Friday, November 10, 2023

Field Hockey opens post-season -- VolleyCards at home -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL




Hello everyone and welcome back weekend!! If I haven’t said it before Ill say it again, I. LOVE. FRIDAYS!!!!! Especially game day Fridays. And today we have two big matchups for the women’s programs with the Field Hockey squad’s post season NCAA march begins at Northwestern today and the VolleyCards are on UofL’s campus at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena.  



Volleyball

The #5 University of Louisville volleyball team hosts a matchup against Duke tonight at 7 p.m.




The Cards are 21-3 overall and 12-2 in the ACC.   Louisville fell 24-26, 22-25, 25-17, 19-25 at #10 Georgia Tech on Friday, then won 19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15 at Clemson on Sunday. The Cards are now locked in a four-way tie for first in the league with Pitt, Georgia Tech and Florida State.

Throughout those two matches over last weekend, outside hitter Charitie Luper led with 25 kills, four aces, 10 digs, and two blocks, opposite hitter Aiko Jones tallied 23 kills, four aces, nine digs, and four blocks, and outside hitter Anna DeBeer recorded 21 kills, 3 aces, 12 digs, and one block. Elle Glock totaled 92 assists on the weekend, including a career-high 52 against Clemson, while adding three aces, 12 digs, and two blocks. Libero Elena Scott had 36 digs, with 24 coming against Georgia Tech, while adding five assists.

About the Blue Devils


Duke is 17-8 overall and 8-6 in the conference thus far, having won five straight matches. This match will be the second matchup of these teams this season, with Louisville sweeping the Blue Devils in Durham last month. Duke is led by head coach Jolene Nagel in her 25th season at the helm, having guided the Blue Devils to 12 NCAA tournament appearances during her tenure, including an ACC-record seven consecutive trips from 2005-11. Duke has a two-headed monster on offense, as outside hitters Kerry Keefe and Gracie Johnson lead the team with 313 and 302 kills, respectively. Libero Madison Bryant and middle blocker Jess Robinson lead the team defensively, as the former has 341 digs and the latter has 100 blocks on the year.



Field Hockey

The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. (ET) in Evanston, Ill.  This one is available on the Big 10 Network +



The #8 University of Iowa field hockey team opens its 28th NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday, facing #10 Louisville in the Sweet 16 at Lakeside Field on the campus of Northwestern. 


About the Hawkeyes

Iowa was ranked #1 for four weeks straight (Sept. 5 – Oct. 2)




Iowa leads the nation in scoring average (3.22) and rank second in scoring margin (2.17). The Hawkeyes rank third in shutouts per game (0.44) and shutouts (8), fourth in goals per game (3.22) and fifth in points per game (8.67)
Three Hawkeyes — Dionne van Aalsum (Freshman of the Year/First-Team), Esme Gibson (First-Team), and Harper Dunne (Sportsmanship Award) earned Big Ten recognition for the 2023 season.

Freshman Dionne van Aalsum was named Big Ten Freshman of the year and received first team honors after leading the nation with 27 goals, 60 points, 1.50 goals per game, and 3.33 points per game. The Castricum, Netherlands, native was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week four times this season (Sept. 11, Sept. 18, Oct. 16, Oct. 30), Big Ten Freshman of the Week four times this season (Aug. 26, Sept. 5, Sept. 11, Oct. 30), and NFHCA Offensive Player of the Week on September 13.




Sophomore Mia Magnotta has recorded 64 saves and has been in goal the duration of the season.  Iowa has had eight shutout victories. She was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on August 29 and NFHCA Division I Defensive Player of the week on August 30.  

The winner of Iowa vs. Louisville will face the winner of Northwestern and California/Miami (OH) on Sunday at 3 p.m. (ET).



Thoughts?




The Field Hockey squad has a tall order ahead of them with the Hawkeyes..  the bad news is they already lost to them once this season, less than a month ago on 10/15.   The good news is this is a strong Louisville squad that has prepped for the post season moment and this is their moment to get some revenge and advance in the tournament!  I look forward to tuning in for this match!  It should be an absolute battle.   

Sidenote: I did see that Texas Volleyball lost to unranked Kansas State on the road the other night... K-State's 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-21) sweep of #3 Texas was in front of a sold out crowd of 3,044 and they witnessed the Wildcats snap a 39-game losing streak to the Longhorns. 👀

Happy Veterans Day weekend to those who served.   and Thank you.    


As Always,
Go Cards
~Daryl 

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