Vball Enjoys a Win, Soccer, FH, and Vball Today

Spirits are High in Volleyball Win

South Dakota's volleyball squad has had a bit of a rough start to the year.  Their opening weekend of games was cancelled last week due to Covid-19 protocols within the program.  Their now-season-opener against Northern Kentucky started out with a bang, easily cruising to a victory in the first set, before NKU came back and won the next three.

One of Anna DeBeer's 16 kills

Then, last night, they ran into a Cardinal buzzsaw.  UofL put a quick end to the match, 25-15, 25-12, 25-15.  The hitting was good, averaging a .316 in the match, the second set being the high point, at .444.  Claire Chaussee and the A-Team did what they do.  Chaussee had 8 kills from the left side.  Anna Stevenson and Amaya Tillman chalked up 11 and five kills respectively in the middle, along with 6 and 4 for Anna DeBeer and Aiko Jones.

(Correction: When the article was originally posted the numbers for kills were actually the kill attempts, not actual kills.  The numbers have been adjusted.)

Tori Dilfer probably feels like a kid in a candy shop with so many offensive options available to her.  Dilfer did sneak a couple of sweets before getting to the register though, dropping a couple of setter dumps on the Coyotes and of course racking up the lead in assists with 26.

Elena Scott, setter turned libero

Let's look to the back-row today, though.  Elena Scott is a true freshman from here in Louisville, out of Mercy Academy.  Scott was the setter for Mercy and she saw quite a lot of success in that role.  Coming into the Louisville program, however, she was asked to moved to the Defensive Specialist/Libero position, and with the Libero jersey up for grabs from Alexis Hamilton's graduation, Scott grabbed hold of it and isn't letting go.  She led the team in digs yesterday with 13, and her contribution was larger than that stat really conveys.

 Libero/DS is a difficult position to capture with statistics, but trust me when I say that she was all over the court making amazing plays on balls and keeping a number of plays alive that no one expected.  You'll be hearing more about Scott more over the coming years, for sure.

As a team, the serving in yesterday's game improved again.  Five errors is reasonable for a team that likes to serve aggressively, tallying eight aces on those.  Beyond the aces though, the aggressive service put South Dakota out of system for much of the match

Aiko Jones clearly had fun

UofL was hitting on all cylinders yesterday.  It was a fun romp in L&N FCU Arena.  Spirits were high, the swings were big, the digs were spectacular, and the Cardinal Couple crew is feeling old after finding out that one of the UofL players had never heard the song "Basket Case" by Green Day.

The VolleyCards are back in action today to wrap up the Cardinal Classic with a 1pm match against Northern Kentucky.  NKU is a scrappy team that never gives up on a play.  They're not big, but they play smart, and they play a very fast paced offense designed to make it hard for blockers to get into position.  It will be an interesting test of wills to see whether their quick speed can get hits in place before UofL big blocks can get set.  Streaming available on ACC Network Extra as always.

(Photos by Jared Anderson)

Floyd Street and Princeton

Field Hockey

Also in action today, Field Hockey on the road in Princeton New Jersey continues their Ivy League weekend against the New Jersey entrant.

Princeton is getting really just getting started with their absolutely brutal schedule with more than half of their schedule being against currently ranked teams and the first three against ACC squads.  Princeton lost to UNC Friday, 4-1, which to be fair, is not a terrible result against the Tarheels.

UofL defeated Penn, 3-1, Friday in their first matchup with the Ivy League/ACC matchups.

First pass back for today's game is at 1:30, and it's available on ESPN+.

Soccer

Will "Big Red" make the trip up from "The Hill"

Soccer comes back home for an in-state tussle tonight.  Western Kentucky is taking the bus ride up I-65 to come play at Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium.

WKU is undefeated in both Exhibition play against UT Martin, and Bellarmine, as well as in their very regional non-conference schedule against Austin Peay, Union (Tenn), and Vanderbilt.  The Hilltoppers will be well rested for this one as their last outing, which was supposed to be Friday, against Tennessee Tech got cancelled due to Covid issues in the Golden Eagles squad.

Will the high scoring offense-by-committee continue to make goals?  Will the newly resurgent defense hold?  You can find out tonight at Lynn Stadium with first kick at 7:30.  The rain is expected to be out of the way by evening, and the seating at Lynn is under cover in any case.  It should be a fun outing on a not-a-school-night.  Available online on ACC Network Extra, of course.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Four of a Kind, with Case, Jared, Paulie, and myself were on the call yesterday.  A good show recapping Volleyball, Field Hockey, and Soccer from the week, with some previews of what's to come.

Check out the recording at your favorite podcast location, a sampling of which are below.  You can also check out the replay on Youtube below.

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Breaker: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Listen to yesterday's show here, if you wish: 

JMcA