Vball Gets First Home Win; FH Does Same on the Road -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Opens Cardinal Classic with Sweep

Louisville welcomed Missouri into the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena last night for Louisville's first home match and the second match of the Cardinal Classic event. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the Cards sent them packing quite quickly with a comprehensive sweep. Missouri fell 25-16, 25-18, and 25-16 in a match where they were never closer than three points once the sets reached the halfway point. Louisville dominated with eight blocks to Mizzou's one, and the Cards hit 0.469 compared to the Tigers' 0.184. Louisville never hit less than 0.400 in a set.

Louisville continues to work on their serving, as they finished the evening with five aces and just seven errors. Eventually, you want to see that ratio flip, but they had more aces and fewer errors than the opponent, so it's better than nothing. Offensively, Louisville was extremely sharp. The team committed only eight errors in the match, with Nena Mbonu committing three. Despite hitting the lowest on the team last night, Mbonu still finished at 0.214 as she gathered six kills as well. The team was led by Anna DeBeer and Amaya Tillman, who both finished with 10 kills on fewer than 20 attempts. Tillman finished with just two errors and DeBeer with just one. Aiko Jones added eight kills and even Tori Dilfer picked up five kills on nine attempts. I guess if they're gonna leave the setter open...

Defensively, Tillman tied with Anna Stevenson with two and a half blocks. Tillman got all of her points on block assists while Stevenson picked up two solo blocks, the only person on the team with solos. Ayden Bartlett and DeBeer tied with six digs apiece while Dilfer and Elena Scott were right behind them with five.

Louisville is back in action this evening at 6PM when they host South Dakota. Matches in the LNFCU are ticketed, but tickets are available. Tonight's match will also be available on the ACC Network Extra. 

Field Hockey Beats Penn

It was a bit nervier than expected at times, but Louisville Field Hockey took a 3-1 win over Penn yesterday afternoon at Princeton. The Cards scored in each of the first three quarters and maintained the lead throughout on their way to their first road win of the season. It was Penn's season opener and moved Louisville to 3-0 on the year.

The Cards got the action started early, earning a penalty corner just three and a half minutes into the match. It was the first of six for Louisville, two of which they would convert. This wasn't one of the conversions, though, as Julie Kouijzer's shot went wide. Eight minutes in, Louisville earned another corner. Once again, it was taken by Alli Bitting and Kouijzer took the shot. This time, it was saved by the Penn goalkeeper. Just over a minute later, Louisville earned their third corner as they completely controlled the first quarter. This time, Bitting went to Charlie van Oirschot who made a second pass to Kouijzer. Third time was the charm and Louisville led 1-0. The remainder of the quarter was relatively uneventful.

The second quarter began with more Louisville control, leading to a penalty corner five minutes into it. Bitting went to Kouijzer again, but this time Julie passed it off to Katie Schneider who scored her third goal of the year. A minute later, Aimee Plumb put forth the first open play shot of the game for either team, but it was saved. A minute later, Penn returned the favor with their first shot of the game, which made it into the cage. Both teams would have a penalty corner after the goal, but the score remained 2-1 into the half.

Louisville came out of the locker room fired up and controlled the third quarter completely. Louisville earned another penalty corner and put up five open play shots, but could only score one goal, an Embry Jane Imorde tip in after a Mattie Tabor cross. The offensive onslaught meant Penn couldn't respond at all on the other end. In the fourth, Penn had a bit more offensive success but still couldn't score. Louisville grabbed a couple of shots to no avail, but the defense turned away three penalty corners. It was a slow day for Mila de Kuijer, who had no saves on the afternoon. After the first Penn goal, the other four shots were either blocked by defenders or missed the goal completely.

Louisville didn't score quite as many goals as we might have expected, but it was a fairly dominating performance. The Cards will look for a bit more offensive success when they take on the hosting Princeton Tigers on Sunday at 1:30 PM.

Van Lith and USA Go 3-0

Hailey Van Lith is still with the USA 3x3 team as their world showcase continues. Yesterday, the team was in Montreal, and swept Pool A to give themselves a bye to today's semifinals. Pool A consisted of Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, with Germany giving the USA their hardest competition in the first game when they went to overtime. 

In the three games, HVL scored a total of 18 points and gathered eight rebounds. Her highest scoring game came against the Netherlands where she scored nine of the team's 16 total points. She was 0-5 from beyond the arc on the day, but was effective from the floor otherwise. 

Team USA will await the winner of the second quarterfinal matchup between Germany and Canada. The semifinal will take place at 4:25 PM today. You can watch all of the action from the event live on YouTube here.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

After another busy week, we're back with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We've got events from all three fall sports to talk about as well as plenty to preview. We should have a full house on board for what will be a very busy show. Join us in celebrating the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics as we look back on the winning week that was. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-