Pool Cards Face Stiff Test in Tennessee -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Swimming and Diving in Knoxville Dual Meet

Louisville swimming and diving are in Knoxville, Tennessee today for a dual meet against the Volunteers.  On the women's side, the Cards are coming off of a second-place finish in the SMU Classic and a win over Auburn in a head-to-head meet over the split-squad weekend. Louisville will look to carry their momentum into this meet where they'll take on a strong team returning three SEC champions. In addition to those three, the Vols finished in the top-10 in the NCAA tournament, with two national runners-up. 

Louisville men will have an even bigger battle with Tennessee also finishing in the top-10 on that side and returning 10 SEC champs from last year. The Volunteers are also the first school to ever return both the reigning SEC Swimmer of the Year and the SEC Diver of the Year. To add even more fuel to their fire, Tennessee also has last year's SEC Freshman Diver of the Year.

Louisville's squads boast plenty of heavy hitters of their own. The Cards currently hold all four weekly honors from the ACC, as they took home the Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards on both the men's and women's side. Else Praasterink earned top-five scores nationwide over the weekend in both the 1- and 3-meter dives on her way to winning both events. Gabi Albiero won four events at the SMU Classic and had a place and a show in two others. Albiero, a senior this year, has been an integral part of the Louisville squad since coming onboard and deserves her recognition among the stars that Louisville has seen over over the years. Here's hoping she can bring home some of the accolades this year.

Louisville and Tennessee will get underway at 2PM this afternoon, but no video is listed. We'll hope to keep an eye on this one, and you can always follow along on Louisville's social media accounts for updates. Across the athletic department, the Cards seem to be on the forefront of making information about their events accessible, especially when the events can't be viewed any other way.

It's a surprisingly light one today, considering how much there is on the calendar as we move through October. Jared will have more tomorrow on the big matchups for volleyball (Pitt) and field hockey (Duke).

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case