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

Big days ahead for Field Hockey and Volleyball today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 RICE AWAITS VOLLEYBALL AND NORTHWESTERN HOSTS FIELD HOCKEY

SEPT 11TH is a day most of us will never forget, but to maybe add a little diversion to the horrible thoughts involving that day, Louisville Volleyball and Field Hockey will be on the road  at tournaments. 

# 14 Louisville Field Hockey travels to Evanston, Ill to face #1 ranked Northwestern in a 3 p.m. match that will be shown on the Big10+ network. Both are undefeated at 4-0, and the Wildcats have downed VCU 2-0, Lafayette 1-0 in Evanston, Duke 4-3 in Chestnut Hill, MA in overtime and Boston College there as well, 2-0. 

The Wildcats are #1 ranked in the NCAA Coaches poll and received 220 votes. 

#5 Volleyball travels to Houston to go up against unranked Rice in the Rice Invitational. They'll also face Creighton and Northern Iowa while in town for the three days. 

                                        ***********************************************

Most of you who read this column will still remember where they were on 9/11/01. I was working at a salesman for the now defunct Wallingford Coffee Company and was making sales calls out in the Prospect, KY area when it happened. .I had walked into a pharmacy to see if they wanted to carry our 12 oz bagged coffee line and several people were gathered around a TV set up on the cosmetics counter. I walked over and asked a young man what the attraction was and he looked at me and told me that New York City was under attack. I stood there for about a hour watching with the others and then left. I had an attractive young woman ask me if I wanted to go to her house and watch it unfold on television...she did not want to be alone today ... but I politely declined the offer  .I finally decided today would not be a good day to sell coffee...and went home and watched the rest of the day unfold on TV. 

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. 

 

Field Hockey Unbeaten at 4-0 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Field Hockey unbeaten going into difficult stretch

They have stepped on the field four times this season for contests and, so far, have walked off with four wins. Miami (OH), Indiana, St. Louis and Michigan St. Although only one (Miami) was ranked in the top 20, the wins were still quality ones and showed that Justine Sowry's squad is equally adapt at road wins and wins at Trager. 

The road is considerably tougher, though...in the next couple of contests. A trip to Evanston, IL to face Northwestern on Friday Sept 11th will put the Cards up against the #1 team in the NCAA DI Coaches Poll. And, two days later, the Cards will face #2 in the nation Iowa on the Northwestern Field. Both opponents are 4-0 on the season. 

Louisville is currently ranked #14 in the DI poll.  That...in itself... is a bit puzzling since there are eight schools ahead of them in the latest D poll who have at least one loss already and two of them (UNC and Duke) have two losses. Parity? Nope, such coaches voting without researching. 

Lauren Masters

The Cards have put up 11 goals in their four wins and allowed just two. Four Cardinals are tied for the scoring lead with two goals each...Gigi Edwards, Annabel Sep, Tyler Everslage and Lauren Masters.

The goalkeeping effort of  Emily Young needs to be recognized as well. She has had 23 stops in four games. Her backup, Katie Hume has one stop in just 15 minutes of acton this season. 

We hope the Cards can pull off a couple of upsets in the next two contests. Playing #1 and #2 in the nation back to back with just one day of rest in between is certainly a task I doubt any DI coach would be ecstasic about...but with the sometimes eyebrow-raising scheduling assignments being put out there these days, I suppose you just tell your squad to play the best they can and never give up the fight. 

paulie

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 WSOC wins Battle of the Bluegarss over UK 2-1 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 KARINA PEAT'S TWO GOALS THE DIFFERENCE IN LEXINGTON. 

Louisville women's soccer jumped out to an early 2-0  lead over UK and then battled to stay in front when UK added a late goal to curt the lead in half. In 90 degree, humid weather...both teams looked tanked as time expired, but visiting Red & Black outlasted Blue & White on a Thursday night in Lexington. 

The Cards got their first goal with 22:45 gone in the match, or roughly half of the first half gone when Amelia Swinarski and Liza Suydam set up Karina Peak in front of the UK goal and she booted it into the net with her right foot. 

The Cards didn't have to wait much longer before their final goal of the match. At the 26 minute mark, Nicole Jodain found Peak open and set her up for a shot that got by the UK keeper and gave Louisville a 2-0 lead. And, that's how the first half ended. 

In the second half, both teams had great opportunities to score but the ball was going wide or off the top of the goal. UK, getting close to desperation mode, finally came across with their lone goal of the contest when Juliette Rayo kicked one in with 7:58 left in the contest. 

The Cards go to 5-1 with the win. the Cats take their second loss of the year, also being beaten by Ohio St. 

Louisville took 14 shots in the game, with seven on goal, while UK had 10 shots with five on goal. Each squad had four saves and took five corners. The Cards were whistled for infractions six times and UK got two penalty calls on them. 

Louisville returns to action next on Sunday, when they host Mercyhurst. And , who is that, you might ask? They are a private Catholic University in Erie, PA   James "Buster" Douglas, a heavyweight boxer that defeated Muhammad Ali attended Mercyhurst on a football scholarship. We seriously doubt he'll be o the pitch when the two schools face each other. 

Cards win, Cards win!

paulie

Elif Istanbulluoglu Named to Turkiye National Team -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 Senior Forward will play for Turkiye 2026 World Cup Team

Most of our readers are well familiar of how Elif blossomed into one of the Cards WBB best players in the 2025-26 season. She's also been a stellar player in her home country of Turkiye and will be on the 2026 Turkiye National team to compete in the World Cup games. She'll be one of twelve on the squad. 

Last summer she was named a co-captain on the Turkiye squad that competed in the FIBA Eurobasket playoff in Greece. Last year she had the luxury of having Jeff Walz as an assistant coach. She also played on the FIBA U20 squad that played in the Eurobasket cup in Greece for Turkiye.  She led that squad with 17.9 p.p.g and 11.1 rebounds a contest 

The experiences came in handy when she returned to play for the Cards last season. She went from 3.0 p.p.g to 10.1 p.p.g. and was third on the UofL squad with 5.1 rebounds a contest. 

Turkiye will compete in Group C in the World Cup games, along with Belgium, Australia and Puerto Rico. In order to advance to advance to the quarterfinals. A team must finish in the top three of their Group. They;ll play each member of their group once, beginning with Puerto Rico on Sept 4th. 

All of Turkiye's games will be shown on HBO Max. The bundles begin at $10.99 a month. 

paulie