Cards, Irish Volleyball at 7 p.m. but...back to back?? - WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 # 4 CARDS TOIL AGAINST IRISH TONIGHT ..AND 1 PM. SATURDAY. 

The two ACC squads battle here in the KFC Center tonight and then go to South Bend for another match a half a day later on the UND Campus. ACCNX will show them both.

We have no idea why the teams, or the ACC decided to play back to back, or maybe they had no say in the scheduling quirk. The contests are usually fun ones, though. The Cards are 12-2 going into the one. We'll have much more on it in ..in tomorrow's recap. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

paulie

Sunday brings three contests for UoL women's athletics. -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WIN, LOSE AND DRAW FOR CARDS SUNDAY 

A very busy day for UofL women's athletics playing on the west coast, east coast and in Louisville. Let's see how the results came out, we'll start with the win. 

VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS BOSTON COLLEGE IN BEANTOWN

#4 Louisville went went to 12-2 with the straight set romp against the Eagles. The Cards took the sets 25-19, 25-21, 25-14.

Kalyssa Blackshear had 16 kills and nine aces to leads Louisville in the bird battle.  Chloe Chicoine was next with11 kills. 

The Cards return to the Ville and will bring Notre Dame on Wednesday. 

FIELD HOCKEY FALLS TO UC DAVIS 1-0

#12 Field Hockey took a surprising 1-0 loss in California to UC Davis.

After a scoreless first half, UC Davis got a goal from Molly Main in the third quarter and that concluded. the scoring. 

The loss dropped Louisville to 7-3 while the homestanding Aggies improved to 3-6. 

The Cards led in only one of the offensive categories...shots taken.  

Justine Sowry expressed disappointment . "That is a tough result for our team and credit to UC Davis for taking it to us."

UofL returns home and brings i powerhouses UNC and Stanford on Friday and Sunday.

CARDS WSOC DRAW WITH FSU AT LYNN

Ideal outdoor weather for women' s soccer and the Cards and Noles battled to a 90 minutes scoreless tie in front of the Cardinals faithful. 

Louisville had nine shots, FSU three. Each team had one on goal and the Cards tried eight penalty corners where FSU attempted just two. 

The Cards go to 8-1-2 and FSU 4-1-3.

A fun Sunday of recovering and watching on laptop and TV. 

paulie

Louisville Field Hockey, Women's Soccer and Volleyball in action Sunday -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Volleyball, Field Hockey on road, WSOC in Lynn 

A busy day for UofL women's sports squads, with three in action. Volleyball is at Boston College, Field Hockey in California and takes on UC Davis and Women's Soccer hosts FSU on campus in Lynn Stadium. let's look at the contests. 

LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL IN BEANTOWN

The 11-2 Volley Cards are #4 in the AVCA Poll and 1-0 in conference. It should be a classic one.  They'll take on a B.C. squad that is 10-2 but not in the top 16 rankings.

The Eagles losses came to Vanderbilt and Dartmouth. 

Game time is 1 p.m. and ACC Network Extra (ACCN) will have the broadcast.

LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY GOES TO U.C DAVIS

Cards Field Hockey goes into the UC Davis game with a record of 7-2. They are #12 in the NFHCA poll.

U.C. Davis in 2-6 on the season and is on a four game losing streak. UMass Lowell, Columbia, Northeastern, Yale, Northwestern and Northwestern have delived the defeats. They did defeat Bellarmine and Central Michigan. They are unranked. A 1:30 ET game but no broadcast information is listed.  

LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SOCCER HOSTS FSU

Cards WSOC kicks it off against FSU and the Noles are 4-1-2 and #22 in the nation. Louisville WSOC is 8-1-1 and not ranked but receiving votes. It's set for a noon start and will be shown nationwide on ESPN.

The Noles have defeated Stetson, FIU, Florida Atlantic and Georgia, , they tied Rice and NCST and lost to Florida. The Noles are not ranked at all....a rarity for them but they do have five National championships....including last season.  Don't overlook them. 

paulie

VOLLEYBALL, FIELD HOCKEY IN ACTION ON FRIDAY -- FRIDAY CARDIAL COUPLE

VOLLEYCARDS AT SYRACUSE, FIELD HOCKEY GOES TO CALIFORNIA

#4 LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL TO FACE THE ORANGE.

The Louisville vs Syracuse rivalry used to be a "thing" when Leonid Yelin was coaching the Syracuse squad.. And , just because the Orange aren't in the top 25 anymore, Syracuse fans won't stay away and can still be to show up and boo against the Cards when they show up for the game tonight. Bakeer Ganesharatnam is their head coach. He is in his fifth season. You figure out how to pronounce his name, I'll just call him Coach B.

The Cuse is 5-4 on the season and this will be their first ACC game. They opened in a tournament in Illinois and lost to Cincinnati and the Illini. Wins over Howard and Albany followed, though..before losing to Arkansas in four sets. 

Canisius and FDU fell to the Orange before Buffalo swept then in straight sets. 

Kiernan Stamey is the clear kills artist with 117.

It'll be a 6 p.m. start and ACCNX will have the coverage. 

FIELD HOCKEY ON WEST COAST

Justine Sowry's 6-2 and #12 Louisville Field Hockey is ranked #12 and will face the #17 Cal Bears today at 5 p.m.. 

The Bears are 5-1 with just a loss to Michigan State. Louisville enters 6-2.

They show a start time of 5 p.m. Out there, you never know 

Cal's leading scorer is Liz Klompmaker is the leading scorer for Cal with six goals. Cal is coached by co-head coaches Tara and Steve Danielson, husband and wife team in their first year of coaching the Bears

It's another one set for ACCNX. 

paulie

 

WSOC ties California, Volleyball falls in four at UK -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WSOC gets first tie of the season

Louisville battled a stingy Golden Bears in women's Soccer yesterday out on the Cal campus but could not push by them for a win. Instead, they gained a point with a1-1 tie...to start out the Cards action for the day.

Louisville, now 8-1-1, struck first off a corner in the 36th minute. Eefje Botjer earned her first goal of the season and second of her career when she headed the ball into the back of the net...following up on a Amelia Swinarski shot-on-goal. 

That 1-0 lead held thru the first half. 

California would tie it with 63 minutes played when Amelie Hoppe got her first goal of the season. And, the tie remained until the 90 minures has expired. 

The Cards had 14 shots, with three on goal. Cal took eight shots wth one on frame 

Cal goes to 2-4-4 on the season. 

Louisville returns to action Sunday when they will host FSU. It is scheduled for a noon start and will be shown on the ACC Network, if you are unable to attend. 

VOLLEYBALL LOSES IN FOUR SETS TO UK IN MEMORIAL

Louisville Volleyball took the first set 25-19 against UK, but the luck went south after that. 

Per usual,we won't offer a lot of commentary or stats on a loss, especially when it comes against UofL's in-state rival. The 7,000 in Memorial Coliseum were loud, pumped and cheering on their 7-2 Cats. The Cards go to 10-2

Brooke Bultema got a block to give Louisville the first set 25-19 win.

In the second set,UK and UofL played extra Volleyball but the Cars ended up on top 29-27

Set three had the Cards rally late but could not catch UK's early lead and lost 25-21

The final set was UK's 25-19.

Louisville stays on the road and will play Syracuse Friday. 

paulie

WKU swept by Cards Volleyball -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VOLLEYBALL DOWNS WKU IN THREE SETS

A big night for Louisville Volleyball,  down in Bowling Green. The Cards protected their #3 ranking with a straight set sweep of WKU 25-15, 25-19, 25-19. 

SET ONE

Louisville jumped out to a 8-3 lead on the Toppers and extended that to a 15-11 advantage at the media timeout break on a WKU setting error. It was 20-13 Cards on a Chloe Meester kill and the Cards took the win 25-15 on a WKU service error. 

SET TWO

The Hilltoppers scored the first four points of the second set. but UofL battled back to tie it at 5-5. The Cards built an 11-8 lead, but EKU rallied to tie it 12-12. Louisville regained the lead on a 3-0 run and led at 20-16 on a Chloe Meester kill. Louisville was up 24-17 but WKU cut that lead to 24-19 before Meester ended it with a kill to give the set to UofL 25-19.

SET THREE

The Cards took an early 5-2 lead on a Blackshear kill. WKU battled back to get within one at 9-8. The contest was still close at 15-12 after a Payton Petersen service ace, and the Cards increased that to a 19-12 edge. Louisville was ahead 24-17 before WKU made one last run, but a WKU service error gave UofL game, set and match 25-19. 

Blackshear and Chicoine led Louisville in kills with 12 and 11 each. 

Louisville faces UK next...in Lexington.  They'll play Sunday, Sept 20th. in Memorial Coliseum. It's scheduled for a 3 p.m. and ABC will have the feed. 

Cards VB to face WKU at WKU today -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 HILLTOPPERS ARE 5-4 COMING INTO THE LOUISVILLE MATCH

Louisville Volleyball travels to Bowling Green to face WKU today and the contest is, unfortunately..not going to be shown anywhere on cable except for ESPN+. That's right,kiddies..pay per view strikes again. 

The match is scheduled for 6 p.m. central time, which means 7 p.m. in Louisville. 

The Toppers are 5-4 and their losses have come to Oregon, Wright State, Ball State and EKU. They have defeated SEMO twice, Pepperdine, Wright State and James Madison. 

The WKU roster has a local talent that people in Louisville might remember. Camilla Adams came out of Providence...right  across the river from "The Ville".   

I'll probably follow the action on stat tracker and we'll have the report for you in our Thursday edition. 

paulie

Cards Fall in Field Hockey, Get the sweep in Volleyball -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 A SUNDAY SPLIT FOR CARDS WOMEN'S ATHLETICS

No, the title does not imply that the UofL women's sports squads went to Dairy Kastle, Dairy Del or Dairy Queen for a delicious, hot summer day treat. What we are inferring here, in specifics, is that Volleyball gained a three-set sweep over Northern Iowa in Houston and Field Hockey fell 4-2 to Iowa in Evanston, Ill. Let's see how it went down. 

CARDS VOLLEYBALL ROLLS ON WITH THE U.N.I .WIN

Louisville Volleyball made short work of UNI in Houston Sunday afternoon with the three set sweep of the Panthers 25-11,25-17, 25-23. Here is the story by set: 

SET ONE

Louisville jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening set and was still in control at the set break with a 15-6 advantage. The Cards took the last five points in the set and Chloe Meester delivered the killing blow to end it with the Cards ahead 25-11

SET TWO

UNI and Louisville stayed fairly close early in the set, with the Panthers actually leading 3-2. It was a 9-8 U.N.I lead when Louisville finally hitched the horse to the cart and pulled away to a 12-9 advantage. It was 15-10 Cards at the media break and 20-13 after a Blair Thiebaud kill. U.N.I would get no closer than six the rest of the way and Hannah Kenny's ace service set the final at 25-17 UofL.

SET THREE

The squads were tied at 4-4 early and at 8-8. Louisville went on a 3-0 run but U.N.I rallied to go up 17-15. U.N.I.had a 23-21 edge on the Cards but Louisville ran off the next four points to get the 25-23 win on a Brooke Bultema kill. 

The Cards return to action on Sept. 16th when they visit W.K.U. 

FIELD HOCKEY FALLS TO IOWA 4-2

What's just as tough as having to play #1 in the nation on their home field? Having to play #2 there a day later. That was the scenario for Louisville field Hockey this weekend when Sowry's Cards faced Iowa Sunday after playing M.S.U Saturday .Louisville competed with the Hawkeyes but eventually lost 4-2. 

Iowa (6-0) got on the scoreboard first in the eighth minutes of play but Louisville tied it two minutes later on a penalty corner than went from Chloe Plumb to Jaelyn Perez to Annabel Sep. That's how the first quarter ended...at 1-1. Iowa regained the lead early in the second quarter and they went in ahead at halftime 2-1. 

The Hawkeyes struck first in the third quarter but the Cards climbed back within one with another penalty corner score when it was Plumb who knocked in her shot on goal. It was 3-2 after three quarters and anyone's contest. 

Iowa put the final goal of the contest on the scoreboard early in the fourth quarter and the Cards were unable to counter for the 4-2 loss. Louisville (4-2) plays Boston College next at home on Sept 18th.   

"Strength grows when you choose to use it instead of hide it."  -- Eleanor Roosevelt

paulie

 

Cards VB devourers Rice, FH downed by Northwestern -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 #5 STAYIN' ALIVE IN TEXAS, #14 FALLS SHORT IN EVANSTON

Two of the women's athletic teams we cover here at Cardinal Couple were road tripping yesterday and met with mixed success. We'll catch you uomon the Volleyball victory and the Field Hockey failure below. 

RICE DISPOSED OF IN FOUR

No, Louisville Volleyball was not clearing the table after dinner yesterday in Texas, but they were putting an impressive disposal down on Rice University in the opening day of the Rice Invitational in Houston. 

The Cards won the match in four sets 25-14, 25-17, 24-26 25-12. Rice did show brief sign of life in set three to avoid the sweep, but UofL quickly regrouped and ended the match thanks to the efforts of Chloe Chicoine (14 kills), Kalyssa Blackshear (13 kllls) and Chloe Meester (11 kills) 

SET ONE

UofL led early 9-6, then unleashed a eight-point run to silence any thoughts of a Rice upset set win. That progressed to a 21-9 lead and Louisville kept that pace until they reached 25 points and a 11 point win. 

SET TWO

Rice came out and gave the Cards a stiff battle for about half of the set, tied at 11 with them. Louisville responded to the challenge by unleashing a 9-2 run to be the first team to get to 20 at 20-13. Rice would get no closer than seven the rest of the way and the Cards had a 25-17 set victory. 

SET THREE

Rice was not pleased with the idea of being swept by UofL and stormed back with a 8-4 lead to open the third set. They were still serving strong and getting some nice kills to push that lead to 15-11. The Cards battled back and took a 17-16 lead, but Rice answered back to go up 22-20. Louisville was at set point with a 24-23 edge but Rice took the next three points and the set win 26-24.

SET FOUR

The Cards came out strong to start the set with a 6-0 lead. Rice would briefly respond to make it 7-4 but UofL pushed that Rice response aside with a 4-0 run that made the tally 11-4 with a couple of Chicoine kills. The Cards continued to play strong and won going away with a 14-8 finish and the 25-14 set win to end the match. 

The Cards will face #18 Creighton today in day two action of the Rice Invitational and the squads will first serve at  2 p.m. This one will be on ESPN +. 

FIELD HOCKEY FALLS AT NORTHWESTERN

The battle of the 4-0 squads went to the home team yesterday as #1 Northwestern battled their way to a 3-1 win over # 18 Louisville.

UofL did manage a fourth quarter score. 

The Wildcats registered the first score of the contest at the five minute mark and were able to add an additional goal in the first 30 minutes for a 2-0 halftime advantage.

Louisville did manage a fourth quarter score against Northwestern, trailing 3-0 when Lauren Masters set up Tyler Everslage with five minutes left to play.  

The Cards were outshot 18-10 and had just five penalty corners, compared to Northwestern's seven. 

The Cards return to action against #2 Iowa on Sunday. 

paulie

Cards VB downs Missouri in 4 sets -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 DIFFERENT VENUE, SAME RESULTS

Louisville Volleyball was in their second home last night, the spacious KFC YUM Center, to face Missouri, and ...although it is vastly oversized for the 5,000 or so who showed up, it was a rollicking venue for Cards fans who can never acquire seats in the on campus LNFCUA. 

The school needs a 5-7,000 arena on campus. Those wide open spaces adjacent to soccer's Lynn Stadium is there, but since the program is 30 million dollar in debt. that lot is probably going to stay vacant or a place to rent out for Ford to park excessive cars. 

But, enough on financial woes, let's talk wide net, shall we? 

The Cards won in four sets -- 25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-17 --and looked pretty dominant in doing so. Missouri isn't ranked yet, like the #5 Cards are...but they are a squad that could pull some serious upsets come tournament time. Let's see how the VolleyCards got this one done. 

SET ONE

It was 3-3 early before the Cards went on a 7-1 run. Missouri did battle battle with their own The Cards led at the TV break 15-11 and maintained the advantage the rest of the set and got the 25-21 win.

SET TWO

Missouri fell behind early at 7-2 but battled back at tied things at 11-11-  That went to 15-15 before The Tigers built a 21-17 edge. Louisville could not recover from it and dropped the second set 25-21.

SET THREE

It was "All Cads, all the time" in set three. The early 7-1 early expanded to 15-3 at the media timeout. Missouri never gave up the fight the rest of the set, but time and points did them in, with the Cards romping 25-15.

SET FOUR

The Cards continued the beatdown in the final set, jumping out to an 8-1 advantage. They pushed that to a 15-5 lead at the pause and were able to coast in with a 25-17 win to take the set and match. 

Next up, UofL heads to Houston for the Rice invitational. No, it's not a three day dining spree featuring the tasty grains varieties, it'll be volleyball with UofL facing Rice, Creighton and Northern Iowa. That begins on Friday, Set 11th., when UofL will play the Owls. 

 

Meester, Cabello Earn Honors for #5 VolleyCards -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 MEESTER ACC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

I just wanna know if there are any more like her back home in Mt .Vernon, Iowa and can the Cards kindly reserve their future services if there are? 

After sitting a season observing and learning, Chloe has hit the Cards Volleyball courts like an impending hurricane slams into a tropical island. 

The 6'3" sophomore outside hitter could easily win a beauty pageant if she were to take a notion to enter, but on the volleyball court she is a scary, menacing Godzilla that I think Blue Oyster Cult wrote a song about...foreshadowing her dominance and skills . 

In six matches, she has 67 kills and five service aces. To switch the Buck Dharma lyrics around to tailor the subject. 

"With a purposeful and a terrible sound...she slams the orb into the center of the crowd. Helpless opponents in D1 games scream "My God!" as she side outs on them." 

If you see her headed your way on the sidewalk, move to the grass or turn around and take a different path. Ask Texas. In Nashville she led the Cards with 13 kills and posted a .565 hitting average. The Horns got hooked, in straight sets and probably walked out of Bridgestone Arena like a cartoon character with the circle of question mark over the head. The ACC award of offensive Player of the Week is well deserved. 

Louisville Volleyball has won their last four matches...each one in three game sweeps. 

And, a big reason for Meester's success has been Navelis Cabello. The Cards setter and team captain provides the bread for the outside hitters to turn into toast. She was the ACC Volleyball Freshman of the Year in 2025 and 62 assists against Marquette in the NCAA Tournament last year. And, she is also the ACC Co-Setter of the Week. 

There's no telling how far this squad could go this season, but if you ask them, a NCAA Title is the prime objective.  

Don't count them out. 

paulie

Happy Labor Day -- Sunday results -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS TAKE THREE ON SUNDAY

Wishing you a Happy Labor Day today! Whether you are taking it easy, at a picnic or working to take care of the needs of us who aren't working today, We hope you have a safe and relaxing day. 

A very good day for Louisville women's athletics on Sunday as the Cards won three  on the day. A three set Louisville Volleyball sweep over Texas, a shut-out for Louisville Field Hockey Michigan St. and Louisville women's soccer prevailed over Mercyhurst. Let's see how they went down

LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL DOWNS TEXAS IN THREE SETS

The two squads were in Nashville and playing in front of a nationwide audience on ABC and the Cards did not disappoint. Louisville won in straight sets in the event titled the Broadway Block Party. It went 25-12, 28-26, 25-16 for the Red and Black. 

SET ONE

The Cards fell behind 2-0 to start but rallied with a 8-2 run behind Hannah Kenny's serving. UofL pushed that lead to 12-7 on an attack error by Texas, then took off on a 11-3 rally to make it 23-10. Two Longhorn service errors gave the Cards the 13-point win. 

SET TWO

Louisville  jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but Texas responded to tie it at 8-8. Louisville edged ahead to make it 15-13 at the media break. Texas came back to garb the lead at 22-20 on a Henley Anderson kill, but the Cards were able to tie it at 25 on a Chloe Meester kill. Kalyssa Blackshear put the Cards up 27-26 on a slam and a Louisville block gave the Cards the 28-26 

SET THREE

The Cards jumped out 4-1 after a Payton Petersen service ace and went up 9-5 on a Texas service error. 13-9 was the Cards advantage after a Longhorn hitting error and the Cards pushed that to 20-12 on a Chloe Meester kill. A setting error gave the Cards the game at 25-16 and the match

LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY BLANKS MICHIGAN STATE 4-0. 

The Cards and Spartans battled to a scoreless first quarter, but UofL broke into the scoring at the 19:17 mark of the game when Chloe Plumb found the back of the net. The 1-0 score took the squads into halftime. 

Louisville struck quickly to start the second half when Lauren Masters got in the scoring column just 43 second into the half. Six minutes later, Tyler Everslage took a Jaelen Perez pass and made it 3-0. At the 58:04 mark, Perez got another assist when she found Annabel Sep with a feed to make it 4-0

The Cards dominated the offense stat, taking 19 shots, 11 on goal...while the Spartans took just three shots, two on goal. Louisville had 12 penalty corner attempts, where MSU tried just two. 

LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SOCCER DOWN MERCYHURST 3-1

The Cards took a 2-0 halftime lead over the visitors and took  the contest 3-1 in Lynn Stadium. 

UofL got their first goal at the 21:43 mark on wha was just called a team goal. 

A minute later, McKalie took a pass from Abigail Cox and found the net to put the Cards up 2-0

Six minutes into the second half, Nicole Jodain got in the scoring column with the Cards final score, off an assist. Mercyhurst tacked on a late goal and the Cards captured the 3-1 win. 

paulie 

All three Uofl major fall women's sports in action today -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WSOC, FIELD HOCKEY AND VOLLEYBALL PLAY TODAY

Sunday, Sept 6th is gong to be a busy day for UofL athletics. Not only does football kick off their 2026 season (against Ole Miss in Nashville) but Cards Field Hockey, Volleyball and Women's Soccer have events. Let's look at what the Cards women's squads have ahead of them. 

LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL VS #9 TEXAS

The serve and set Cards will also be in Nashville on Sunday as well. They'll face up against #9 Texas for a noon matchup in what is being called the Broadway Block Party that will be shown on ABC. 

Texas leads the all-time series against the #6 Cards 5-1. This season, Texas Volleyball is 3-2 with wins over Marquette, TCU and USC and losses to Arizona St and Nebraska. The big three kills artists are Abby Van Der Wall, Torrey Stafford, and Ayden Ames. 

Last time out the Longhorns took down the Cards 3-2 in 2025. 

LOUISVILLE FIELD HOCKEY VS MICHIGAN ST. 

Cards Field Hockey puts their undefeated record on the line when they travel to East Lansing to face Michigan St. The Spartans are 2-1 on the season, with wins over Ohio and St. Louis and a loss to Miami (OH). 

This will be the first home game for Michigan St. this season. The lifetime record of the schools against each other in Field Hockey is either 9-8 or 9-7, depending on which S.I.D report you want to believe....Louisville holding the edge/. 

Last time out, the Spartans fell to the Cards 6-1 at Trager. This one will be shown on the Big Ten Plus Network. It's a noon start. 

LOUISVILLE WOMEN'S SOCCER VS MERCYHURST

The kickin' Cards host Mercyhurst for a 1 p.m. match that wil lbe shown on ACCNX at 1 p.m.

Louisville is 5-1 on the season and on a five game win streak. The Cards have allowed just seven goals this season, while scoring 22 goals. 

Mercyhurst comes into the game with a 1-5 record and and lost last time out at Morehead St. 2-1. They also have losses to Ohio, Toledo. Buffalo and Akron. 

We'll have the results for you tomorrow here at Cardinal Couple.  You can also follow Cardinal Couple on Facebook for updates and final scores. 

paulie

Fantastic Friday for Floyd St. Dwellers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 VOLLEYBALL, FIELD HOCKEY GATHER WINS

A nice way to start the Labor Day weekend. 

Both Louisville Field Hockey and Volleyball won their matches on Friday. One in Louisville (Volleyball) and one in St. Louis (Field Hockey}.

FIELD HOCKEY

Field Hockey began the Cards action, with a 11 a.m. start in the Arch City. The Cards put two shots in the net in the second quarter for a 2-0 lead and added one in the fourth quarter for the 3-0 shutout. With a win, the Cards improve to 3-0 on the season, sending St. Louis to their third loss in three games. 

Gigi Edwards started the Cards scoring with her second goal of the season, at the five minute mark of the second quarter. At the nine minute mark, it was Tyler Everslage taking a pass from Sophia Parker and scoring a second goal.for the Cards. The defense continued to keep the Billikens from scoring and the 2-0 Louisville margin led the squads into halftime.

It was still 2-0 until the final seconds of the contest. UofL earned a penalty corner and Annabel Sep took the shot that made it 3-0. 

The Cards defense was spectacular on Friday. They allowed just one shot by St. Louis the entire 60 minutes, while Louisville had 25 with 10 of them being shots on goal. Credit the Billiken goalkeeper, she had 11 saves.  

Louisville stays  on the road and will travel to Michigan St. next for a Sunday match. 

VOLLEYBALL 

The set and slam Cards faced TCU in the LNFCU later in the day at 4 p.m. and also on a nationwide ACC Network broadcast. 

The #6 Cards pulled off the three set sweep 25-23, 25-14, 27 over the #18 Horned Frogs. Here's how it went down:

SET ONE

The Cards fell behind early to TCU at 2-0 and 6-2 before uncorking a 8-2 run to go up 8-4 .TCU was ready to contest the affair, though, and tied it up at 8-8. The Cards regained control and built a 16-11 lead after a Chloe Chicoine kill. Stubborn TCU battled back again and trailed 19-18 late in the opening set. It was 24-21 after a Kalyssa Blackshear kill and she also ended at 25-23 with another kill. 

SET TWO

The Ville controlled the early action, going up 6-0 after Payton Petersen served an ace. Louisville stretched that out to 13-4 on a Blackshear kill. A TCU service error made it 15-5 and UofL doubled the score at 20-10 off a Chloe Meester kill. Blackshear ended the second set as well,  with a kill to make the final 25-14 and send the squads to the halftime break. 

SET THREE

The teams started the final set closely match, TCU led early 6-4 after a Meester hitting error. TCU went on and took a 10-6 lead after former Cardinal Reese Robins got a kill. TCU still led 16-13 when they blocked a Meester klli attempt. Louisville battled back, though, to tie the contest at 19-19 and TCU called a time out to talk about it. The strategy failed, though, as the Cards edged ahead 22-19 on a Chicoine kill. The Cards had a chance to win it, leading 25-24, but a Brooke Bultema service error sent the squads into extra volleyball. A Blackshear kill and TCU hitting error gave UofL the 27-25 win and the sweep.  

Chicoine and Blackshear led the Cards with 17 kills each. Louisville will face Texas next, in Nashville on Sunday. 

paulie

Cards Volleyball disposes of Dayton in three sets -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FLYERS GROUNDED IN LNFCUA

The Dayton Flyers came to visit the Louisville volleyball squad Monday night for a match in the LNFCUA, but might have been well advised to just stay home and save the travel expense. Louisville took down the Flyers in three sets -- 25-14, 25-14 and 25-11. 

In the process, UofL set a new record for team hitting percentage (.487). Here's a brief recap:

SET ONE

Dayton did get the first two points of the set, but Louisville came back aggressively and took a 7-2 lead. The Cards continued to keep up the attack and a 8-3 run had them up 15-5. After the media break, Dayton did their best to keep pace with Uofl, and just narrowly lost the final segment 10-9. Louisville showed out for an appreciative home crowd and took the opener 25-14. 

SET TWO

Dayton was able to stay pretty close to open the second set...playing to a 3-3 tie early on.  That may have raised an eyebrow or two among the Louisville fan base. Chloe Meester decided she wanted to get in on the party, though, and had six kills in a 12-3 stretch that had the Cards up 15-6 at the media break. Addison Makun impressed with two kills to close out the second set -- giving UofL another 25-14 win. 

SET THREE

After the halftime break, the Cards decided to flex a bit and scored the first seven points of the set. Dayton did try to battle back as best they could and the ensuing 8-6 Louisville advantage  set the score at 15-6 at the media timeout. Chloe Chicoine decided to slam a few across the net, and UofL took the final segment 10-5 and end the match. A  25-11 closing set. 

A good workman-like effort by the Cards against the A-10 foe, and Dan Meske remarked after the match: 

"It was a great match. Dayton is a really good program that plays teams tough .and to play the way we did against a program like that was really impressive. It's nice to get a lot of people involved. It's always the plan to play our best, and if we have opportunities to get people some chances ,we'll take advantage and today was a great day for that. We had a lot of people get extended time, and that was nice."

Louisville, now 3-1 on the season, will host TCU next in the L&N on Friday. Sept 4th.

paulie 

Louisville Volleyball predicted to finish third in ACC Volleyball Preseason Coaches Poll -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 STANFORD, PITT AND LOUISVILLE TOP THREE IN ACC PRESEASON VOLLEYBALL COACHES POLL

The votes are in and the coaches have spoken. The Stanford Cardinal were selected first in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, followed by Pitt and Louisville

The Cardinal received 280 votes and 10 first place votes. The Panthers got 277 votes and three first place votes. The Cardinals got 257 votes and one first place vote. Rounding out the top five were SMU with 245 votes and North Carolina with 220 votes. 

The next five? Georgia Tech totalled 198 votes, Miami came in with 193 votes, Florida State received 180 votes, NC State came in ninth with 148 votes and Wake Forest rounded out the top ten with 131 votes. 

The other eight schools? Virginia (114), Notre Dame (104), California (93), Clemson (89), Boston College (87), Duke (70), Syracuse (37) and Virginia Tech (21).

Stanford was eliminated in the NCAA DI Austin Semifinals last year by Wisconsin in four sets . Pitt made it to the National Semifinals before Texas A&M knocked them out of the tournament. Louisville got knocked out by Marquette in the second round of the tournament. 

Four UofL student-athletes made the All-ACC Preseason Volleyball team: Nayelis Cabello, Kalyssa Blackshear, Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen.

paulie

USA Volleyball wins in SemiFinals against Mexico -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 USA TO FACE CANADA AGAIN AFTER DEFEATING MEXICO

The USA U 21 Women's Pan Am Volleyball squad, with Cardinal star Payton Petersen on the roster goes for their fourth consecutive title when they face Canada today in Columbus, OH.

Mexico went down in straight sets Saturday to the USA 25-17, 25-11, 25-12. Mexico and the Dominican Republic will battle for third place.

USA has won four of the U21 Pan Am Cup titles -- in 2017. 2022, 2023 and 2025. 

In the Mexico match, USA led in every statistical category -- including kills (42-20), blocks (14-3), and service aces (4-0)

USA is coached by Tama Miyashiro, who played her volleyball at the University of Washington and was on the U.S National team as well. Her comments on the win over Mexico. 

"I'm very happy because  we were able to put pressure on Mexico right from the start. I've been following their matches throughout the tournament and they have good players and out goal today  was to neutralize their attack. I'm very proud o the determination out players showed and we are excited to be in the final."

Top scorers for USA against Mexico were Suliane Davis (10 points), Ayden Ames (9 points) and Henley Anderson (9 points) .

A boxscore for the Mexico match is seemingly the needle in the haystack, I could not find one after extensive search, so I have no numbers on how Payton Petersen did in the Mexico match.. 

paulie

 

Volleyball will begin the season with the Red and Black scrimmage -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VB LOOK TO GO FURTHER THAN SWEET SIXTEEN OF NCAA TOURNAMENT IN THE UPCOMING SEASON. 

Louisville Volleyball goes into the 2026 season with a revamped roster and will begin the upcoming season with their annual Red vs. Black scrimmage on Aug 15th. in the LNFCUA. 

All told, the VolleyCards will have 14 home contests...11 at the LNFCUA and three at the KFC YUM! Center. The annual UK match will be in Lexington this season, on Sept. 20th.

They'll participate in the AVCA First Serve in Milwaukee on August 21st and 22nd against Texas A&M and Wisconsin to get the regular season underway....then it's back home to face IU, Dayton and TCU. 

Expected back for the Cards are Kamden Schrand, Addison Makun, Hannah Kenny, Chloe Chicoine, Navellis Cabello, Hannah Sherman, Molly Urban, Payton Petersen, Kalyssa Blackshear and Brooke Bultema  and the Cards will welcome four freshmen to the roster.  

Dan Meske returns as the head coach and has Todd Chamberlain as his associate coach and Parker Mikesch and Jena Otec as assistants. 

A key matchup will be against the Texas Longhorns on Sept 6th in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. 

Chicoine, Petersen and Blackshear were three of the top four kill producers on the squad last season and Cabello led the squad in assists. 

paulie 

Louisville Volleyball releases 2026 schedule -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 A 32 match schedule for VolleyCards

Cardinal Volleyball fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the 2026 season and UofL has released their full schedule.

The Cards will face 18 teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season an all four of the NCAA Semifinal squads from 2025.

14 of the matches will be played in Louisville...three of them at the KFC YUM! Center and 11 at the on-campus L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.

Aug 15th is the annual Red vs Black season opening scrimmage, then they'll be one of ten squads at the AVCA First Serve Classic in Milwaukee Aug, 21st through Aug. 24th  UofL will face Texas A&M on the 21st and then Wisconsin on the 22nd. Other squads in Milwaukee will  be Kentucky, Texas, Arizona St., SMU. Pittsburgh, Xavier and Marquette.

The Cards come home for three matches after that, at the LNFCU, against IU, Dayton and TCU to close out August. They'll travel to Nashville to play Texas on Sept 6th...then come home to face Missouri on Sept 9th in the KFC YUM! Center. 

A trip to Houston for the Rice Invitational follows...where the Cards will see Rice, Creighton and Northern Iowa.

We'll have much more on the VolleyCards as the season gets closer. It's 59 days away, y'all...before the nets go up and the kills, sets, serves and aces return! 

paulie

Former Cards Awarded -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Familiar Names Earn MLV Accolades

The Major League Volleyball season has just wrapped up and former Cardinals have been in the news as part of the league recently. Last week, the league announced their individual awards, and multiple former Louisville players saw themselves on the list. As part of the only team to have multiple players awarded, Elena Scott (of the Indy Ignite) was named the Libero of the Year. Indy also had the league's best setter, middle blocker, and opposite hitter. The top outside hitter came from the Dallas Pulse, but more on that in a moment. The other Cardinal awarded was Aiko Jones (Atlanta Vibe), who was named the Most Inspirational Player. Jones balances her professional playing duties with being an assistant coach for the Bellarmine Knights. 

I said we'd come back to Dallas, and that's because there is more to discuss than just an individual award. Mimi Colyer was named the Outside Hitter of the Year, which isn't what I came to mention. The former Wisconsin Badger led the league in points and kills this season. In both categories, she narrowly beat out her teammate, Sofia Maldonado Diaz. Colyer had 5.08 points/set while Maldonado Diaz was at 4.94. The third place player was all the way back at 4.52. Dallas finished just behind Indy in total points per set (17.97-17.64), and they were far and away the best teams in the league. Grand Rapids was third with 16.47 points/set. 

The number one seed, Indy, was upset by the Omaha Supernovas in the tournament semifinals, though, depriving Louisville fans of a match of the ages for former Cards. Dallas won their semifinal round and defeated Omaha 3-2 in the championship match. It was the first time an expansion team has won in the league's young history, and it was Dallas's first season in play. It was also the first time the championship match has gone to five sets. Sofia Maldonado Diaz earned the upper hand over her teammate in this one, taking home match MVP honors after finishing with 26 kills. She had five in the decisive fifth set. 

It's always exciting to see former Cards continue to succeed in their post-collegiate careers. Congratulations to these (and all others who had a successful season) and good luck to them in the years to come. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case