Volleyball defeats Clemson -- Field Hockey In NCAA Tournament -- WBB facing Cincinnati -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS VB DOWNS CLEMSON AT CLEMSON IN FOUR SETS

On the final leg of the "pecans and boiled peanuts" road trip, Louisville Volleyball overcame a sluggish start and defeated Clemson 19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15 Sunday afternoon. 

It was the Aiko and Anna show in South Carolina, the two combined for 29 kills, as the VolleyCards got better the longer they played (or Clemson got worse) and UofL went to 21-3 and 12-2 on the season. 

SET ONE

Neither squad seemed willing to take control in the opener, until Clemson used a 8-4 run to grab a 15-12 lead. Those Tigers continued to roar, pushing out to a 19-13 edge before DBK and staff decided it was time for a time to to talk it over. The Cards kept the Tigers from pulling away any further, but the Cards could get no closer and lost 19-25  Cara Cresse was delivering early for UofL with five kills on five swings, but was not getting much back up support. 

SET TWO

Louisville regrouped between sets and came out looking like the Cards of old, with leads of 11-6 and 19-13. Clemson needed an answer and found it in the serving of Adria Powell, She ran off four-in-a-row and Louisville found themselves in a fight, suddenly, at 19-17. The Cards decided to talk it over and the discussion paid off, going on a 4-2 run to grab a 22-18 edge. Clemson was unwilling to accept defeat, though, just yet and fought back to get within one at 23-22. Cara and Anna had had enough of this upset attempt, however, and a kill from each gave Louisville the two point they needed for a 25-23 set victory. 

SET THREE

Things were close early, at 9-8 and it took a couple of Charity Luper aces to establish a 19-14 Cardinals lead. And that seemed to beak the Tigers will,  The Cards took six of the next ten points and won the decisive third set 25-19. Cardinals fans were beginning to breath a little easier. 

SET FOUR

The Tigers had been tamed and turned into timid tabbies in the final set. The Cards led all the way, 1t-10 and 21-13. Clemson bowed out with the ten-point set defeat that ended the meet, and spoiled the Tigers final home game of the season and Senior Day. The word is the gym will be renovated, rebuilt and modernized. All for a middle-of -the-road ACC squad. Anyone listening in the UofL offices? 

The Cards come home and welcome Duke and UNC next week

WBB begins season at Cincy today

A 6 p.m. Monday start for Louisville women's basketball season today -- in Cincinnati, at the Fifth-Third Arena. The arena holds around 14,000 and I doubt UC sells it out, so there will probably be a seat for you if you want to go.  

The Cards go into the opener as the #17 ranked team in DI. The offseason maneuvers left Louisville with just one returning starter from last year (Olivia Cochran) The squad has had more transfers than it takes to get from Staten Island to the Bronx Zoo (by train, ferry line and a couple of subway lines) . but there is height, speed, experience and leadership on the roster.

But it's is a confident, experienced and VERY talented Cardinal squad. Sydney Taylor is 7th currently in three-pointer made at UMass in her career, Kiki Jefferson was 2x player of the year in her previous conference at JMU. Jayda Curry was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, , Louisville's Hennie van Schaik led Cal-Bakersfield in scoring and rebounding last season. Walz can't stop talking about Florida transfer Nina Rickards and Alexia Mobley tells me she 100% ready to go. The squad defeated the best Canada had to offer in the GLOBL Jam. Olivia Cochran helped Walz get a lot of these transfers in here and loves the group. we, on the other hand, love the season we think "O" is going to have. 

I'd be worried if I was UC head coach Katrina Merriweather 

Walz will probably experiment a lot with this group in combinations on the court and types of offense. No issue with that early in the season. 

This one will be shown on ESPN+ (pay per view) and starts at 6 p.m. 

It's good to have women's basketball back. This squad is a powder keg that could explode all over NCAA DI WBB if the right spark is applied. Sure, they may need time to gel, but I see great things happening when they do. 

Louisville gets Iowa in NCAA DI Field Hockey Tournament to start out

(WSOC done but FH moves on)

As if it wasn't enough to play Iowa (and lose to them at home) in the regular season, the Cards get them in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and have to travel to Northwestern to play them.

The #10 ranked Cards (14-6) and Hawkeyes face off at 3:30 on Friday, The winner advances to Sunday play, where they could meet the host (Northwestern), Miami (OH) or California. The Cards faced all three in the regular season, knocking off Miami (OH) 2-0, Northwestern 1-0 but falling to Iowa 2-1. TV or Internet coverage to be announced at at later date. 

What say you, Justine Sowry? 

“Very excited and proud of this group, We’ve worked very hard this year and I know that they’re very motivated to go into the NCAA tournament again. Certainly very proud of our fifth year seniors to go to five in a row, not many can say that. And of course, I’m happy for those who going to the tournament for the first time. It’s really hard to make the NCAA tournament and we’ve been able to do it again, so it’s great for our program and for this team. Now we get back to work as we face a formidable opponent in Iowa – it’s going to be a fantastic rematch and we’re really looking forward to this Friday".

 paulie