UofL WSOC and VB gets wins, FH falls in Sunday action -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WOMEN'S SPORTS TAKE TWO ON SUNDAY

Overall, it was a good Sunday for Louisville women's sports squads...on campus at Lynn stadouin, Louiville women's soccer acheived a 1-0 win over NC State. Down at the KFC YUM Center..#5 Louisville Volleyball downed #3 Stanford in straight sets. Only Field Hockey took a loss, a hard fought match at Ohio State, that the Buckeyes came out on top of...4-3.in overtime .  Let's look at how they went down...

SOCCER CARDS SHUT OUT NCST

The first event of the day took place at Lynn Stadium on the Uofl campus, where Louisville women's soccer improved to 6-3-2 overall and picked up their first ACC win of the season, with their 1-0 win over the Wolfpack. 

Mackenzie Geigle got the goal for Louisville. The score came on a corner kick for the Cards.

Louisville battled the NC State squad to a scoreless first half. Neither team had a serious threat on gettng a goal. It was 11 minutes into the second half, when Betsy Huckaby sent a cormer kick into the gathering of players in front of the net and Geigle headed the ball past NCST goalie Olivia Pratapus and into the net .

 Pratapus, who originally began her career at Louisville and transferred to NCST two years ago, had one save in a game where the two teams only had four shots on goal combined. 

Karen Ferguson Dayes squad now travels to the state of North Carolina for two ..facing the UNC TarHeels on Thursday Oct 3rd and Duke on Sunday Oct 6th.

FIELD HOCKEY FALLS AT OHIO STATE

The match started as a scoreless defensive battle between (9-0) #4 OSU and (5-5) #13 Louisville, with neither team scoring until after halftime. The Cards got the first goal when Izzy Bianco connected off a penalty corner 6:48 into the third quarter. The Buckeeyes would tie it four minutes later the first of three straight goals for the home team.

Louisville would draw within one with eight mintues left in the contest...Rylie Wollerton connecting on a penalty corner attempt and the Cards would tie things up at 3-3 with just 1:10 left in regulation, when Chloe Plumb connected on a shot.

In the "sudden win" overtime goal format, the first goal wins the match and it was OSU scoring 3:13 into the extra session when they connected on a rebound off a missed shot .

The Cards will hit the road for their next two contests...a stop at Syracuse on Fridaay, October 4th, and then to Virginia for a Siunday, Oct 6th match, 

VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS STANFORD IN KFC YUM CENTER

#5 Louisville took down #3 Stanford in straight sets Sunday afternoonin the KFC YUM Center...25-16, 25-23 and 25-22. The Cards got a huge effort from Charitie Luper in the match with 18 kills and Anna DeBeer added 10 kills for the Cards who go to 10-2 on the season. Here's how it went in the Cardinal vs. the Cardinals showdown

SET ONE

In the first set, Stanford grbbed an early 4-1 lead, but UofL battled back to make it 4-3. It was still at close match at 10-10, but the Louisville squad went on a 7-2 run to gain control in the first match. Louisville led 20-16 after a Stanford service error,  and ended the first set on a 6-0 run for the 25-16 win.

SET TWO

Stanford began the second set as strongly as they did the first set and rushed out to a 7-2 lead that necessitated a UofL time out. The cessation of play didn't help a whole lot initially, as Stanford increased the lead to 12-5. Louisville battled back, though, and tied the set at 13-13 on a Charitie Luper kill. It was 18-18 on a Sofia Maldonado-Diaz kill for UofL. The score stood at 22-22 after a Stanford service error, but Louisville took three of the four final points, ending the set on another Maldonado-Diaz kill for the 25-23 win.

SET THREE

Louisviile took the early lead in the final set, when a Hannah Sherman kill made it 5-2 UofL.  Stanford battled back, though, to take a 7-6 edge after an Anna DeBeer attack error. Neither team could pull away as the set proceed...the squads tied at 10-10 and 14-14. The contest was still tied at 17-17 after a Stanford service error. Louisville got the hot hand though and forged out to a 23-20 edge, on a Stanford service error. The Louisville squad split the final four points of the match with Stanford and got a deBeer kill for the 25-22 win  , to give Louisville the third set and the match. 

(photos by jared anderson in WSOC and VB)

paulie 

A Sunday Trio - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Field Hockey Gameday

Field Hockey, after having their Friday morning game delayed for a little bit of rain, took up the event yesterday morning and competed well against a quite good, 12th ranked, Boston College team, but eventually came out on the short end of the stick.

And, all jokes above aside, Hurricane Helene has really been no joke, with a wide swath of destruction through the panhandle of Florida and up through Appalachia.  Our thoughts are with those affected.

Friday was just too rainy, and with some high winds in the area, it was a wise decision to delay that game.  That did, however put a bit of time crunch on the Louisville team.

So the game got underway at a very early 9:30am.  The Cards played well against the Eagles, but it wasn't enough.  The Eagles came away with the 1-0 win in the end.

Boston College did generate a little more offense than Louisville, but not by much.  They had 12 shots to Louisville's 9, and the same number on goal, 4 for each.

Riley Wollerton led UofL with 3 shots, followed by Aimee Plumb, and Izzy Bianco with a pair each, but credit BC's GK Charlotte Kramer with the four saves to keep the blank slate.

So a disappointing loss for the Cards who, while facing a very strong schedule, have struggled to find wins this season.  This loss pushes UofL back close to a .500 season at 5-4.

The early time yesterday was necessary as the Cards needed to hit the road to get up to Columbus, OH for their game today for a matchup against 4th ranked Ohio State.

The game today will start at 3pm, and the only streaming available is the for-pay Big Ten Plus streaming service.

Volleyball Top 5 Matchup

 

The VolleyCards are back downtown today after a brief stop off at L&N FCU Arena on Friday.  They welcome to the KFC Yum! Center the other half of the Pacific Coast contingent of the ACC, 3rd ranked Stanford.

Stanford comes in 9-1, with their only loss being handed to them by then 5th ranked Nebraska in Lincoln.  They have wins over Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, and starting off conference play on Friday, a 3-1 win over Notre Dame.

Kami Miner runs the show from the setter position for the s-less Cardinal, and she's very good at it.  She has several offensive options available to her and spreads the attack around quite well.

The Cards will need to be at the absolute top form to knock of Stanford.  They played a good match Friday against Cal, but it was defense heavy.  It was a defensive clinic, to be fair, but they'll need to generate more offensive attack to at least put pressure on Stanford.

Start time is 3pm, downtown at the KFC Yum! Center.  Due to the top 5 nature of the matchup, this one got picked up for the flagship channel treatment on ESPN.  If you are catching this one on TV, you'll get Eric Frede and Emily Ehman for the commentary a good duo that know the sport well, you'll be in good hands.

Women's Soccer

Soccer is back in action on Floyd St. bringing in NC State for the foe.

On the CCHRP yesterday, Case commented that this may be one of the last good chances Louisville has of picking up a win, perhaps along with Clemson to close out the season.

Obviously the Cards will be looking to capitalize on the opportunity, and continue to improve on last year's record.  They're already ahead of where they were last year, so they've already satisfied my "as long as there's improvement" criteria, but it's no time to quit.

NC State is 3-6-2, 0-2-1 in conference.  Their wins were to VCU, Charlotte, and George Washington, not exactly giant killers there, with losses to the likes of William and Mary, Rutgers, and Campbell.  In conference, they've faced the west coasties, Stanford and Cal, and lost to both.  They're coming into this game after a 1-1 draw with Notre Dame, a good point pickup in South Bend.

Game time is 1pm in the Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium on Floyd St.  ACC Network Extra has the coverage on streaming.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(A blast from the past...the CC crew from "the basement on a hill" days)

And finally, the latest episode of the CCRHP is live, with Case, Paulie, and yours truly, Jeff..

Discussions on all three of the fall sports, albeit only reluctantly did we talk about Soccer's 5-1 loss to VT.  We also touched a bit on Basketball, based on Jeff Walz's lengthy press conference earlier in the week, including his rant on politicized mistaken identities. Our beloved coach does not have a brother running for Vice President, we're 99% sure of that,, but Jeff DID assistant coach in Mnnesota years ago...and Tim Walzwas governor of Minnesota...so conspiracy theorists..there's your bone to gnaw on.

(Tim Walz...sources say he is NOT Jeff Walz's older brother...)

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Cards-in-ACCtion-e2ovsmk

-- 

JMcA

Cards Welcome Cal to ACC with Sweep -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DeBeer and Maldonado-Diaz Lead Cards to Win

Louisville hosts the Pacific Coast teams in the ACC this weekend and, while all eyes are on tomorrow's big match against Stanford, the Cards didn't lose sight of their first opponent in Cal. The Golden Bears managed to win 21 points in the third set, but that was after combining for only 28 in the first two. Louisville swept handedly last night to open their big weekend with a win. 

Cal is... not very good. The Bears were 8-4 entering yesterday's match but that came after an exhibition loss to UC Davis to start the year. Cal hasn't beaten a Power 4 team yet this season and they've lost those matches by a total set score of 15-1 (including last night). I say all that just to get the point across that this win was big for Louisville in that it was a massive trap game, but not in the sense that it accomplished all that much. But hey, you've gotta win the games you play. 

Despite the big set scores, Louisville didn't look particularly crisp offensively. They ultimately finished the match with 15 errors, five per set, and only hit 0.172 as a team. That was, of course, much better than Cal's -0.29 but still. Anna DeBeer and Sofia Maldonado-Diaz were both leaders offensively, as each put down eight kills and managed three service aces. Only Nayelis Cabello hit higher than either one as she hit 1.000 by going 1-for-1. 

DeBeer and Sofi were part of an 11 ace day, led by Elena Scott who had four. The Cards only had six service errors, so it was good to see them positive in that category. Elena Scott was all over the place in the back row, cleaning up 26 of Louisville's 52 digs. 

Cal also only had six service errors, but they had just five aces. Louisville was strong defensively, as evidenced by Cal's final hitting percentage. The Golden Bears had just two hitters over 0.000 on the day. Louisville dominated the block, as well, putting up 13 total compared to Cal's four. Even more impressive than the total number of blocks is how well Louisville was reading Cal's offense. Of those 13 blocks, only one was solo, meaning multiple Cardinals were on hand for pretty much every attack attempt by Cal. 

Louisville played 12 players in the match, a stark contrast to Cal's seven, and that was without a normal member of the rotation as PK sat this match out. Whether PK's absence is something to be concerned about or a precautionary rest ahead of Sunday's match is unclear. The Cards will turn their attention from L&N Arena to the KFC Yum! Center for tomorrow. Louisville brings in Stanford for yet another top-ten matchup, this time top-five. Stanford dropped one spot last week from 2 to 3, but that was a result of Nebraska going from 5 to 2 more than anything to say about Stanford. The Cardinal are 9-1 this year after their win over Notre Dame and they share a common loss and two common wins with Louisville. Each team has beaten UK and Wisconsin 3-1 and each has lost to Nebraska 3-0. 

Tomorrow's match looks to be another big one, and it will be nice for everyone to be able to stay dry. The event gets underway at 3PM and the match will be carried on ESPN. 

Field Hockey Postponed

As the heavy winds and unrelenting rain came through yesterday, Louisville field hockey postponed its match with Boston College for player safety purposes. That match got underway at 9:30 this morning and we'll keep you updated on the results. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're a group of three again this week as Daryl tries to avoid trenchfoot at Louder Than Life and Jared begrudgingly leaves his leaky house for a trip to South Bend. We'll have plenty to talk about (and in the case of WSOC, plenty to avoid), though, so be sure to join us. 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

VT romps Louisville women's soccer 5-1 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 VT FLIES PAST CARDS IN BLACKSBURG

As if the six hour bus drive to Blacksburg wasn't bad enough, the Louisville women's soccer squad also had to endure a 5-1 beatdown by Virginia Tech women's soccer Thursday night on the rainy VT campus. The loss was UofL's third straight n a row, after starting the season with five wins and two ties.

The Cards were able to keep the VT squad at bay and engaged them in a scoreless baattle for the first 30 minutes of action, but Taylor Price capitalized on the retreval of a corner kick and made it 1-0 Hokies at the 31:58 mark.

 

VT got another Price score five minutes later on a throw in to take a 2-0 edge on the pitch...Louisville had a chance to get a score right at the end of the first half, but Enerson Jennings shot at a wide open goal somehow missed, and VT was able to keep the ]Cards scoreless in the first half.

The Cards did gather the first goal of the second half when Fina Davy connected off a pass from Mackenzie Geigle, but the that just served to wae up the homestanding Hokies It was also the end of the UofL scoring for the evening .. 

It went to 3-1 VT when Anna Weir booted one in the back of the net on a throw in play with 56:03 gone in the contesr. And, Virginia Tech was not done, by any means...they got a score from Natalie Mittchell three minutes later, and collected their final goal about seven minutes after that when Taylor Price got her hat trik and third goal of the match...to end the scoring for the night

VT had an 18-5 five advantage in shots on the night and a 8-1 advantage on shots on goal. The Cards used .Kailey Kimball in goal for the first 75 minutes and Erynn Floyd saw the final 15 minutes. All five goals came aagainstt Kimball. 

The Cards take their third loss of the season,going to 5-3-2 and VT picks up their eighth win of the year. Louisville heads back to Lynn Stadium to face NC State on Sunday...the Wolfpack battled to a draw with Notre Dame tonight and are 3-6-2 on the season. 

TODAY...WHO KNOWS? 

With UofL cancelling school today because of the high wind and torrential rain forecast, as the remnants of Hurricane Helene roll through the southeast and Kentucky...we know not at the time of this writing whether Louisville field Hockey will still face Boston college today at 11 a.m.

 

As far as Volleyball vs. California, not sure about that either with school cancelled for the day, I guess we'll have to wait and see on that one...as well.

Update at 10am: Field Hockey has postponed their game and will try for an early start tomorrow at 9:30am.  There has been no announcement from Volleyball of any cancellation or changes, and they continue to post on social media about this evening's match, so it appears at this time to be full steam ahead in L&N FCU Arena.

Keep an eye on Go Cards for any updates...although they will usually play Field Hockey in any condition and the Trager Stadium field drains quite well. And Volleyball is, of course, indoors...

paulie

Soccer Visits Virginia Tech -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Are Back in Action Following 12-Day Break

(Photo by GoCards)

Louisville women's soccer should be well rested following a rare 12-day break in the middle of the season. For a team who has faced an uphill battle in the ACC the last few seasons, the break gave the Cards plenty of time to rest up from any injuries and add more time for film and game planning.

Karen Ferguson-Dayes and Co travel to Virginia Tech for a 7:00pm match against Virginia Tech. The match is slated to be aired on tv on ACC Network. It can also be streamed on the ESPN app.

The Cards are 5-2-2, but have lost two straight to Dayton and Pitt, the latter made the Elite Eight last year. Pitt is the only opponent to score multiple goals against UofL this season. Both offense and defense have shown strong improvements from last year.

(Photo by Jared)

Virginia Tech is 7-3-1 and most recently fell on the road to Boston College. That was one of two matches where the Hokies have allowed multiple goals. They have outscored opponents 16-8.

Allie George leads the VT offense with three goals and seven total points. Anna Weir and Natalie Mitchell each have scored two goals. Nine other Hokies have recorded a goal. Defensively, Lauren Hargrove has commanded the most minutes in goal, including seeing time in all 11 matches. She has 28 saves for a .778 save percentage.

Louisville leads the series 4-2-2.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB ACC Schedule released -- HC Jeff Walz Press Conference -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Hello readers and happy hump day!!  It's Daryl.  Hope you've got your pink on!! 

I'll be out at the next festival this weekend so we switched up the coverage and luckily for me another great day to cover some Women's basketball landed in my lap!   Coach Walz and the team started practice... so the 2024-2025 season is officially underway.  

Walz met with the media Tuesday afternoon and spent almost an hour discussing the upcoming season, player profiles and potential, opponents, the coaching staff, the WNBA, the transfer portal and the freshman class, social media and polarizing politics along with life lessons in general for his team as the head coach of a successful D1 women's basketball squad.

Listen here -- Head Coach Jeff Walz preseason Press conference 9/24/24

The program also announced the ACC schedule Tuesday afternoon featuring some new faces from the pacific coast (in the Atlantic Coast Conference........ i will probably groan about this for a while) The Cardinals will play their two California opponents at home this season.

The Cardinals will be in the national spotlight for a majority of their conference schedule as 14 of their 18 league games will be featured on national television. Including their non-conference schedule, the Cardinals will have at least one game on ABC, FOX, ESPN and ESPN2 this upcoming season.

UofL will open conference play with NC State in mid-December in the annual Jimmy V Classic and naturally will play Notre Dame twice this season, the only opponent the Cards will face twice in the regular season.  

What matchups are you most looking forward to and what player do you think will have the biggest impact on this year's squad?  

 

Paulie will post the schedule over on the right hand side on the site in a day or so.

Cardinal Couple is looking forward to another year of coverage of women's basketball! 

As Always, 
Go Cards! 
~Daryl 

Fall Sports Midseason Check-In -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Fall Sports Midseason Check-In

We have hit or are close to the midway point of several of our fall sports. The good news is that the 'Big Three' fall sports we cover currently have winning records, but the road ahead does not look to get easier for any of them.

Field Hockey

Justine Sowry's squad is a bit younger than we've seen over the last couple years. She has seen several players graduate recently after they used their COVID-19 eligibility season. The offense has had no problem scoring, but defense has been an area of concern.

The Cards are 5-3 on the season and have won three straight. All three losses have come against ranked opponents with two of those teams currently being in the top 10. Louisville has outscored opponents 17-12 this season.

Louisville started 1-0 in the ACC with a convincing win over Stanford. The resume conference play this coming weekend. Six of the remaining nine opponents on the schedule are currently ranked in the top 20.

Soccer

Many folks, including myself, were surprised to see the hot start for Louisville this year, especially after averaging less than one goal per match last season, but Karen Ferguson-Dayes' squad has shown quite a bit of life on offense.

Louisville is currently 5-2-2 on the season but have lost two straight to Dayton and Pitt. The Cards are in a weird 12-day gap of no matches. However, they are back in action against Virginia Tech on Thursday as they have transitioned to the ACC slate of the schedule. They have outscored opponent 20-8 this season, but half of the Cards' goals came in the opening two matches of the season.

Four nine remaining opponents are ranked in top 25 with another one hanging out in the receiving votes categories. Three of the remaining opponents made it to the Elite Eight last year.

Volleyball

A team that has had an absolutely brutal start to the schedule is Dani Busboom Kelly's volleyball squad. The Cards have played six ranked opponents already with four of them currently being in the top 10. They still have seven more ranked opponents remaining plus another opponent who could crack the rankings in the next couple weeks.

The Cards are 8-2 on the year with both losses coming in sweep fashion. Thankfully, both losses came to opponents ranked in the top five so it's not too terrible. Louisville has swept four opponents already this season.

We've seen two different Louisville teams show up to play this season: the one that can go in and overwhelm and dominate an opponent; and the team that forgets how to play volleyball altogether with a terrible serve-receive and attack percentage. Consistency has been a concern so far, but the amount of talent and strength of schedule should help prepare the Cards for the postseason.

They open up ACC play this coming weekend at home against newcomers California and Stanford.

Softball Fall Ball

Louisville softball began their fall slate last week with a sweep over Bellarmine in a double header. They still have six more games to go on the fall schedule, which does not count towards the 2025 results. After graduating eight players from last season, the Cards retained everyone else from last year's roster and have added seven new faces via incoming freshmen or the portal. Here are a few photos from Friday.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Win one, lose one --MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FIELD HOCKEY WINS AT BALL STATE...VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO NEBRASKA IN SUNDAY CONTESTS

As we tend to do, here at Cardinal Coupe we like to report on the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports...so let's start with a win that took place Sunday, then we'll get to the loss...

FIELD HOCKEY TRAVELS TO MUNCIE, BEATS BALL STATE

Louisville Field Hockey made the trip to central indiana early Sunday and brought back with them a 4-2 win in a noon match over Ball State University. 

The Cards scored a goal each quarter on the BSU Cardinals, and got the action started with a goal off a penalty corner just 2:46 into the bird battle.  It was Izzy Bianco knocking in the first score, Chloe Plumb and Tatum Kroon were credited with the assists on the corner, as Justine Sowry seems to have mixed up the crew on the penalty corners and teamed up Bianco wih the younger Plumb and Kroon. It worked to start out Sunday, it seems. 

Louisville increased the lead to 2-0 when the the elder Plumb (Aimee) got a feed from Chloe Cuzzupe with 21:26 gone in the match. The visitors went into halftime with UofL holding a 2-0 lead. Louisville had 12 first half shots, and BSU just one.  

The home team got on the scoreboard with just three minutes passed in the third quarter when Emma Van Hal scored off a pass from Paloma Rengifo. Louisville would push the score to 3-1, though,.at the end of the quarter when Rylie Wollerton got an unassisted score. 

Louisville would push the advantage to 4-1 when they scored on a penalty corner about five minutes into the final quarter.with Izzy Bianco got her second score of the contest..this time Mia Duchars and Sophia Parker were responsible for the feed and set. BSU closed out the scoring with four minutes left in the contest...Nadine Loeps doing the honors...to maethe score 4-2. 

The Louisville win pushes them to 5-3 on the season, and drops Ball St. to 1-5. UofL comes  home to face Boston College next...on Friday. 

VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO #5 NEBRASKA IN THE KFC YUM CENTER

About a half hour after Field Hockey got started, we saw a top 5 match between Louisville and Nebraska. The good aspect of the day was I got to talk to Coach Walz and Coach Kelsey at the match. The bad thing was...Nebraska wiped the floor with the Cards. They brought brooms, and swept the Cards

Let's not kid ourselves, this was a beat down that painful to watch.  The straight sets 25-16,25-17, 25-20 Cornhuskers win was on national TV too, on ABC. 

The attendance,aided by more than just a few Nebraska fans, filled the lower bow land the curtains were drawn back in the upper levels for fan seating as well.  Sonya (not Wanda) Sykes and I were on media row, in the end zone, getting bombared by "kills" in pre and regular game and watching a Cornhusker squad hit .305 against the VolleyCards, Louisville hit just .133 

SET ONE

Louisville jumped out to a 5-3 lead on an Anna DeBeer kill, but Nebraska went on a 4-0 run to take a 7-5 lead. It was a lead they would not surrender and a 9-3 run built Nebraska's lead to 16-8 on a Lindsay Krause service ace, The Cornhuskers stretched that to 21-12 on a Cards return miscue and took the win 25-16 on another Krause kill. 

SET TWO

Nebraska jumped out to a 6-2 edge to start the second set and pushed that to 12-3 after a Cards hitting error. It was 15-7 Cornhuskers after a Anna DeBeer kill, but the Cards got a time out when they fell behnd 20-11. The Cornhuskers took the set  25-17, closing the set out with a kill from Harper Murray. 

SET THREE

The Cardinal faithful hoped that a halftime talk and coachng sesion would bring Louisville back into this match...and...for awhile, the Cards did put up a strong effort. Louisville grabbed an early 8-5 lead after a Charitie Luper kill. Nebraska tied it at 11-11 on a block and the teams exchanged the leads...still tied at 16-16 after another Luper kill. Nebraska, though, went on a 4-0 erun to grab a 20-16 lead and UofL could get no closer than three the rest of the way...a Murray kill ending game and match at 25-20.

A demoralizing defeat after all the hype of a top 5 match up...and maybe this Louisvlle squad isn't a top 10 team...time will tell...I suppose, but on Sunday they looked like an also ran in the ACC instead of the #4 squad in D1. 

Time to learn from the beat, and as John L Smoth used to say, tear off the rear view mirror an move forward. 

The Cards (8-2) return to action on Friday, when they'll host California in the on- campus LNFCU arena. 

pauie

( volleyball photos by JARED ANDERSON..THE BIRTHDAY BOY}

Top 5 Showdown - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball In Top Five Showdown

Photos: Jared Anderson

 

The Louisville Volleyball non-conference finale has arrived, and it's a date that has been circled on the calendar of many across the volleyball watching community since the schedule was announced.

 

The Cards welcome in the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Yes, we pretty much all know the storylines by now.  Louisville Head Coach Dani Busboom Kelly grew up in the Lincoln, NE vicinity, played her college career there and won a national championship in the process.  She returned there as an assistant coach, and was part of another national championship.  Now she's hunting a national championship as a head coach, and has the opportunity to be the first woman to achieve that.

To say this is a big matchup would be an understatement, one of the biggest matches of the whole week in college volleyball.  The Cards are ranked 4th and Nebraska is fifth ranked coming into this match, the same scenario as when the last time these two teams played, in Nebraska, when the Cards swept.  As impressive as that is, it really can't be considered the biggest match of the week, as that title realistically needs to go to #1 Pitt's sweep of #3 Penn State Wednesday.  It's been a week full of big matchups, including our win over Kentucky, Nebraska's upset of #2 Stanford, as well as Kentucky and Stanford matching up with the Card taking that win.

There is something else that boosts the visibility of this matchup, however, and it's hinted at by the 12:30 start time today.  This will be the first regular season volleyball match aired on ABC.  The "regular season" qualifier is needed as last year's NCAA Championship match (Texas over Nebraska) was aired on ABC.

 

A quick check of Ticketmaster seems to indicate that the lower bowl is completely sold out (a handful of tickets are available on the secondary market), and all of the side sections of the upper bowl are effectively sold out as well.  Several other sections of the upper bowl have had significant sales as well.  This looks to be the largest ever crowd for a volleyball match in the state of Kentucky, though it will almost certainly be surpassed in December when we host the Final Four.

As mentioned, the start time is 12:30, and the TV coverage is the ABC network, and we've heard the big storylines, but what about the matchup itself.

Louisville will need to make sure its rejuvenated blocking remains strong, avoid the 3rd set funk, and feed the middles as much as possible.  The 6-2, or as I've been calling it recently to acknowledge Elena Scott's "secondary setter" ability, the 6-3 is expected to remain for the Cards.  This let's us see both Sofia Maldonado Diaz and Reese Robins alternate on the right side, as well as both Elle Glock and Nayelis Cabello setting.

Nebraska will have similar keys, they'll want to serve aggressively to try to put us out of system to reduce the effectiveness of our middles in the offense, then depend on their blocking to slow down our left and right side hitters.  Nebraska has the only player even in the discussion with Elena Scott for best Libero in the country in Lexi Rodriguez and they'll lean on her heavily to backstop the blocking.  Typical of a midwestern team, they have lots of size and power that they'll try to bring to bear.

It should be a competitive match, and good exposure for the sport of volleyball overall.  This is a statement, or at least a trial, by Disney, in their ongoing effort to find their best programming they can put forward to draw as many sports fans away from the NFL on other channels.  No one expects volleyball to draw as many viewers as NFL, but Disney/ABC/ESPN is trying to figure out what gets them the closest second place margin.

 

Field Hockey - Battle of the Cardinals

The Field Hockey squad heads up I-65 (and a little of I-69) to Muncie, IN in the battle of the Cardinals.

The Louisville squad is expected to not have too much trouble with the Muncieites.  The Ball State squad comes into the game with a 1-4 record with their only win over St. Louis, and that was in overtime.  Losses came from St. Francis (2OT), Stanford, Indiana, and Kent State.

None of those are exactly powerhouse teams.

Louisville has been doing a bit better this year in getting goals off corner penalties, which has helped the offense be more effective, and they'll continue to look to spread the offense around, with nine different players having scored goals so far this year.

It appears that the game will be streamed from Ball State's streaming setup at:

https://ballstatesports.com/watch/?Live=1986&type=Live with game time set for a noon start which should give them plenty of time to play the game before any inclement weather arrives later in the day.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Just three of us for the CCRHP yesterday, but the discussion flowed well and we all mostly agreed on things, which is not always a given.

Soccer has had a bit of a mid-season break, and we talked about the implications of that, but then went on to discuss the improving outlook for Field Hockey, and then highlight the week of great matchups in volleyball (and not just for UofL!) and the significance of ABC coverage of today's match.

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Wins-for-Volleyball-and-Field-Hockey-e2omchi

or any competent podcast directory.

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JMcA