eight Cardinals recorded a kill with Anna DeBeer logging 12. Anna Stevenson and Claire Chaussee each had eight. Tori Dilfer took the major load with 34 assists, but Rachael DeMarcus did get some playing time and logged an assist as did Elena Scott. A total of 11 players logged a dig in the box score with Scott on top with 12. Louisville didn't need to rely on digs on the defensive side much due to a strong presence at the net. Stevenson was all over the Notre Dame attack game with eight blocks. DeBeer and Tillman each finished with five.

For a team in the final stretch of the regular season with eyes on an ACC title and an undefeated season, Louisville was rolling on all cylinders. The Cards improved to 25-0 on the year and 15-0 in the ACC with three matches remaining.

Pittsburgh remains two games behind the Cards and Georgia Tech is three games back. Louisville can clinch at least a share of the conference title with a win against Duke on Friday night. Meanwhile, Pitt travels to Georgia Tech in a Top 25 match-up and a battle for the second spot in the conference. Louisville fans will want to pull for the Yellow Jackets (the Cards own the series tiebreaker against Georgia Tech this year) as a Pitt loss and a Louisville win would solidify the conference title.

The following Wednesday, Louisville will travel to Pitt for a 5:00 start time and then wrap up the season at home on Black Friday against Georgia Tech. If my math is correct, seven seniors will be recognized that evening.

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While we're on the subject of volleyball, there's been a big question asked lately: Where will the Cards host their NCAA Tournament matches? Well.... we can't answer that just yet. There's some tricky obstacles in the way.

LNFCU Arena is too small to host all the way up through the Regional Finals so you can scratch that one off the list. The KFC Yum! Center seems like the obvious choice, but between two Louisville basketball teams' schedules and a Pentatonix concert, that's a no-go. You could ask the KFC Yum! Center operations team to reschedule the Pentatonix concert, but they'll laugh in your face. One of the sad truths to Olympic sports is that they don't bring in much revenue, if any, even in the post-season. Pentatonix being one of the biggest names in music still is guaranteed to bring a pretty penny to the facility.

So the next guess would be Freedom Hall or Knights Hall. Freedom Hall houses more and is the better venue between those two, but Bellarmine women's and men's basketball use the facility for home games. Some of you may remember the old Louisville basketball days at Freedom Hall. I have on good word that Louisville is trying to host NCAA Volleyball Tournament matches at Freedom Hall and have entered negotiations with Bellarmine for the Knights to relocate or reschedule their scheduled games. Please note, entering negotiations doesn't mean that it will happen.

Let's also remember Louisville provides Trager Field for Bellarmine Field Hockey and the Cards could play the "since we did that for you, we expect this" card. 

As long as Louisville keeps winning then it's a good problem to have. I'd much rather be able to have the Cards play in town for the first four matches of the tournament than have to travel somewhere else. For now, we'll wait and see.

Women's Basketball Opens Home Season with Bellarmine

After a not-so-perfect start to the season, Louisville Women's Basketball gears up for their home opener when Bellarmine visits the KFC Yum! Center tonight. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m., and can be viewed on ACC Network Extra (online).

The game against Bellarmine is actually part of a back-to-back home game series for the Cards, who then host UT Martin on Wednesday. The UT Martin game will be a homecoming game for former Cardinal Seygan Robins. Robins is one of three players on their roster from Kentucky.

But back to tonight's opponent: Bellarmine. The Knights are in their second year in Division I play, and their women's basketball team has had a bit more difficult time adjusting than their men counterparts. There are eight players on Bellarmine's roster from Kentucky, including some local high schools such as Manual, Sacred Heart, Bullitt East, and North Bullitt.

The Knights went 5-17 last year, including 5-11 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. They started this year with a 72-59 loss to Cincinnati.

In their season opener, Bellarmine was led by Claire Knies' 21 points. The sophomore went 5-7 from three-point range. Senior forward Lauren Deel added 10 points and eight rebounds. Deel was one of three Bellarmine players to record at least five rebounds. Bellarmine committed 25 turnovers but did force the Bearcats into 23 turnovers.

Bellarmine's biggest positive this season is bringing back a lot of experience. They have seven players that are considered a junior or higher, including the COVID-19 season.

As much as I want to say that this will be a close game, I just don't see it happening. After watching the Cards romp Bellarmine last year 97-46 and Louisville coming off a loss to open up the year, this one has the making of another blowout. Louisville's offense was not in rhythm against Arizona, and after seeing what they did against Union in the preseason exhibition, the Cards could easily drop 85-90 points tonight. 

Chancellor Dugan is the head WBB coach for the Knights and will eventually, in our eyes, build a strong WBB program. If it can be done at tiny Wake Forest, it can be done at Bellarmine.

However, you can't ever count a team out until the final buzzer, so make sure to tune into this game (or go if you can) to see how the Cards respond from Friday. Paulie and I will be on the court for this one and Jeff will be up in the stands.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared