Louisville Volleyball Adds Transfer Hitter
After seeing the success of Raquel Lazaro, another player has decided to make the jump from a Pac-12 (soon-to-be Big Ten) school to Louisville. Louisville announced the addition of Charitie Luper, an outside hitter from UCLA, to the roster. Luper just completed her sophomore year, earning honorable mentions from both the Pac-12 and AVCA Pacific South Region with her 256 kill, 184 dig campaign. In 21 matches, Luper played 78 sets and recorded nine double-doubles. As a freshman the year before, Luper was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four times. It was the most weekly conference awards by a UCLA player since 2014.
Though she is a bit undersized for an outside at just 5'9", that clearly hasn't impacted her ability to put up impressive numbers. Luper will join a hitting staff that will be looking to replace a significant amount of production with the loss of Claire Chaussee. Having another player on staff that is proven to be capable of playing the whole rotation must have been appealing to Dani Busboom Kelly, as the team struggled some last season with having defense and offense on the floor at the same time. Given her double-double numbers and her high school career totaling 1,500 kills and 1,500 digs, that shouldn't be a concern for Luper.
Cards 4th in Capital One Cup
Through the completion of the fall sports calendar, Louisville finds itself sitting in fourth in the Women's Capital One Cup standings. The Cards have 36 points and sit just ahead of Alabama, who has 34. Louisville joins five other ACC schools among the top ten, including UNC, who leads the way with 62 points. Texas and UCLA are hot on their heels with 60 each. As the Capital One Cup only looks at final results, basketball is not yet included in these rankings, which will likely give Louisville a boost. In addition to a strong finish from basketball, seeing lacrosse and softball both build on their results from last season would be key. If they can manage good results from those three, plus get some standout results in Swim&Dive, track and field, and cross country, the Cards could be on for their second consecutive top ten finish in the rankings.
Ekic to Miss at Least 2023 Preseason
While she is no longer a player for the Louisville Cardinals, Emina Ekic is still near and dear to us and remains in the city while playing for the Racing Louisville FC squad. Louisville fans got bad news earlier this week when it was announced that Ekic would miss at least the preseason for the upcoming NWSL season. More than just the preseason is in doubt, as Emina suffered a fractured ankle on December 27th while on loan for Melbourne City FC in Australia. Ekic was playing across the world to keep more time on the ball while in the NWSL offseason. Racing Louisville players are set to report on January 23rd, with the season starting on March 25th. Three months is a long time, but a fractured ankle can be a nasty recovery. We're looking forward to seeing Emina back healthy and out on the pitch again.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
I'll be out this week, but the crew returns after having last week off for the first show of the new year. They'll talk holiday season and the most recent basketball games, while looking ahead at the Cards' game against Pitt tomorrow. 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. 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!
Case
Happy New Year, all! It's Dave-O, high above the masses in my mountain perch. Today, I preach.
ReplyDeleteThe Cards, in all sports, face issues in 2023. Realignment fears and rumors, massive media dollars in major markets larger than Louisville attracting players along with NIL, continued growth of the transfer portal, eventual unionization Initiatives, a push for pay-for-play, Less restrictions on gambling and interaction with student-athletes., the NCAA (No Clear Administrative Authority) These are some of the factors poised tp lead college athletics into destruction.
Humpty Dumpty sits on the wall, ready for a great fall. Going to play for good ol' coach "B" at "State Tech" is no longer the driving factor for the talented high school senior.
End of sermon. Go in peace.
David Watson
Powerful stuff, Dave-O. I'll just say that I was disappointed not to see a single thing about WBB in today's column. No one talks enough about Nyla Harris, are you all really that blind?
DeleteHarris is the future, so tough, great motor and senior type hands. I'm not seeing any veteran leadership at this point, except for Hailey's occasional temper outbursts, so I would rather invest in a young, rising star like Nyla to have them ready. The future Cards are going to need them
Here's the dealio. Louisville is always going to mean a certain thing to the rest of this league because of the way they came in and what they've done. That target isn't going to shrink, even if the Cards skills do.
Volleyball is the brand new baby on the block and everyone is enamored with them. From what I hear, though, that head coach is long gone Sally once Nebraska hangs out the "now hiring" sign on the front door.
So enjoy the new kid in town, relatively speaking. But never forget who brought you to the "National dance" and has a coach who is staying until he's ready to retire.
Sad but wiser in Shively, I am:
VOICE CARD
WOW🤦
ReplyDelete