Louisville Volleyball goes to 2-0 in ACC...Soccer shut out by Pitt -- Monday CARDINAL COUPLE

FAIRS, PHILO LEAD CARDS TO MIAMI WIN

At this time last year, Erin Fairs was sending kills over the net in Tampa, FL. against AAC foes for USF and Aniah Philo was doing the same for her high school team in Texas. 

Fast forward to yesterday...when Fairs has 24 kills on a .391 hitting average and Philo added 14 kills with a .345 accuracy to lead Louisville to a 22-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-21 win over the 'Canes to improve to 8-4 on the season and 2-0 in the ACC. 

A clipboard bites the dust in the Cards first game

Of possible concern is a late match foot injury to Katie George. The senior remained on the court despite it...the question is how serious is it and will she be ready for a tough weekend ahead where the Cards host Syracuse and Boston College. 

Another question arises on the status of Cards outside hitter Maya McClendon...who has been in uniform but hasn't participated against either Notre Dame or Miami. Last year's leader in kills...McClendon has been seeing less time this season with the arrival of Fairs and Philo on campus. 

WSOC DOWNED BY PITT 1-0

A scoreless affair in the first half and for 25 minutes of the second half in Lynn Stadium Sunday...which head coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes pretty much expected...since both squad played a few days ago.

Pitt getting the eventual game winner in the 70th minute.

The Cards stand at 4-5-1 overall and 1-2 in ACC play. Louisville has not allowed more than two goals to anyone this season but has not scored more than two goals in any contest.

Pitt and Louisville each had 12 shots yesterday...the Panthers having seven of those on goal...compared to the Cards four. 

UofL will step out of conference Thursday night for a match against Morehead State at the Lynn Soccer Stadium.


ARCHIVED BROADCAST


Our archived broadcast of yesterday's CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is available on the Crescent Hill Radio Soundcloud. LINK BELOW:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR


paulie
xxxxx

Victory for Volleyball -- Friday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Gets it Done in the Queen City

The UofL wide netters got the job done in Cincinnati last night, winning the match against Cincinnati 3-1. Another example of offense by committee with Maya McClendon getting 12, Tess Clark with 11, Janelle Jenkins put down 13, and Erin Fairs rounds out the double-digit kills with 11. Jasmine Bennett made her first collegiate start, plays significant time, and ends the evening with 7 kills.

This one started off a bit rough for the Cards. They started out with a good lead, but Cincy cut it back down to within one point. The Cards went on to win 25-20, but I thought UofL looked a bit sluggish and flat. Despite that, they still managed to execute on plays fairly well.

The wheels really fell off the cart at the start of the second set, with the Cards not able to execute on seemingly the most basic of plays. They were able to get back into the game and even get into a little bit of a lead approaching the 25 point mark. They couldn't quite maintain that lead, though, as Cincinnati came back to tie it up and push the set into extra point. It was a back and forth affair for a while, and when UofL ran out of substitutions, the lineup included Katie George and Lindsay Palmer next to each other in the rotation. When they came around the rotation and ended up in the front row together, the Bearcats took advantage of the lack of hitting and blocking and finished the set out 30-28.

After what was without a doubt a...let's call it "spirited"...set break speech by Coach Kordes, The Cards came out raring to play and looked like a new team. To be sure to avoid the out-of-substitution situation of the second set, Molly Sauer began serving for Tess Clark, leaving Jasmine Bennett in to serve instead. And, while Bennett probably isn't going to win us many points at the service line, she also didn't cost us any in service errors. The newly reinvigorated Kordes Krew cruised to an easy 25-11 third set win.

The fourth set was more of the same with the Cards playing good team ball, with Katie George feeding the hot hands...mostly Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkins...when possible, but also distributing the ball well to others to keep Cincy from being able to really key on one player. UofL claimed the fourth set, 25-15, and with it, the match.

So why did Jasmine Bennett get so much playing time? Well, Maggie DeJong, our other typical starting middle, didn't dress because of having had an injection of a healing agent that requires four days of not playing or practicing. She should be back in the lineup Sunday at Kentucky. Bennett took advantage of the situation and played well and even claims the highest hitting percentage of the night (seven on 12 attempts with only a single miscue for .500), but I expect she didn't take away the starting position from Maggie.

Other stats of note, Tess Clark had her usual big night with .474 hitting with 11 on 19 attempts and two errors. Janelle Jenkins hit .267 with 13 of 30 and 5 mistakes. Maya McClendon got 12 out of 31 with 5 mistakes for .226. And, OK, technically Katie George had a higher hitting percentage on a mistake free three of five for .600, but that's not really a fair comparison. The other hitting of note came from freshman Aniah Philo, who wasn't central to the offense, but was there when needed and came up with four key hits on 11 attempts and only a single miscue.

Defense was also well rounded, led by Katie George with 13 digs, and a huge single block after a Cards overpass to win what, by rights should've been an easy Cincy point. McClendon got four digs, a big solo block and helped of four blocks. Roxanne McVey had eight digs, Tess Clark got in on 3 blocks and had a solo, Jenkins got in on three blocks and had six digs, Bennett really did have a fine night at the net participating in five blocks, Molly Sauer had nine digs, Erin Fairs shoveled 10 and helped on a pair of blocks, Lindsay Palmer got a pair of digs, and Aniah Philo again wasn't flashy but got six big digs when they were really needed.

We saw Gabbie Wiley play a brief stint in the second set to bolster the then-floundering defense, and redshirt freshman Kali Eaken came in for some mop-up play in the fourth set to get a few minutes running the offense at setter.

Coach Molley Alvey continues to rebuild this Cincinnati team from an almost complete reboot of the program four years ago. They are playing respectable volleyball at this point and their 7-3 record reflects it. They aren't playing the cream of the national volleyball crop in the AAC and their non-conference schedule, but they are playing decent teams and getting better all the time.

JMcA

Volleyball Wins the Weekend -- Radio...SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Double The Winning

Seton Hall

Volleyball won the Active Ankle Challenge contested at Cardinal Arena, by winning all three of their matches, defeating Utah, Seton Hall, and Ohio University.

Yesterday's action started with Louisville vs Seton Hall. The Pirates didn't really provide a great deal of threat to the Cardinals, with the Kordes Krew winning the match in three straight sets (25-16, 25-10, 25-21). While Louisville hasn't been a particularly strong blocking team in recent years, this match was highlighted by 16 team blocks, led by Maya McClendon's seven.

Louisville's hitting percentage wasn't stellar, at .278, but it was certainly better than Seton Hall's .036. Quite a few service errors from the Cards in this one, at nine, but in a conversation with Coach Anne Kordes after the Utah match, she stated that she wasn't worried about the service errors this weekend because they were trying to be very aggressive in their serving.


The usual attacking by committee got the jobs done, with Erin Fairs getting 12, and McClendon joining her in double digits with 10. Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkins both claimed eight, with Maggie DeJong chalking up four by her name in the stats sheet.

I thought, despite the good stats numbers that the team felt a little lethargic in this one. Perhaps it was the 10am start time combined with a bit smaller than normal crowd, but they did get the job done and were able to take the afternoon for rest and recovery before matching up against the Ohio Bobcats.

Ohio

In the wrap-up for the weekend tournament, The Cards took on the strongest challenge of the weekend. A standing room only crowd on hand for the nightcap with 902 in 840-seat Cardinal Arena, was a great way to cap off the weekend of volleyball.

After the early match between Seton Hall and Utah went a full five sets, with Utah finally gaining the victory, the nightcap between Ohio and UofL didn't get started until after 8pm.

The fans certainly got their money's worth in this ticket, with the Cards and Bobcats also taking a full five sets to decide the outcome. UofL eventually got the job done, 25-19, 25-27, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9.

Ohio played a very scrappy game, with excellent defense which clearly had The Cards very flustered and frustrated in the middle sets. An overall hitting percentage for Louisville of only .228 is owed more towards The Bobcats amazing digging and defensive play. The big number for this game was Tess Clark's mind-blowing .760 hitting percentage. That's an error-free 19 kills on 25 attempts.

Again, the offense was by committee with Erin Fairs leading the way with 22 kills, Tess Clark's 19 put her in second, Maya McClendon tallied 13, Janelle Jenkins swung for 12, and Maggie DeJong got to double-digits with 10 and a very respectable .316 percentage.

Molley Sauer continues to be the heart and soul of the defense, with 30 digs, with Janelle Jenkins and Katie George joining her in double digit digs with 13 and 12, respectively. 11 service errors is still a little worrisome, but in a five set match with a very aggressive service plan, it's nothing to lose sleep over.

It was a good match to learn about good blocking, with both teams tallying 10. Perhaps that was appropriate, with Lecia Brown, one of the best blockers in Louisville history, being in attendance.

The Cards will be back in action Thursday evening in Cincinnati, taking on the Bearcats at 6pm. I'm just glad Cincinnati changed their apparel contract to Under Armor. With both UofL and UC using the same school colors, and previously both being Adidas schools, distinguishing the players in their nearly identical warmups used to be almost impossible.


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The weekly CARDINAL COUPLE radio hour is now available on the soundcloud for Crescent Hill RADIO and can be heard at the link below:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 9/12/15

JMcA

Volleyball Competes but Falls Short Against Wisconsin

Fairs and Jenkins Show the Way

Thirteenth ranked Wisconsin visited the KFC Yum! Center as part of the Big Ten/ACC challenge and left with two victories in hand.

The first was against North Carolina Friday evening, the second was against our Cardinals last night in a 3-1 match (25-19, 17-25, 25-21, 25-19)

The Cardinal wide netters have now dropped three matches of their five so far this season, but before you get too down on the Kordes Krew, do keep in mind that all three losses have been against teams that are typically in the upper echelons of the national volleyball scene.

There were stretches of brilliance from the Louisville squad, including pretty much the whole victorious second set, that is very encouraging for success for much of the rest of the season. The Cards had as much as an 11-6 lead in the first set before the Badgers were able to reign it back in.

The second set started well for the Cards, getting out to a 4-1 lead, UW put a bit of run together and got to a one point lead at 4-5 before UofL re-engaged and ran it out to a 22-12 lead. They seemed to run out of gas a bit, though, finally putting the set away at 25-17.

The third set was a tight one most of the way with a tie game at 11-11 with the Badgers slowly gaining some separation for a 25-21 win.

The last set started well with Molly Sauer at the service line running out to a 5-0 lead. The Cards would get to a 7-1 lead before the shell-shocked Badgers put a run together to tie it up 7-7. It was back and forth for a bit, getting to a UW lead at 11-10 before they ran the lead up to 20-12. UofL would rally to make the game reasonably close, but couldn't close the whole gap with UW taking the set, and match, 25-19.

Leading the way statistically, Erin Fairs put down 16 kills on 36 attempts for a .278 hitting percentage with Janelle Jenkins following with 12 on 38 attempts for a .184 percentage (keep in mind that Janelle is hitting mostly from the right side, which tends to result in a bit lower percentages). Jenkins also kept the Cards afloat in the back row with 13 digs, which is behind only libero Molly Sauer (14), and defensive specialist Roxanne McVey (15). Freshman Aniah Philo, who is listed as an outside hitter has been pressed into duties more along the lines of a defensive specialist and contributed 9 digs. Philo did get to swing on a few rotations, giving Erin Fairs a bit of a breather, and connected on two with six attempts. An error dropped her percentage to .167.

Overall the hitting numbers aren't particularly impressive for either team as both team's defenses made their presence known. Wisconsin hit for .240 overall in the four sets, which includes a .432 in the first set, while UofL swung for a .178 percentage, including a .441 in the second set.

In the middle, Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong connected on seven and five swings respectively, both had 17 attempts. Tess did have quite a bit of impact on the defensive side of the equation, getting in on five of the eight team blocks. Jenkins had a part of three, while setter Katie George and Erin Fairs got a hand on one each. Fairs also had a solo block, and Maggie DeJong and 5'9" Maya McClendon each got solo blocks as well.

The VolleyCards will be back in action Friday at Cardinal Arena, the only weekend of play at Cardinal Arena this season, against Utah with a 7:30 start time. Come early if you want to see the Seton Hall Pirates vs the Ohio Bobcats. Saturday sees the rest of the action in the Active Ankle Challenge with UofL vs Seton Hall at 10am (early start time!), and then in the nightcap vs Ohio at 7:30. There will be a game following UofL's at around noon between Ohio and Utah, and then one before the nightcap between Seton Hall and Utah at 5:30.

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

The Ridiculously Early Worldwide Season Analysis

The fall season for sports is barely underway for soccer and not officially underway for field hockey and volleyball yet at all, but we have had a chance to see all of these teams on their respective fields of play, so it's time for a ridiculously early analysis of what we've seen.

Field Hockey

Justine Sowry's stick squad has two exhibition competitions to base our observations on.  First a Saturday mid-day tilt against Iowa, who finished last season in 18th in the RPI, missing the 19 team cut for the NCAA tournament.  Nonetheless, the Hawkeyes traditionally have put up some reasonable competition, but it wasn't to be found Saturday.

Midfielder Elisa "Chili" Garcia

A 4-0 win in regulation surely inflated the expectations of the Trager Defenders.  This heightened expectation would have only been slightly dimmed by Iowa's sudden victory goal in the 7v7 overtime session that they played despite a non-tied regulation outcome.  The  3-1 victory in the 1v1 shootout also would have served to encourage the team as well.

The next day saw the alumnae return to the field and a bit of a deflation of that excitement.  Sowry thought the team came out flat (listen to the radio show Saturday for the comments), and an early goal by the alumnae may have brought the competition back into focus for the current team.  Conditioning certainly helped as well as the current squad went on to thoroughly control the second half with a winning score of 7-1

What We Saw

We saw a team that plays a solid defense and makes chances on offense...a good basic recipe for a solid season result.

We did see some minor problems on penalty corners, though.  Specifically we saw some technique issues on stopping the ball inbounded from the baseline hashmark.  Ideally, the ball gets stopped and then hit by another player, either at the goal, or over to another player or two to take a shot.  Several times in the two games, however, the ball popped up into the air when it was stopped.  This drastically limits the options on the attack, and unsurprisingly, the team did not score on these bobbled attempts.  This is an issue that should be readily resolved with some targeted practice on the technique.

We have an excellent 1v1 goalkeeper in case of shootouts in Ayeisha McFerran, which also translates into defense of fast breaks, which I don't think we'll see much of, but it's good to know that we have a GK that can handle them.

A Reasonable Goal

Elite Eight, or Final Four appearance

Soccer

With two exhibition games completed as well as two regulation games in the books, we may have the best sense of where the soccer team is.

A crazy goal at Northern Kentucky handed the team an exhibition loss, so we'll put that one aside for a moment.  A good pre-season win against IU is encouraging, and a 2-1 win over Wright State in the season opener is also encouraging.  The second regulation game saw a very good Washington team get the 2-1 win.

What We Saw

We saw a team that creates some real chances on offense with reasonable protection on defense.  This is, clearly, an overall young team, but there is some leadership to help out.

Senior Forward Casey Whitfield

It's fantastic to have senior Casey Whitfield back, and she has already proven her value with several assists, but has yet to find the back of the net herself.  A mere 2-1 win over Wright State may sound a bit disappointing, but there was a significant barrage of shots that technically weren't on goal, but bounced off of the posts and crossbar.  Keep that up, and points will start showing up on the scoreboard.

This team has some potential this year.  I'm not going to hold my breath for a national championship, but we should see a better outcome than last year, and that's the definition of progress.

A Reasonable Goal

Return to the NCAA tournament.  Win a tournament game.

Volleyball

We've got the least data on volleyball, with only an intra-squad scrimmage in the rear-view mirror.  That also means any scores are pretty much meaningless as players switch back and forth between the two sides of the competition pretty much on every play in the Red & Black Scrimmage.

So, let's get directly to...

What We Saw

Passing and digging was much improved over what we saw last year.  We already had some evidence that this was the case based on some interviews and getting to see an early practice, but it's encouraging to see it in person in more of a game-type of setting.

We also saw, however, a number of service errors, and some hitting errors as well that need to get cleaned up if we're going to have a strong season.

A few things that I saw that I really liked...we have three left-handers on the squad, which gives other teams a different and slightly unusual look to attacks that can throw off their spacing a bit.  Southpaws also tend to put a bit of a different spin on serves, which can cause the other team some problems.  Speaking of serving, I saw Gabbie Wiley, one of the lefties, serving a jump serve in pre-season practice last year, but she didn't use in during the season.  I saw more work on it in pre-season practice this year, and she brought it out for the scrimmage.  I'm hopeful we'll see it during the season as well.

Freshman Right Side and Setter Morgan Miller

Freshman Morgan Miller, also a leftie, looks pretty good on the right side, and is a competent setter as well, so I would expect to see her on the court in that right side position and giving the squad almost a double-setter look.  Might we even see Katie George take a swing if Miller has to take the set?  It's possible.  Incidentally, the other leftie is our backup true setter Kali Eaken.

Erin Fairs and Maya McClendon both can play full rotation as left side and back-row attackers which makes for more balance in the attack, and more options for our setters.  Our middles, primarily Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong are just as amazing as they were last year.

A Reasonable Goal

Return to the NCAA tournament.  Maybe a sweet sixteen appearance.

Volleyball looks to better last year's mark -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

EXPERIENCE, DEPTH BOLSTER VOLLEYBALL CARDS 2015 CAMPAIGN

Tuesday is traditionally the day where our "steamed" colleague Jeff McAdams takes to the keyboards and gives us a weekly article. I got a text from him last night, though...asking me to cover Tuesday's column because he was experiencing internet connectivity issues.

Mind you, this is the man who carries a minimum of 19 electronic devices with him at all times and even has his bicycle connected to Twitter. We're pretty sure the dog ate his homework as well...

But, in keeping with Worldwide tradition, let's do the Tuesday column about his favorite UofL women's sport...curling.

(OK, it's actually volleyball)

The 2014 Wide Net Cards went through a learning experience in their first ACC season...a 7-11 conference record and losing to seven out of their last eight opponents.

A 15-15 overall record kept them out of the NCAA Tournament but the season was a reality check on where the squad was after going 18-0 in AAC conference matches in 2013. 

Back for Anne Kordes is Katie George...the senior setter has 1124 of them in 2014 and seemingly ran from The Troll Pub to River Road to track down passes. Improving first hit capabilities was the main off-season priority for this returning job and all report tell us that it's gotten a lot better. That probably won't bother George in the least.

The top the "kill artists" for Louisville return also in Maya McClendon, Janelle Jenkins and Tess Clark. Outside hitting will also get a huge boost from transfer Erin Fairs...who won virtually every award available in the state of Florida last year at USF.  Clark will have plenty of backup at middle blocker with freshman Jasmine Bennett and sophomore Maggie DeJong.

Freshman Molly Sauer is one of three liberos listed on the roster and the Cards are getting a good one in the Louisville Assumption superstar. 



The Louisville native and USA Today All-USA High School Preseason 1st team selection joins the Cardinals after a successful prep career at Assumption High School. Under head coach Ron Kordes, Sauer helped her team to two KHSAA State Championships, as well as two regional championships and three district championships. The libero was a member of the KVCA First-Team All-State (AAA) in 2014 and the KHSAA All-Region Team in 2013. Additionally, she was named as PrepVolleyball's No. 25 Senior Ace.

Returning players from last year also include Gabbie Wiley at defensive setter, Roxanne McVey, Eleni Georgiafandis and Lyndsay Palmer. Kali Eakin transfers in after one year at Kansas State and Morgan Miller plus Aniah Philo are other incoming freshmen and sophomore Ashley Pettibone fills out the Cardinal roster. 

Can the Cards achieve a .500 or better record in one of the tougher volleyball conferences in D1? Can they climb to a over .500 record for the season. Can they avenge the loss to UK in the KFC YUM! Center from last year? 

We'll start getting answers on Aug. 28th. when the season begins with the Cards at Illinois and we're sure that Worldwide will give us a much more in-depth and comprehensive preview as the season draws nearer.   

paulie
xxxxx

Tuesday Cardinal Couple - All M&M Team

M&Ms are a favorite candy (and registered trademark of Mars, Inc...some legal blah blah here), but they also are the initials for some fantastic UofL athletes.

So, I present the Cardinal Couple 2015 All-M&M team.

First Team

Mariya Moore

Most Cardinal Couple readers will be familiar with Mariya Moore.  Currently in Russia playing with the U19 US National Team, Mariya is well known as a guard on the UofL Women's Basketball team with quite the shooting touch.  If the U19 play is any indication, she's been developing some defensive prowess as well.  A rising sophomore, we should be seeing Moore in the red and black for another three seasons.

Maya McClendon

Maya McClendon's older sister made quite an impact playing at perennial Volleyball powerhouse Penn State.  Maya is shorter, at only 5'9" compared to her sister's 6'1", but has more hops and may very well be a better overall player.  A rising junior, McClendon has another two years of play to build her legacy.  The McClendon's are from Louisville, and both sisters attended duPont Manual High School just across Cardinal Blvd from  UofL.  Maya typically plays the full rotation on the court, but may see a break from passing duties this year with Erin Fairs being expected to play full rotation as well.

Morgan Miller

Sticking with Volleyball, we have an incoming freshman from Magnolia Texas (Magnolia High School).  Sharing a hometown with last year's libero Roxanne McVey (but different high school), Morgan is just loaded with the "M"'s, with both first and last names, hometown, and high school all being "M"'s.  Miller is listed as a setter and right side hitter.  With a whopping four setters listed on the UofL Volleyball roster, and Katie George returning, I wouldn't expect to see Morgan taking the 2nd hit very often, but as the only player listed as right side, you may very well see her on the court quite a bit, depending on whether another player shifts over to the right side to play (I'm thinking the play-anywhere Janelle Jenkins might go to the right side this year).

Morgan Meyer

Morgan Meyer and Morgan Miller have already proven that they can make me stop and make sure I'm saying the right name when trying to talk about either of them because the names are so phonetically similar.  They are on totally different teams, though.  Meyer is a rising junior on the softball and is listed as an outfielder.  This past season, however, we mostly saw the speedster Meyer as a pinch runner, typically coming in to round the bases in lieu of slugger Brittany Duncan.  With two of the four graduating seniors this past year being outfielders, or at least occasionally in the outfield, I hope Meyer will get some more time in the field and at bat this year.  "Mo" Meyer is also a Louisvillian, having attended Mercy Academy.

Michelle Molodynia

Speaking of speedsters, Michelle is on both the Cross Country and Track teams.  Technically this makes her a three sport athlete as the NCAA considers Indoor Track&Field to be a separate sport from Outdoor Track&Field.  Michelle is the only women's athlete that I didn't know about before beginning research for this team.  A rising Senior, Molodynia hails from Niagara Falls, Ontario.  You would think, as a Cross Country runner, she would stick to the distance events for T&F, but she is listed as a middle-distance runner, competing in the 800meter to 1mile range of events.

Second Team

While Cardinal Couple is primarily about women's athletics at UofL, I'll add a second team honor for the M&M guys.

Mangok Mathiang

Another basketball name that you probably know already.  Mangok, joined with Montrezl Harrell to begin a trend of odd silent letters in names.  He also continued a trend of excellence.  Born in Sudan Africa, he is a resident of Melbourne Australia, Mathiang represented his home country down under in the World University Games.  While the Aussies didn't fair too well overall in the basketball competition, Mangok led the WUGs competition in rebounding and ended up 8th in scoring with five double-doubles.  A rising sophomore, he graduated in the same class with lock-down UofL soccer defender Chatham DeProspo from IMG Academy in Florida.

Marcus Motill

The only other name that I didn't know before beginning research for this team selection, Marcus is also a runner on the Track&Field team primarily competing in the indoor season.  He has run everything from 60meter to 1000meter in the indoor season, and has added in 60meter hurdles, high jump, long jump, pole vault, shot put and heptathlon in the indoor season.  Motill has also run the 400meter in the outdoor season.  A rising junior, he hails from Stamford, CT.

JMcA

Volleyball preview -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Update

As spring sports have wrapped up, I've started to field some questions about what the Volleyball team is going to look like this fall.  We talked a bit about the schedule that was posted a few weeks ago (far earlier than usual, for Volleyball...some credit goes to the ACC for being on the ball for that, I suspect), but the roster has now been updated, and there are some changes, not all completely expected, but none too terribly shocking either, I don't believe.

First off, last year we had an effective roster of 13 people. The website lists 15, but we had one mid-season departure from the team and Javoni Faucette sat out the whole season because of injuries.  This year, we're looking at a roster of at least 16, and to my knowledge, everyone is completely healthy.  I also hear of another likely transfer that isn't yet official and thus isn't listed, and likely won't be added, presumably, until after she arrives on campus for the summer.

We graduated two; Tara Gowan, an outside hitter; and Courtney Robison, a defensive specialist.  Javoni Faucette has apparently not been able to fully recover from her injuries and is not returning, and Brooke Betts has decided to pursue the sport elsewhere.  That leaves a returning core of ten players.  Outside hitters Laura Blab, Maya McClendon, and Janelle Jenkins will be returning (Jenkins has occasionally played at middle when needed).  Our phenomenal duo of middle blockers, Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong will also be returning.  At setter, we have the services of both Katie George and Lindsay Palmer again, though should Katie win Miss USA in July, its unlikely she will return to play volleyball, in my estimation.  On defense, the trio of Roxanne McVey, Gabbie Wiley, and Eleni Georgiafandis will still be providing a solid core, Lindsay Palmer can be counted on to fill in on defense as well, when Katie is setting.

There were two transfers that joined the team in January that we've spoken about some before.  Both outside hitters - Ashley Pettibone transferred from Golden West College and will be a sophomore, and Erin Fairs comes to us from USF and will be a senior.  I don't expect to see Ashley on the court a tremendous amount this year, but count on Erin to be a major component of what looks to be a fairly potent, if not terribly tall, offense.  Erin also will likely play full rotation, so expect to see her digging and passing as well as providing an offensive outlet as a back-row attacker.

There are four incoming freshmen.  First is Molly Sauer, a hometown favorite, coming to UofL from Assumption and KIVA, Molly is listed as a Libero and will bolster the defensive core that we have returning.  The roster has Molly, Roxanne, and Eleni all listed as Libero, with Gabbie as a DS, but I would expect Molly to be the one that ends up wearing the different colored jersey.

Next among the freshmen are a pair from Texas. Aniah Philo is from Rockwall, TX, in the Dallas area.  Morgan Miller comes to us from Magnolia, TX (and is remarkably difficult to google due to at least two other notable Morgan Miller's, including one who is a volleyball player, and another who has had some success in the beauty pageant world from Magnolia, AR).  Magnolia is outside of Houston, and incidentally, this is the same hometown as Roxanne McVey, though they did attend different high schools.  Aniah is an Outside Hitter, and Morgan is listed as both a setter and a right side hitter.  While I haven't seen either play, as the only player listed as a right side hitter, I would think it likely that Morgan would get some playing time in that position.

Lastly, Jasmine Bennett comes to us from McCracken County High School in the Paducah area.  Jasmine is the daughter of Winston Bennett and will be wearing jersey number 25 like her father did during his basketball career.  I have not had the opportunity to see Jasmine play, but I would be surprised, as a middle blocker, if she can crack into significant playing time over Tess or Maggie this year.

Baseball Hosts

As always, while its not really in our core mission, I would be remiss in not noting the results of the NCAA Baseball Selection show.  We knew already that Louisville had been selected as a host site for the Baseball Regionals, but the selection show revealed that we will be the overall 3 seed in the tournament, which means that we will also host a SuperRegional...presuming, of course, that we emerge victorious from Regional play.

In the Regional, we will be hosting Morehead State, who will be our first opponent, along with Bradley who is the Regional 2 seed, and Michigan.  The format for the NCAA Baseball tournament is the same as Softball, with double-elimination Regionals, a best of 3 Super Regional, and the College World Series with essentially parallel double elimination and a best of three championship series.

Action gets started Friday at 2pm, with the Cards taking the field at a scheduled 6pm.  NCAA action is ticketed, unlike most UofL Baseball games.  Tickets can be bought starting Thursday through the UofL ticket office.

jmca

Monday Cardinal Couple

Big Monday Game in Basketball

In what is certainly one of the biggest games of the year for Women's Basketball, UofL plays one of the perennial powerhouses in Women's Basket in Notre Dame.  This one is in South Bend and is the ESPN2 Big Monday game with a seven o'clock tip.

I doubt we have to do too much scouting for Notre Dame as their lineup is pretty well known to the Louisville faithful.  The biggest threat is likely 5'10" Junior sensation Jewell Loyd, but Notre Dame isn't a one-hit wonder in the guard position, with Loyd being joined with Senior Madison Cable (5'11").

You never want to play a powerhouse team after they come off an upset loss, and we narrowly avoided that with Notre Dame squeaking out a win over Georgia Tech.  The final score was 10 points, but the game was much closer overall.  Notre Dame trailed 34-33 at the half and with as little as 11 minutes left in the game, the scored was knotted up at 51.  Jewell Loyd scored 31, with no other Irish achieving double-digits.  Cable was the next highest scorer with 9.

I'll be in attendance, and hope to get some post-game comments from Coach Walz.

Tennis Loses a Heartbreaker

Tennis matched up against North Texas Sunday in a match that turned out to be quite a nail-biter.  The serve and volley youngsters were tied at three points apiece with Ellie Stokes playing a third set in the last running match.  Unfortunately the Birmingham England Sophomore was unable to pull out the match and the Cards dropped the overall match 4-3.

The Cards got the doubles point to start out with two of the three wins with Ellie Stokes and Freshman Ariana Rodriguez getting a win, and Freshman Jessie Lynn Paul teaming up with the lone Senior on the squad, Manuela Velasquez to clench the doubles point.

In the singles matches, Jessie Lynn Paul and Sophomore Olivia Boesing picked up points.

Tennis takes to the Southeast roadways next with trips to NC State, Duke (this time, it counts in conference), Georgia Tech, and Clemson.  They return to the Bass-Rudd for a 4pm Friday start on March 13th against Wake Forest, and a 11am Sunday start versus North Carolina.

A Correction

Yesterday I mentioned the large contingent of Volleyball Cards invading Colorado Springs for the USA Volleyball tryouts, but the invasion was larger than even I realized as Maya McClendon also made the trip.

- JMcA

Women's Soccer Cards scalped by Noles 6-0 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

The fifth-ranked Florida State (9-1-0, 2-0-0 ACC) soccer  team defeated Louisville 6-0 in Talahassee last night. (4-5-0, 1-1-0 ACC) 6-0 on Thursday night at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The Cardinals  The Cards were held to a season low with one shot in the match.  Florida State had 21. Florida State held most of the possession in the first half fwhich paid off with a goal by Megan CampbellMegan Campbell in the 16th minute of play.  The Cardinal defense held tight and Cardinal keeper Paige Brown collected four saves in the first half. Florida State held a 10-0 shot advantage in the first half.   They also held a 3-1 corner kick advantage. Could the Louisville defense keep the opportunistic FSU  offense out of the goal in the final 45 minutes and find a way to break through the iron curtain  the Noles were representing with their back four?  Sadly it didn't happen for Louisville Cheyna Williams scored two goals in the first three  minutes of the second half to break the game  open for the Seminoles.  The Seminoles continued  to dominate possession and control the clock  throughout the second half.  Brown finished with a season-high six saves.  She needed 14 more. A first test against one of the elite ACC women's  soccer teams and a tutorial on what it will take to climb onto that top rung of the ladder.  The Seminoles seemed a step quicker, were organized in their offensive attack and had little  trouble breaking up any Cardinal attempt to move to the goal. We've said it many times  this season and we'll repeat it again. This is a very young squad Karen Ferguson Dayes  coaches...with 12 freshman on the roster.  The question is...does Louisville learn and  improve from this slaughter on national television or do they sink even further down as the stakes  and the opponent level increases? The Cardinals will continue road play at Miami  on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1:00 p.m.           *                     *       Louisville Volleyball gets the ACC slate  started tonight with a 7 p.m. match against Boston College. The Eagles are  5-6 on the season. The Cards ran the table in the AAC last year (18-0) but  the odds are astronomical that they can do that in the tougher ACC.  Maya McClendon and Janelle Jenkins lead Louisville in kills this season.  paulie

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball falls to Appalachian St.

- Field Hockey shuts out Dartmouth

           ++++++++++ SCORE UPDATES++++++++++

FIELD HOCKEY DEFEATS NORTHWESTERN 1-0 

W.SOCCER FALLS TO MIAMI (OH) 2-1

More in the Monday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE

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Louisville Volleyball fell to Appalachian St. 3-1 yesterday in the Active Ankle Challenge at Cardinal Arena. The Cards were led by Maya McClendon (14 kills) and she was selected to the All-Tournament team along with Katie George.

Louisville dropped the first set 19-25 but rallied to take the second set 25-19. The magic stopped there, though...Appl. State taking the final two 21-25 and 21-25.

"Hats off to Appalachian State, they came in with a lot of energy and challenged us at every turn. At the end of the day, we played not to lose and they had nothing to lose," said UofL head coach Anne Kordes. "They had success at the serving line and we made it easy on them at times. We were coming off a successful week and I thought we played tight here at home all weekend. We need to learn to maintain our composure and take away a lesson from that situation. We have two ranked opponents this week coming up against Kentucky and Arizona State so that lesson came at a good time in our season."


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Field Hockey travelled to Evanston, Illinois 

and defeated 

Dartmouth 2-0 yesterday  afternoon. Elisa 

Garcia scored 

nine minutes into the contest on a penalty 

corner...assisted

by Paige Monson and Katherine Gwynne-

Wood. That lead 

for the first half and deep into the second half before 

Shannon Sloss added an insurance goal unassisted with two 

minutes left in the contest. Louisville (3-0) will play 

Northwestern today. 



"This was a great win for us against a difficult and 

impressive opponent in Dartmouth," said UofL head coach

Justine Sowry. "We continue to learn lessons every day that 

we perform. Dartmouth set the tone early that the one on 

one battles were going to be important. We did a nice job  

creating some space for each other and then were able to 

combine with some nice patterns of play."


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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO'S LATEST SHOW WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE

SOUNDCLOUD LATER TODAY. CLICK THE MICROPHONE AT THE TOP OF 

COLUMN. COMEDIAN JOHN MAUPIN VISITS, WE GET AN INTERESTING 

LIVE REPORT FROM WORLDWIDE AND CLIPS FROM SOCCER, FIELD HOCKEY

AND DON PAULIE


PAULIE
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