Volleyball, WBB Set for Matchups Out West -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes on #7 Stanford

Following their unfortunate loss to Pittsburgh Wednesday night, Louisville will be hoping to maintain their chance at a share of the ACC Championship. Louisville can share the title with a win today if Pittsburgh loses. The downside of their game coming on the west coast, though, is that the fate of the championship may already be determined. Pitt and GT will get underway at 1PM, meaning the match (and the title race) may very well be over before first serve in Palo Alto. 

At any rate, today's match against Stanford is still critical for Louisville's postseason fate. The Cards will certainly drop from the top-three during tomorrow's selection show, but a second win, this time on the road, over the 7th-ranked Cardinal, should be enough to keep Louisville in the top-four, which would guarantee them as a host throughout the tournament. If the Cards can beat Stanford again, they'll sit at 26-4, with all four losses coming to the three teams ranked (presumably) 1, 2, and 3. They'd have wins over their direct competition for the 4-seed (Creighton and Wisconsin). However, a Stanford win could just as easily see them jump the Jays and Badgers to steal that region host position. 

Louisville will be looking to do the same thing to Stanford that Pitt did on Wednesday. Louisville was desperately looking for payback at home after a tough loss to Pitt on the road earlier this season. The situation will be the same for Stanford. Louisville swept the match in the Yum! Center earlier this season in what was an upset at the time. Louisville made the fight at Pitt a lot tougher, but that could go either way. The 5-setter in Pittsburgh could have motivated Louisville to be more encouraged about a payback win at home. On the flip side, getting embarrassed on the road on national TV could be enough for Stanford to be ready to return the favor. 

Stanford sits at 24-4 on the season and is 16-3 in conference. While a Louisville win would keep them alive for a title or put them alone in second, a Stanford win would send Louisville into a three-way tie for second place with the Cardinal and the Mustangs of SMU (assuming they beat NC State tonight). Stanford's one non-conference loss was common with Louisville's: a sweep at the hands of Nebraska. Maples Pavilion has been a tough place to play this year. Stanford is unbeaten at home, with non-conference wins over #6 Texas (3-0) and #11 UK (3-1) and a sweep of #16 Georgia Tech earlier this month. Barring a shocker against Miami where Stanford lost in five sets, this match would be between a pair of 17-2 ACC teams. Granted, Stanford only had to play Pitt one time, but you play the schedule you have. 

Louisville and Stanford will get underway at 4PM on ACC Network Extra. 

Basketball Faces Colorado

After escaping Orlando last weekend with a victory over USF, Louisville WBB remains on the road following their brief Thanksgiving break with a game against the Colorado Buffaloes. The Buffs currently sit at 6-1 on the season, with their lone loss coming on the road to Boise State. Don't let the record fool you, though. Colorado's wins are over Colorado Mines, Wyoming, Northern Colorado, Nevada, Southern, Utah State (hi Josie!), and Utah Tech. Not the most imposing schedule so far. 

Colorado was picked to finish 9th in the Big 12 this season, and they are currently tied for 5th, though the rankings are based entirely on overall schedule as no one has played a conference game yet. The league is fairly even so far, with 15 of the 16 teams being over .500 so far. Houston was picked to finish last, and they currently sit at 2-5, so that looks to have been a good call. 

Colorado didn't have much on their side in the preseason award category for the Big 12, but Tabitha Betson was named the Preseason Freshman of the Year. Betson is a 6'-2" forward from Melbourne, Australia, so she and Isla Juffersmans likely have some familiarity from playing against and with each other over the years. To date, Betson has played in every game, averaging 16.4 minutes and picking up three starts. She has scored 4.9 points per game while shooting 5-15 from three and 9-21 from two. She has gone to the line just twice, but she averages 4.1 rebounds per game as well. 

Betson is behind Jade Masogayo and Lior Garzon on the depth chart, and those are two players Louisville will need to be aware of. They lead the Buffs in scoring, with 11.9 and 13.6 ppg, respectively. Masogayo is averaging 4.6 rebounds per game and has added 18 assists, seven steals, and five blocks. She can be prone to fouls, though, averaging nearly three per game. Garzon is listed as a forward, but she can shoot as well. She's 34-76 on the season, including 12-39 from beyond the arc. Colorado's leading rebounder, though, isn't Masogayo. Instead, it's another player Juffermans will be familiar with: Sara-Rose Smith. Smith also attended the Centre of Excellence, like Juffermans, but their paths won't be quite as intertwined given the age gap - Smith is a 5th year senior. Smith is listed as a guard on the roster, but she has some height at 6'-1". She's averaging 6.6 rebounds per game to go with her 8.6 points.

As a team, Colorado is averaging 72 points a night, while giving up 58.3. Their sole loss was a clunker offensively, as they fell 50-47 to the Broncos. CU shoots the ball pretty well, averaging better than 43% from the floor and nearly 32% from three. They make 6.6 threes per game, but their opponents happen to make more (7.0). They're outrebounding opponents by nearly 10 per game (9.6), but I've already pointed out the fairly weak schedule. Where Louisville could make hay is on turnovers. Colorado averages 18.3 assists per game on 26.9 made baskets, which isn't bad, but they only have a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio as they're turning it over 16.4 times. Louisville take serious advantage there. 

After Sunday's victory despite themselves, Louisville should be looking to get back to their style of basketball. I hoped last week's game would be their chance to show a complete game, but perhaps it will come today. Tipoff is at 3PM and the game will be on ESPN+.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on the call today, as only Jared is braving the frigid weather and the Sea of Blue in Commonwealth. Paulie, Jeff, Daryl, and I will talk basketball, volleyball, and whatever else comes to mind. There has been plenty of good and not-so-good to get us through the hour. 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

Happy Thanksgiving Break for Women's athletics -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hope everyone had a great holiday as we look ahead to the weekend!  UofL athletics are back in business tomorrow but they enjoy the extra day for a break today so I'll share some of my favorite team pictures from Jared Anderson so far this season! 

Field Hockey

Volleyball

Women's Basketball

Women's Soccer

Looking forward to some more nationally ranked Cardinals volleyball action and safe travels to Colorado for the WBB squad this weekend. 

And... thankful for the opportunity to share Cardinal athletics with friends and fans with you all here every day.   

As Always

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

VolleyCards Fall to Pitt — Happy Thanksgiving — THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Falls at Home to Pitt

Louisville volleyball concluded their home finale of the regular by welcoming #1 Pittsburgh to the KFC Yum! Center. 12,510 fans packed the arena for one of the biggest NCAA Volleyball matches of the season. The crowd was the third largest in Louisville history for a home regular season match. 

Set One: Pitt 25, Louisville 23

After Pitt jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Cards were able to battle back and bring it within one multiple times. The Panthers relied on aggressive blocking to push ahead12-8. Pitt led 15-11 at the first media timeout. Louisville called its first timeout when a Pitt block pushed the Panthers lead to 18-14. Service and attack errors by the Cards gave Pitt a sizable lead but the Cards rallied to the deficit to one, forcing Pitt to call a timeout. The Panthers survived and took the first set by a slim margin.

Set Two: Louisville 25, Pitt 18

The Cards and Panthers traded points early on before Louisville was able to gain an 8-5 advantage thanks to a monster block, forcing a Pitt timeout. Aggressive serving and blocking propelled the Cards to a 14-9 lead. Pitt wasn’t ready to go away, though, and cut the score to 15-13 and then 17-16. Louisville bent, but did not break, and went back up 20-16, leading to Pitt to burn a timeout. Out of the timeout, Louisville stayed hot, winning three more in a row and then going on to win the second set by seven.

Set Three: Pitt 25, Louisville 20

Attack errors and serve receive errors by Louisville gave Pitt an early 6-3 edge. The Panthers pushed their lead to 9-5. After Pitt went up 11-5, the Cards called a timeout to regroup. After going down 14-6, the Cards went on a 3-0 run and Pitt took their first timeout of the set. Pitt took a commanding lead in the third set, going up 21-15. The Cards answered with a quick 3-0 spurt. The Panthers put the rally to rest, winning the third set by five.

Set Four: Pitt 25, Louisville 

Similar to the second set, the two foes traded points early on before the Panthers took a 9-7 advantage. A questionable call by the officials that had the entire arena in an uproar extended their lead another point… the officials didn’t have a strong explanation there so we’ll say Pitt got a freebie. The Panthers continued to pull ahead and extended their lead to seven at 20-13. The Panthers went on cruise control the rest of the way for the win.

Louisville hit .289 on the night. Serving continued to be a struggle as the Cards had more errors (9) than aces (6). Anna DeBeer led the team with 14 kills and Reese Robins added 10. Pitt hit .310 and Olivia Babcock had one of the best games of her career with 23 kills, five digs, and five blocks. Too many unforced errors, whether attack errors, service errors, or serve receive errors were the Achilles Heel for the Cards tonight.

All of Louisville’s losses have come to teams in the top four. Unfortunately, last night was one of them as Pitt played one of their best matches all season and Louisville seemed to be a step slow at times. Don’t worry, Louisville will get their revenge when it matters- in the NCAA Tournament. 

Louisville hits the road to face #7 Stanford on Black Friday to close out the regular season. The NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be at 6:00pm on Sunday. The Cards will play the opening weekend at the KFC Yum! Center.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the past, we have chosen to forgo a regular article on Thanksgiving in recognition of the holiday. However, we are quite fortunate to have a top-five volleyball team playing on national tv on Thanksgiving Eve that we get to report on.

We at Cardinal Couple are thankful for the opportunity to cover so many great UofL women’s sports each year. We are also especially grateful to YOU for your constant support of everything we do. Whether you interact daily, listen to the podcast each week, or just check in every once in a while to see how things are going, we appreciate you.

Happy Thanksgiving from Jared, Paulie, Jeff, Case, Daryl and Sonya and .....Go Cards!

Jared

It's the long awaited rematch....Louisville Volleyball vs Pitt tonight --- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 #1 VS #3...LOUISVILLE FACES TOP RANKED PITT IN VOLLEYBALL TONIGHT

It's been a month since the last Louisville vs Pittsburgh Volleyball match, all the way back to 10/15/24...when the two faced in Pittsburgh in the "Pete" ...aka Petersen Event Center. A five set match, where Pitt took the first set 25-21, Louisville won set two 28-26, set three was won by Pitt 25-17, the fourth set went to the Cards 25-22 and the fifth and deciding set fell Pitt's wys 15-12. 

The Cards were led by Anna DeBeer's 22 kills. Charitie Luper had 19 for the Cards. Elle Glock had 38 assist for thee Cards. 

It was the third straight five set win for Pitt over the Cards.  Olivia Babcock had 22 kills for Pitt and Rachel Fairbanks had 48 assists for the Panthers. 

One thing that may have led to the Cards five set loss was the 10 hitting errors by DeBeer. That number needs to drop in half if Louisvlle is going to knock off the visitors to the KFC YUM! Cenetr tongiht . Olivia Babcock had seven hitting errors for the Panthers in the first match.

The squads hitting %'s weren't all that spectacular.  in the first go-around. Louisville barely cleared a 1 for 5 success rate with .203...Pitt was slightly better at .262. 

It is a "red out" so...you know what to do....if you are going.  

As far as coverage, we'll have Jared taking photos and Jeff sitting in the stands. I am uncertain as to  whether Sonja and I will receive media credentials or not...I had not heard anything as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night. I will comment no further on that....the request has been made for press row and parking.  We'll either go or watch on cable

Dani Busboom Kelly previewed the match Monday, HERE'S what she had to say. I could not find any pregame video about the contest from Pitt's head coach Dan Fisher. 

The contest will be on the ACC Network if you can't attend.  7 p.m.

So, can the Cards even the score on the season and win this one over UPitt?  I am no expert on volleyball, that's is our man Jeff's forte...Here are his five keys to a Cardinal win... 

1) Serve and pass. (This is the evergreen selection for any 'keys to the game') but in Volleyball, serving aggressively on offense and good first ball contact in serve and receive is important. 

2) Blockng. Louisville lives and dies by the block. SMU beat Pitt by blocking well. 

3) Take the heat out. I think the chippiness between these two teams gets UofL a bit off their game. Keep the emotions in check. 

4) "It's just like any other game" Can't let the magnitutde of this game overwhelm . 

5) Similar to number 4, forget about what is ahead ...don't be too eager for Thanksgiving, or Stanford, or NCAA selection...stay mentally in this game right now. 

Let's hope the  Cards can prevail. It should be an exciting one. 

paulie

Three VolleyCards Taken in PVF Draft -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Three Cards Selected in PVF Draft

Three Louisville volleyball players were selected in the 2024 Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF) Draft. Anna DeBeer, Elena Scott, and Charitie Luper all heard their names called and have a chance to play professionally in the United States. The PVF Draft featured five rounds for eight teams.

Anna DeBeer (Round 1, Pick 2) was taken with the second overall pick by the Indy Ignite. The outside hitter and Louisville native has spent the last five years with the Cards. During her career, DeBeer has tallied over 1,300 kills and 1,000 digs and became the fourth player in program history to break the 1,000 mark in both categories. She ranks in the top 10 in program history in kills.

Elena Scott (Round 2, Pick 9 overall) was taken with the first pick in the second round, ninth overall by the Indy Ignite. The Louisville native setter-turned-libero has a chance to team up with her current Louisville teammate Anna DeBeer up in Fishers, Ind, and has played for the Cards her entire four-year career. Scott has earned national attention at libero despite playing setter in high school. She ranks in the top 10 in program history in digs and service aces.

Charitie Luper (Round 3, Pick 24 overall) was taken with the eighth pick in the third round, 24th overall by the Vegas Thrill. Luper spent the last two seasons at Louisville after coming from UCLA. She has logged over 600 kills and 400 digs in her two years with the Cards and has eclipsed the 1,000-kill mark for her entire collegiate career.

 

All three players participated in Senior Day and will conclude their careers at Louisville in the coming month. Despite being drafted in the PVF Draft, all three players could potentially sign to play in the other professionally volleyball league in the United States- League One Volleyball (LOVB). LOVB recently formed and does not have a draft, but instead teams have the option to sign players as free agents. Both Anna Stevenson Hall and Claire Chaussee currently play for LOVB Madison, located in Madison, Wisconsin. Former Louisville player Amber Stivrins (Stivrins transferred out early in her career) plays for LOVB Omaha.

 

For now, Louisville volleyball gears up for a pair of big-time matches to close out the regular season. The Cards host #1 Pitt tomorrow night at the KFC Yum! Center and then travel to #7 Stanford on Black Friday. One win over the final two matches should guarantee a top four seed. Winning both matches would lock in a top four seed without question. Losing both matches could knock the Cards down to about #5 or #6, per a source friendly to Cardinal Couple. We will play by ear and take the rest of the season one match at a time.

Photos today brought to you by our friends from GoCards.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

CARDS TAKE TWO ON SUNDAY -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 VOLLEYBALL AND WBB GET WINS ON THE ROAD ON SUNDAY

 

A wild comeack win for Louisville WBB down in Orlando against USF and a huge, straight set romp for Louisville Volleyball in Blacksburg against the VT Hokies is our Monday morning news. 

WBB

"write it down...three!"

The Cards put three in double figures with the hard fought win in Orlando. it was "O" in Orlando. Cochran co-led the way for UofL in scoring with 13 points... (along with Imari Berry) and Jayda Curry added 12.  

A horrible start for the Cards, who trailed by as much as 11 in the first quarter at 16-5, before coming back to cut the USF lead to three, on a three from Berry, that made it 21-18 with eight seconds left in the quarter. Berry had a strong start to this one, with 11 first quarter points. VT was hitting their shots, the Cards were not, but,at least showing signs of life by the end of the quarter.

The Cards took the lead 22-21 about a minute and a half into the second quarter, on a Cochran putback and a 10-3 run stretched Lousville's lead to nine at 33-24 on a jumper by Nyla Harris with about four minutes left in the half. . That lead stayed at nine after an Isla Jufferman's layup with 1:38 until half, and another Jufferman's layup made the halftime tally 39-29 in favor of the Cards. 

Louisville built the lead to 43-30 early in the third quarter after a turnaround Cochran jumper. The Bulls were not done yet, though, and were able to cut the UofL lead to six with about four minutes left in the third quarter on a three, and hit another three near the end of the quarter to trail by seven at 53-46 going into the fourth..

The Bulls whttled the Cards lead to four with four minutes gone in the fourth quarter, and later went on a 6-0 run late to grab a 59-58 lead over UofL with 1:47 to play. Louisville regained the lead ,though,  at 60-59 on a Ja'Leah Williams layup and got four free throws from Jada Curry in the final five seconds to give the Cards the 64-60 win.

The Cards played 11 players in the win and all of them scored except for Merissah Russell and Anaya Hardy. 

With the win, Louisville goes to 4-2 on the season and willl next take the court on Nov 30th.in Boulder,CO against the Colorado Buffs. With the neutral site win, he Cards could improve on their #25 rankng in the AP poll and #22 ranking in the Coaches poll. 

Box score

VOLLEYBALL

#3 Louisville volleyball completed their Virginia trip with a straight set sweep pf the Hokies in Blacksburg... 25-16, 25-19 and 25-11. 

Charitie Luper, PK Kong and Reese Robins had six kills each for UofL,  the Cards used an 8-0 run early in the first set to take a 9-3 lead and were up 15-9 at the media timeout .  

The Cards pushed the lead to 18-11 after the timeout... and went up 22-13, then Alanna Bankston had the final three kills for Louisville's 25-16 first set win. 

The second set was a close one early and the teams were tied at 13-13 halfway thru second set action.  Louisville battled ahead to lead 20-17, and got the win on a Payton Petersen kill to make ithe final score 25-19. 

It was all Cards in the final set, a 7-3 start, and they built that to 11-5. Petersen got hot serving and the Cards pushed the lead to 15-7. UofL easily won the third, set, going on a 10-4 run to end the set and match on a Sofia Maldonado-Diaz ace serve.  25-11 Cards. 

Louisville got the win easily, even with playing  All-American Anna DeBeer sparingly, in to sets,DeBeer finished with just two kills, a season low for her. 

Next up for the Cards...,the lojng-awaited rematch vs. #2 Pittsburgh, on the 27th. 

box score

paulie

A Split Screen Sunday - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Basketball and Volleyball In Action

I hope you can split screen, or picture in picture.

Both Women's basketball and Volleyball are in action today, and both get underway at 1pm.

Neither team is playing in games that should be hugely consequential.

WBB

Women's basketball is still in early non-conference play, but take on a decent South Florida team.  They're at 4-2 in the young season, with losses to UConn and Vanderbilt, and wins over Bethune-Cookman, Mount Saint Mary's, UTRGV (Univ. of Texas Rio Grande Valley), and Jacksonville.

Jose Fernandez sports a very international squad, with players hailing from Brazil, Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Finland, France, Isreal, Italy, Ivory Coast, Latvia, and Spain.  Only two Americans are on the squad, from Minnesota and Ohio.

The game is at the ESPN Wide World of Sports which is part of the Disney empire in Orlando.  This makes the game technically a neutral court game, and it will be interesting to see how the crowd is split.  USF is in Tampa/St. Pete, so it is considerably closer, but how many Louisville fans decided that perhaps spending a long weekend in warm Florida in late November sounded like a good idea.

With this young, still forming, Cardinals team, USF could present a real challenge, but at the other basket, one wonders how the broad spectrum of backgrounds, and particularly languages, might hamper communication between players on the USF squad.

TV coverage for basketball is listed as "NBC Sports FAST channel", which I believe to be part of Peacock, NBC's streaming service.  You may still have it hanging around from the Olympics?

Volleyball

{Hailey Pearce leads the Hokies in kills)

Virginia Tech is the foe for the volleyball squad.  Also with the 1pm start, you probably already have access to the ACC Network Extra where this one is streaming if you're a Cards sports fan.

Virginia Tech is...and there's no way to put this delicately...not good.  They sports a 7-20 overall record, and only a single win in conference, over another not-very-good Clemson squad, though it was in South Carolina, so maybe that counts for something?  Not much, though as they are still in last place in the conference standings.

Non-conference losses include UCF, Winthrop (though they did also get a win over Winthrop), Lafayette, Cleveland State.

Their most impressive win is perhaps over VCU, who is sporting an RPI ranking of 85.

Head Coach Marci Byers is in her fifth year with the program.  They had a good start last season, opening the season 10-0, though the competition was not very strong.  After the good start, however, they went 3-16 for the rest of the season.

So, if you tune in to this one, please don't expect much in the way of competitive volleyball, though, as always, the Cards can't just lounge out on the court and take things for granted.

You'll find this one on ACC Network Extra streaming.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(the early days, from a basement on a hill)

While there was no live broadcast of the CCRHP yesterday as I was making my way back home from Denver where I was attending a professional conference this week, Case, Daryl, and Paulie did get together to chat about volleyball and basketball.

I have not had a chance to listen to this yet, but I'm sure the insights are great and much fun was had by all.

Check it out at:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-Set-for-Big-Week-WBB-Bounces-Back-e2rd8ll

-- 

JMcA

Volleyball Opens Virginia Weekend with Win -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Dominate UVA in 3 of 4 Sets

Louisville volleyball is on the road in Virginia this weekend ahead of two huge matches to close the season: hosting Pitt on Wednesday and heading to Stanford on Saturday. Getting out of the Old Dominion with minimal stress would be ideal, and the Cards did their best to make that happen yesterday evening. If you ignore the third set, the final score looked about how I expected. Louisville won sets 1, 2, and 4 25-10, 25-14, and 25-16. Strangely, out of the halftime break, the Cavaliers jumped all over the Cards and took the third set 25-23. For Louisville to flip the switch again in the fourth was encouraging and they'll head to Blacksburg tomorrow still tied atop the ACC.

Since I've already told you the score of the first set, you'll be a bit surprised to learn that Virginia won the first point, tied Louisville at 4, and won back-to-back points to make the score 10-8. I see you doing the math at home. Yes, Louisville went on a 15-2 run to close the first. UVA's resilience to not be immediately demoralized by something like that at home is impressive. 

The second was not quite as much of a beatdown, but again, UVA never really threatened. The two teams tied at 3 before Louisville won three straight points to take a 6-3 lead. UVA twice got within two points over the next few, but Louisville continued to steadily gap the Hoos. After a block by UVA made the score 12-7 in favor of Louisville, the score was never closer than that five points as Louisville sprinted to a 2-0 lead at the halftime break. 

Then came the third. Out of the gate, it was clear that Virginia was not going to lay down and let Louisville walk out of the gym with a sweep. The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and used that margin to keep the Cards at arm's length for the remainder of the set. Based on the way the previous two sets had gone, it seems safe to say that if Louisville had gained a lead, they probably could have completed the sweep. Virginia may have known that, as well, which could be why they pushed so hard to stay out front. 

Louisville's biggest chance came on a 6-1 run after trailing 12-6. Had the Cards tied at 13 and taken the lead, it could have been different. Instead, Virginia methodically stayed ahead. Again, Louisville got to within one point at 17-18, but UVA closed the door with a 5-1 run to put themselves within two points of the set win and Louisville needing a big run. The teams traded points and Louisville needed a 5-0 run to extend the set. They got four of the points they needed before UVA hit the 25 mark. 

Having been served a bit of humble pie, Louisville went into the fourth on a mission, establishing a gap early with a 7-1 lead. Virginia was able to bring the score within three points on two occasions (11-8 and 14-11), but a 6-0 run after the second put the match more or less to rest. Louisville was outscored 6-5 after being up 20-11, but in a race to 25, it was mostly academic. 

In a bit of an uncommon occurrence for the Cards this season, they hit steadily worse throughout the match. Louisville opened with a .500 mark in the first set with 14 kills and just one error. That dipped to .303 in the second before they hit .239 in the third. That .239 was on 17 kills and six errors, and it was the only set in which Virginia (.273) outhit them. To their credit, the third was the only set in which UVA had fewer than seven errors (3). The fourth saw Louisville hit just .100, but that was up against a -0.059, so the Cards walked away victorious. 

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer led Louisville offensively. Both had 13 kills and just three errors, with DeBeer edging ahead with a .357 percentage. DeBeer added to her offense with 12 digs while Luper contributed an assist, an ace, two assisted blocks, and three digs. Sofia Maldonado Diaz joined the two in double digits with 10 kills while Reese Robins had nine and Cara Cresse had seven. 

Louisville's day at the net was strong, as they blocked 14 shots overall. Cresse and Hannah Sherman led the way on that front, with Cresse putting up two solo blocks and two assisted blocks while Sherman had a whopping three solo and six assisted. The Hoos kept the pressure on Louisville's defense forcing the setters into a combined 21 digs (14 from Cabello), while Elena Scott had 23. Louisville finished with 68 digs as a team, so hats off to UVA for keeping the ball in play. 

The Cards will be back in action tomorrow against Virginia Tech at 1PM. As I noted before, this is the last match before the two closing matches of the season which will have massive implications on the postseason landscape. The Cards and Hokies will do battle on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be without the live show again this week as Jeff is on the road. Jared will be at the football stadium for pre-game Senior Day festivities, but with basketball and volleyball to discuss, we'll carry on with the show. We're set for our normal recording time, the show will get be available for listening at its usual time this afternoon. Daryl and Paulie will be on with me. 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

Cards fly by the Eagles 107-70 -- VolleyCARDS at Virginia -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers!  We're in a nose dive into the holiday season and the good news is that the Cards WBB squad is over .500 again and back on the quest for a national championship.  

Speaking of national championships... a reminder that the city of Louisville will host the NCAA Volleyball Championship next month and tickets are available for all sessions on Ticketmaster.    If I'm not drowning in wedding prep by then, I would seriously like to make it down there for the matches, even if the Cards don't make it (but, of course, we seriously hope they do!!!!!)


WBB

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals topped in state foe, the Morehead State Eagles 107 to 70 on a snowy Thursday evening down at the Yum! Center.  14 players scored for the Cardinals against Morehead State as UofL was lead by freshman Imari Berry who had 21 points on 8-12 shooting, 5-8 from 3-point range.   As a team, the Cards shot 63% from the field and pulled away from the Eagles with two dominating 2nd and 4th quarters  where they outscored the Eagles 59-23.   72 points came off the bench for UofL.  Ja'Leah Williams had 8 assists and the Cards had 25 assists on 39 made buckets.   

End of 1Q Cards 28 - 27
FG %
9-12 75% Cards
11-17 65% Eagles
Reb. 6 - 4 Cards
3-pt %
3-5 60% Cards
5-8 63% MSU


Mackenly Randolph hit the game's first jumper after the Cards used the entire possession before finally being able to convert.  Nyla Harris scored next to keep the offense rolling before a 1-2 trip to the free throw line in the first couple of minutes.  Merissah Russell entered 2 min. into the match for Randolph... before making her first appearance this season, Jada Cedurry enters 7:30 on the clock in the first quarter and 30 seconds later nailed the three pointer.  The Cards are looking hot on offense when Olivia finds a way to squeeze through the defense underneath to put it up and in and the Cards up 11-4 on the Eagles. 

The Eagles then went on a 6-0 run over a minute to tie it up 13 all just before the first quarter media timeout.  Imari Berry came in and nailed back to back threes for the Cards, But Morehead State would not be intimidated as they had just as many .weapons loaded to shoot and score as well.  With 2 min left in the first quarter, the Eagles took the lead again 23-22 before the Cards re-establish the lead for good.  


End of 2Q 31-10 Cards

FG %
11-16 68.8% Cards
3-9 33.3% MSU
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
7-11 63.6% Cards
1-3 33.3% MSU


Ja'Leah Williams hit her first bucket of the game... a 3... to put the Cards up 31-28.  Berry gets the nice bounce on a floater before MSU turns it over and Williams hit another from three point land and the Eagles call a timeout.  

Berry had 5 threes and went 6-9 in the half for the Cardinals.  As a team the Cards went 11-16 for 69% in the quarter. 


HALF 59-37 Cards


End of 3Q 20-20 

FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
8-16 50% Eagles
Reb. 9-8 Eagles
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
3-3 100% Eagles


Olivia got the scoring going for the Cardinals in the second half for her 8th points.  With so much production coming from the newcomers for the Cardinals, I'm sure it's nice for Olivia not to feel so much pressure to score so much in order to win games.  

End of 4Q 28-13 Cards

FG %
10-18 55.6% Cards
5-16 31.3% Eagles
Reb. 16-6 Cards
3-pt %
5-7 71.4% Cards
1-6 16.7% Eagles


Curry hits her second three and ninth point of the game to make it 93-65.   All 14 scorers for the Cardinals scored when Arenas hit a three pointer and the team wrapped up the game scoring 6 points in the final minute of play.  

UP NEXT

Louisville vs South Florida

Sunday 1pm

FRED REPORT

Fred Couples 

FREE THROWS --  I actually gasped when I looked at the final stat line at the free throw line for the Cards.  As a team, UofL went 13-24 in the game which is good for 54% and definitely not good for a letter in the category by our standards.   This area must improve moving forward as it could be a difference maker against tougher opponents.  no letter

REBOUNDING --  The Cards outrebounded the Eagles 38-24 with Cochran and Imafidon both pulling down 6 each.  I definitely noticed some energy from Imafidon as she got some more minutes towards the end of the game.  I look forward to seeing the duo work together on rebounding duties to give the Cards some more offensive opportunities.  Capital R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  This squad is still learning who they are and who they can be but they did manage to get back in the win column in a stunning 107 fashion despite the bad night at the free throw line.  The defense also looked a little lost sometimes so I will give it a Capital letter E for the overall win and a really impressive 2nd and 4th quarter. 

DEFENSE --  I don't think any of us at Cardinal Couple thought this one would be a close one and I don't think the Cardinals looked like a bad team but I do think that when the Eagles were scoring, they were pretty open shots and they were going in.   The squad did have 5 blocks and steals which I believe came more towards the end of the game when Imafidon had 3 blocks in the 4th.  lower case d



FINAL FRED TALLY:      _R_E_d

CAPTION THIS:

Our illustrious photographer Jared has offered us a chance to add the caption to the photo below. Ypou know what thet say..you're nobody until Jared takes a picture of you. Fele free to leave you comment in..duh..the comments section.

 




Volleyball

Louisville at Virginia 

7:00 P.M.

ACCNX

Virginia currently sits at 20-7 on the year, including a 10-6 record against ACC opponents. These 20 wins for the Cavaliers are the most in a single season since 2006.

The Hoos are coming off a 1-1 weekend on the road after being swept by #7 Stanford before taking a 3-1 win over Cal.   


The Cavs and the Cards have met 13 times dating back to 1995. Louisville has taken the last seven matches between the two squads including the lone 2023 meeting which was a sweep (16-25, 16-25, 17-25).   The last time the Cards lost a set was October 27th at Southern Methodist.  

As always
Go Cards!
~Daryl

WBB Back Home to Host Morehead State -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Return Home For Thursday Night Game

Louisville women’s basketball returns to action tonight with a home game against Morehead State at 7:00pm ET. The game will be aired on ACCNX. This is just the second home game of the season for the Cardinals (2-2). Most recently, Louisville fell in overtime on the road to top-20 Kentucky.

Morehead State (1-3) has had a rough start to the season. The Eagles have lost three straight following a season-opening victory against Asbury University. All three losses have been by double digits. Morehead State opened the season 1-3 last year before finishing 15-15. Louisville won last year’s match-up 74-48.

The Eagles currently average 60.5 points per game while allowing 71.3 points per game. Kate Novik (16.8 ppg) and Aileen Marquez (14.3 ppg) lead the Eagles in scoring. Novik is also the top rebounder, averaging 8.8 per game. Michelle Ugwah is close behind at 5.5 rebounds per game.

Chris Palmer is the interim head coach for Morehead State, currently in his first year. Palmer finished his ball-playing days a couple years before the COVID-19 pandemic and has bounced around in different positions within different programs since then. He was an assistant coach with Southern Wesleyan (S.C.) last season before coming to Morehead State.

For Louisville, Taj Roberts has led the charge offensively with 14.3 points per game. Olivia Cochran (9.8 ppg) and Nyla Harris (9.0 ppg) have also been contributors on offense. The Cards have outscored opponents 70.3 ppg - 63.0 ppg. Free throw shooting has been poor to start the year with the Cards shooting 43/70 (.614). The assist-turnover ratio favors the turnovers currently, but Louisville has done better than its opponents in that category.

Louisville owns the all-time record in the series 17-13 and have won four straight. Jeff Walz is 3-0 against Morehead State.

This is a game that we hope to see the full bench have a chance to log a fair amount of minutes. We will have in-person coverage again for this game.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared