Cardinals Suit Up for Team USA -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Cards at Senior Nexus Championship

As we've become accustomed to, the University of Louisville is well represented at the USA Field Hockey Senior Nexus Championship. The event which brings together the athletes who trained at seven Senior Nexus Training Sites takes place this weekend in Virginia Beach. The event is part of the Team USA camp program to develop talent for the USA Field Hockey program for World Cup and Olympic competitions. 

This year, nine Cards are on site for the event, including two newcomers to the program. Returning players are Izzy Bianco, Emily Eaton, Lauren Masters, Sophia Parker, and Rylie Wollerton. A few of those names will be familiar to Cardinal Couple readers who have heard of this event before. Bianco, masters, and Parker have been part of the Team USA pipeline for a number of years. Also joining that group are two redshirt freshmen: Alessia Cicuto and Mary Wordelmann. Cicuto's inclusion is likely good news for Cardinal fans who weren't sure what the goalkeeper situation would look like for the Cards this season. Finally, the two newcomers are incoming freshman Jaelen Perez and transfer Addy Jay (who will come to the Cards from Boston University). 

Best of luck to all those participating!

Cardinal Swimmers at World University Games

Louisville swimming is also represented on the national stage, with this event taking place a bit farther away than Virginia Beach. The World University Games are underway in Berlin, Germany, and Cardinals are already doing quite well. Caroline Larsen, Ella Welch, and Julia Dennis are among the swimmers turning in their collegiate colors for the red, white, and blue. Louisville also has two men competing, with Denis Petrashov and Guy Brooks representing their home countries of Kyrgyzstan and South Africa, respectively. 

Larsen and Welch each got off to a hot start in the 50-meter butterfly, with Larsen finishing fifth and Welch sixth in the prelims, moving them to the semifinals. Both then qualified for the finals, as well, with Larsen posting the fastest time and Welch coming in .42 seconds later for fifth. 

Larsen also already has a gold medal, which she and Julia Dennis helped win in the 400 Free Relay. Team USA crushed the competition in the prelims, posting a fastest time nearly four full seconds ahead of second place. To assert their dominance further, the relay crew beat the prelim time by 1.5 seconds with a 3:36.21 in the finals on their way to gold. 

Congratulations and good luck as the event continues! 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

After a couple of weeks away, the show returns this week. We'll have three on board as Jared snaps photos at Freedom Hall for The Basketball Tournament. Paulie, Daryl, and I will bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics with competition just around the corner. 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

Swing, Jump, Throw, Run, Swim - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Golf en México

The Golf team took an excursion south of the border...no, not to Taco Bell, but really south of the border, for the Collegiate Invitational held in Guadalajara.  That's a rather unusual, but certainly pleasant locale this time of year.  The event was apparently hosted by Virginia, and your guess is as good as mine as to how they came to host an event in Western Mexico.

The Cards finished 10th overall in the competition, with Carmen Griffiths being the top scorer for the Cards, finishing in a tie for 9th place.  Beatriz Barrios wasn't too far behind, in a tie for 16th two strokes behind Griffiths.

Golf will return back to the states but staying south, heading to Melbourne FL for an event starting the 18th.

Track and Field Split the Party

UofL Track and Field competed in a couple of different events this weekend.

First, in Albuquerque, NM, Alba Cuns Iglesias posted an eighth place finish in the triple jump in a personal record of 12.81m.  That equates to a smidge over 42 feet.  Impressive to say the least.

Zoe Yeast, meanwhile was participating in the weight throw at the Meyo Invitational in South Bend Indiana, also finished eighth, and had a top throw of 18.03m, or 59 feet and almost two inches.

The next action for Track and Field sees them heading up to Chestnut Hill, MA for Boston College's Eagle Invite.  The Eagle Invite will be a two day event, on the 9th and 10th.

Swimming and Diving

Arthur Albiero's squad was at home yesterday for a meet against Cincinnati, with the well ranked Cards easily taking the competition, 204-90.  The men's side was similarly successful against the Bearcats.

The news here, however is that this was the Senior Day event for Swimming and Diving.  Yes, you read that right, and it caught me just as off-guard.  There is one more event, two weeks from now, for the Cards before the ACC Championship.  It is also a home meet, but it's a two day invitational, the Louisville Invitational, so logistically more difficult to do Senior Day honors.

With a substantial point win over the Bearcats and in head to head competition, you might expect a number of individual and relay event wins for Louisville, and of course you'd be right.

Gabi Albiero led the way with wins in the 50 free, the 100 fly, and both relays (200 medley and 200 free).  Chistiana Regenauer joined Albiero on both relays and also picked up an individual win in the 100 free.  Lindsay Gizzi won both the one and three meter springboard diving events while Else Praasterink is off competing in Doha Saudi Arabia for her native Netherlands at the World Aquatics Championships.  It is good to see Louisville adding some depth to their developing diving side of the squad.

In that 200 Medley relay, Albiero and Regenauer were joined by Cecilia Viberg and Tristen Ulett.  The B-team touched second, with contributions by Karoline Barrett, Kim Herkle, Ella Welch, and Julia Dennis.

Paige Kuwata won the 1650 freestyle (1650?  Seems oddly specific...it's roughly equal to 1500 meters...come on NCAA, just switch to meters already).

Paige Hetrick and Ulett finished one, two in the 200 free.  Ulett also won the 100 back.  Fernanda Celidonio finished atop the podium on the 100 breaststroke with Viberg on the second step.  Summer Cardwell touched first in the 200 fly with Kuwata being next.

Albiero, along with Welch, and Lucy Mehraban filled the whole podium in the 50 free.

Something you don't see too often with the timing precision available today, after Regenauer touched in the 100 free, Celidonio and Barrett tied for 2nd.  Bianca Costea touched fourth for the complete sweep of the event.

Herkle in the backstroke, was joined on the podium by Jordan Durocher, and Zoe Vogelmann.  Ella Welch won the 200 breaststroke.

Another 1-2-3-4 in the 100 fly with Albiero bringing along Barrett, Ulett, and Hetrick.  The 500 free was topped by Ulett, with Maddie Luther reaching 2nd.  Ulett then also won the 200 IM to wrap her day.

And finally, to wrap the event, Albiero, Regenauer, Dennis, and Welch set a pool record, achieving an NCAA A-cut in the process, in the 200 free.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(Maybe the ony reason to go to Raleigh...to visit with Ms. Wuf)

And, finally, in what may be the biggest news of the day, Paulie took his first step back into the Cardinal Couple waters after major surgery by joining the CCRHP call yesterday, delighting Daryl, Jared, and I also on the call.

With some spring sports getting underway this week, we did do a bit of a preview of Softball and Lacrosse, but the bulk of the time was spent on talking about WBB and trying to find a path through the this last home stretch of games to look the best for NCAA selection.  Basically no one expects to make it through this gauntlet unblemished, so how to put our best foot forward is the question.

Get the podcast to hear the long awaited and joyous return of Paulie to the Podcast at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Womens-Basketball-Enters-the-Home-Stretch-as-Spring-Sports-Kick-Off-e2fal53

-- 

JMcA

Cards Beat the Cats...Again, and WBB - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Cards Beat the Cats...Again

It hasn't been a total academic year sweep for the Cards over the Cats, Kentucky did get the wins in the two "biggest" sports, football and, unsurprisingly, Men's Basketball, but otherwise, the Cards are generally coming out on top of the Cats when they meet this year.

The two teams didn't compete in women's soccer this year, but the men did get the dub over the Cats.  Volleyball is the other traditional fall meeting, where DBK's squad swept UK all the way back down I-64.

The latest edition of the Cards' overall dominance over the Cats came yesterday in the Ralph Wright Natatorium, where both the men and women earned solid wins over UK.

Both of the Cards teams won by substantial overall margins, 210-90 for the women, and 209.5-88.5 for the men.

Highlights include the 200 medley relay where the Cards entered two teams, and they came in first and second.  The top finishing team included Karoline Bennett, Ella Welch, Christiana Regenauer, and Gabi Albiero and just barely missed making an A cut time.  The 200 individual freestyle also had two Cards in the top two spots, as Summer Cardwell touched first, just edging out teammate Fernanda Celidonio.

Paige Hetrick topped the podium in the 100 backstroke with a B cut qualifying time.  Teammate Ally Boynton took second.  Ella Welch won the breaststroke, but UK managed to get the second spot in this one.

Stop me if you've heard this before with UofL Women's Swimming...the 200 Butterfly.  Yes, following in the...footsteps?  splashlanes?...of Kelsey Dahlia (nee Worrell), and Mallory Comerford, the latest UofL fly great, which to be fair we've talking about for a few years now already, is Gabi Albiero, beating the rest of the field yesterday by three seconds.

A full sweep for UofL in the 50 freestyle, and wow if you've never seen one of these events in person, it's crazy intense being just a single lap up and back in the pool.  And since NCAA still works in yards for their events, it's even quicker than International 50's which are measured in meters, adding almost another 15 feet to the event.  Christina Regenauer topped the podium, joined by Julia Dennis and Karoline Barrett.

Lindsay Gizzi, fresh off her spring sports media day appearance won the three meter springboard in diving, part of an ongoing surge in the Cards' diving prowess.

Back to the long pool, UofL dominated even more in the 100 freestyle, filling the podium for points, and just to add insult to injury took 4th with an exhibition swimmer.  Christina Regenauer, Julia Dennis, and Lucy Mehreban scored points, with Ella Welch taking that 4th place spot as an exhibition swimmer.

Kim Herkle won the 200 breaststroke.  Summer Cardwell took the 500 free by an easy four seconds over teammate Maddie Luther.

Another full podium of Cards for the 100 butterfly, yup, Gabi Albiero on top, joined by Christina Regenauer and Karoline Barrett.  The swimmers in the 200 Individual Medley pulled a, "yeah, well how about this", filling the top four spots all with Cardinals.  Fernanda Celidonio, Kim Herkle, and Tristan Ulett kept Maddie Hall off the official podium, but all were no doubt celebrating together.

And, to cap it all off, the 400 freestyle relay was also taken 1-2 by the Cards A and B teams.  Gabi Albiero, Julia Dennis, Lucy Mehreban, and Ella Welch made up the winning A team, with Bianca Costea, Karoline Barrett, Fernanda Celidonio, Tristen Ulett comprising the 2nd place B team.

Really a great win for the Cards over the Cats to extend the UofL success in the rivalry for the year.  Baseball and Softball will be final meetings between the two schools.  Softball only plays the Cats once this year, here at Ulmer, but Baseball will play a home and home with one game each in Louisville and Lexington.

WBB Hosts Pitt

Pitt joins the Cardinals for a game at 2pm today at the KFC Yum! Center.  They'll be looking to build on their success Thursday where they beat Virginia.

Pitt didn't exactly schedule a barn burner of a non-conference schedule, but even as such, they finished just barely sub-.500 before diving into the harder ACC schedule where they lost six before getting the four point win over UVA.

You can never take a day off in the ACC, but hopefully today will be a day for the Cards to concentrate on some of the uneven parts of their game and improve.

The Cards did, of course, win the first matchup of the year against Pitt, and you would be forgiven, if you just looked at the final score and thought it was an easy win for UofL.  However most of the 30 point margin of victory came by outscoring Pitt 26-6 in the fourth quarter.

The main threat from the Panthers is Liatu King.  She's not an outside shooting threat, not having taken a single three point shot all year, but she does hit over 55% of the shots she takes from elsewhere on the floor.  She averages 19.5 points per game and maybe even more impressively, over 10 rebounds per game.  If the Cards can block her out from the boards, and mostly keep Pitt to single-shot possessions, that will go a long way towards securing the victory.

It is a 2pm start, as mentioned above.  If you can't make it to the KFC Yum! Center, coverage is on ACC Network Extra where you'll get Jeff Grier on play by play, and Jessica McDaniel (or as we mostly remember her, Jess Laemmle - Attack Yorkie).  As always, you have the option of hearing Nick Curran verbally paint the picture of the game on 93.9FM, with the non Attack Yorkie but still great Cardinal Alumna Cortnee Walton on color.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared chose to go do photos for the Men's Basketball game against Virginia, so he wasn't on the CCRHP call yesterday.  Paulie is still out on the IR list, but continuing to recover with the help of our ongoing well wishes.  That left Case, Daryl, and myself on the call.

We gave quite a bit of time to WBB, as is typical this time of year, but we did get a nice recap from Case of the Spring Sports Media Day.

I do have a correction from my "Final Thoughts".  I claimed that no home team had won a match in the Pro Volleyball Federation league yet (there are only three matches in to the season, so it's not that crazy), but in fact the Thursday match between the Grand Rapid Rise, and the Columbus Fury was in Grand Rapid, rather than Columbus as I had thought.  GR did get the win in a sweep powered largely by Claire Chaussee's whopping 21 kills.  Were still looking for a four set win in the league, though, as we've had the above sweep, and a pair of five setters.

Check out the podcast at it's anchor.fm/spotify home at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/UofL-Drops-First-Conference-Game-e2f0t9h

-- 

JMcA

Winter Sports Pile On - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Wake Up to WBB

Well, not exactly wake up to unless you're a really late riser, but the Cards opponent today is Wake Forest.  The Cards are, of course, looking to start a new winning streak after the fourth quarter meltdown in Raleigh.  Jen Hoover's Wake Forest Demon Deacons are working to climb out of the lower ranks of the ACC, let's call it the bottom third.

Wake arrives at today's game with a 2-6 record in conference with more than a few head scratchers in there, including most recently a 20+ point beat-em-down at the hands of Clemson in Winston-Salem.  No shame in losses to ranked teams Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech is playing at those sorts of levels as well, but hasn't quite broken into the rankings yet.  But a loss to Pitt, splitting with Florida State, a squeaker win over Miami, in addition to the mentioned Clemson thumping puts Wake down fairly low in the conference standings.

Wake is led by 5'10" guard Jewel Spear who hoists more than half of her shots from beyond the three point arc, and drains them 37% of the time.  Next in line is Elise Williams at 5'9" and also playing guard.  Williams plays a bit more balanced game, with only a third of her shots beyond the arc, hitting 42% overall and 32% from range.

Wake will also likely start a pair of 6'2" forwards, Christina Morra and Olivia Summiel.  Summiel can also be a bit of a threat from range, but Morra hasn't even attempted a three pointer this year.

Wake trails their opponents overall in all four of the "right side" stats categories - assists, steals, turnovers, and blocked shots.

Louisville shouldn't have too much trouble with this team, but they will be looking to bounce back from their loss to NC State.  Slow starts have been a hallmark of this UofL team for much of the season, and Wake held Clemson scoreless for the first 5+ minutes of the game.  UofL will not want to let them repeat that feat.

If the Cards can start the game off strong, the rest should follow along.  Of course, we can't have another fourth quarter collapse, but I don't expect Wake to go 11-14 overall and 5-6 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter like NC State did.  For the Cards this game is as much a mental game against themselves as it is against Wake.  If they've gotten their heads in the right place and play through the last whistle, they should be fine, but that's the biggest question about this team right now.

Two o'clock is the tip time, on the ACC Network today at the KFC Yum! Center, which is, of course, also available via streaming if that's your preferred media consumption approach.  Sam Ravech and Kelly Gramlich are on the call today, and with Gramlich's Clemson ties, we may hear a bit more about Wake's outing against the Tigers than we would otherwise.

Track and Field

Louisville was in Blacksburg, VA for the Hokie Invitational.  The top finish for the women was in the 4x400 relay with  Katie Martin, Je'Niya Burton, Kiyah Yeast and Taylor Boggess, finishing in second place with a 3:44.85 time.

On the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast yesterday, I mentioned Emily Scott, who has completed her time with UofL Volleyball and has moved over to the High Jump with Track and Field.  She was the top UofL finisher in the event with best clearance of 1.66 meters.  That ties the height with the two third place finishers, but Scott gets the fifth place finish because of the number of attempts it took her to clear the height.

UofL will return home to the Lenny Lyles Invitational on Saturday.  This is an indoor event which UofL previously didn't have a facility to host in, but is now able to host indoor events at the Norton Healthcare Sport and Learning Center at 30th St. and Muhammad Ali Blvd.

Swim and Dive

Swim and Dive hosted Kentucky at "The Ralph", the Ralph Wright Natatorium at Floyd St. and University Blvd. on campus.  Jared made it out for part of the meet to get a few pictures, and I managed to squeeze myself into a corner of the very full stands to watch some of it as well.  UofL won both the men's and women's competitions.  174-126 was the overall scores for the women, with the men winning even more substantially, 208.5-88.5.

The Cardinals are ranked 9th or 11th, depending on which rankings you're looking at, while the Wildcats are either 15th or unranked.  Regardless, this was some rather high level swimming.

UofL set a pool record and registered an A-cut time in the 200 yard medley, consisting of  Tristen Ulett (24.89), Mariia Astashkina (27.02), Christiana Regenauer (23.02), and Gabi Albiero (21.43).  Not to be outdone, the men also set a pool record and A-cut time on their side of the event.

The women were led by Gabi Albiero in the short distance races, and Liberty Williams in the longer events.  The men were led by Nick Albiero and Haridi Sameh.

Gabi Albiero, Nick Albiero, and head coach Arthur Albiero...I think this family may have something going with this whole swimming thing, ya know?

UofL will continue their season ending homestand this Saturday with Cincinnati coming to visit "The Ralph".  No start time is listed for this, yet, but I would expect it to be similar to yesterday's event with diving starting at noon, and swimming at 1pm.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It was a sparse crew for the CCRHP yesterday, with just Paulie and myself able to get on the call.  We had a good time chatting about a wide variety of topics, including reckoning with the WBB loss against NC State.  We did also talk about the win at Boston College, so we were able to get some "joy and excitement" in there.  Lots of other topics got covered, from Lacrosse to vacuums.

You can check the unedited version of at Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1Ao-qZRBoc

Case hasn't gotten an edited version of it up to the podcast system yet, but if he does, you will be able to find it at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple

Check out the fun!

JMcA

CARDINALS IN OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS -- TIME FOR A CHANGE -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

LOUISVILLE SWIMMERS STRIVE FOR THE OLYMPICS

Louisville swimmers are making a splash out in Nebraska at the USA Olympic Trials. 

Action begins today at 11 a.m. in four events:  the 200M IM, 50M Freestyle, 200 M Breaststroke and 1500M Freestyle .They are doing the qualifying in "waves" (appropriate for swimming I'd say) where the top two finishers in Wave I events qualify for Wave II events. Those second events are the ones that get yo in the Olympics. Wave I is June 4-7 and Wave II June 13-20. 

The Tokyo Olympics are scheduled for Friday July 23rd to Sunday August 8th. There is growing concern, however, in Japan about hosting the event emanating from the people of Japan. With a fourth wave of COVID 19 sweeping the island, up to 80% of the Japanese residents are in favor of cancelling or postponing the events. 

It ultimately, though, is not up to the Japanese political leaders. The decision comes from the IOF, the International Olympic Federation. That's how the IOC makes money. And, the Japanese would take a hige financial bath if the events wouldn't transpire -- with all the investments that have been made for the Summer Olympics. 

Japan also lags behind the USA and many other nations in getting their residents vaccinated. The athletes, obviously, will mostly be vaccinated...but attendance (which is what the advertisers and marketers want to see). could suffer because of the slow "shots" rate.  And volunteers, so important to an event like this, are walking away from their original offer to help and assist. 

What makes the Olympics, though?

It is the athletes. If they don't show, because of pandemic concerns, national policies or just the ever-increasing trend of the Japanese not wanting them and travelers to the nation...it's the old issue of, "How do you have a competition if you have no competitors?" 

Nevertheless, the trails go on. Cardinals we can keep an eye on today include: 

-- Diana Dunn (200IM IM) 

-- Aidan Kreiley (200M Breaststroke)

If you'd like to watch, go to:  https://www.usaswimming.org/utility/landing-pages/streaming

You can find results here:   https://www.omegatiming.com/2021/us-olympic-team-trials-wave-i-live-results

Best of luck to all competitors, especially our Cardinals ! 

AN EVEN PLATFORM

I've had a lot of fun following this year's WCWS NCAA Softball Tournament, but it's time to toss a changeup in here and make some changes. Changes in how long the event goes on in Oklahoma City. And, it's not about shortening the event.  

The NCAA needs to lengthen the event. Trying to cram the event in half the time-frame afforded the men's College World Series is stupid, archaic and  must change. Let's look at the beleaguered Florida State Seminoles. The Noles played until 2:20 A.M. Sunday morning, finally defeating Oklahoma State 4-2. Yes, rain delays played havoc with the schedule, but some Noles players did not get to bed until after 4 a.m. Sunday morning after necessary treatment (like ice baths and such),  then had to get up for 9:30 a.m. COVID testing and then head to the ballpark to play Alabama, in a elimination game for the Tallahassee school,  sitting through yet another weather delay.

Sleep-deprived much?

Incredibly, the Noles knocked off Alabama 2-0 to force a second elimination game. It was scheduled to be possibly be played last night, along with elimination match for tournament darlings James Madison against Oklahoma. Fortunately those games were moved to today because of continuing rain in the area and the start time is 4 p.m. for Dukes vs. Sooners and Noles vs. Tide around 7 p.m.

Today's action will give us a FINAL FOUR slate of schools, but the strain and stress on the participants is something that could have been avoided with a little prudent planning.  Yes, many teams did play four games over a three day weekend during the regular season, but someone like James Madison has had to play four games in five days after going through a grueling regional playoff schedule just to reach the WCWS in Oklahoma City.  

I know this doesn't relate to Louisville Softball, but, let's say the Cards qualify for the WCWS next year. I would bet that Holly Aprile wouldn't want to subject her student-athletes to this ridiculous cramming of contests to accommodate broadcasting or the NCAA's wishes. the thrill of getting there has to be incredibly huge, but the stay is akin to one of those non-stop dancing marathons from the 50's or 60's (or a Friday afternoon trying to negotiate I-65 South out of Louisville or any other major city). 

It is too much, too fast for these student-athletes. Trying to crowd this schedule of games, eliminations, advancement a and a Final Four in half the allotted time afford the NCAA DI Baseball Tournament is something the coaches, administration and event planners need to storm the NCAA offices over and demand equal time frames and spacing. How can you be at your best when your whole routine, schedule, sleep patterns and nourishment are tossed aside like a sandwich wrapper? 

Of course, being the NCAA, it'll probably take them several years to come to any type of decision, and then a couple more years to enact it. Yes, surely the fans suffer here but, that's small beer compared to what the teams have to go through. 

Even it up and equal it up NCAA. these women deserve much better than what your giving them. 

HAve a meaningful Monday,

paulie

Softball Falls Short, Tennis Narrowly Wins, and More -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Drops Two to Open ACC Play

With the podded system created for ACC play this season, softball will see a lot of double headers. Fortunately for them, that means they'll get plenty of opportunities to show their abilities in back-to-back games in a way they didn't yesterday. Taking on NC State to open their conference season, Louisville softball fell 8-4 and 4-3 to put them at 0-4 on the season. There is plenty of time to recover, have no doubt, as the Cards are right back in action today, starting with a match against Virginia at 11AM before getting another crack at the Wolfpack at 3PM. Both games should be on the ACC Network Extra. Let's take a look at yesterday's results.

Cards Let Wolfpack Snag Big Lead; 8-4

Acting as the home team, Louisville took to the field first and promptly gave up a two runs in an inning that included an opening walk, a pair of steals, and a double. After getting out of it, Taylor Roby, who started in the circle, was able to reset the game for herself when she hit a two-run homer to score herself and Carmyn Greenwood to tie the game. Both teams saw a walk but stranded a runner in the second, and the NC State opened up the game. They scored two in the third, two in the fourth, and a single run in each of the fifth and sixth innings to build an 8-2 lead. Louisville tried to claw back in the sixth, but could just scratch across two runs, stranding runners on second and third with a strikeout. That saw the inning end at 8-4, which is how the game would end an inning later. The Cards would get Celene Funke and Roby on base in the seventh, but could do nothing to advance them around to score.

7th Inning Rally Falls Short; 4-3

The second game flipped the dugouts and got off to quite a different start. Louisville got a one-out double and a two-out walk but couldn't bring either runner home and so headed to the bottom half with no runs. It looked like they'd start NC State off the same way, retiring the first two batters on a line drive and a strikeout, but a two-out walk was followed by a wild pitch to put a runner on second. A single scored her, and a two-out homer gave NC State a 3-0 lead leaving the first. After NC State's two-out fireworks, neither team threatened much until the bottom of the fifth when NC State loaded the bases with two outs. A ground-out ended the inning. 

In the top of the sixth, Louisville's offense returned when Taylor Roby hit her second home run of the day and of the season. That made it 3-1 and a bit more in reach, but the Wolfpack returned the favor with a lead-off home run of their own in the bottom half. The next batter reached on an error, but a caught-stealing was followed by a pop-out and a strikeout to end the inning. Louisville did their best to extend the game in the seventh, albeit with some help from NC State. Payton Hudson walked to open the inning but was followed by two quick outs. NC State had a chance to end the game on a grounder by Carmyn Greenwood, but an error put runners on first and second. Roby singled them both in to make it 4-3. Cassady Greenwood also reached on an error to put runners on first and second (odd coincidence), but Charley Butler's fly to right didn't have the juice or placement to get to the ground or out of the fence. A catch ended the game.

Tennis Opens Conference Play with Victory

Louisville hosted Syracuse yesterday for their first ACC match of the year. This has been a place in the past few years where things have fallen apart for the Cards, but a strong showing early could boost their morale going forward. Fortunately for Louisville, their doubles play may be the spark they need for the remainder of the year. They opened yesterday's match by winning the doubles point, clinching that portion of the match for the sixth straight time. They've played six matches. The Cards won the doubles point pretty strongly as well, finishing 6-1 and 6-2, while leading 5-4 in the unfinished match.

On the singles side, things got a bit more interesting. The Cards jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with wins in the first two singles matches to finish. Then, Syracuse won the next three matches, all coming back from a 1-0 set deficit to win in three sets. At 3-3, it came down to Rhea Verma, who narrowly lost her first set on a tiebreaker. She went on to win 6-1, 6-2 to give Louisville the fourth point they needed and a victory in conference play. That moves the Cards to 4-2 overall, and they'll be back in action tomorrow at 11AM against Boston College.

More Roundup

The swimming team claimed eight top-8 finishes and a bronze medal in the 400 medley relay to move into third place in the team standings. At 683.5 points, they're 105 points clear of fourth-place VT but sit 196 points behind NC State in second. Virginia is in their own class with 1047 points. The Cards will have a chance to hold onto third and try to chase down the Wolfpack as the final day of competition begins with prelims today at 11AM. The finals are schedule for 7PM and the entire event will be streamed on the ACC Network Extra.

Volleyball will have to wait another week to get their spring season started as their match with Lipscomb has been canceled. The ASUN, in an effort to get more conference games played, shifted their schedules around, landing a conference matchup on this weekend for the Bison. Louisville's match was seen as lower priority, so they got the boot. The Cards will now start the spring season next week against Notre Dame as they move straight into conference play.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well we were all wrong when we spent last week lamenting what we suspected to be the end of Louisville women's basketball's regular season due to Covid-19. We'll endeavor to be more correct this week on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour as we recap the win over Pittsburgh as well as all of the other news and events in Louisville women's athletics this week. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for our live show or check out the replay or podcast following the recording. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Other Winter/Spring Sports in Action -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field in Blacksburg

With the Louisville WBB team having a game every other day for the next week, the site is set to be filled with plenty of chatter about Dana Evans, HVL, and company, so I figured I would take today to give a bit of attention to some of the other sports in action. First on the list is track and field, who are currently in Blacksburg, Virginia taking on a host of ACC programs at the Hokie Invitational.

The event began yesterday and continues through today, but there are a few results from yesterday that were quite promising, if a little unsurprising. The only win on the women's side in yesterday's events came in the weight throw, as Makenli Forrest continued her form for the Cards in the event. Forrest has become a force to be reckoned with in the ACC throwing events over the last couple of years. She was joined in the event by fellow seniors Halee Hudson and Victoria Farley, who finished third and threw a personal best, respectively. 

Louisville freshmen had a good day, as well. In the triple jump, a pair of freshmen, Riley Burger and Ariel Lawrence, finished third and fourth in their first collegiate event. In her first event, Mackenzie Bell finished fourth in the 300m sprint. 

The other solo event of the day saw senior Gabriela Leon finish third and sophomore Auriane Viola finish fourth in the pole vault. Addie Warner came 10th in the pentathlon, finishing fourth in both the shot put and long jump portions of the event. 

Action continues today, and live results can be found on the gocards website or followed along with on Twitter.

Swimming at Kentucky

The Cards have had a pretty successful season in the pool so far, as the men have moved up to 8th while the women came into the rankings at 19th. They'll be put to the test today as they travel down I-64 for a head-to-head meet with Kentucky. The men won the last Battle of the Bluegrass by 20 points in the Ralph Wright Natatorium, and the women fell by the same margin. This year should be quite the challenge, as the women's team for UK is ranked 10th. The meet gets underway at 1PM.

Tennis to Begin Season Tomorrow

After a host of cancelations last week kept the Cards from opening their season against Notre Dame, Louisville women's tennis is set to get underway tomorrow when they host Ball State. The tennis team has struggled to gain traction in the ACC as they've started strong over the last couple of years, only to falter down the stretch against ACC competition. The Cards will likely hope their luck can change this year. Louisville beat Ball State in Muncie last year by a score of 5-2. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's another full house in our own personal studios this week for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, and we'll have plenty of basketball to discuss. We'll talk about recent games that gave Louisville their first ever number one ranking  and what they'll need to do over the next week to keep it. Join us for the live show on the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM, or catch the replay or podcast after the show.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Swim and Volley

Swimming News

Several current and former Cardinal swimmers were in action this weekend in the Toyota US Open Swimming Championship including Mallory Comerford, Gabi Albiero, and Morgen Friesen.

This is an odd event this year, as it was changed, as have some many sports events this year, to accommodate Covid-19.  In this case, the event was altered to be a multi-location event, with swimmers competing in nine different sites around the country and the ultimate results being aggregated across all sites based on times.

This means that, while Comerford touched the wall first in her location with a 55.21 in the 100M Freestyle, ultimately she ended up in 4th place in the competition behind a 54.04 finish by Victoria Huske that was swam, I believe, in Richmond, VA.

Several other Cardinals had good finishes in that race.  Casey Fanz touched the wall 2nd in Indiana, for a 10th overall, Christiana Regenauer and Gabi Albiero touch 6th and 7th, for final standings of 26th and 27th.

In other races, Alena Kraus touched 2nd in the 200M Butterfly for a 8th overall, followed by Tristen Ulett 4th for an overall 14th, and Albiero 6th for an overall 23rd.  Morgan Friesen touched 6th in the 200M Breaststroke for 26th overall.

Volleyball Signing Class

Jared did a great job Thursday of covering all the signing information that we know of across the sports that we broadly cover.  Of course, it's not just one day of signings, and not all of the programs released all of the information on their signings right away, so some information is still trickling in.

I did want to take a moment to break down the volleyball class a bit and how they fit into the team growth going forward.

A lot of attention in this class is going to Sydni Schetnan, of course, as she officially signed with Basketball with the expectation that she will be playing both Basketball and Volleyball during her tenure at UofL.  The initial information is that she will not be playing volleyball her first season, taking a red shirt in the sport, but will be participating in basketball.

In volleyball, Schetnan is a 6'5" outside hitter, joining a roster full of hard hitting pins.  There are no senior outside hitters listed on the roster this year, so likely the whole set will be back for next year, meaning that red shirt might be wise.  So two years from now, the pin hitter roster, assuming no shakeups, would be Aiko Jones, Nena Mbonu, Brooke Smith, Anna DeBeer, and Sydni Schetnan.  With two years of practice and development, and at 6'5" with big power, I think there's a very good chance Schetnan will see a lot of time on the court getting to show her stuff as a red-shirt freshman.

The other 6'5"er coming in is Cara Crese, a Middle Blocker out of Fort Wayne, IN.  Another position where the Cards are a bit overloaded.  Piper Roe is a red-shirt senior who has not seen much court time recently.  She has another year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of Covid-19, but will she take advantage of it?  I have no word, but I wouldn't be shocked if she decided to go ahead and move on.  Anna Stevenson is seeing regular play time, is also a senior, but similarly has another year of eligibility because of Covid-19.  I would expect to see her back in the middle.  The other starter is Amaya Tillman who will be a junior, and then add in Emily Scott in her final year, and Phekran Kong in her sophomore year looking to break into the line-up, and you have a massive multi-way position battle shaping up in the center.  6'5" height gives Crese a big leg up, but as a relatively newcomer to the sport of Volleyball, only starting in club play a few years ago, don't expect her to crack into the starting line-up right away.

Next up is Paige Morningstar, a 6' setter out of Pittsburgh.  Again, because of Covid-19, Tori Dilfer has another year of eligibility, so expect her to be our starting setter next year, but then things open up for Morningstar.  Next in line on the current roster is Rachel DeMarcus, who showed that she can certainly perform quite well in the position at Boston College this fall, but at 5'7", her height will hamper her overall effectiveness.  Morningstar will be a tall setter, which is an advantage for the portions of the rotation in the front row, for sure.  So don't expect to see much of her on the court in the fall of '21, but after that, get used to hearing the name.

Lastly, Elena Scott joins from Mercy Academy here in town.  A refreshing break from the parade of Assumption rockets matriculating into the UofL program, Scott will be coming into a fully stocked, but not overstocket Libero/Defensive Specialist squad.  At 5'9", Scott will be on the tall end of the spectrum for DSes, matching Ceci Rush's height, and coming into a role that has a small chance for another position battle.

Presumably, Alexis Hamilton will be returning in her Covid-19 extra season wearing the Libero jersey.  This past year, you saw the DS role split between Ayden Barlett, Alexa Hendricks, and Mia Stander.  The extra challenge here has been the riches of full rotation hitters that UofL has had in the past few years cutting down on the presence of DSes in the line-up.  Ceci Rush was mostly used as a serving specialist, and surely would like to expand her role as well.  So, again in this case, I wouldn't hold your breath to see Scott on the court frequently her first year.  After that, Hamilton will graduate, I would expect Alexa Hendricks to inherit the Libero jersey, and then look for Scott to try to make her case for some more playing time.  The DS position was full of question marks this fall, perhaps spring play will answer some of those questions and add some more defined contours to the DS scene within the squad.

Overall, UofL is getting several great athletes and volleyball talents.  Obviously any dual-sport athlete shows that they are just solid all-around athletes like Sydni Schetnan does.  Morningstar was also a dual-sport athlete in high school, and quad-sport earlier in her school days, but is expecting to leave basketball behind when she matriculate to UofL (the other two were soccer and softball).  If by some outside chance, Jeff Walz finds himself in a crunch in the 3 or 4 spot, maybe he comes calling to Morningstar, but the likelihood of that is very slim, of course.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The whole gang was online yesterday again for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  Check out the fun below.  Basketball is entering the discussion hot and heavy, along with wrap-ups of the Field Hockey and Soccer seasons, and of course, some discussions of the incoming signing classes across multiple sports.

JMcA

Busy Friday Sees Wins, Swims, and Broken Records -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Sweeps Friday at Bama Bash

It hasn't been an easy start for Holly Aprile's squad this season. The Cards got a ranked win in their opener before losing six straight. Louisville snagged a win over Wisconsin last week to break the streak but fell again to ranked Michigan the next day. Louisville looks to turn things around this weekend, and they started that attempt with a pair of wins yesterday. Louisville shutout both Penn State and Wichita State to move to 4-7 on the season. The Cards will get another shot at Wichita State this morning before a pair of games against power house (and host) Alabama. The Crimson Tide is a perennial title contender and is currently ranked 13/10 in the polls. The Cards will have their work cut out for them. 

Harris No-Hits Penn State

In the first game of the day, the Cards got off to a promising start in the top of the first inning. Louisville got runners on first and second with two outs after a Maddy Newman walk and a Cassady Greenwood single. That would be the end of the rally, though, as the Nittany Lions got out of the jam. In the bottom half, Chardonnay Harris walked the second batter on four pitches, and Claire Swedburg stole second to give Penn State a runner in scoring position with two outs. Harris got a swinging strikeout on the cleanup hitter to keep the game level.

The next two innings saw twelve up-twelve down as both teams were held in check. Taylor Roby broke the tie with a lead-off home run in the top of the fourth. After a pair of outs, Carmyn Greenwood doubled and Charley Butler singled her home to give the Cards a 2-0 lead before a strikeout ended the inning. Harris once again sat down the side in order. 

In the top of the fifth, Louisville's offense continued the rally. The Cards used seven singles, a walk, and an error to bat around the order and score seven runs. After blowing open a 9-0 lead, Harris picked up two groundouts and a pop-out to finish the game due to five-inning run rule. As the walk in the first inning was the only baserunner allowed, Chardonnay Harris picked up the no-hitter. The no-hitter was Louisville's first since Maryssa Becker in 2014.

Offense Picks up Where it Left Off Against Wichita State

Following the seven run fifth inning that ended the game against Penn State, Louisville's offense was more than ready to keep playing. After Taylor Roby worked out of a runner in scoring position in the top half, Louisville's hot offense once again stepped to the plate. Celene Funke walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Maddy Newman then walked and stole second, giving Louisville two in scoring position with no outs. Roby promptly brought them both home with a single. After a Cassady Greenwood bunt single, Charley Butler came on to run for Roby. A double steal put runners on second and third and a Carmyn Greenwood bunt single scored one. Louisville then executed another double steal to score another run and a Rebecca Chung groundout scored the final runner. Louisville put two more on base after a single and a hit by pitch to bat around the order, but Funke flied out to end then inning.

Louisville would go on to score a run in the second and two runs in the fourth to carry an 8-0 lead into the fifth, where Roby would sit down the Shockers' batters and win in the second straight run rule game. Roby gave up just two hits and a walk, while giving up no runs. Meanwhile, every Louisville batter to step to the plate reached base one way or the other. 

The Cards will see if they can keep their hot offense rolling today as they open the day with another game against Wichita State at noon. Their first game with Alabama is scheduled for 2:30PM and will be available via WatchESPN (SECN+).

Swimming in Third at ACC Championships

Heading into the final day of competition at the ACC Women's Swimming Championships, Louisville sits in a comfortable third place. The Cards (747.5) are nearly two hundred points ahead of fourth place UNC (567) but almost 150 behind second place NC State (888). Virginia leads by a mile at 1001.5 points. In addition to their solid team standing, Louisville has currently had multiple swimmers set pool times that qualified for invites to the NCAA Championships last season. We'll take a look at the potential NCAA qualifiers once conference championships have wrapped up and invites have gone out.

Lacrosse Falls in Tough Match at #14 Michigan

Louisville Lacrosse hit the road to take on a ranked Michigan team yesterday and put up a fight for much of the game. The Cards had to weather a storm as the Wolverines opened with a five goal run over the game's first ten minutes. Louisville bounced back and Shayla Scanlan's hat trick goal with six seconds left in the half made it 7-6 Michigan. The Cards would fight again in the second half, opening the half with a game tying goal from Paige Richbourg. Scanlan would go on to tie the game at 11 with 11:30 to go but that would be Louisville's final goal of the game. As they opened, Michigan closed, scoring four goals over the final seven minutes and shutting out the Cards to claim a 15-11 victory.

Despite the loss, Louisville showed great will and toughness in their second ranked game of the season. The Cards saw a lot of lopsided losses last year and appear to be holding their own much better this season. In addition to the spread out scoring, 11 goals from six players (Scanlan, Richbourg, both Blalocks, Hannah Morris and Brenna Shanahan), Rachel Florek set a program record for saves to keep the Cards in the game. Florek finished with 17 stops, preventing what could have been a very ugly outcome for the Cards. Louisville moves to 2-2 on the year and will head down I-65 on Tuesday for a matchup against Vanderbilt at 4PM.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

After taking last week off, we're back with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour today at 11AM. Jared and Paulie are both traveling this week, so Jeff and I will be holding down the fort, but we'll have plenty to discuss. With basketball getting into the big time part of the season and softball and lacrosse both being underway in earnest, we'll have no lack of topics to discuss. Join us as we go live on YouTube or catch the replay of the show any time.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Pitt today -- W Tennis downs SEMO St -- Swimming at the YUM -- Batter Up Brunch -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE.

Pitt Comes to the Yum!

0-7 in conference, 3-15 overall.  Honestly, and trying to be a respectful as possible, that may be about all you need to know about Pitt before today's later afternoon matchup.

The Panthers come in with wins only against Central Connecticut State, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Ole Miss.  UCF beat them by 14, Georgetown by 10, and Duquesne by 19.  None of these are strong teams in overall NCAA play.  In conference, loses have come by margins of eight to UNC, eight to Notre Dame, nine to Boston College, 12 to Virginia Tech, eight to Clemson, 18 to Syracuse, and to NC State?  Well, that one may have gotten an R rating for being just gruesome.  The Wolfpack ran off with a 22-0 run to start the 3rd quarter and won the overall quarter 30-4 on their way to a 88-44 finish.

The only main statistical category that Pitt is beating it's opponents is rebounding.  They do have that edge on both the defensive and offensive side, though the offensive rebounding margin is razor thing on the season.  Aysia Bugg is the scoring leader, averaging 13 per game, close behind is a committee of Amber Brown, Dayshanette Harris, and Gabbie Green, all scoring between 9.9 and 9.5 points per game.  Starting in the post, look for Cara Judkins, she's good for the highest scoring percentage on the team, but it's only 4.5 per game.  At 6'2", I don't think she'll provide a huge challenge for Kylee or Bionca.

Wins are what is looked for in the season, and this should be a relatively easy one.  I hope that Coach Walz can use this one for some teaching time with a little less pressure on getting the team into the winning side of the scoreboard.  We've all watched and cheered as this team has started to "figure it out", but there's still quite a ways to go on that journey.  While the level of competition plays into some of that, it can also be nice to have a less pressure filled game to give players a chance to make mistakes, play through them, and learn from the experiences.

A feel-good romp should make for a fun time in the KFC Yum! Center this afternoon.  It's a 4pm tip and is on the ACC Network, so there is no need for streaming today.

Tennis Back in Action

South East Missouri State comes to Louisville for a double-header today vs Mark Beckham's Tennis squad.

I haven't caught up much with the Tennis team this year, but they are transfer-laden, with seven of the 10 players on the roster listed as having transferred from another University, and also have a significant international flair, having a pair of Argentinians, a Russian, a Canadian (Toronto), and a Bosnian.

The first matchup starts with the doubles as always at 10am, and the second matchup will be at 1pm.  Live streaming of the matches should be available at:

https://gocards.com/sports/2018/2/2/louisville-tennis-live-video.aspx

At the time of this writing, it appears only one of the six courts actually has live video up and running.

Swimming and Diving

It was a the Battle of the Bluegrass, pool party style, yesterday at the Ralph Wright Natatorium.  Our intrepid photographer, Jared was in attendance early, before scooting over to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour recording.  All reports was that it was an absolute jam packed house, with at least parts of 5 or 6 other sports teams in attendance to cheer on their colleagues against the Wildcats.

The teams split in the results, with the Kentucky women getting the best of the Louisville women with total scores of 160.5 to 139.5.  The Louisville men managed a similar margin of the Wildcats with a total score of 165 to 135.

On the women's side, we got wins from Arina Openysheva in the 100 free, Christiana Regenauer in the 100 fly, and Lainey Visscher in the 50 free.  The three of them, plus Casey Fanz narrowly edged out the wildcats to get the win in the 400 free relay.  The margin of victory was less than two tenths of a second in a nearly three and a half minute long race.

In (well, mostly above) the diving end of the pool, Molly Fears was just edged in the 1 meter board competition, but did come out on top in the 3 meter.

You can see more of Jared's pictures from the event below.

The Swim and Dive team will be back in action Friday with Indiana coming to the Ralph Wright.


Softball Batter Up Brunch

Louisville Softball held their pre-season Batter Up Brunch at the PNC Club yesterday and Paulie and Sonja were there to attend and catch the words.

Sean Moth handled the P.A. duties in his always informative fashion

A great time it was. Here are some audio links from the event:  Vince Tyra made some opening remarks, Alicja Wolny delivered the keynote speaker address and there was a great video about the squad that the attendees got to see while they dined. Celene Funke did a Q&A with selected members of the squad, including Eden Mayo, Catlin Ferguson, Chardonnay Harris and Holly Aprile ended the program with her comments about the event, team and upcoming season.

It was a splendid time for all, and a silent auction was also available for attendees.

THE WORDS:

HOLLY APRILE PRE-BANQUET WITH PAULIE

INTERVIEW WITH CELENE FUNKE

INTERVIEW WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER WITH WOLNY

VINCE TYRA REMARKS

ALICJA WOLNY KEYNOTE ADDRESS

SEAN MOTH INTRODUCES THE SENIORS

HOLLY APRILE'S WORDS FOR THE ATTENDEES

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's a little bit of two steps forward and one step back.  We had four of us in the recording booth at the Louisville Northeast Regional Library branch, and with the added input, I found a new technical glitch.  Poor Jared, the audio interface they have had the 3rd and 4th channels turned off.  Case, Paulie, and I started on channels one and two, plus a separate USB mic, meaning for the first part of the show, Jared is awfully hard to hear.  I did give him my mic to use as I struggled to find the cause of the problem (and you can tell in my extremely distracted responses to prompts from Paulie).  We did find, and fix, the problem after the show.  So this continues to be a learning process.  In any case, you can check out the show below.

--
JMcA