VolleyCARDS WIN 3-1 over Pitt -- head to Championship Sunday -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good Friday morning, it is a wonderful morning to report a Cardinal victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers on Thursday evening in a 4 set thriller downtown at the Yum! Center.   All eyes are on the Ville this weekend and the Cardinals are still dancing!  

Photos: Jared Anderson

Jared, Paul, Sonya and Jeff all in attendance for the big matchup!  Thomas and I on the edge of our seats at home, I'm sure Case was too.   Lets get right into it. 
 

Volleyball

Louisville storms back to a 3-1 victory after falling in the set 1 against the dominating and heavily favored Pittsburgh Panthers outlasting a scare after a funny landing by Anna DeBeer.   We will hear more on that possible devastating injury but at the end of the match DBK said Anna will be there Sunday in her post match remarks at the presser. .  

Charitie Luper, Sofi Maldonado Diaz and Anna DeBeer each had 14 kills for the Cardinals as UofL outblocked Pitt 12-4  as a team.    

UofL Alum Katie George was on the call and it was such a great match!! So many incredibly long volleys, every point felt hard earned and well deserved. 

Set 1

Photos: Jared Anderson

Cards get the first serve and a long rally goes the Cardinals way and UofL jumps out to a 2-0 lead before the two squads exchange 2 each two tie it up 4 all.  Both teams hitting .350 or better and pretty even as both go back & forth.  Charitie Luper leading the charge with 3 kills on 8 attacks. 

DBK called a timeout when Pitt got out to a 20-16 lead.  A few attacking errors gave the Panthers a cushion and set them up to take set 1 but Pitt takes two more points after Olivia Babcock kills on the crosscourt swing.  The Cards call their final timeout but another long volley ends in already Babcocks 8th kill to put the Panthers up 23-16 on a run and Reese Robbins and Phekran Kong both stave off the set point to keep the set alive before Pitt ultimately calls a timeout at 24-20 and a Cardinals ace out of it as a result. 

Pitt wins the first set after hitting .373% and the Cards swinging just under .300%.  Babcock lead all with 9 kills with the support of Torrey Stafford with 6 kills and 6 digs.

25-21 Pitt 

Set 2

Photos: Jared Anderson

Pitt gets out to a 4-0 lead to open the second set before a serving error by the Panthers and an ace by the Cards and puts UofL on the board before Pitt goes on a 3-0 run to make it 7-2 and DBK calls a timeout.  Two strong swings from PK brings the attack back for the Cards 8-4.   UofL gets the score back within two at 10-8 then a serving error by Pitt and back to back blocks by Cara Cresse brings the score to its first tie 11 all when the Cards take the lead on one out of bounds.  Dan Fischer challenges the call to slow the momentum but its confirmed when the Cards come back out and score a couple to take the 13-11 lead and Pitt calls another timeout after the UofL 5-0 run.

25-23 Cards

Set 3

Pitt gets out to a 6-2 lead but a wide shot from Pitt brings it back within striking distance for the Cards 8-6.  Its tied 10-10 before cards take lead for the first time in the set.  5 straight points for the Cards forces a Pitt timeout as the Cards (and hometown fans) are feeling good!  But the Panthers take another lead and keeps it as the Cards are scratching back 17-18...  before Pitt pushes it back to 20-17. At 19-22 you could sense the Cards were trying to not let this one slip away but Babcock finds her 26th kill.  Maldonado-Diaz's kill on the open kill to force a Pitt timeout at 23-21. Maldonado-Diaz again 23-22 creeping back.DeBeer block to tie it up 23 on a DeBeer mental error to put Pitt match point but then DeBeer lands the kill to even it up.  At Pitts 4th set point Luper steps up for the kill and ties it up at 27.  On the Cards next set point, it was touched by Pitt's Vaquez-Gomez and the Cards win set 3 !!! They come from down 23-19  to win 29-27 powered behind DeBeer's block then 3 kills in transition 

Cards 29-27

Set 4

Cards out to a 2-0 lead before Debeer needs helped off the floor after she lands funny on the right ankle.  Maldonado-Diaz and Cresse both throw down for a kill each and a couple aces puts the cards up 9-3.  Pitt goes on 3-0 run. Anna DeBeer comes back out to the sidelines to a loud cheer from fans.   The score is settled 11-7 when an overturned call on a challenge by DBK and staff is won.  Momentum is really on the Cards side when the UofL lead is 15-8 pushed to the largest Louisville lead of the night at 17-9.  Pittsburgh's entire offense being powered by Babcock with 32 kills on 62 attempts and Stafford with16 kills on 39 attempts at this point.  The Cardinals distributed its attack and rallied around the DeBeer exit to finish off the revenge of Pittsburgh.

Cards 25-17

Video: from the NCAA Championship 

Coach DeBeer and players post Pittsburgh Win 3-1

Notes:  The Cards enter at the 7 minute mark

DBK Did say she thought Pitt might be the best team in the country. 

Luper said its about who wants it more. 

Penn State and Nebraska tipped off afterward for a late night match.  Nebraska won first two sets before the Nittany Lions stormed back to reverse sweep the Huskerss to meet the Cards in the national championship on Sunday!! 

As Always, 
Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

Cards vs Pitt in Final Four -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards to Face Pitt in Final Four

Louisville Volleyball continues their 2024 NCAA Tournament run tonight with a spot to the championship game on the line. The Cards welcome a familiar foe in Pittsburgh to the KFC Yum! Center for a 6:30pm start time. ESPN will be carrying the match.

UofL has improved to 29-5 following winning the first four matches of the tournament. The Cards finished second in the ACC this season and earned the final one seed. Their tournament run includes wins over Chicago State, Northern Iowa, Purdue, and Stanford. Louisville has lost three sets across the four matches.

Pittsburgh has improved to 33-1 on the season and rides an 18-match win streak. The Panthers' only loss came on October 12 in a five-set thriller at SMU. Pitt has lost 12 sets all season with two of those coming in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville took three sets in two matches against the Panthers. Pitt's road to the Final Four included wins over Morehead State, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Kentucky.

Pitt is looking for its first trip to the championship game in four tries. Louisville is aiming for its second trip to the championship game in three years.

Louisville and Pitt have built one of the biggest rivalries in the country over the last few seasons. All-time, the Cards lead the series 20-18, but Pitt has won four straight. Prior to that, Louisville had won six of seven matches including a win over the Panthers in the 2022 Final Four to go to the national championship game.

Cardinal Couple will have representatives in attendance to cover the match and a full report on the contest in the Friday Cardinal Couple column. 

All-American Honors for Scott, DeBeer

Two VolleyCards received All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Elena Scott was named a First Team All-American and Anna DeBeer was named a Second Team All-American. Charitie Luper and Cara Cresse both received honorable mentions. DeBeer has earned four All-American honors in her career while Scott has earned three.

(All photos and graphics by GoCards)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

For Cards...road to NCAA Volleyball Final Game goes through Pittsburgh -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 PANTHERS HAVE HAD UOFL'S NUMBER THIS YEAR. 

Being one of four teams still alive in the NCAA Volleyball Championship is no small feat

Especially when you consider 346 colleges and universities offer women's volleyball as a DI sport. Only Di women's basketball hs more participants, and that just barely.... with 351.

Louisville Volleyball has been considered one of the top four most of the season that is drawing to an end, and has shown they are worthy of the spot,...going 29-5 on the season. When you consider four of the five Cardinals losses came against fellow Final Four participants Penn State, Pittsburgh (2x) and Nebraska and the other was to Stanford, who the Cards got revenge on in the "Great Eight''...it's not entirely wrong to consider the Cardinals the "dark horse" to win the national title. Even if the semifinal and final games are in the place that the Cards call their second home...the KFC YUM! Center. .

And it is that double loss nemesis...Pittsburgh...that stands in Louisville's way of playng in the National Championship.this year. 

Pitt defeated the Cards in five sets back on October 25th, back in Pittsburgh.  When the two met again, in Louisville, in the KFC YUM! Center...a month later on Nov. 27th...the Panthers put another "L" on the Cards record with a four set win. 

Since the regular season ending two losses, though, to Pitt and Stanford, it has been a different Cardinals squad. Maybe they were led by the fiercely determined Anna DeBeer, who didn't want her fifth and final season to end without a chance to play for the NCAA DI title. . Maybe it was the addition of Charitie Luper in 2023, who is another "kill artist' for the Cards...or maybe this year's addition of Sofia Maldonado-Diaz, who desperately wanted to play for a school that would let her compete in the Final Four. 

Realistically, three players can't comprise a whole team that has made it this far. and Louisville certainly needed so many other solid contributors...like Elena Scott, Cara Cresse, PK Kong, Hannah Sherman, Reese Robins...and the other stars on Dani Busboom Kelly's 17 player roster. 

Maybe DeBeer., who got off to a rough start this season. best summed it up as well as anyone when she said:

"I got off to a rough start this season, I know, better than anybody, what I am capable of doing and I wasn't doing my best. I think I was putting too much pressure on myself. There was something wrong. ..so I worked on the mental stuff with a psychologist and got through it. I'm playing freer now...and more fearless...and I'm pretty pleased with how I am playing now.."

And that play has had to come in three different venues that are called "home" for the Cardinals. The LNFCU (Louisville and Nashville Federal Credit Union Arena) on campus. downtown's KFC YUM! Center and Freedom Hall out at the Kentucky Exposition Center near the airport. One gets the feeling this Cardinals fan base would follow them to Indy, Nashville, Lexington, Cincinnati...wherever they would play, and the only drawback would be the tickets available. 

Fans from other volleyball powerhouses tend to snicker at the tiny LNFCU venue...and it is high time that the money and backers be found to build an on-campus arena for this volleyball squad.

 I've thought about that often, especially when sitting in the women's soccer press box and gazing out on this huge field north of Lynn Stadium that had nothing but cars parked in it. If field hockey, lacrosse, softball and soccer can play on campus, why not put the most successful sports program in the last four years at Louisville in a larger arena on campus that'll hold the 8,000 or so who flock to the YUM to see them play? 

If the Cards can draw over 8,000 for fans in the KFC  YUM! Center, why continue to have them play in front of just 1200 in the LNFCU?   In addition to extra revenue, a larger arena would bring in, it would also be a place where ALL of the15 or so regular season home games the VolleyCards play could be played. 

I can still see Howard Schnellenberger  pointing westward from the old Cards football stadium at the Fairgrounds...saying "if you build it , they will come."  It was built and football attendance went up.

If you build it for Volleyball, they will come. 

It's time, UofL. Time to invest

paulie

VB Final Four Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

All Top Seeds Advanced to Final Four

In a tournament where we saw a fair share of upsets, the NCAA Volleyball Regional Tournaments ended with a chalk result as all four 1-seeds from their respective regionals advanced to the National Semifinals.

Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville all won their regions and will prepare for the Final Four, hosted at the KFC Yum! Center. For us Louisville folks, playing in town makes the trip much easier. Louisville's other two Final Four appearances were in Columbus, Ohio and Omaha, Nebraska.

Let's take a look at each team's journey to the Final Four...

Pittsburgh

Photo by Pitt Athletics

vs Morehead State 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-15)

vs 8-seed Oklahoma 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-19)

vs 4-seed Oregon 3-2 (25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12)

vs 3-seed Kentucky 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17)

The toughest match for the Panthers came in the Sweet Sixteen against Oregon. The Ducks, who upset 2-seed Nebraska as a 3-seed in 2022 tried to pull off another tournament upset but the hostile crowd at the Petersen Events Center proved to be too much.

Penn State

Photo by Penn State Athletics

vs Delaware State 3-0 (25-4, 25-20, 25-18)

vs 8-seed North Carolina 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-15)

vs 5-seed Marquette 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20)

vs 2-seed Creighton 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-7)

Creighton nearly pulled off the upset against the Nittany Lions. The Blue Jays took Penn State to five sets, but could not get anything going in the final lap. North Carolina and Marquette both were competitive but were overpowered.

Nebraska

Photo by Nebraska Athletics

vs Florida A&M 3-0 (25-3, 25-9, 25-17)

vs 8-seed Miami 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18)

vs 5-seed Dayton 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 25-13)

vs 2-seed Wisconsin 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-21)

Nebraska hasn't truly had a tough test up to this point of the tournament. While Dayton was able to steal a set from the Huskers, the Flyers weren't too competitive the rest of the time. Wisconsin was the only team to score in the 20's on two different sets.

Louisville

Photo by Louisville Athletics

vs Chicago State 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-13)

vs 8-seed Northern Iowa (26-28, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 22-20)

vs 4-seed Purdue (25-17, 25-18, 25-18)

vs 2-seed Stanford (22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20)

Louisville nearly saw an early exit from the tournament after Northern Iowa had multiple match point chances. The Cards found a way to pull out a win. Stanford played the Cards tough in a pair of sets but Louisville prevailed.

Facts and Tidbits

Photo by Jared Anderson

Pittsburgh has advanced to four straight Final Fours. Louisville has advanced to three Final Fours over the last four years. The ACC vs ACC match-up will guarantee the conference has a team in the title game for just the second time in history. Stanford has multiple titles, but they were not a member of the ACC at the time.

Nebraska has been to three of the last four Final Fours. This is Penn State's first Final Four appearance since 2017. In this Big Ten vs Big Ten match-up, the conference is guaranteed to have a team in the title game. The Big Ten has been represented in the national championship every year since 2007 with the exception of 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2022.

The top two teams in the ACC and the top two teams in the Big Ten make up the Final Four. This is the first time since 2008 that the top four seeds advanced to the Final Four. That year, the top overall seeded team beat the second overall seeded team in the final.

Stanford has won the most volleyball championships with nine. Penn State has seven titles and Nebraska has five. Texas and UCLA have both won four times. Hawai'i, Long Beach State, and USC each have three titles. Pacific is the only other school with multiple championships with two.

Louisville will face Pittsburgh at 6:30pm on Thursday. Nebraska and Penn State will play about 30 minutes after the first match ends.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Wolfpack crushes Cardinals in WBB -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 BIRDS SUFFER 30-POINT BEATDOWN FROM NCST

There are some games you wish you would have missed... in afterthought...and the Sunday debacle in the KFC Yum! Center was certainly one of those. . 

Wes Moore's Wolfpack jumped out to a 10-0 in the first 4-1/2 minutes of the first quarter and were never seriously challenged in the Cards 72-42 loss. Louisville shot 15% (3 for 20) in the first quarter and trailed 19-6 after the first ten minutes of play. and, it got worse. 

Louisville managed to break into double figures 2-1/2 minutes into the second quarter, on a Jayda Curry three, to make it 28-11, but Louisville would get no closer than 17 points iafter that in the second frame and trailed 41-21 after the first half. 

It was not a thing of beauty, the halftime stat sheet...the Cards were 8-35 from the floor and a "palm-to-the-forehead" 1-10 from three point range. The ball simply wasn't going in the basket for the home team.. You can attribute part of that to the good play from the NCST guards... Aziaha James, Madison Hayes, Saniya Rivers and Zoe Brooks were part of a Tar Heels attack that shot over 50% in the first half and held Louisville to a paltry 21% from the floor. The Cards were lucky to just be down 41-21...they were able to  outscore NCST 8-1 in the final six minutes of the second quarter.

Would the Cards keep up the slight rally in the third period?

 In a word, "No".

 The Wolfpack blew the contest out to a 61-34 advantage after 30 minutes, and a sizeable amount of dejected Cards fans were trudging to the exits. 

One might surmise that Jeff Walz used the blowout loss to give a lot of his young bench some extended playing time against  a quality opponent...no UofL starter played more than 27 minutes and Walz played 13 players in the blowout loss. 

These things are going to happen to young teams, and Louisville is certainly young. I looked out on the court at one juncture and saw four freshmen and a junior on the floor. Grad center Olivia Cochran saw a scant 20 minutes.  11 of the 13 Cards scored, Nyla Harris and Cochran leading the way with eight points...but it was a rough Sunday afternoon down on 2nd and Main...all in all. 

THE FRED REPORT

"Lamont...this is the big one, turn the game off and call EMS"

Free throws -- Louisville shot a pedestrian 8-16 from the charity stripe. That's 50% and no where near the 70% we like to see to award a letter, so  NO LETTER

Rebounds-- Louisville was outrebounded 53-40 by NCST . Nyla Harris led the Cards with eight. You don't win the boards battle, you don't get a letter.. NO LETTER

Effort/Execution -- Louisville shot the worst they have all season, scored a season low in points and was a eye-popping-in-disbeliving 2-23 from three point range. They actually shot one more shot in the 40 minutes than NCST overall but made 13 less...sorry, NO LETTER

Defense -- The Cards actually forced NCST into 23 turnovers, got 12 steals and allowed NCST just 15 second chance points... I'll allow a small case "d" 

Final fred Tally:   _-_-_-d

The Cards get six days off from opponents, taking on Memphis next, on the road on Saturday, December 21st. It's a 5:00 p.m. game...on ESPNU. Maybe it's a good time to re-introduce Ms. Basketball to the foreign aspect of going through the rim 10 feet above... the St. Albert the Great grade school team shot better in the halftime exhibition than UofL did Sunday...

WBB PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

CAPTION THIS

Caption this picture of Coach Jeff Walz in the game vs NC State.

"I hope the Steelers don't lose too."

paulie

Basketball Starts Conference, Volleyball Heads to Final Four - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Punches Final Four Ticket

(All volleyball photos from Jared Anderson)

 

It's been the goal, and maybe a source of a bit of unwanted pressure, for the Volleyball team to reach the Final Four.  That is now a perennial goal for the Cards volleyball team these days, but it took on extra significance this year with the Volleyball Final Four being hosted here in Louisville.

Sofia Maldonado Diaz swinging, not in
the first set

Well, they've done it.  The Cards knocked of Stanford in four sets last night to advance to the national semifinals Thursday night.  Louisville got off to a slow start, but was able to win the match 22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20.

The Cards basically spotted the Card five points as Stanford climbed out to an early 6-1 lead, leading to an early Louisville time-out.  After the timeout, however, Louisville seemed to settle their early jitters and play confidently and consistently.  The rest of the first set saw very little change in the margin, with a slight comeback by the home towners, but not enough to win the set.

One of many Anna DeBeer attacks

But the Cards carried that momentum, and more, into the second set, imposing their win at the net with an impressive display of blocking, leading to Stanford tipping and rolling more of their shots which Elena Scott, Charitie Luper, and to a slightly lesser extent Nayelis Cabello, dug with ease.

In the third, the teams played very competitively, as the score demonstrates, but along the way, neither team had a lead larger than four points, and much of the set saw the teams within two points of each other.  A pair of service errors by Stanford in extra points brought back some of the heart-in-throat vibes of the Northern Iowa match.

Nayelis Cabello serving for set point.
L's up!

The last set saw the Cards slowly, ever so slowly, grow the lead throughout the set to the final five point margin.

Louisville, as they live and die by the block, did end up outblocking Stanford 16-10, but that was a late surge with the west coasters leading in blocks after the first set.  Cara Cresse, Phekran Kong, and Sofia Maldonado Diaz all got in on six shared blocks, with PK and Maldonado also get a solo block each.

Elena Scott and Luper both had 13 digs, Cabello 10, and Reese Robins with an uncharacteristically high seven.

The moment the Cards advanced to
the Final Four.

Offensively, Anna DeBeer led with 15 kills, Charitie Luper had 13, and Maldonado Diaz had 12.  A bit of an asterisk on the Maldonado number, though, she had zero attack ATTEMPTS in the first set, so her 12 were all tallied in three sets.

The Cards advance to face ACC foe, and recent rival, Pitt in the Semifinals on Thursday after defeated longtime Louisville rival Kentucky in three straight sets.  The other half of the Final Four bracket will be set with matches this evening with matches between 1 seed Nebraska and 2 seed Wisconsin, and between 1 seed Penn State and 2 seed Creighton.

The matches on Thursday will start at 6:30, with the second match following 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.  It's likely that Louisville vs Pitt will be the later match, so expect another late Thursday night of volleyball.

POST GAME DANI, DEBEER, LUPER, MALDONADO-DIAZ

(More volleyball photos below)

Basketball Opens Conference Play

Jeff Walz and the women's basketball team will open conference play today vs NC State.

While the 6-4 Cards have certainly not had a cakewalk schedule to this point, they start into conference play where things will also not get any easier overall.  They do have one more non-conference game, against Memphis, on the 21st, but otherwise, it's the ACC women's basketball gauntlet from here on out.

The Wolfpack arrive in Louisville with a 7-3 schedule with maybe an ever so slightly easier schedule this point.  To their credit, however, they have played, and lost to, South Carolina and LSU, both well ranked teams, and they did beat 18th ranked Ole Miss earlier this month.

NC State is led by Aziaha James, Zoe Brooks, and Saniya Rivers, all of which are averaging in double-digit scoring on the season.

 

As a team, NCSU shoots 34% from beyond the arc and 44% overall.  Both a good numbers, but they fall short on the free throw line, shooting only 63%...not good enough for the "F" in the Fred report.

 

In general, Wes Moore always has well coached teams, and we shouldn't expect them to go down without a fight.

 

On the Louisville side of the equation, it's really getting to be time for this team to knuckle down and start producing.  We, as a fan-base, have accepted that there are a lot of new faces in the crowd, but if there is going to be late season success, it needs start coming together now.

 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Full House Saturday...Paulie dealing

The CCRHP had a capacity crowd for the first time in quite a while.  Jared got his car troubles resolved quicker than expected as was able to join Case, Daryl, Paul, and myself for the show.  It's always a joy to have the whole crew on!

It's always a great show when we're five strong and yesterday was no exception.  Coverage of basketball and volleyball were, of course, the topics of choice.

Check it out:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-in-the-Elite-Eight-e2sb0gu

-- 

JMcA

JARED ANDERSON PHOTOS

Hoisting the Regional Championship
trophy

"Louisville Bound" seems a bit odd at
Freedom Hall, but I'll allow it.

Volleyball in the Elite Eight -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Face Cardinal in Rubber Match

Louisville and Stanford will play their third match of the season to determine who will advance to the 2024 Final Four. Each team picked up a home win in their earlier contests this season, and tonight's match will be played in a third different venue. Although it isn't the Yum! Center, it's still a home match for UofL, and Freedom Hall is likely to be rocking as fans try to will their team closer to the championship. 

Stanford's road in this tournament saw them remain undefeated in Maples Pavilion this season.  Unfortunately, the committee didn't see it their way and kept Louisville as the 4th overall seed. After sweeping Sacramento State and Loyola Marymount last weekend, Stanford headed to Louisville earlier this week. They took on the Florida Gators in the early game Thursday night and walked away with a 3-1 victory. It was a drawn out match, with three of the four sets going to extra points. In the end, Stanford's victory was 24-26, 25-17, 26-24, 29-27. 

Louisville and Stanford will have the first serve at 7:30PM tonight. The match will air on ESPN2, and will follow Pittsburgh vs Kentucky. Wisconsin will take on Nebraska tomorrow and Penn State will face Creighton. All eight teams will be vying to get to the Yum! Center for next weekend's Final Four. In an interesting turn of events, Louisville has played all seven of the other teams in the Elite Eight. There is also a chance that everyone in the Final Four has played in the Yum! Center already this season. It all gets going tonight, and it should be an exciting match. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I've kept it short and sweet today, but we'll have plenty to discuss on today's show. Depending on Jared's car troubles, we may have a full house for this week's podcast. We'll talk volleyball, basketball, and a few other news odds and ends. 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

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB vs Grambling and VB vs Purdue victory recaps -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

WBB

Louisville 96, Grambling State 57

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals notched another one in the win column as they welcomed Grambling State University to town. It was back and forth for the two until 3 minutes left in the first half when the Cardinals went on a run to end the half and never looked back. Olivia Cochran went 8-10 from the field for 18 points and had 11 rebounds. Nyla Harris went 6-7 for 14 points and 10 rebounds. Izela Arenas contributed 13 points on 5-8 shooting, 3-4 from 3 point range. 

End of 1Q 19-15 Cards

FG %
9-15 60% Cards
6-14 42.9% Tigers
Reb. 

9-5 Cards
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
1-2 50% Tigers

Grambling State got out to a 5-0 start before the Cards were able put some points on the board. The Tigers pushed it out to a 9-2 lead when UofL managed to turn it over 3 times in the first 2 minutes of the game. Some bonehead mistakes to start the game but the Cardinals would go on a 10-0 run to take the lead. Olivia Cochran went 3-4 from the field with 6 points and 4 rebounds.

End of 2Q 23-12 Cards

FG %
9-18 50% Cards
6-18 33.3% Tigers
Reb. 

13-10 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
0-1 0% Tigers

With 3 minutes left in the half and the Tigers inching closer to taking the lead back from Louisville, 29-27, the Cards hit the accelerator and went on a 13-0 run to close the half. Cochran went 3-3 with 8 points and pulled down 5 rebounds. Tajianna Roberts had 4 steals in the quarter.

HALF 42-27 

End of 3Q 28-11 Cards

FG %
12-22 54.5% Cards
2-12 16.7% Tigers
Reb. 

15-9 Cards
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
0-2 0% Tigers

Nyla Harris led all scorers with 8 points in the quarter while Harris and Imari Berry both pulled down 4 rebounds each. Coach Walz emptied the bench near the end of the quarter and the Cards appeared to be having some fun down on Main Street.

Photo: Jared Anderson

End of 4Q 26-19 Cards

FG %
9-14 64.3% Cards
5-10 50% Tigers
Reb. 

7-5 Cards
3-pt %
4-6 66.7% Cards
2-2 100% Tigers

Walz got some playing time from the bench in this one with Izela Arenas leading off the bench with 13 points on 5-8 shooting in 12 minutes on the floor.   

 

UP NEXT

Louisville vs NC State
KFC Yum! Center 
12/15/24 
1:00 PM on ABC 

FRED REPORT   


Fred Warner of the San Fran 49ers

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 11-17 at the FT line which put them at 64.7% which does not meet the 70% mark.   There wasnt a lot of opportunity for the Cards at the line and luckily it wasn't relied on to win this evening but when those moments do come, I'm afraid it'll come back to bite the Cards.  no letter

REBOUNDING --  UofL outrebounded the Tigers 44-29 with Harris and Cochran leading the efforts with 10 and 11.  They both pulled down at least 5 offensive rebounds for putback opportunities.  The Cards had 15 second chance points.  Capital R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cardinals had a "light switch turned on" moment just before the halftime break where the Tigers got it back within 2 points and the Louisville squad turned up both the offense and defense to power on to a 67-30 run against the Tigers. It was also a nice opportunity for some bench players to get some playing time.  UofL had 45 points come off the bench.   Capital E

DEFENSE --  At that turning point the Cards went on quite the defensive run, recording 12 steals and 3 blocks on the night.  Capital D

FINAL FRED TALLY:     _  R_E_D

VolleyCARDS

The Cardinals advance!!   They swept the Boilermakers in 3 sets in dominating fashion as Charitie Luper hit .500 in the match for 13 kills Debeer finished with 15.  

Set 1   Cards 25  Purdue 17 

Purdue scores first but it's back and forth when the Cards get the kill and tie it 2-2 before finally taking a lead and going on a 4 point run to make it 5-2.  Cara Cresse enters the match for the first time when the score was 7-4 and she records the kill for the Cards up 9-6.

Set point 24-17 Anna Debeer records her 6th kill of the set, set point #2 for UofL The Cards hit .481 in the set and ran off with the first set over the Boilermakers.  Reese Robbins got the kill to give the Cards a first set victory. 

Set 2   Cards 25 Purdue 18

The Boilermakers got out to a 2-0 lead to start the second before Uofl tied it up 3 all.  Sofia Maldonado Diaz records a kill to give the Cards the 7-6 lead, assist from Debeer.  Set point Louisville 24-18 when the 11th kill for Debeer she's hitting .508% at this point.  

Set 3  Cardinals 25  Purdue 18 

Cresse with 4 kills on 6 swings in the set in a back and forth set. 

Luper gets the huge kill on a hard earned 9th point.  Both squads were matching points when the Cards went on a 5 point run to make it 13-9 and forces Purdue to call a timeout.   

15 kills on 27 swings for Anna Debeer makes it 21-13 Cards and it looked pretty much in the bag for the home team.   It was one of the best showings of the day and for the Cards overall and they had many contributors in the match.  

UP NEXT 

Louisville vs Stanford

Saturday at 7:30pm 

NCAA Tournament bracket 

Kentucky advanced 3-1 over Missouri,

Pittsburgh went to 5 with Oregon and 
Stanford won 3-1 over Florida

Our very own Jeff McAdams leading a CARDS cheer

P.S. Happy Friday the 13th :P 

 

As always 
Go Cards! 
~Daryl