Zabala Part of the VIBE -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ALYSSA ZABALA ON THE FLORIDA VIBE IN PSL

The title of today's article is not intended to be some hip '60's slang phrase...like "wow, man ..she is really in the vibe and it's groovy." 

One of the best pitchers in Louisville Softball history, Alyssa Zabala, will take her game to the pro ranks this summer when she takes the circle for the Florida Vibe. The team, located in Bradenton, FL, is part of the Professional Softball League,which is in their first season.

Zabala is one of three pitchers on the roster of 15 that also has two other ACC former players on the roster. 

No details were available that I could find on the salary for the Zabala or any of the ot the players. The league has six teams this season...and the Vibe has Mike Scott as the head coach. Scott was a longtime assistant coach at Winthrop. 

I have seen so many "start up" leagues over the years and seen their various successes and demises. I , for one, never thought Arena Football would reach the successes it has. 

I really hope that the PSL and the other "big league" softball organizations..AUSL, NPF and a few I have probably forgotten about, are great chances for the excellent college players who aren't ready to retire the glove and bat, sure, but they don't reach huge paydays for the athletes and rarely last a decade.    

I still look at what I call the "front running five" the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB and NHL. as the one that garner the attention and the athletes. And, four of the five are male dominated. I still have high hopes for the NWSL and Racing Louisville. 

What is your favorite women's professional league and franchise and player? I guess I sill go back to Angel in the WNBA and her time with the Dream. 

Have a great Thursday...and a upcoming 4th of July weekend. 

paylie

Reflections -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 AS THE SOLE WRITER, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK? 

(Still flocking in from around the nation...thank you readers). 

After 20 years of pumping this daily site out, with a host of others. it's back to where I began. By myself, doing solo duty. 

For whatever reason, and there have been a slew of them...I've had over a dozen writers here come and go. I am retired now, I have kidney failure, which means I am hooked up to a dialysis machine three times a week, four hours a time. I no longer attend live events. There are times I have to use a walker or wheelchair to do daily things. At age 70, I read almost daily of friends or acquaintances dying. It used to be attending weddings. Now it's attending funerals 

There has also been a change of the guard down at UofL. The independent writers are not as prevalent as they used to be.  

And if you don't believe it, check it out. Look at Media row or the Press Box . 

I look back to the premise  I began the site on the premise of the joy and excitement of UofL sports. And, back then, in 2006, there were a lot of exciting things going on down on the Belknap Campus. Tom Jurich and Julie Hermann were on campus as VIce President and Director of Athletics (Jurich) and Senior Associate Director of Athletics and senior Women's Administrator (Hermann).  Tom Collen was the head WBB coach (Walz was still a year away). The KFC YUM! Center was four years away. Sandy Pearsall was in her sixth year on campus as softball coach. Karen Ferguson Dayes was in her sixth year as head women's soccer coach. 

But, it always went back to the student-athletes here at Cardinal Couple. And, oh...the friendships I have made and students I have covered in contests and interviewed. 

And, I sometimes wonder if what I churn out here daily means anything to anyone anymore? I get e-mails of encouragement and criticism. I lost my photographer due to administration pressure.  I have been shunned on campus because someone hijacked my now deleted Twitter account and put up some objectionable stuff. It's funny...these days a coach can go into a string of expletives and then go on as nothing happened...but, the unpaid writer gets ostracized for something he didn't even do  

It's like a former UofL women's lacrosse player told me so many years ago. 

"You can get knocked down, slammed around, and bloodied but it just takes that one shining moment to bring you back." 

And, maybe that's why I still do it. It's always been about the students. 

It always will be. 

So..what is your opinion on all this? Feel free to e-mail me at cardinalcouple@twc.com or leave a comment here. I'll keep your responses private. It's like the old Alan Parsons song Games People Play where they ask..."Where do we go from here?"  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLi7Ljcy6n8

I'll be reading ...and thinking. 

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 

Prawl A Tall Guard coming to Louisville -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 DENIYA PRAWL LOOKING FOR A SECOND CHANCE WITH CARDS. 

She was a highly sought after guard out of IMG Academy and an All-American her senior year in high school. Louisville was one of many who were vying for her services, along with South Carolina, Notre Dame, UCLA and Tennessee...but Tennessee ended up winning the recruiting battle for her and she spent her freshman year as a Vol. 

Her numbers were not spectacular...she played in 29 games, with seven starts, averaging 4 points a contest and 2.7  rebounds. An 16-14 season and 8-8 SEC mark barely got the Vols into the NCAA Tournament  and a first round loss to North Carolina State was not what the Vols fans expected from the season. 

Prawl decided to leave the Vols and head north to Louisville.

She figures to be an important cog in the Cards attack in the 2026-27 season. With Roberts, Berry and Randolph all returning for Jeff Walz, Prawl may not be a starter...but will give Walz one of the deepest backcourts in the ACC. You find ways to get good talent on the court. 

We know Walz has tailored this team to perform the three "R"s...rebound, run and react...and Prawl will be a important contributor, from what we can gather., in contributing to the big "S"...scoring

Of course, it's way too early here at the end of Jume to predict how the Cards will do in the upcoming season. Articles and columns I have read indicate that a lot of[people think Louisville will be one of the top teams in the ACC and a Top 10 contender nationwide.  

We'll see how the ball bounces. 

paulie

WTEN Has Four Named To ALL-ACC Academic Team -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 THREE SENIORS, ONE GRADUATE MAKE THE LIST

We probably don't cover Louisville women's tennis enough hear at Cardinal Couple, and...sadly that probably won't change with me being the only cornflake left her in the bowl that is Cardinal Couple,,,but, to use a worn out phrase , I'm paddling as fast as I can. 

Four women's Serve and Return Cards have been named to the All-ACC Academic Team. The ramifications to jo this vaunted list are strict, indeed. A honoree must have a 3.0 academic average fom the previous semester and a 3.9 in the current semester, as well as participating in at least 50% of the squads contests. 

-- Germany Davis -- Political Science -- College Park, GA

-- Berta Miret -- Neuroscience -- Barcelona, Spain 

-- Rebeckka Gaines -- Communications -- Kernersville, S.C / University of New Mexico 

-- Alice Otis -- Marketing -- Mt. Pleasant, S.C. / University of Germany davis Women's tennisDenver

2026 wasn't the best season for the Women's Tennis Cards...they went 10-12, with a 1-12 mark in the ACC. They were eliminated in the firsst round of the ACC Tournament by Virginia Tech. 

Mark Beckham has been the Cards WTEN head coach since 2008. He also played for four years at Louisville , too. 

Women's Soccer to face Nebraska Aug 12th -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 AUG 12th MATCHUP AGAINST LADY HUSKERS AT LYNN

This is Cornhusker. They don't have a logo for a LadyHusker

Louisville women's soccer will get their 2026 campaign underway with a match on the Louisville campus at Lynn against the Nebraska LadyHuskers. 

Nebraska was 8-5-5 last year, with a 3-5-3 mark in Big Ten play.

Nebraska did not play Louisville last year, but did host Southern Indiana in Lincoln and blanked them 6-0. They also played Ohio St. and battled them to a scoreless tie. 

This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools in the regular season in women's soccer, They did take part in a couple of exhibitions in 2006 and 2007. 

Nebraska is coached by John Walker, who is no relation to the popular scotch...that we know of or the answer to a riddle I heard from a boy I knew in grade school. ..."How did the elderly man get to the bathroom? He used a John Walker." 

Walker has been in charge of Husker WSOC for 32 years, arriving at Nebraska in 1994. They were a powerhouse team in the Big 12 conference for years before joining the Big 10 and went to 13 NCAA Tournaments and won nine Big 12 championships. 

Walker is 371-203-62 in his coaching career at Nebraska 

On the other end, Hunter Norton begins his first year at Louisville as head coach, after being an assistant to Karen Ferguson Dayes for five years. 

paulie

Madison Pickens transfers to LSU Softball -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SOPHOMORE ALL-AMERICAN LEAVES CARDS FOR SEC

Isn't it funny what a couple of days can male? 

I sent Madison Pickens a message a couple of days ago.on Instagram. 

"We sure are glad you came to the Ville." 

Her reply, two hours later:

"I'm thankful I am there too" 

Then, yesterday..we get the news that she is leaving Louisville and headed to LSU. 

Somebody slap me with a (fill in your own noun/s)

As the song goes...famously sung by Dinah Washington....

"24 little hours                                                                                                                                 Brought the sun and the flowers                                                                                                   Where there used to be rain" 

Maybe that is the case for LSU, who ended up getting both the twin sisters...Madison and Mackenzie Pickens. Mackenzie played at Ole Miss, Madison, a Louisville Cardinals star for two years. 

One has to figure there was a ton of NIL floating around down in the bayou to pull off a major recruiting coup like that.  The transfer portal strikes again. 

The Cards lose their best player from last year She batted .457 last year at UofL.

OK, no mystery here.The SEC is better than the ACC. And the chance for the sisters to play together.

And, so it goes..in today's wild kingdom of college sports on steroids

paulie

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WBB announces non-conference schedule --THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 UCONN, TEXAS, UK HIGHLIGHT NON-CONFERENCE WBB SLATE 

Jeff Walz knows the non-conference WBB slate is so important to get his squads ready for the tough, demanding ACC schedule. With the release yesterday of the Cards WBB non- conference slate, Louisville women's basketball will have a fun and challenging start to the season and play some very good competition. 

Louisville will open Nov 2nd...when they play Bellarmine. Next ,on Weds. Nov 4th Stetson comes to town. Today's quiz is....Do you know where Stetson is located, and no credit for answering "on my head". Answer at the end of today's article Then, the Cards travel to Evansville to face Southern Indiana on Nov. 8th. They last faced each other two years ago and the Cards flew past the Screaming Eagles by 25 points. Two days later, they'll bring in Lindenwood, a private university out of St. Charles, MO. 

The interesting Ball St. Cardinals WBB logo. 

Two days after that, Louisville heads to Muncie for the Cardinals vs Cardinals battle against Ball State. Louisville demolished BSU by 31 points last year in the KFC YUM! Center. 

UConn comes to town on Nov 15th. to start a four-game home streak. The Huskies last visited Louisville to play the Cards in 2019 and UofL came away with a nine-point win. Two days later, on Tuesday, Nov 17th., Tennessee State visits 3rd and Main. The Cards then tale a 10 day Thanksgiving Break before returning to home court action against Akron. They'll end the string of home games and end November against East Tennessee State.  

The Cards travel to Texas on Dec 2nd for a huge matchup in Austin, then will return to the Vuille to take on Eastern Kentucky. It'll be the first of three games against in-state schools...followed by a trip to Lexington to battle Kentucky on Weds Dec 9th and then a eight day break before they invite the Norse of Northern Kentucky in on Thursday, Dec.17.   

(Stetson is located in DeLand , FLorida...which is about halfway between Orlando and Daytona Beach. )

paulie

Field Hockey Releases Sscedule -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 EIGHT HOME GAMES FOR CARDS FIELD HOCKEY AND SERVING AS HOST FOR THE 2026 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS. 

Louisville Field Hockey has one of the premier field hockey stadiums in the nation and the NCAA realizes that -- they are returning to have the NCAA Championships in Louisville's Trager Stadium again. Now, onto the regular season schedule. 

Bellarmine will start it off with a preseason scrimmage at Trager on Aug. 19th...then UofL will travel to Muncie for another scrimmage against Ball State. The regular season opens with a visit from Miami of Ohio on Friday August 28th and then Indiana on Sunday August 30th. Miami, you may remember...won the MAC conference and made it to the NCAA quarterfinals. 

Louisville will then take to the road for four matches in September. They'll  go to St. Louis and Michigan before heading to Evanston, Illinois to face 2025 and 2026 NCAA Champion Northwestern and Iowa. 

Boston College comes in to kick off ACC play on Sept 18th and then the Cards will also host st. Joseph that Sunday the 20th. Next...it's to the Golden Shores and California for a Friday match and then a visit to UC Davis for a Sunday contest. 

Coming home, the Justine Sowry led squad will have three home matches...versus North Carolina, Stanford and Bellarmine. Following that, a trip to Syracuse and then back home to bring in Pam Bustin and Duke.

The Cards will play their final three games of the regular season on the road, visiting Virginia, Richmond and Wake Forest.  

The ACC Championships will be Nov 3-6 at North Carolina. 

i would imagine Justine Sowry will be holding a press conference soon to detail things and I'll look for it on-line and post it when she does. UofL is still not allowing me to cover such things live from a press bo, media roomx or press row...but... with my kidney failure and dialysis, I doubt I'd go anyway. 

paulie

Cards WBB returns seven, brings in six -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 WALZ WILL HAVE A LOT OF OPTIONS TO CONSIDER

For the 2026-27 season, Louisville women's basketball will have a solid returning group and some exciting additions to the team. 

Back are Taj Roberts, Imani Berry, Mac Randolph, Elif Istanbulluoglu, Rebekah Graves, Grace Mbugna, and Reagan Bender. Transfers in are Zam Jones, Carys Baker, Deniya Prawl. Incoming freshmen are Myah Epps, Peanut Cradle and Ayse Melek Demirer.

It's a roster that looks very impressive on paper and one that could be the best in the ACC. 

Notre Dame would probably choose to argue that statement. Ayana Hardy joins them from Louisville. Hannah Hildago is back. Leah Macy joins them from high school in Elizabethtown John Hardin. Plus, they have seven seniors. 

Starters for the Cards look to be Berry, Randolph, Roberts, Istanbulluoglu  and probably Zam Jones. 

The depth is huge. The three freshmen will likely see a lot of court time. so will Carys Baker and Deniya Prawl. And, this does look like a typical Walz squad that is going to pretend it is at a track meet and outrun their foes. 

The question that still baffles me and many others is...how did the program and athletics at UofL get so far in debt? 

paulie