Volleyball Gets the Spotlight - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball in Action Alone

Did anyone recognize the player in the first picture of yesterday's article?  Akela Yuhl played with the Cardinals from 2017 to 2019.  A DS walk-on, she didn't see a whole lot of playing time, but filled in at times and found some success.  After she finished her junior year with the volleyball team, Akela did graduate with her undergraduate degree from UofL.  I did find where she is or at least was last year, working with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab while she was working on her Masters through the University of South Alabama.  Dauphin Island is a barrier island south of Mobile Bay in Alabama. 

Her major at UofL was Biology, and it appears that her interest in Marine Biology has continued and has served her well, including being part of a project to study the Mobile-Tensaw-Apalachee River Delta.  A couple of links about the project https://www.disl.edu/news/2022/auburn-disl-collaboration-to-assess-mobile-tensaw-apalachee-delta/ https://www.disl.edu/news/2022/auburn-disl-collaboration-to-assess-mobile-tensaw-apalachee-delta/

We, of course, wish Akela the best as she continues her work and no doubt will contribute to the betterment of our world.

OK, back to the current team, however.  After Friday's loss to FSU, and as excellently outlined by Case in yesterday's CC article, the Cards find them back in a four-way tie atop the ACC conference.  The Cards don't completely hold their own destiny in their hands as they don't have another matchup in the works with FSU, but with upcoming matches still against both Pitt and Georgia Tech, they do have the ability to knock two of the teams out of that four way tie.  They do hold their own destiny in their hands insofar as winning out the rest of the season will at least result in the Cards taking down yet another co-championship in the ACC.

So that campaign begins today.  The Cards have made the relatively short trek over to Georgia Tech's travel partner, Clemson, and will square off against the Tigers at 1pm today in Jervey Gym with coverage on the ACC Network Extra.

Clemson is roughly in the mid-pack of the ACC, a significant upgrade over even just a handful of years ago when they were one of the perennial doormats of ACC Volleyball.  The Tigers did play UofL's travel partner Notre Dame Friday which they won in four sets, with a few bonus points in the first set.  That puts Clemson on a three game win streak, but, with all due respect, the competition hasn't been that great.  Notre Dame, Boston College, and Syracuse are three of the bottom five teams in the conference.

They did take UNC five sets before the Tarheels took the win, and they beat a pretty decent Miami team in Jervey Gym about three weeks back.  The Tigers' out of conference schedule didn't feature much in the way of top-flight teams, other than Florida which took the match in a sweep.

So, don't expect a top-level volleyball match today.  The Cards should win this without too much trouble, but "should" is doing a lot of work there as we've seen UofL really take their foot off the accelerator at times when playing "lesser" teams.

It's always a challenge for a team to come out and play at their top capabilities when the competition isn't as strong, but that's what I really want to see from this Cardinal team today.  It's late enough in the season that they should be a well oiled machine, and in many ways they are, but we've seen too much "let down" at times that make games that shouldn't really be competitive become rather more exciting than expected.

The Clemson offense seems to be fairly well balanced, with Aźyah Dailey, and Kennedy Wagner leading the way from the left side with 2.3 and 2.4 kills per set.  Kate Simington and Adria Powell are 6'2" and 6'4" presences in the middle.  Admittedly, PK and Cara Cresse are taller still at 6'4" and 6'6", but the tall trees in the middle on both sides of the net should make for an interesting battle at the net.

McKenna Slavik will run the show, and at 6'1" holds her own in blocking with about .4 blocks per set.  I assume Devan Taylor will be in the libero jersey, or at least looking at the Clemson season stats, that's who I would put in that role.  She's racking up 3.6 digs per set which is still behind the 4.5+ that Elena Scott keeps alive, but is still a respectable number.

So there is some talent there that needs to be game-planned for, and I'm sure the Louisville coaching staff has done so, now it's up to the players to come out and play up to their potential to demonstrate that they can play at that level, regardless of the competition.

As mentioned, this one gets started at 1pm at Jervey Gym, and is viewable on ACC Network Extra.  Don't forget that Daylight Savings Time ended last night, so if you haven't changed your clocks, you should do so, and take the extra hour that you didn't realize you had to check your smoke detector batteries as well.

Field Hockey Selection Show

Field Hockey awaits their NCAA tournament fate tonight.  Consensus seems to say that they will be getting a bid, but with only 18 places in the tournament, it's not a given, and the quality of the draw will be a big question to be answered.

The Selection Show is at 10pm and will be streamed via the ncaa.com website.  I was unable to find a specific URL where it will be as of yet.

The "opening round" along with the "first" and "second" rounds will be played at campus sites on November 8th, 10th, and 12 respectively, with the semifinals and finals at Karen Shelton Stadium at UNC.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Case was back with Paulie and I yesterday for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast, and just in time to wrap up the season for Soccer, with a pretty serious discussion about whether KFD will be with us another year.  We also recapped a bit of Field Hockey's games in the ACC Championship, and whether their resume is strong enough to get a bid to the NCAA Tournment (consensus says, "yes").  And of course, we look at what went wrong for Volleyball Friday night, and what that means for the renewed logjam atop the ACC (imagine what it's going to be like with Stanford in the mix next year).

Check it out at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Field-Hockey-and-Volleyball-Fall-e2bfu8t

-- JMcA

#4 FH and #2 VolleyCards GAMEDAY -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers, and thanks for checking back in with Cardinal Couple.  

The weather has seemed to have caught up with the season -- hoodie season!! Baseball has officially ended for the year.   

It's game-day for a couple UofL squads looking to stay atop of the national rankings.. Field Hockey on the road and Volleyball at home.  Let's look into those matchups. 

VOLLEYBALL

#2 Louisville vs Clemson

7:00PM
L&N Arena

After a four-game series on the road, the Cards are back at home this weekend looking to improve to 12-1 on the season as they welcome ACC foe Clemson to town Friday night.

 The Cards have swept their last 2 opponents in 3 sets. Claire Chaussee was named AVCA and ACC Player of the Week finished the weekend with 26 kills, one ace, eight digs, and two blocks.

The Tigers are 9-5 on the season after dropping two matches at home this past weekend to Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.  As a team, Clemson is 14th in team assists (699) in the NCAA, 16th in kills (751) and 28th in service aces (98)
In the ACC, the Tigers hold the top spot in digs and total attacks as of earlier in the week. 

Against Virginia Tech, Junior Cate Long finished with a career-high 21 kills off 55 attacks surpassing her previous best of 15. She is second on the team with 15 aces and has had double digit kills in the previous four matches.

Sophomore libero Devan Taylor had a career-high 29 digs against Virginia Tech. She leads the team and the conference with 255 total digs and is 29th in the NCAA. 

Junior Camryn Hannah leads the conference in kills (220) and points (243.5), she is second in total attacks (485) and is third in kills per set (4.00) and points per set (4.43)  She’s tallied at least 20 attacks in 13 matches this season and had 11 matches with double-digit kills.

Louisville and Clemson have met ten times with the Cardinals leading the series 10-0. When they met in 2021, UofL swept the Tigers at Clemson.

This one will be available on the ACC Network Extra.

FIELD HOCKEY

#5 Louisville at #7 Virginia
3:00PM

ACCNX

The Cards secured a 2-0 victory over Indiana last Friday to bring an 8-1 record into this match. The win marked Louisville's second straight shutout and the third on the season. Friday's contest at Virginia marks the fifth time Louisville has face a ranked opponent - the Cards are 3-1 in those games with wins against then-No. 4 Michigan, No. 13 Princeton and No. 11 Penn State.

Virginia brings a 5-3 overall record and a 1-1 mark in ACC play into the contest with the Cards.

UVA leads the overall series 9-8, with Louisville winning the regular-season meeting last year 1-0, but Virginia topped the Cardinals in a shootout in the semifinals of the ACC Championship.

Goalkeeper Sasha Elliott leads the ACC in saves per game (5.11) and save percentage (0.852). Her save percentage is second in the NCAA.

This will be the fifth ranked opponent for the Cavaliers in a row, going 2-2 over the previous 4 matches which including a 3-2 win over #13 St Josephs and a 3-0 win over #11 Syracuse. They moved up three spots in the polls as result.

Senior Cato Geusgens scored two goals against Syracuse. It was the third multi-goal game of her career and the first since her freshman season. 

Senior Laura Janssen leads the Cavaliers with seven goals this season. She ranks fourth in the ACC in goals per game (0.88) and 13th in the NCAA.  Janssen has seven goals in eight games this season and has scored in all but two games this season.

Virginia has four players ranked in the top-10 in the conference in assists per game. 

Freshman goalkeeper Jet Trimborn was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week, the first Cavalier to earn a conference Player of the Week honor this year.

It's a return to the unique Virginia Field Hockey blue turf. As they used to say in the old days, no need to adjust the color on your viewing device, yes, it's actually blue turf. Fraternity prank gone wrong? Clearance sale at Carpet World? We can't say for sure, but I bet the white ball really stands out on it. I expect a UK fan would be in heaven on this turf...

Lets wrap up the month of September on a high note! 

Go Cards!!

-Daryl 

Louisville Volleyball cages Clemson....WKU and Louisville today in WBB -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

CARDS STAY ATOP ACC WITH 3-0 SWEEP OF CLEMSON

Anne Kordes' Louisville Volleyball team improved to 16-1 in the ACC with a straight set sweep of the Clemson Tigers
25-20, 25-24, 25-19 Friday night in the KFC YUM! Center. Erin Fairs had 16 kills for the Cards...who are at 24-5 overall and ranked #17 in the nation.

Anything less than a dominating, straight-set sweep probably would have been disappointing against the cellar-dwellers of the ACC...a team the Cards handled in similar fashion down at Clemson earlier in the season. 

With the win, Louisville holds a one game lead over North Carolina and is two games ahead of Florida State with three games remaining in the regular season. 

Louiasville will face Georgia Tech Sunday at 2 p.m. and it will be senior day ceremonies for the VolleyCards.  Katie George, Roxanne McVey and Erin Fairs will go through pre-game recognition for their contributions to the team.

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CARDS VS. TOPPERS TODAY IN BOWLING GREEN

Louisville women's basketball (0-1) looks to get their first win of the season on the road at Western Kentucky this afternoon. The game is scheduled to tip at 3:30 p.m. and is part of a double-header that also features the Western Kentucky men's team facing Stony Brook in the opener. 

The Cards look to improve after an opening season loss in the KFC YUM! Center to California 75-71 last Sunday. The Cards got good efforts out of junior transfer Briahanna Jackson (21 points, six steals) and sophomore Mariya Moore (20 points, six threes) but were outrebounded by the Bears 50-27. 

WKU held a 15-point second period lead over Ball State on the road but couldn't sustain the momentum in the final half...falling 74-70 to those northern Cardinals. Freshman Kayla Smith had 14 points in her debut as a Hilltopper but Nathalie's Fontaine's 30 points led Ball State to the victory. The Toppers were outscored 31-18 in the final 10 minutes.

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AND NOW...LIVE FROM BOWLING GREEN...

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR show will be broadcast live from E.A. Diddle Arena on the WKU campus this morning at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and at www.crescenthillradio.com

Worldwide and Pauie will be joined on the broadcast by Paige Sherrard...writer for SB Nation and Swish Appeal and the first lady of CARDINAL SPORTS ZONE. 

We'll discuss the upcoming game against WKU, loss to Cal and review and preview volleyball action. We also have audio from Anne Kordes and post-game Cal comments from Mariya Moore, Briahanna Jackson, Lindsey Gottlieb and Jeff Walz.  

It should be another stellar event in FM radio history, you can listen at the link below:

WE'RE IN BOWLING GREEN BUT NOT BOWLING OR WEARING GREEN

paulie 

Get to know the foes...WBB faces WKU on Saturday...Volleyball hosts Clemson tonight -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB to face WKU Saturday in Bowling Green

In what has to be a welcome relief to head coach Jeff Walz after Sunday, Michelle Clark-Heard has no one taller than 6'2" on her WKU squad. The Toppers have only five players back from last season and four of them start for the team on the Hill. 

Micah Jones, Tasha Brown, Ivy Brown (no relation) and Kendall Noble drew the introductions Thursday night in a 74-60 loss at Ball State that was the opening regular season game for Western Kentucky. The other returnee Jalynn McClain sees time off the bench...as does Dee Givens, Ima Akpan and Taylor Brown (once again...no relation to the other two Browns). 

A game where WKU led by 15 midway through the second period but some hot shooting by the Cardinals Nathalie Fontaine in the final 20 allowed them to blow by the Toppers in a decisive 4th. quarter where they out-scored their guests 31-18. Fontaine ended up with 30 points...the vast majority of them inside the paint.

WKU's best overall player may actually be their fifth starter freshman Kayla Smith...a 6'1"guard/forward who hit for 13 points to lead WKU in scoring and showed a nice range of shot-making ability, including the three ball. 

The Toppers do love to put it up from behind the arc...bombing away for 31 trifectas against BSU. They are shooters but weren't great at being makers from the deep...hitting only eight. Watching them last night revealed several things. They run a very patient side-to-side offense...working for the open look. They'll use the entire shot clock. They also go to the offensive boards fairly well for a small team but had a hard time stopping BSU inside when the Cardinals had the ball. 

Micah Jones is the primary ball handler...the point guard has a nice touch from the deep also and distributes well. Noble is the best defensive stopper and will probably draw Louisville's Briahanna Jackson...WKU plays a lot of man-to-man defense. Tasha and Ivy Brown, along with McClain are the major post scoring, interior defense and rebounding threats, but Ball State was scoring pretty easily against them in the paint and the Toppers do not work the ball into the paint very often in their offensive sets. 

WKU doesn't employ a fast break transition game very often and there were lapses where they didn't get back quickly on defense. Ball State must have missed a dozen wide open layup or inside attempts...especially in the early going when WKU jumped out to the sizable lead.

If Louisville can utilize their quickness and find some semblance of an inside game, the Cards should find plenty of opportunities to score on WKU. The dribble-drive could be quite effective against the sometimes step-slow Toppers defense and Louisville's height advantage could make a difference as well, if that part of the offense has improved. Jackson, Moore and the other guards would be well-advised to push the tempo as often as possible against the foe. WKU looked pretty worn out most of the the final period. 

That being said, teams tend to improve after their first game of the season...and Louisville and WKU will both play their second game of the year Saturday.

It should be a fun one in E.A. Diddle Arena Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is 3:30...part of a doubleheader that will start with the WKU men's squad playing Stony Brook in the opener.

We'll be doing our CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR live on-site in the facility beginning at 11 a.m. EST so be sure to tune us in on WCHQ 100.9 FM or on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com

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VOLLEYBALL LOOKS TO REMAIN ATOP THE ACC AGAINST CLEMSON.


The VolleyCards will host Clemson tonight at 7 p.m. in the KFC YUM! Center in exciting ACC action. Louisville romped the Tigers earlier this season in South Carolina in three sets 25-14, 25-15 25-19.

It's been that kind of season for the Tigers who are tied for last place in the ACC with a 1-15 conference record. Louisville, on the other hand, is 15-1 and holds a one-half game edge over North Carolina for first place in the conference.

Hopefully, a chance for Anne Kordes to get deep into the bench tonight (although the Volleyball players never actually sit on the bench) and a straight set sweep for the Cards would be a great way to start a weekend of Cardinal sports. 

paulie
xxxxx