Recent News in CardNation -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports Media Day Approaches

If you needed any further confirmation that Louisville's spring sports were just around the corner (after we've been beating you over the head with softball and lacrosse chatter during basketball season, I'm not sure how you could), UofL has announced its spring sports media day for Tuesday, January 23rd. Interestingly, this is the second media day for "spring" sports in as many weeks. This past week, the tennis, swimming, track and field, and rowing programs took part in the first of the season. Next week's media day will feature diving (why they were split, I'm not sure), golf, lacrosse, and softball. As the most available of us during the day, media days are usually covered by Paulie. We're going to do our best to maintain Cardinal Couple's coverage of the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics, though, and make sure the programs feel our support.

Sam Untiedt Commits to Volleyball

It appears that Louisville's long run of a local libero may soon come to a close. The Cards have one more year with Elena Scott, which we certainly shouldn't take for granted, but after that, it looks like the streak of liberos from Louisville that started when Molly Sauer took over the position from Roxanne McVey in the mid 2010s will end. While there are certainly capable hands learning from Scott and ready to take over, it will be interesting to not see Assumption or Mercy listed as the school for Louisville's star defender.

This news comes as the Cards round out their 2024 class with the addition of Samantha Untiedt, a 5'8" libero from Okabena, Minnesota. Last season saw a load of accolades for Untiedt. She was named to the AAU National All-American team and USA Volleyball named her to the All-Tournament team. With her high school team, she was named to the Minnesota All-State and All-State Academic teams. Associate Head Coach Dan Meske said of Untiedt, "She is an elite backrow player who also has the ability to set..." Sound familiar?

Untiedt will join a crowded, but young, defensive room. With Ceci Rush and Ayden Bartlett graduating, the list of players behind Elena Scott will be three rising sophomores and Untiedt. Her competition for the 2025 starting position will be Kamden Schrand, Jessica Drapp, and Molly Urban. Schrand saw a fair amount of play time in 2023, primarily as a serving specialist. If you wanted to extend the "local" title, Schrand would be the closest to fitting that bill, as she comes from Villa Hills, KY and attended Notre Dame Academy. We may still see other freshmen join that battle going into 2025, so it will be interesting to keep an eye on.

T&F See Continued Success at "Home"

Since everyone in Kentucky wants to hold their events at the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, Louisville track and field continues to impress in the venue they're quite comfortable with, since they call it home. This weekend's meet was no different, with the Cards picking up seven victories (five on the women's side), 19 podiums, and 14 personal-bests in the one-day Bellarmine Open yesterday. Louisville also set four meet records. 

Alba Cuns Iglesias had a strong day, winning the long jump and the triple jump. Louisville stood on the top two podium steps of the long jump, with Maya Follmer coming second, and they occupied all three podium spots in the triple jump. The Cards placed four in the top-five of that event, with Sophia Day, Rachel Darden, and Riley Burger coming in second, third, and fifth, respectively. Soledad Jean placed second in the high jump for Louisville, and Natalie Lark and Lydia Stuart set personal bests to place third and fourth in the invitational pole vault.

It wasn't just field events where Louisville was strong. Olivia Jenkins won two events, placing first in the 60m and the 200m sprints. Makenzie Bell came in fourth in the 200m, later claiming first in the 400m. Taylor Boggess stood on the 400m podium with Bell as she placed third in the event.

After Jayden Ulrich was named the ACC Women's Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, Louisville took the women's shot put event off this week. Ulrich set a conference-best 15.97m throw in last week's meet. 

In the weight throw, Zoe Yeast was the top performer for Louisville this week, placing third with a 17.32m result. Ajla Basic from WKU won the event with an 18.70m heave. That effort put Basic in a tie for 64th for the best throw in the country this year.

Louisville will host their only true home meet of the indoor season next week when they take part in the PNC Lenny Lyles Invitational. Next week's meet is one of four US meets on the World Athletics Indoor Tour, so participation will be high. After that, Louisville will take part in their fourth straight weekend event at the NHSLC when Bellarmine plays host once more. The team will split on that February 2nd date, as they'll also participate in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic 2/2-2/3 in Albuquerque. That event will give them some experience at the venue ahead of the USATF Indoor Championships being held in Albuquerque on the 16th and 17th. Between those two, Louisville will be on the road in BC on the 9th and 10th, presumably as another sighter event for the ACC Indoor Championships in Boston February 22nd-24th. The NCAA Indoor Championships are also in Boston on March 8th and 9th.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four in the virtual studio this week, a full house, all things considered. Yesterday's weather in Louisville and the turn back to frigid temperatures have done a good job of keeping our hosts at home and available for the show. We'll talk big Louisville basketball wins and look ahead to the matchups to come. There's also plenty of news to cover, so we should have new issue filling the hour. 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. 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

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Images from gocards.com.