Cards Cruise in NCAA Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Sweeps Loyola Chicago

There wasn't a ton of drama in last night's match, as Louisville opened their 2025 NCAA Tournament with a relatively easy win over the visitors in L&N FCU Arena. An easy win was desperately needed for Louisville, who were coming off of a pair of difficult losses to the other front-runners in the ACC to end the season. That includes a loss to Stanford in this building their last time out. The Cards appeared to have shaken those demons, as they won with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-12 romp of the Ramblers. 

Loyola came out with some intensity in the first set, keeping up with Louisville for about the first 20 points of the match. After a Loyola kill made it 8-10, though, Louisville rattled off the next seven points to make it a 17-8 advantage for the Cards. Louisville would go on to hit .400 in the set, while Loyola finished with a .121 hitting percentage in the first. 

Unfortunately for Loyola, that .121 was their best hitting percentage of the match. Even worse, it was the only set in which they weren't negative. They finished the match with an .011 overall percentage. Louisville certainly had something to do with that, as they finished the match with 12 blocks, which accounted for 60% of Loyola's errors. Moreover, part of the problem was that Louisville just defended well. The Cards had 39 digs, nearly double the 21 kills totaled by Loyola. 

Offensively, the Cards had 43 kills and only eight errors. Three of those were Loyola blocks, so Louisville was pretty crisp, with just five unforced errors. Louisville's .400 in the first set was under their overall percentage of .417, as they hit a whopping .588 in the second, before coming back down to earth with a .351 in the third set. The Cards were incredible across the board on offense, with three players tying for second with nine kills behind Kalyssa Blackshear leading the way with 10. Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Payton Petersen were the three with nine apiece, and none of the four hit more than two errors. Chicoine had the lowest hitting percentage of the four, and it was still a stellar .381. 

Defensively, it was (who else) Hannah Sherman joining the party. She, Cresse, and Blackshear all had four block assists each and Sherman added two solos. Blackshear had one, as well, as it was a big night for the freshman. If there was one spot to still complain for Louisville, it was the service line, as there is some cleanup to do. The Cards had five aces, with Cresse leading the way with two, but they had nine errors. Despite that, they did still win the service battle with a net +3, as Loyola had seven errors and no aces. 

It was critical for the Cards to make quick work of Loyola, as they have a short turnaround with the second round match taking place tonight. Louisville's opponent also had the benefit of a sweep, as Marquette surprised the 7th-seeded Hilltoppers by sweeping WKU yesterday in L&N. As noted in the gocards writeup, tonight's match will pit sister against sister. Freshman Hannah Kenny's older sister, Calli, is a sophomore for the Golden Eagles. Tonight's match will get underway at 6PM. If you weren't able to secure a ticket, you'll be able to catch the match on streaming. It isn't listed officially just yet, but it is most likely to be carried on ESPN+. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Fall in Pittsburgh -- THANKSGIVING CARDINAL COUPLE

HAPPY TURKEY DAY

Many people consider Thanksgiving to be the day to finally take stock of what they've been grateful for over the last year, and there's nothing wrong with that. That said, my wife and I have recently begun trying to bring that thankfulness into more of our everyday lives. It's not some groundbreaking or revolutionary idea, but trying to verbalize three things we're grateful for each day has had noticeable impacts on our moods. 

The idea is pretty simple: every evening before bed, we just say three things we're grateful for that day. They don't have to be unique. They don't have to be profound. They just have to be something. I've found that it not only helps me remember the positives from even the toughest days, but it also helps me stay more positive throughout the day as I'm looking for those moments of gratefulness so I don't just repeat the same thing every night. 

So while everyone will rightfully look at the big picture items from the year that they're grateful for when sitting around the table, try to keep your eyes open to the smaller stuff as well. In today's (seemingly constantly negative) news cycle era, it's easy to lose sight of what's right in front of you. 

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Volleyball Swept at Pitt

Louisville volleyball saw their hopes at a share of the ACC title all but disappear last night at the Petersen Events Center. The Cards can still beat Stanford on Saturday night to finish the conference season 17-3, but they'll need help for Pitt to fall to the same record. The Panthers play on the road at Georgia Tech, so there's a chance. If tiebreakers come into play, we can look at those later. 

Last night's final set score of 3-0 looks bad, but doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Louisville had strong opportunities in the match, but the nearly 8,000 strong (mostly Pitt fans) on hand to watch the top-ten matchup pushed the Panthers in critical moments. Louisville ultimately fell by just eight total points in a 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 sweep. 

As I mentioned, the Cards could have been on top early and had multiple chances to extend the match. Louisville led 23-19 in the first set, 22-20 in the second, and 22-21 in the third. It just wasn't meant to be. The Cards finished with a .173 hitting percentage and were outblocked 10-6. Louisville committed five service errors with just four aces while Pitt committed the same number of errors but picked up seven aces. Many of those came in critical spots. 

Similar to the first matchup between the two teams, Louisville was unable to slow down Olivia Babcock, who finished with 22 kills and just three errors for a .404 hitting percentage. If the two teams meet again in the postseason, the Cards have to make someone else beat them. 

On offense, Louisville had three players in double-digit kills as Payton Petersen led the way with 13, Chloe Chicoine had 12, and Cara Cresse finished with 10. Petersen added 12 digs to earn a double-double, and Kamden Schrand led the team with 15 digs. Cresse had a strong night overall, as she had two solo blocks, two block assists, and two aces, leading the team in all of those categories. 

The Cards are back in action Saturday night in the season finale. First serve against the Stanford Cardinal is at 7PM, and this huge matchup has somehow been relegated to ACC Network Extra. The match will be in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cresse Drafted in 2025 MLV Draft -- NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cresse Drafted by Indy Ignite in First Round

Cara Cresse was drafted by the Indy Ignite with the fifth overall pick in the 2025 Major League Volleyball (MLV) Draft. Cresse joins former Cards Anna DeBeer and Elena Scott on the Ignite..

Cresse, a multi-time All-American middle blocker is on pace for another year of All-ACC and All-American honors. She ranks second in the country in blocks per set and ranks in the top 15 nationally in hitting percentage. She ranks fourth on the team in kills and has seen action in every match this year.

Only one Louisville player was taken in the 32-person draft, but the ACC was heavily represented with 25% of the picks hailing from the conference. Pitt and SMU each had two players drafted. Florida State, Miami, and Stanford each had one player drafted. 

Last season, Cardinal Couple was denied credentials multiple times by the Indy Ignite. We hope to have better success in the 2026 season... especially with three former Cards on their roster.

NCAA Women's Soccer Elite Eight

While Louisville women's soccer season has come to an end, the ACC still has strong representation. Nine ACC teams made the tournament and all nine advanced to the second round. 1-seeds Notre Dame and Virginia both suffered heartbreakers, allowing a last second goal and falling in a shootout, respectively. 1-seed Stanford, 2-seed Duke, and 3-seed Florida State remain.

The ACC continues to have strong representation in the NCAA women's soccer tournament, proving once again why they have a strong case as the best women's soccer conference. The ACC could also make that argument with the men's soccer tournament (nine teams in the 48-team field) and field hockey (five teams in the 18-team field).

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Wins at GT; WBB Battle of the Bluegrass -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Win 3-1 in Atlanta

Louisville volleyball hit the road this weekend to take on a Georgia Tech team that isn't quite as fear-inducing as they have been in years past. The Yellowjackets entered yesterday's game at 15-10 (10-5), but they were still ranked 40th in the RPI. With every match being critical in a race for the ACC regular season championship, dropping a game you should win on the road would be very bad. Louisville is still alive in the ACC, as no team has fewer than two losses. The Cards (14-2) are currently alone in third on the basis of having played one fewer games than Stanford and Pitt (15-2). SMU has dropped a third match and sits at 14-3. Louisville controls its own destiny in the league, as they play the Cardinal and Panthers next week and could seize the outright championship. 

Let's take it back to Atlanta, though. Before Louisville could worry about the huge opponents on next week's calendar, they needed to take care of business against a scrappy Georgia Tech team. GT jumped out to an early 5-2 lead and played with that lead for much of the set. Louisville clawed back to an 11-11 tie, but GT pushed its lead back to 15-12 and then 17-14. As the number of available points kept falling, Louisville finally put together a series to bring it level at 19 points. The Cards won the race to 20, but couldn't string together two in a row for the next few points. Louisville finally took a two-point lead at 24-22, and won the set on their second set point. 25-23 was nervy, but it counts either way. 

The second set was much less dramatic. GT hung with the Cards early on and used a five-point run to draw within one point at 13-12. The two teams largely traded points again, with Louisville only able to get to a 16-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Bees, Molly Wilson's service error to get them to 14 would be their last point of the set. Louisville won the next nine points to seal the set at 25-14. 

Coming out of the half, the third set looked a lot like the first, but with Louisville holding the arm's-length lead. Just like the first, the trailing team closed up late, and the two teams traded points in the 20s. Louisville was able to keep getting the side-out whenever GT would tie for many of the opportunities. Service errors kept GT in it, as the Cards committed them at 22-21 and 23-22. GT took a 24-23 lead and won the set on their first attempt at 25-23. 

Disappointed, but not dismayed, Louisville came out in the fourth and decided they were ready to be done with the match. GT held on early once more, but the Cards stretched to a 13-7 lead and never let the Bees get closer than five points afterwards. A 25-15 fourth set gave Louisville the 3-1 victory. 

Statistically, it doesn't seem like this match should have been as close as it was. Louisville hit .336 while GT was just .090. Part of the low Georgia Tech hitting performance came from the fact that Louisville finished with 21 team blocks. Yes, you read that right: 21 blocks. GT had only 35 errors, so Louisville was the direct cause of 60% of their errors, and the block was likely the indirect cause of many more. Louisville's service errors (12) were part of the problem, as the serving game really wasn't working for them with only three aces. GT had just four aces, but they limited the damage with just seven errors. 

Chloe Chicoine and Kalyssa Blackshear led the team with 15 kills apiece, and Blackshear totaled a double-double with ten blocks. Even with ten blocks, Blackshear was only second on the team, as Hannah Sherman put up an astounding 14. Cara Cresse narrowly missed a double-double herself, as she had eight blocks to go along with her ten kills. Payton Petersen was close as well, as she often is due to the full-rotation. Petersen was third on the team with 13 kills and added eight digs. If there was one thing GT did well, it was to limit Nayelis Cabello's sneaky offense. Cabello had just five attempts, and she had no kills and one error. That didn't deter her from putting up a great performance in her normal duties, though, as she finished with 47 of Louisville's 53 assists and added eight digs and four blocks. 

Louisville will also need to dispatch Clemson tomorrow, but a loss there would be stunning. After starting the season 12-0 in non-conference play, the Tigers are a woeful 4-13 in the ACC. Their wins came against two teams behind them in the standings (Cal and Virginia) and the two teams directly ahead of them (Syracuse and BC). Clemson has also been one of Duke's two wins and one of Virginia Tech's three. The Tigers took Notre Dame to five sets last night, but Louisville should still have a fairly straightforward outing. That match is at 1PM on ACC Network. 

Louisville Hosts UK at Yum! Center

As I noted in last week's soccer writeup, the Cards and Cats will face off twice more this month, with one of those meetings coming this afternoon. Louisville and Kentucky will get underway at 2PM on The CW in a fairly evenly matched game (according to the polls). This will be the 61st meeting between the two teams, with UK holding a 35-25 advantage. It will be a battle of trends this afternoon in Louisville. The Cards won seven straight in the rivalry game before last season, but UK won five straight before that. Will Louisville be able to win their fifth straight at home or will a new streak start for the Wildcats with their first win against the Cards in Louisville in over a decade?

I wrote a bit about UK's offensive output this season, but it will be interesting to see how the Cards manage the versatile Wildcats. Kentucky has four players averaging double figures, while two more are over nine per game. Clara Strack is the team leader in points with 16.8 per game. She was preseason second-team all SEC and leads the nation in double-doubles. Point guard Tonie Morgan is second in the nation in assists per game and the Cats are making 10 three pointers per game (tenth in the country). While Strack has made five of those, the shooters for the Cats are Amelia Hassett and Asia Boone. The two have combined to make 32 threes already this season on 34.8% shooting from beyond the arc. Louisville will need to be careful as Kenny Brooks goes to the bench as well. Lexi Blue is averaging just 11 minutes per game but she has already made eight three pointers on 42.1% shooting from range. UK also gets to the line consistently, and they're capable of knocking down free throws. I'm sure they'd like to be better, but they're shooting 75.9% from the stripe on an average of 18 attempts per game. 

Defensively, UK is also stout. Their competition hasn't been the most stellar, but they've held their last five opponents to fewer than 50 points and less than 30% from the field. They're first in the country in blocks per game (10), scoring defense (43.5), and field-goal percentage defense (26.9%). They've won their first two true road games by 30+ points (Buffalo and Marshall), a feat they haven't accomplished since the 1999-2000 season. With Louisville showing a propensity for getting out to a slow start, they could be in trouble if UK gets the chance to put the clamps on. 

The Cards are coming off of a bit of a get-right game. They are undefeated since the opener against UConn, but you could almost say, "that's not for a lack of trying." Louisville has had to pull some second-half performances out of the bag to meet that mark, but they were able to put a fairly complete game together on Thursday. Anaya Hardy and Reagan Bender had career nights, while Elif Istanbulluoglu matched a career-high in points. Laura Ziegler scored in double figures for the fourth time this season, and Taj Roberts scored double-digit points for the fourth straight game. 

The Cards will need to take care of the ball against the difficult UK defense. Louisville is averaging 11 turnovers per game. That could be dangerous, considering the Cats are forcing 17.5 on average from their opponents. Clean offense from the Cards will go a long way, as they'll have to find good shots, likely from the outside, to put up points this afternoon. 

All will be revealed in a few hours. Paulie will have the recap tomorrow. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Sweep Wolfpack in Raleigh -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Chicoine Leads All Hitters in Win

After a home-and-home series with Notre Dame last week, the Cards and Irish returned to North Carolina for their second ACC travel weekend in the Tarheel State in a row. After facing Duke and UNC last time, the two teams face NC State and Wake Forest this weekend. Louisville continued the brief run of sweeps they are on (after sweeping ND twice last week) by taking care of the Wolfpack in three sets. The win moved Louisville to 19-4 overall and 11-2 in the ACC. NC State is struggling this season, and the loss pushed them below .500 overall at 11-12 (4-9). 

Despite leading nearly wire-to-wire in all three sets (minus a few early points here and there), Louisville never really distanced themselves in the way that might have been expected over an outmatched team. The final scores were 25-19, 25-18, 25-20, which seems quite surprising given that Louisville hit .343 in the match compared to .169 for NC State. Even in a second set in which Louisville had no errors and hit .567, NC State played fairly clean with .367 (three errors) to keep it close. Part of the issue may have been that Louisville wasn't blocking nearly as much as they usually do against a team that they should dominate. The Cards had just nine blocks on the night. 

The Cards also had a decent night at the serving line, hitting six aces and only eight errors. They were net +2 in that battle, as NC State had just two aces and six errors. Nevertheless, Louisville came away with the win and did so in the minimum number of sets. Chloe Chicoine led all hitters in the match with 15 kills. She had just two errors and added two assists and eight digs. NC State had just one player in double-digit kills with 13. Kalyssa Blackshear was Louisville's second player in double-digits with 11. Blackshear had just one error, but NC State avoided her defensively. Somehow, Blackshear finished with no blocks. 

Cara Cresse showed out in the middle with nine kills on 11 attempts and no errors for an .818 hitting percentage (Blackshear was second in the match with .526). Cresse also had two solo blocks and three block assists. Not to be outdone, Hannah Sherman had four solo blocks. Payton Petersen (2) and Ava Utterback had the other block assists. NC State may have read their scouting report on Nayelis Cabello. Cabello had a strong 39 of Louisville's 41 assists, but she was 0-11 on attack attempts with one error. We don't really want our setter to have a negative attack percentage, but if she's the only one on the team doing so, it's not the end of the world. Kamden Schrand and Hannah Kenny both had strong nights with a pair of aces each and 16 and 11 digs, respectively. 

Louisville returns to play against Wake Forest tomorrow at 1PM. The Demon Deacons just moved ahead of Notre Dame in the conference by way of a head-to-head victory last night. Wake won 3-1 to move both teams to 5-8 in league play. Wake Forest is 11-13 overall, with non-conference losses to Cincinnati, Michigan, George Mason, Alabama, and East Carolina. They split the home-and home series with NC State a month ago. The Cards should be able to take care of business before returning home for a tough weekend against the Florida schools. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Join us this week for a special episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. With the happenings in Louisville women's athletics and news around town, there will be plenty to discuss. The show will appear on our YouTube Channel and all of the regular podcast haunts around 1PM after recording. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Sweeps; Soccer Finale -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Manages Sweep in South Bend

It may not have been the prettiest sweep in history, but at the end of the evening, Louisville volleyball left the Purcell Pavilion with a 3-0 victory. The Cards finished with a final score of 25-21, 25-19, 25-23. For a sweep, the match took much longer than expected, since the two teams played a half dozen or so points in the second set twice. Louisville was found to be out of rotation in the set, but not until the Cards had gone on an extended run. However, the rules state that when the officials determine the rotation error, they can "rewind" the match as far as needed to rectify the issue. Louisville still went on to win the set, so no harm no foul; just weird. 

It wasn't a stellar hitting night for either team. Notre Dame struggled to a 0.183 percentage with 18 errors, but the Cards managed just 0.282 with 15 errors of their own. Both teams blocked decently, with the Irish actually edging the Cards by one block. The stat sheet credits Notre Dame with 8.5 blocks due to a triple block, but since that's not how the points work, they only had eight blocks compared to Louisville's seven. That means the Cards took advantage of Notre Dame hitting errors and their own relatively clean play to stay on top. 

The Cards also had fewer aces in the match, but they won the battle at the service line with a net +1. Louisville had two aces and six errors while Notre Dame had four and nine. The Irish also committed two setting errors, giving the Cards a couple of additional free points. 

Louisville was led offensively by Chloe Chicoine, who finished with 14 kills. Chicoine had the highest number of kills in the match and she was the only Cardinal to eclipse double-digits. She finished with a double-double, as well, adding 10 blocks to her stat line. She also assisted a block. Cara Cresse returned to form a bit, coming home second with nine kills. Kalyssa Blackshear had eight and Payton Petersen had seven. Cresse also led the team in hitting percentage at 0.467. 

Defensively, Hannah Sherman continued to show her strength in the middle with a solo block (Louisville's only solo block) and two assists. Cresse had four block assists and Blackshear had three. Kamden Schrand had 14 digs, and the team was able to stay mostly in system, as Nayelis Cabello was forced into only six digs. Notre Dame may have finally picked up on Cabello's offense, as she was limited to two kills and two errors on eight attempts. 

Escaping South Bend with a win is nice, and doing so with a sweep is even better. Louisville will get another crack and Notre Dame on Saturday, as the ACC volleyball travel partner quirk means a home-and-home week. That match will be Louisville's final volleyball match of the season in the KFC Yum! Center, as all of their remaining home matches will return to L&N Arena. Basketball makes scheduling in the Yum! a bit more of a hassle. The two teams will get underway at 3PM and plenty of tickets are still available. 

Women's Soccer Hosts SMU

Louisville women's soccer will host their regular season finale tonight against the SMU Mustangs. There is still all to play for on the final ACC matchday of the season. With eight games tonight, every team is in action, save Syracuse. As is typical on Decision Days, most games will take place at the same time. Two games (Wake/FSU and Stanford/Cal) will finish before the final game (NC State/UNC) kicks off, but all other matches will overlap. 

As Jared wrote on Tuesday, it's a pretty straightforward task for the Cards to make the ACC Tournament. All they need to do is win tonight's game. With a victory, the Cards can finish no worse than sixth place. With a draw, they can still make the ACC tournament, but they will need a few results to fall their way. Jared wrote about those scenarios, so I won't belabor them too much. 

The best the Cards can finish is third, but that's a bit unlikely. Simply, Louisville would finish third if Wake, BC, and Clemson beat FSU, Virginia, and Duke, respectively. The BC win is the biggest hiccup there. Tiebreakers could play a major role in the seeding, but there are too many scenarios for a draw, so let's only look at a Louisville win. If the Cards are in a two-way tie, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. Louisville loses a two-way tie with Florida State outright, but they drew Virginia, so they would move to the second tiebreaker, which is wins over common conference opponents. 

Coincidentally, Louisville and Virginia played very different schedules this season and have only four common opponents: FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. Both teams lost to FSU, and if we are assuming they are tied on 20 points, both teams will have beaten the remaining three teams. The next tiebreaker is conference goal difference. Louisville's season goal difference is a staggering +37, easily beating Virginia's +22, but the Cards' offensive production has fallen significantly in conference. Louisville is +4 in conference play, while Virginia is +9. The Cards would need to beat SMU by six more goals than however many Virginia beats BC by to win the tiebreaker outright and by five more to advance to the next tiebreaker. 

The fourth tiebreaker is goals scored in conference matches. Louisville has 11, while Virginia has 19. For Louisville to win the fourth tiebreaker without winning the third would be an incredible evening of soccer in Louisville and Charlottesville. Here's a funny quirk. The fifth tiebreaker is goals allowed in conference matches. Why? If the teams are tied on goal difference and on goals scored, they must, by definition, have given up the same number of goals. The next tiebreaker is head-to-head results against conference opponents highest rated in the standings, but we already mentioned that Louisville and Virginia have the same results against their four common opponents, so that one is moot. As a result, if Louisville manages to somehow match Virginia on goals scored and goal difference, the tiebreaker would be a coinflip. 

The three-way tie scenario, in which Louisville, Virginia, and FSU are all on 20 points is actually rather simple. Since FSU beat both teams, they win the first tiebreaker (total points in head-to-head conference game results) and then Louisville and Virginia are sorted out on the two-team tiebreaker described above. 

While a Louisville win guarantees they're in the ACC tournament, the seeding possibilities show how tight the points have been this season. A Louisville win could see the Cards finish in any position from 3rd to 6th. We'll see what happens at the end of the final whistle. Kickoff is at 7PM in Lynn Stadium. Dress warm and stay dry. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Take Care of Business in Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Auburn

Louisville volleyball brought the Auburn Tigers in as part of the 2025 Cardinal Classic and opened the season with a close but convincing win. It was a great way to get the Dan Meske Era underway, as the Cards dazzled a capacity crowd (including Charitie Luper, Anna DeBeer, and Elena Scott) with a sweep of Auburn, winning all three sets with a matching 25-21 score. 

It was a... less than stellar hitting day for both teams, as Auburn managed to break .100 in just the third set and finished with an .084 hitting percentage for the match. While Louisville had nearly double that (.162), that's not saying a whole lot. The big problem for the Cards was one that Jared mentioned could be an issue for this team: they have a fairly low point of attack. Here's a statement we haven't said about Louisville volleyball after many matches in recent years: the Cards were outblocked. Auburn picked up 11 compared to Louisville's six. That mean's nearly half of Louisville's 23 errors came off the block, and they were very dependent on self inflicted wounds from Auburn, who finished with 22 errors. 

Don't get me wrong, the Cards still got the hammer down on offense. Louisville finished with 45 kills, and 43 of those were assisted. They also had a decent serving day, finishing with five aces and just five errors. Auburn finished with just one ace and three errors, giving the Cards a +2 day at the service line. 

Offensively, and this may shock you, Louisville was paced by Cara Cresse and Chloe Chicoine, who each finished with 11 kills. Where it might actually get surprising is that those two were joined on 11 kills by freshman Kalyssa Blackshear. We have mentioned Blackshear a few times as a player to watch out for on the opposite side. Blackshear's 11 kills came on 22 attempts, and she, like Cresse, had just two errors. Those two paced the team in hitting percentage with a .409 from Blackshear and a .474 from Cresse. 

It looks like Louisville is set to run with one setter, as Nayelis Cabello finished with 31 assists, but Cabello will need to be careful not to depend too much on Chicoine. Blackshear's 22 attack attempts were second on the team in yesterday's match, but it wasn't close: Chicoine took 42 swings. She finished with 11 kills and nine errors. The next highest outside hitter was Payton Petersen, who hit 5/5 on 20 attempts. Ava Utterback was 0/1 on one attempt. Not ideal. Interestingly, we didn't see Alanna Bankston or Reese Robins at the outside or opposite hitter positions, respectively. We also didn't see Molly Wilson spell Cabello in any rotations. 

Defensively, I've already mentioned the blocks, but everyone for Louisville had to hit the floor. The Cards had no solo blocks, so it was good team play at the net, but they finished with 70 digs, making up for those balls that got past the block. Petersen led the way, playing strong out of the back row in full rotation despite not having the best offensive day, as she had 16 digs. Kamden Schrand finished with 15, and Hannah Kenny, who also cycled through as a libero had ten. Cabello showed why she only had 31 of Louisville's 43 assists as she had three block assists and 13 digs. Chicoine wrapped up the high numbers with nine digs, narrowly missing the double-double. Cabello (2), Petersen (2), and Kenny also had the aces for the Cards. 

As you might suspect based on the final scores, Louisville never really ran away with a set, somewhat missing that "boom" we've gotten used to. At the same time, they never really had a scare outside of the second set when they faced a 17-12 deficit. Though they would go on to outscore Auburn 13-4 over the remainder of the set, they had to do it largely through consistent pressure, not seeing a run of more than three points until taking the score from 20-20 to 24-20. 

Meske will surely have plenty to cover with the team regarding the net play, but at the end of the day, it's a sweep of a Power 4 team. The Cards have today off while Auburn and Morehead State play, but they'll be back in action on Sunday against the Eagles. The Cards get St. John's on Labor Day. 

Field Hockey Thumps Michigan State

Louisville field hockey opened their season with a fairly tough matchup against a Big Ten opponent in the Michigan State Spartans. In the run-up to the season, we talked a fair amount about how similar these two teams were last season. This didn't look like it would be a straightforward season opener for the Cards, but Justine Sowry's 2025 squad showed that they have been working on a few things since last year. One of the major hiccups in 2024 was an inability to score. Louisville showed no signs of that being an issue, at least early in the season, as they scored early and often against MSU on their way to a 6-1 victory. 

The Cards scored first, nearly ten minutes into the game, with senior Chloe Cuzzupe picking up her first goal of the season. She was assisted by Gigi Edwards. Two minutes later, Lauren Masters doubled Louisville's advantage with an unassisted goal, which would stand as the final goal of the first quarter. The second was similarly uneventful early, but Louisville earned a penalty corner with six minutes remaining in the half. Gracie Potter took the honors and sent the ball to Annabel Sep, who became Louisville's third goal scorer of the half. The Cards went into the break with a 3-0 lead. 

At halftime, Louisville's returning goal leader, Rylie Wollerton, must have decided that she was disappointed to not have gotten in on the action. Wollerton scored four minutes into the second half on an assist by Luciana Carpenter, who had just entered the game 30 seconds earlier. A minute later, Louisville conceded their second penalty corner of the half. The Michigan State shot attempt was blocked but corners breed corners and the Spartans converted on their next attempt. The onslaught continued, as MSU earned another corner a couple of minutes later, but Emily Young picked up a save to end the threat. 

Louisville returned the favor with five minutes left in the half, as Potter took Louisville's fourth corner attempt of the match. An earlier corner had seen Izzy Bianco have her shot blocked, so she worked the play a little differently this time. Bianco received the corner and touched it off to Wollerton, who fired in her second goal of the quarter. A minute and a half later, she completed her first career collegiate hat trick on an assist by Emily Eaton. The quarter ended 6-1, which was the final score of the game. Michigan State threatened with a pair of shots in the fourth, both saved by Young, and Wollerton missed out on her chance for a fourth by firing a penalty corner shot high. By the end of 60 minutes, I think both teams were ready to close this one out. 

Louisville opens the season with a big win, and they largely dominated Michigan State in every facet. The Cards had more shots in every quarter but the fourth, and even that was only 2-1. Louisville had 13 shots to MSU's six and put nine on frame compared to just four for MSU. Both teams had three saves and five corners, but Louisville converted two of their five while MSU could convert just one. We'd like to see that corner conversion rate move north of 50%, but 40% is a good starting spot. 

JUSTINE SOWRY POSTGAME

RYLIE WOLLERTON POSTGAME

You can see interviews with both Justine Sowry and Rylie Wollerton at the links above. As you might expect, they were pretty excited with the win. Louisville is back in action tomorrow against Ohio University at 1PM. If you don't make it out to Trager, the match will be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With Louisville football getting their season underway today, we'll be without Jared for the show, but Paulie, Daryl, and I will have plenty of joy and excitement to cover with all the fall sports now in action and rolling. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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

Volleyball Hosts Red/Black Scrimmage -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Red Defeats Black 3-2

Though I'm not sure a final score truly matters, the Red Squad of the Louisville Cardinals volleyball team defeated the Black Squad in last night's intra-team scrimmage. The annual Red and Black Scrimmage represented the first time for most of CardNation to get their eyes on the 2025 edition of the Cards, their first season under Dan Meske. In addition to the end of the Dani Busboom Kelly era, the Anna DeBeer/Elena Scott reign came to an end at the close of last season as well, so there will be some new names for Louisville fans to become acquainted with. 

One of the players that rotated between the teams was a player that many fans are already well familiar with in Cara Cresse. According to reports from Jared on the floor, Cresse looks like she is already in All-American form, living up to much of the hype that has been thrown her way in the preseason. She had 11 kills and three blocks last night. Cresse will shore up a middle-blocking position that looks to anchor a blocking effort that could, if you believe it, be better than last season. Kalyssa Blackshear will play the second MB position, and she led the black team with 13 kills last night. 

Chloe Chicoine is the other player drawing a lot of attention in preseason, and she also came to play last night. Per Jared, she looked "phenomenal" playing the full rotation, and she amassed nine kills and 15 digs for the red team. Alanna Bankston led the red team with 14 kills and nine digs. Also hitting well for the black team was Payton Petersen, who finished with nine kills and led all players with 19 digs. 

Despite all of that, Jared mentioned that the hitting may be an aspect of Louisville's game that still needs some work. A lot of shots were coming out low, leading to unforced errors in the net and prime blocking material. Perhaps the best indication of that is setter Nayelis Cabello coming up with five blocks. 

Cabello set for the victorious red team last night, and she is part of one of the two major position battles on the floor. Her primary competition for the setter position is transfer Molly Wilson, who led the black team. In addition to the blocks, Cabello finished with two kills, 10 digs, and 38 assists. Wilson had 33 assists and 16 digs. For his part, Jared noted that he believes the edge goes to Cabello due to her ability to chase down errant passes. With two strong options, though, don't be surprised to see a 6-2 employed by Dan Meske. It's not as if he's unfamiliar with it. 

The other position battle is for the newly vacant libero position. While two liberos can be dressed, and Meske may very well choose to do so, it sounds like Kamden Schrand is not particularly interested in sharing the position. The junior had 17 digs last night and Jared notes that her competition (junior Molly Urban and freshman Hannah Kenny) were pretty far back. Kenny is listed as a setter on the roster, so she's an interesting conversion candidate if the defensive skills continue to be a focus. 

All in all, it should be an exciting season regardless, especially as the new players continue to gel with the returners. The next chance to see the Cards in action will be the alumnae match next Saturday. We don't have any confirmed players just yet (rumored are Scott, Claire Chaussee, and Charitie Luper, at least), but we do know some players who won't be playing. DeBeer is continuing to bring her ankle all the way to full for the next professional season, so she's rehabbing in a more controlled environment. Anna Stevenson Hall and Tori Dilfer Stringer are both expecting to be unavailable. Amaya Tillman is an assistant coach at UK, so that would be a competitive advantage issue, and Alexa Hendricks is traveling. Similar to Tillman, Aiko Jones may be precluded from playing due to her role as the Bellarmine head coach, but we'll see on that one. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board today, which is good since there is plenty to discuss. We'll talk actual game action, past and future, and any other news and notes from the week that was. Check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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

Volleyball Preseason Poll -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Receive Preseason Love in ACC 

Earlier this week, Jared wrote about the potential breakout candidates for the Louisville volleyball team. Coincidentally, the ACC preseason polls were announced a few hours later, and the coaches have their own opinions on Louisville's potential stars. 

Three Cardinals were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team: Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Nayelis Cabello. None of these players should come as a major shock. Cresse was one of four Cardinals to be named to an AVCA All-American team last season (honorable mention) and Chicoine was on an All-Region First Team. Chicoine was also on the All-Big Ten second team last year. Cabello was named as the ACC Freshman of the Year, so her inclusion on the list is also fairly straightforward. 

What the Cards will be looking for is more players to work their way onto the list. Louisville is second in players named, behind Pittsburgh with four. SMU and Stanford are also tied with Louisville at three. Miami has two, while Georgia Tech, UNC, and Notre Dame have one player each to round out the list. 

The preseason team also fairly well aligns with the Preseason Coaches Poll. Louisville finds themselves in second in the league with 271 points. Louisville trails Pitt, who had 279 points, and narrowly beat out Stanford (264) and SMU (243). Notre Dame is the lowest team with a player named to the preseason team, as the Irish were picked to finish just 12th. At the top, Louisville gathered four of the first-place votes, with Pitt picking up 10. Stanford had the two outstanding votes. 

It's sure to be a tight race in the ACC. Louisville may have hoped that the recent lack of form from Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and FSU meant that they could focus on the Panthers, but Stanford and SMU have kept it a multi-horse race at the top of the league. With no conference tournament, every match will be critical to determine a champion. We'll see what Dan Meske can do in his first season at the helm. 

No CCRHP This Week

Hosts are scattered this week for various reasons, so we'll have the week off from the show. Next week will mark the last season before competition, so we'll work to bring you an episode looking at the specific upcoming games. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cresse and Chicoine named to USA Volleyball 2025 team -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS MAKE USA U 23 PAN AMERICAN TEAM

Not normally a lot of Louisville Volleyball news in late May to report on, as a rule, but we do have news on two returning Cards and their inclusion onto the 2025 USA U 23 Pan American squad. 

Chloe Chicoine,  junior outside hitter and Cara Cresse, a redshirt senior middle blocker have been name the the USA squad for the 2025 Pan American games. 

Both players have a ton of experience to offer the USA squad. Chicoine, who transferred in to Louisville from Purdue to join the Cards, was on the 2023 U 21 USA, squad...where she helped USA win the gold, earning MVP and best outside hitter awards. In 2022, she was, again on the USA Pan Am squad and was also on the 2021 USA Girls U18 National Team and a part of the squad that won bronze in the U18 World championships. 

Cresse was on the 2024 USA women's national team that played in the Pan Am Cup Final Six and won silver.18 players will report for the training camp July 18-25 and twelve will be selected from there to represent USA. Other players from the area invited were Eva Hudson and Brooke Bultema both from University of Kentucky

Chicoine and Cresse are expected to be major players for new Louisville head coach Dan Meske, along with transfer setter from Univ. of Washington Molly Wilson, returnee Reese Robins, Nayelis Cabello, Alanna Bankson and Jessica Drapp. Four incoming freshmen will vye for time on the court for the #3 ranked Cards...middle hitter Kaylissa Blackshear, setter Hanna Kenny, middle blocker Addison Makun and outside hitter Chloe Meester. 

The annual Red and Black Scrimmage of the Cards will be in mid-August, at the on-campus LNFCU facility. 

PAULIE 

Taj Roberts Named ACC Rookie of the Week -- ACC Volleyball Awards -- Volleyball Tournament Reaction -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Roberts Named ACC Rookie of the Week

For the second time this season, freshman Tajianna Roberts was named ACC Rookie of the Week. Although Louisville only played one game over the last week, Roberts played a crucial role in the road win against Colorado.

Roberts scored 13 points while shooting 50% from the field. She added four steals as well as a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists. This is the sixth time this season where the freshman guard finished in the double figures in scoring. Roberts used a 5-0 run to help spark the Louisville 16-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Louisville returns home tomorrow night to host #11 Oklahoma. Tip-off is a bit earlier than normal, slated for 5:00pm. This game also features the return of former Louisville player Payton Verhulst, who is now with the Sooners.

ACC Volleyball Awards Features Multiple Cardinals

The ACC announced the annual ACC Volleyball awards yesterday. Elena Scott and Nayelis Cabello earned accolades.

Elena Scott was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight time. It is her fourth All-ACC award in her career. This season, the Louisville native averaged 4.43 digs per set played with a total of 456 digs on the year. She also had 110 assists and led the Cards with 33 service aces. Scott's career tallies include 1,861 digs, 419 assists, and 137 aces. The digs and aces both rank in the top-10 in program history.

Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Year. Cabello played a major role in Louisville's 6-2 offense, where she rotated with Elle Glock. The newcomer averaged 5.32 assists per set with a total of 554 this season. She also added 162 digs and 15 blocks. She was named ACC Freshman of the Week six times this season.

Scott was named to the All-ACC First Team alongside Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper. Care Cresse was named to the All-ACC Second Team while Cabello was named to the All-ACC Freshmen Team.

ACC Player of the Year was awarded to Pitt's Olivia Babcock. ACC Setter of the Year went to Stanford's Kami Miner. Dan Fisher was named ACC Coach of the Year as Pitt won the ACC and was named the top overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Louisville opens up play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at approximately 7:00pm against Chicago State.

Volleyball Tournament Reaction

With the release of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Sunday night, the biggest question for Louisville fans was answered. What seed would Louisville get? They earned the final 1-seed.

Pittsburgh earned the top overall seed. The Panthers lost one match all season and won the ACC. Nebraska and Penn State each earned 1-seeds, both with two losses.

Louisville beat out Stanford and Creighton, both of whom the Cards beat this season. Stanford did turn around and even the season series against Louisville this past weekend. The Committee seemed to weigh Louisville's wins over Stanford, Creighton, SMU, Wisconsin, and Kentucky pretty heavily. Kentucky earned a 3-seed while the other four on that list are 2-seeds. UofL went 5-1 against 2-seeds and 3-seeds, but went 0-4 against 1-seeds. 

Stanford went 5-3 against teams 3-seed or higher. The Cardinal (singular) won three sets against the Cardinals (plural) but Louisville won four sets, which might have helped been the deciding factor.

While Creighton went 29-2, they went 1-2 against teams 3-seed or higher. The Blue Jays fell to Louisville and Nebraska, but did sweep Kansas. The weakness of the Big East most likely played a factor in the seeding.

The ACC saw much love from the selection committee. Four of the top eight seeds are ACC schools: 2-seed Pitt, 1-seed Louisville, 2-seed Stanford, and 2-seed SMU. Nine ACC schools made the NCAA Tournament, The other five include 7-seed Florida State, 7-seed Georgia Tech, 8-seed North Carolina, 8-seed Miami, and NC State.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky also saw a fair amount of love with four schools dancing: 1-seed Louisville, 3-seed Kentucky, Morehead State, and Western Kentucky. The three non-Louisville schools were placed in the Pitt Region, highlighted by top seeds Pitt and SMU. I don't see any of the three surviving to the Final Four.

Louisville played a lot of matches against teams in the NCAA Tournament this year. Those opponents include Wisconsin, Tennessee, Penn State, South Dakota, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Creighton, Kentucky, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami, NC State, SMU, North Carolina, Stanford (2x), and Pitt (2x). 19 matches out of 30 opponents this season in the NCAA Tournament shows that this Louisville team is battle tested. Are the Cards ready for the challenge? Playing at home the entire tournament plays in their favor, but the Cards did lose at home to both Nebraska and Pitt this season.

Keys to Winning the NCAA Tournament:

-Limit unforced errors. This includes service errors and attack errors. Louisville likes to serve aggressively, but taking a little off the serve to keep the ball in gives your defense a chance to make a stop. Attack errors seemed to be more plentiful than kills a few times this season. That's more of a mentality or lack of focus.

-Strong blocking. Louisville is one of the top blocking teams in the country. They averaged 3.0 blocks per set this season. The Cards have established their identity under Dani Busboom Kelly through their blocking.

-Feed the hot hand. This might be an underrated key point. Louisville is not short on playmakers by any means. Different players have stepped up in various matches. Whether it's Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Payton Petersen, Reese Robins, Cara Cresse, Phekran Kong, or Hannah Sherman, find the hot hand and feed them. It's no different than feeding the hot shooter in basketball.

Cardinal Couple plans to have in person coverage for all Louisville matches in the NCAA Tournament.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Updated Volleyball Rankings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Updated Volleyball Rankings

Following a rather uneventful week, the latest NCAA Volleyball rankings are out. This has been the year of upsets, which has led to some interesting rankings shakeups throughout the weeks. The only notable upset over the last week didn't seem to cause much of an impact in the latest AVCA poll.

#1 Pitt (15-1): despite being upset by SMU in a 1-1 series split, the Panthers retained their top position.

#2 Nebraska (16-1): The Huskers continued a 16-match win streak highlighted by a win against top-10 Purdue

#3 Penn State (16-1): The Nittany Lions cruised through a pair of Big Ten wins

#4 Louisville (14-2): The Cards went on the road to defeat ranked Florida State and RV Miami

#5 Stanford (13-2): The Cardinal swept a couple middle of the road ACC teams

#6 Creighton (15-2): The Blue Jay swept through a pair of Big East opponents

#7 Texas (10-3): The Longhorns played one match, sweeping ranked Kentucky

#8 Kansas (14-1): The Jayhawks continue to dominate Big 12 play

#9 Wisconsin (11-4): The Badgers handled a couple Big Ten foes with ease

#10 Purdue (13-4): The Boilermakers fell to Nebraska before defeating Iowa

#11 Oregon (13-2)

#12 SMU (13-4)

#13 Arizona State (16-2) 

#14 Minnesota (11-5)
#15 Kentucky (9-7)

#16 USC (12-4)

#17 Georgia Tech (11-4) 

#18 TCU (12-4)

#19 Florida State (12-4) 

#20 Utah (15-2)

#21 Dayton (17-1)

#22 Baylor (10-6)

#23 Florida (11-5)

#24 BYU (10-6)

#25 Auburn (14-2)

The most recent RPI puts the Cards at #1 due to an extremely difficult schedule. Up to this point, Louisville is 6-2 against the Top 25. They also defeated then-#15 Tennessee, but the Vols have dropped from the polls altogether.

Louisville's schedule still features Pitt (2x), SMU, and Stanford. North Carolina and Virginia are both in the receiving votes category and still on the Cards' upcoming schedule.

This week also saw a pair of ACC awards for Louisville players. Anna DeBeer was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week and Cara Cresse was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week. Debo has 23 kills against FSU and 18 kills on .351 hitting percentage against Miami. Cresse had six blocks against FSU and six kills plus eight blocks against Miami.

Louisville is back in action this coming weekend with home matches against Wake Forest and NC State.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared