WBB -- Some thoughts and observations -- ACC FH Bracket -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

2022-23 WBB CARDS HAVE TALENT, HEIGHT AND SCORING

It all gets underway next Monday for this 2022-23 Louisville WBB squad. They've had their media day, they'll have their annual luncheon this Tuesday and they'll play their first game of a (at least) 32 game schedule against the Cincinnati Bearcats on next Monday at the KFC YUM! Center. 

There are a lot of questions out there about this squad. One that gets repeated probably the most is "is this the year that Louisville wins it all?"  And...I'd love to jump in a magical time machine and fast forward to Sunday, April 2nd and see which two teams are squaring off in Dallas at American Airlines Arena for the title. 

Some things that will make Louisville a contender for the title? I'll give you my top five things that I think will be helpful in building any Final Four run and appearance. 

1) The Cards have scorers. It's an old joke, but Jeff Walz will tell you about the players that approach him and tell him they are shooters. And, he tells them shooters are fine, but he prefers makers. This team has makers. Let's start with Hailey Van Lith and Olivia Cochran. Let's add new-to-the-roster Chrislyn Carr, Morgan Jones and Josie Williams. And we can't forget about Payton Verhulst, Liz Dixon, Norika Konno and three freshmen that come in with impeccable high-school resumes (yes, just three) since Imani Lester will red-shirt and Alexia Mobley is recovering from a foot injury. And scoring solves a lot of ills. 

2) Louisville WBB has height. Two 6'5" posts in Liz Dixon and Josie Williams. Cochran is 6'3" Louisville has four more players at 6'2". Height is a plus when it comes to rebounding. Altering and blocking shots numbers go up when you have decent height. 

3) Experience is also quite prevalent on the Cardinal squad. Five graduate players and one senior. A strong junior class with Van Lith, Cochran and Russell. Players who "have been there, done this or that and won't get rattled". Road crowds can get hectic and loud. They can rattle the less-experienced student-athlete. The self-confidence and mind set of coming in to concentrate on running plays and playing defense. 

4) Commitment. Being part of a all-for-one, one-for-all" mind set and philosophy. Ask the players on the team. They are committed to returning to the Final Four and winning two more game in it than last year. The new players want that magical ride also. They also know that commitment means doing the work in practice, doing it the right way and doing it as a unit. 

5) Luck. You have to have a little luck on the road to the Final Four as well, The opponents' shots that bounce off the rim into your hands. A star opponent not having a great game. You "shooting the lights out" early in a contest and burying an opponent. Some say that you create your own luck. Maybe so, but a bit of unexpected good luck can be very beneficial. 

Jeff Walz has a slide now that leads from his office on the second floor to the Cards WBB practice court.  Besides Lola and Lucy probably loving it to death, Coach says it gets him to practice in a hurry. i wouldn't be surprised if a prankster or two has (or has had) some fun with that already, or as the season progresses. I think a small swimming pool of red jello at the bottom would make for some great fun. I told a few unsuspecting people that the start of the slide was underneath the chair where media sit to interview Walz. If he's unhappy with the questions, he pushes a button and off you go. Can The Cards slide into a Final Four? We'll see. 

Here's hoping for a fun and entertaining season. Never underestimate how important you are as fan, either. Those swelling roars of approval and thunderous applause are a spark for your team and a hindrance to the opponent.  

ACC FIELD HOCKEY TOURNAMENT BRACKET SET

Louisville Field Hockey is the #6 seed in the ACC FH Tournament and will face #3 seed Virginia in quarterfinal action. The Cards play at 6 p.m. and it'll be shown on the ACC Network. 

UNC is the #1 seed and gets the quarterfinals "bye". #4 seed Boston College and #5 seed Syracuse meet each other at 1 p.m., #7 seed (and tournament host) Duke draws #2 seed Wake Forest and they'll take the pitch at 3:30 p/m.  Per usual, the game times are approximations...although it might be interesting and amusing to see officials and security take the field at 3:29 Tuesday and force stop the Duke vs Wake match, if it's still going on. 

For the record, the Cards did lose to Virginia at Virginia (Charlottesville) on 9/30/22 in regular season play by a final score of 2-0. Let's hope our Cards do better tomorrow. I expect Jared will have more on the Tournament in his column tomorrow (if we can get him away from taking selfies with anything that moves on the Belknap Campus or the playing facilities thereof). 

FINALLY...

(Jeff Walz from 2018 luncheon)

The Louisville WBB Tip-Off luncheon is at the Galt House tomorrow, beginning at noon. Always a fun affair and great to see the team in a relaxed setting. I*'ve gotten some pretty good interviews in the past from there -- I'll miss the yearly one I've done with Sam Purcell ever since he arrived on campus -- but, maybe it's time to start a new tradition. 

Doors open at 11;30 AM and lunch is at noon. Hope to see you there !

paulie 

A Day of Rest - Sunday Cardinal Couple

 A Sunday Day of Rest

For the first time since late August, we have a Sunday with none of the main three fall sports either in action or with recaps from Saturday action.

I almost don't know what to do with myself.

Field Hockey and Soccer have both wrapped their regular season play and Volleyball had an odd Wednesday and Friday schedule this week playing against our travel partner, Notre Dame, and the odd school out of the travel partner system in the 15 team conference, Duke.

Softball Completes Fall Schedule

There is some action on the women's athletics schedule, though.  Softball wrapped up their fall exhibition schedule in Lexington playing Kentucky.  We have no recap or stats from the game, but did get the report that Kentucky won 9-8.  Generalizing heavily, losing to a good softball team like Kentucky by only one run in a fairly high scoring affair is a pretty good result for the Cards.

Holly Aprile's squad is getting pieced back together after being forcibly rearranged by several injuries last season.  The only injury report that we're aware of here at Cardinal Couple is Easton Lotus is still recovering from her spring ACL, but is expected to be back in action for the official season in the Spring.

I know I will be ready to enjoy some beautiful days at Ulmer when the time comes.

Women's Tennis in Mississippi State

The women's tennis squad is participating in the John Cade Invitational at Mississippi State.  Today will be the third and final day of the event.

Unfortunately, we have no updates on the progress or results from the event...not even from Mississippi State's website.

This will be the last tennis action for the fall with the action picking up in the spring.  Events aren't yet listed on the schedule, but look for them to start up sometime around late January.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP did happen on its typical schedule.  Paulie, Daryl, Case and myself were on the call.

We celebrated Daryl's announcement of her accepting a position with UofL on campus, but we also covered so much action in athletics this week.  With Field Hockey and Soccer wrapping their season, Volleyball playing two matches to cover, and Basketball media day, we had plenty to talk about.

Again we had fun as we always do.  We hope you'll check it out and join in the fun. 11 AM on Saturdays and always available at the Cardinal Coupe You Tube page. 

It's also available at its anchor.fm home site and syndicated to every significant podcast directory as always.

LINK:  https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/The-Season-Transition-Begins-e1puhpm

-- JMcA

Field Hockey Drops Home Finale; Volleyball Sweeps -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Fall to BC 4-1

Louisville field hockey hosted their regular season finale hoping to claw back some momentum before heading to Durham for the ACC Tournament next week. The plan got off to a good start, with Aimee Plumb giving the Cards the go-ahead goal just five minutes into the game. Unfortunately, the good vibes wouldn't last past the first quarter. After the break, Boston College tied the game and took the lead in the first five minutes of the quarter. When they came out of the locker room after halftime, BC pounced again, making it 3-1 two minutes into the second half. A fourth goal with five to go in the game was icing on the cake for the Eagles, and Louisville saw their third loss in as many games to close out the season.

Louisville outshot BC 14-8 in yesterday's game, but they were even in shots on target at seven. Sasha Elliott came back down to earth after an unbelievable season, posting just three saves against four goals, but hopefully she was just due for a less than outstanding game and she can put it behind her. Of BC's four goals, only one came on a penalty corner, an uncommon occurrence against what has been a stout Louisville defense this season.

The Cards offense didn't do quite as much to pull their weight as the defense would hope either. Just a 50% shot ratio is not a recipe for success, especially considering that the team had more penalty corner attempts than they did shots on goal. Louisville was 0-8 on corners in yesterday's game. Boston College was 1-1. The offense was fairly well distributed for the Cards, with five players taking shots, but only Aimee Plumb and Mattie Tabor put multiple shots on goal. To Boston College's credit, they had done their homework. Julie Kouijzer took three shots. As you might expect, they all came on corners. The Eagles were expecting it, too. All three of Kouijzer's shots were blocked by defenders.

You'll notice I'm not going line-by-line on yesterday's game like I do for many others. The truth is that it wasn't a very good performance all-around. Jared politely left a postgame interview with Coach Sowry off the table as she wasn't in much mood to talk about it. Louisville came in to yesterday's game with a chance to improve their seeding for the ACC tournament with a win over BC, and they didn't do it. Louisville takes the six seed (they have the tiebreaker over Duke), and they'll play either Syracuse or Virginia based on tiebreaker. We talked a bit last week about how you might want to be the sixth seed and make a run in the ACC tournament rather than be the five seed and draw UNC in the second game. 

My stance was, and is, that a loss to BC (who is now just 8-9 overall) hurts more than a pair of wins over Syracuse and Wake would help when it comes to NCAA seeding. After the clunker at Cornell on Sunday, Louisville may find themselves on the outside looking in come selection time. We'll all have to wait and see. The ACC tournament will air in full on ACC Network starting at 1 PM on Tuesday. Which games will be played in which slots are not finalized yet, but the quarterfinals are at 1, 3:30, and 6. 

Cards Sweep Duke at Home

After the tough loss against Pittsburgh on Sunday, Louisville recovered their busy week by taking care of business with sweeps of both Notre Dame and Duke. The two teams have seven wins combined in conference, so struggling with either would not be ideal. As it was, the Cards sat ND down against in front of a record crowd and returned to L&N Federal Credit Union Arena looking like they'd do just about the same thing to Duke.

Louisville opened with a 25-12 set win, posting a 0.529 hitting percentage with just one error. They held Duke negative at -0.083, and the romp looked as though it might be on. In that set, Louisville took a 7-1 lead and, after a bit of trading, extended it to 24-9. The Cards had two blocks and three aces to go along with their ten kills, but also benefitted from two service errors and a handling error by Duke. The Blue Devils looked all out of sorts, and Louisville was firing on all cylinders.

Right up until they weren't. The Cards took another 6-1 lead in the second, and they would later stretch that to 19-11, but their 25-20 set victory was much less convincing. It may have had something to do with the fact that they had 9 errors, only 9x their average per set. Duke had fewer errors in the second set, but Louisville still managed to outhit them 0.063-0.000. What I'm getting at here is that the second set of last night's match was not the pinnacle of volleyball performance. Despite the poor hitting, Louisville's win was never really in doubt, as the 19-11 lead was trimmed only to 20-16 before trades effectively closed the set.

The third set was the nail-biter, with both teams hitting in the 0.160s. Louisville cleaned up their errors, cutting them to just four, but Duke found more gaps than anyone had all match, picking up a match leading 12 kills in the final set. Louisville didn't have the benefit of a big run in the set and actually played from behind for most of the race to ten. The Cards took the lead at 9-8 following a service error and an attack error, but they wouldn't take the lead for good until the same sequence gave them a 12-10 advantage. After a Duke kill, Louisville won three straight points to take a 15-11 lead that they wouldn't yield. The Blue Devils pulled to within two on multiple occasions through the rest of the set, but Louisville's resolve (and their own struggles) kept the Cards out front. After Cara Cresse committed an error to give Duke hope on Louisville's first match point attempt, she made up for it by combining on a block with Raquel Lazaro to win it.

If you didn't know better, you would have thought some practical joke moved the service line in the third set, as the two teams combined for 13 service errors in the final frame. Five of Louisville's nine errors came in that set, while Duke committed 14 overall. Louisville was vastly superior at the line for the entire match, finishing with six aces to Duke's three for a net advantage of eight points in the service game. Louisville's blocking wasn't as dominant in this one as we've seen in the past, with Louisville winning just 8-7. The impact on Louisville was large, as seven blocks represented half of the errors they committed, whereas Duke committed 24 errors on the evening. Louisville's blocking defense usually has that effect on teams, forcing more errors than the stat sheet recognizes as blocks, but Duke also just isn't very good. 

Aiko Jones led the team in kills for the first time in awhile last night, picking up seven. She committed five errors, but her role leads to more errors than others. More concerning was her carrying a third of the team's service errors, but it was a good match for her overall as she added an ace and 1.5 blocks. Claire Chaussee and Amaya Tillman, as you might expect, were tied for second at six kills apiece. Nena Mbonu continued to carve a role with four kills, but the big surprise came from Lazaro. She finished with five kills on seven attempts while picking up 17 of Louisville's 23 assists. Adding four block assists and seven digs, it remains obvious that Lazaro is a star.

Speaking of stars, Anna DeBeer returned to the floor last night... kind of. DeBeer was fully dressed and participated in warm-ups last night before coming out of the locker room in street clothes ahead of the match start. This was apparently planned, and not a setback during warmups. It's good to know that DeBeer is close to returning as the season gets ready to hit the home stretch. The Cards have a week off before beginning their final third of the conference season. After the three match week culminating with Duke last night, Louisville will have tomorrow off. The Cards will welcome in the two state schools of North Carolina next weekend in their penultimate home stand.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With another non-noon kickoff for Louisville football, we'll have a robust crew in house for the show this week. While there are some downers to talk about, we'll keep the optimism up as we discuss the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. Maybe if we talk nicely enough about him, Coach Walz will let us go down the new slide at the basketball practice facility. 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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Soccer Falls -- Field Hockey and Volleyball Today -- WBB Media Day -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A busy week on campus continues today with a pair of Louisville women's sports teams playing. Instead of the normal busy weekend for the women's sports, the Floyd Street festivities (and beyond) began Wednesday this week instead. Before we take a look at today's action, we'll take a moment to review last night.

Soccer Falls on Senior Night

Louisville women's soccer wrapped up their 2022 season with a match at home against #2 North Carolina. The match was Senior Night for the Cards, but it was the Tar Heels who would walk away with the 2-0 victory.

The Cards began the evening by recognizing six seniors for their time. Maisie Whitsett spent all five years with the Cards, seeing time as both a forward and defender. Sarah Hernandez also spent all five seasons with Louisville, but the defender was out for the match nursing an injury. Ravin Alexander spent five years on the roster, but the defender chose to redshirt her freshman year in 2018. Corinne Dente spent four years with the Cards, but missed the entirety of her middle two seasons due to injury. Riley Mullady graduated early after spending three years at Louisville. Mullady suffered an unfortunate injury during warmups last night, preventing her from being able to play. Patricia Ward spent her COVID-19 year of eligibility with the Cards.

With their season on the line, the Cards came out ready to play. Unintimidated by the #2 ranking that North Carolina carried, Louisville played aggressive and looked (for the moment) like the better team. The Cards' best chance at a score in the first half was a shot by Maisie Whitsett from outside of the box. Whitsett created enough space between her and the defender to launch a shot that hit the cross bar, bounced down, but then carried back into the field of play. After a short review, it was confirmed that the ball never broke the plane of the goal. The game of inches can be brutal.

Louisville and North Carolina went into the half scoreless, but that didn't deter the Cards from maintaining their pressure in the second. UNC's goalkeeper deflected a shot that found its way to Corinne Dente. With the keeper in poor position, Dente launched a shot through a tight window between defenders, but it rolled just wide right. Again, the game of inches was not kind.

The 66th minute proved fatal as North Carolina generated an opportunity in the box following a scramble and the ball hit the back of the net. Just two minutes later, a UNC corner kick resulted in another goal.

Down 2-0 late in the match, Louisville tried to muster up a rally and spent much of the remaining time trying to find a weakness in the Tar Heel defense. Ultimately, Louisville would fall in the end.

Louisville's 3-7 ACC record was not enough to earn them a spot in the six-team ACC Tournament. The overall record of 6-8-2 means that the Cards are ineligible to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, thus bringing the 2022 season to a close.

Friday's Floyd Street Happenings

Louisville Field Hockey closes out its regular season today at 1:00 at Trager Stadium. Regardless of the result and any postseason appearances, the match will be the final one at Trager Stadium this year. You can catch this one on ACC Network Extra.

Sitting at 12-5 and riding a two-game losing streak, the Cards hope to enter postseason season play with a win against #22 Boston College today. Louisville is currently 5-4 against ranked opponents this season.

Boston College is 7-9 on the year with a 2-3 conference mark. For the Eagles, this match has no impact on their bid for an NCAA Tournament, which can only be achieved by winning the ACC Tournament.

Boston College fell to Wake Forest on Friday last week before bouncing back with a 3-1 win against Boston University on Sunday. The Eagles' top performer has been Peyton Hale, who leads the team with seven goals and four assists for 18 total points.

Also happening on campus, but not until 7:00 is Louisville Volleyball. The Cards return to L&N FCU Arena to face Duke. Most recently, the Cards swept Notre Dame in front of a whopping 9058 fans at the KFC Yum! Center Wednesday night.

*Quick tangent*

Holy cow! Over 9000 fans for a midweek volleyball match! And against a sub-.500 at that. I've witnessed over 100 Louisville volleyball matches at this point in my life (band, fan, media) and there's not many matches that can compete with that. Last year's tournament run with the pit stop at Freedom Hall is the only crowd that I think could compete with Wednesday night. I have on good authority that several matches are being considered for the "second home court" next season because of the overwhelming turnout against Notre Dame. The budget still doesn't allow for a new arena to be built, but thanks to high success over recent years, the hope for a generous donor to step up is there.

*End tangent*

Louisville sits at 19-2 on the year and carry a #4 ranking in the AVCA Poll. The power rankings put the Cards at #3. Their 10-1 conference record puts them second in the ACC.

After a strong non-conference showing, Duke has struggled since ACC play started. The Blue Devils are 3-7 in conference play, but are 12-9 overall. They're 0-3 against ranked opponents (Pitt, Georgia Tech, BYU) this year. They only have one win against teams in the top half of the ACC.

Once aspect of the game Duke has been well above average is serving. The Blue Devils average nearly two aces per set. They allow 1.3 aces per set.

Duke made national headlines earlier this season following their match at BYU. Duke's Rachel Richardson led the voices of Duke players in which they accused one or more BYU fans of making racial slurs. BYU conducted an internal investigation but came back with results conflicting Duke's report. The NCAA, the ACC, nor the WCC investigated the incident.

Like every other match at L&N FCU Arena this year, this match is sold out. If you don't already have tickets, you'll want to tune into ACC Network Extra.

Louisville Women's Basketball Media Day

Louisville women's basketball hosted their annual media day yesterday, welcoming several media to the Kueber Center to talk with coaches and players. Paulie made the trip to campus to catch up with several members of the program.

From comments from Coach Walz, to interactions with players, Paulie will give you a audio rundown of how things went and provide audio clips for you to check out.

You've probably seen Coach Walz's slide in the Kueber Center that leads from his office to the court..contrary to popular belief, it's not to quicken his access to the floor. It was built to hasten the exit of Media when interviews aren't going the way he wants,

Norika Konno WBB Media Day

Alexia Mobley WBB Media Day

Imani Lester   WBB Media Day

Liz Dixon WBB Media Day

Josie Williams WBB Media Day

Payton Verhulst WBB Media Day

Jeff Walz WBB Media Day

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCARDS win at Yum! -- WSoc Senior Night; THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS SWEEP IRISH IN KFC YUM! CENTER

It's not quite the weekend yet.. but it is Daryl checking in with you on a Thursday. It worked best for Jared and I to switch this week's write. I am currently nursing my kitten out of surgery this week and we watched the Cards play Notre Dame at the Yum! Center from the couch together so she wanted to help me with the recap too. She's very invested at this point.

The lack of thumbs make it difficult for LuLu to type on her own...

LuLu's contribution> eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


(All match pictures from Jared Anderson)

VOLLEYCARDS

The #4 Cardinals responded from a weekend loss to Pittsburgh with a 3-0 (25-10, 25-22, 25-14) sweep of Notre Dame in front of a record crowd 9,058 fans at the KFC Yum! Center. The volleyball community is strong in the city of Louisville at the Club, High School and University level along with the rest of the state. Alumni/familiar faces were also in the house as well, CC columnist Jeff McAdams had eyes on several former Cards and Katie George sat in the color chair for this one on the ACC Network. 

The squad moves to 19-2 on the season with 3 matches left in the home stand.  Claire Chaussee lead the Cards with 16 kills and Amaya Tillman tacked on another 12 which combined for more than the 23 ND had in the match.

Aiko Jones impressed LuLu the most with her strong swings and ability to make the ball go really far across the screen. 


Set 1  

Cards win 25-10

The Cards got on the board early.   A miss hit by Claire Chaussee put Notre Dame on the board.  Senior Aiko Jones had a strong showing in the match which began a scoring run for UofL after kill and a service ace to put the Cards ahead 4-1 and for good in the set.  Raquel Lazaro and Tillman hammers down the 5th and 6th points.  An error on the Cards put another one on the board for ND.  It was all Cards in the first set with a .667 hitting % in the opening 9 points. 

The Irish elected to take a TO when it was 8-2.   The Cards didn't slow down after the TO extending the lead to 14-3.  ND kill by Phyona Schrader to make it 15-4.  ND continued to hand points to the Cards before scoring a couple back to back followed by a service error, the Irish were on 5-1 run making it 20-9 before they cooled down.  An ace for Elena Scott made it set point for the Cards. Amaya Tillman came in with the kill to give UofL set 1. 


Set 2

Cards win 25-22

In the second set, the Irish finally warmed up.  The first point was a little more difficult for the Cards to secure than in the first set as it was a long rally ending in a kill for Chaussee.  A violation for the Cards put the first point up for the Irish.  A block by Jones assisted by Phekran Kong put the Cards back ahead 2-1.  A strong swing from Chaussee last touched by ND followed by a solo block from Tillman put the Cards up 4-1 before the Irish came evens it up and takes the lead on an attack error by Jones.  

The second set was the strongest showing for the Irish in the match.  It was back and forth scoring efforts by both squads.   Aiko Jones showed incredible strength and control of her both in the match.   She had a big swing from the back row to put the Cards ahead 11-10.  UofL extended its lead to as many as 15-11 before the Irish called a timeout.  Chausse and Tillman combined for back to back kills to put the Cards up 17-13.  The squads exchanged attack errors before ND went on a 3-0 scoring run to even it at 19-19.

Nena Mbonu went on her own 3-0 scoring run for the Cards before a long rally including a excellent save from Scott gives the Cards the set point.   Tillman was assisted by Jones combined for the block to win set 2. 

Set 3   

Cards win 25-14

This one began differently, with the Irish winning the first two points in the set.  The Cards went on a 4-0 scoring run beginning with a tip over the net and another 2 kills by Chaussee.  Tillman blocks to put the Cards ahead 4-2.   Jones had a strong service ace and kill to put the Cards up 7-3 but a service error would put one back on the board for the Irish.  

ND was losing some steam as they sometimes struggled to get the ball over the net putting the Cards ahead 10-4.  The Cards slightly missed the mark to score another for ND but a kill by Tillman made the score 11-6.   Tillman crowded the stat sheet to finish the set for Louisville registering 4 kills and a block to secure the win for Louisville 25-14. 

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Duke

Friday 10/28
7:00P.M. at LNCFU

WSOC

#2 UNC vs Louisville

6:00 P.M. at Lynn Stadium

It's Senior Night for the graduating class who will be honored prior to the match. Sarah Hernandez, Patricia Ward, Ravin Alexander, Riley Mullady, Corinne Dente and Maisie Whitsett will all be honored

Carolina is currently tied with Florida State and Notre Dame atop the ACC standings. The Tar Heels are 6-1 on the road this season with its only blemish coming at Virginia Tech. During its current five-game winning streak, UNC has outscored its opponents 13-1 with four shutouts.  This is the seventh ranked opponent for UofL this season. 

Redshirt freshman Ally Sentnor scored the game-winning goal in each of the Tar Heels' victories last week over Florida State and Miami, and is tied with Avery Patterson for the team lead with three. Sentnor was named ACC co-Offensive Player of the Week.

North Carolina has won three consecutive meetings in the series with Louisville and leads the all-time series, 3-1-1, with a 2-1-0 on the road. Louisville knocked off the top-ranked Tar Heels in overtime, 2-1, back on October, 8, 2015. It was the first time in program history that the Cardinals defeated the #1 team in the country.



Sidenote --- 

I'll close out today's post and exit with a line from my favorite song on the new Taylor Swift album..  

The burgundy on my t-shirt when you splashed your wine onto me

And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was

The mark you saw on my collarbone, the rust that grew between telephones

The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon

LuLu's favorite line.. 

karma is a cat

Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me

Flexing like a ******* acrobat

Me and karma vibe like that

As Always,

Go Cards

~Daryl & LuLu

Volleyball in KFC YUM! Center tonight -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS VOLLEYBALL FACE NOTRE DAME IN KFC YUM! CENTER

It's been awhile since we could make that headlining statement...about Louisville regular season Volleyball downtown in the KFC YUM! Center. You have to go back to 2016 to find the games downtown. Louisville played 13 games in the KFC YUM! Center and two in the L&N Federal Credit Union.  

It'll be interesting to see what the attendance is tonight for this one. We hear more and more conversation about the want to see Louisville Volleyball in a bigger arena that the on-campus LNFCU. Games at the YUM! Center would traditionally bring in more than 2,000 fans, which is more than you can fit in the LNFCU, but only around 10% capacity for the Downtown Arena. People point out that Louisville would draw many more now...but the 2016 squad had a lot of talent in Melanie McHenry, Molly Sauer, Jasmine Bennett, Tess Clark and Maggie De Jong and the UK game attracted nearly 4,000....despite the squad going 12-18. 

The Irish come to Louisville with a 9-11 record and they are 4-6 in ACC play. Virginia and Pitt defeated them in their last two contests (both on the road). Notre Dame did host third place conference team Georgia Tech in late September, but got swept in three sets. Notre Dame is tied with Wake Forest for 10th place in the conference standings/ 

Avery Ross leads Notre Dame in kills with 191 and Kaylin Winkler has 150. Lucy Trump has 147. Trump and Ross are freshmen outside hitters...Winkler is a grad transfer from SMU.  It's a rebuilding project underway in South Bend for Irish Volleyball, they have just two seniors on the roster and four grad transfers...compared to six freshmen and three sophomores. 

The Cards will be looking to bounce back from the Sunday loss at Pitt. The loss dropped then to 9-1 in the ACC (second place) and 18-2 overall. It also dropped them to #4 in the nation, behind Nebraska, Texas and surprising San Diego. Pitt, in another surprise, only moved up one spot -- from #8 to #7. You know how polls are, though. They're a popularity thing first, actual record and performance numbers behind that. 

The Cards need a solid convincing win in this one and you probably can't blame them if they keep looking at the door to see if Anna DeBeer is actually back and ready to go. Not that Chaussee, Mbonu, Kong, Jones,Tillman and Bartlett haven't stepped up and tried to help shoulder the load...they have...but DeBeer is the best player on this squad and they miss her. Knees can be tricky, you don't want to come back too fast on them and you need to protect them when you do first come back. (I know from experience).  

Only seven regular season games remain after tonight's match for Louisville against and make note of the start time -- 8 p.m. Katie George will be on the ACC Network broadcast with Eric Frede. We last saw Katie in Lexington, when she had the call for Louisville vs. Kentucky Volleyball...and....yes, she is still a "10". A married "10"....but still double digits.  

Let's hope the Cards Volleyball get the "W" and a fun time is had by all in the KFC YUM! Center. You've been asking for it, Louisville fans, so get down there and enjoy it ! 

paulie

Fall Regular Season Wrap Up -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Goodness, it's a busy week on campus this week. We see Louisville volleyball play at the KFC Yum! Center tomorrow night against Notre Dame. They also host Duke at the L&N FCU Arena on Friday. Fortunately, for us, their regular season runs for another month.

Unfortunately, the Cards did drop to #4 in the latest AVCA Poll. Nebraska climbed to #1. Texas dropped a spot to #2. San Diego moved up to #3. San  Diego went 1-0 on the weekend while the Cards went 1-1, with the loss coming in five sets at now-#7 Pitt. Personally, with it being a five-set loss and not a sweep plus the fact the Cards beat San Diego 3-1 earlier this year, I think those two spots should be flipped.

Women's soccer has a Thursday night match at home against North Carolina. For the Cards, not only will this be the final game of the regular season, but it will close out the entire 2021 season for the Cards. They have been eliminated from ACC Tournament chances and their rpi and record aren't high enough to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Field Hockey closes out their regular season Friday afternoon at Trager Stadium. Regardless of the result against Boston College, Louisville will be in the ACC Tournament. Being a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, a win on Friday plus at least a win in the opening round of the ACC Tournament would benefit the Cards chances greatly. The alternative is claiming the automatic qualifier spot by winning the conference tournament.

Another fall team close to wrapping up their season is cross country. This Louisville squad isn't on campus. The ACC Championships will be held in Durham, N.C. this upcoming weekend with several runners eyeing for a qualifying spot in the NCAA Tournament.

With women's basketball less than two weeks away, there is no rest for the weary for us. We will continue to grind through and provide as much coverage as all of the Louisville women's sports as we can.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared