Volleyball Sweeps Chicago State in NCAA Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Maldonado Diaz Leads in Louisville Romp

Louisville opened the NCAA Tournament last night in the KFC Yum! Center and welcomed Chicago State into what was likely the largest crowd the Cougars faced all season. It was Chicago State's first ever NCAA tournament appearance, and Louisville didn't welcome them to the party very gently. The Cards didn't necessarily play their cleanest match, but when all was said and done, Louisville outhit CSU .290 to .009 and won the match 25-10, 25-18, 25-13. 

Dani Busboom-Kelly got plenty of players tournament experience yesterday, with 13 Cardinals seeing the floor. Those players included Payton Peterson, who got the opportunity to play with her mom Bobbi scouting in the stands. Bobbi is the head coach of the Northern Iowa squad that Louisville will face today. Peterson played in one set and got two kills on four attempts while also picking up a dig. The 8th-seeded Panthers of UNI defeated Illinois 3-1. 

Louisville set the tone very early, winning the first seven points of the match. From there, it was pretty straightforward. Although the second set score is a lot closer, Louisville and CSU tied at 3-3 and the deficit was never smaller than one after that. CSU won three points in a row to bring the score to 12-11 at one point in the set, but Louisville won the next five to put the set fairly well in hand. Like the first, the Cards were all over the Cougars in the third, with Louisville jumping out to 10-1 lead. There is not a lot to dig into with the play-by-play, as there wasn't very much drama. 

Louisville was led offensively by Sofia Maldonado Diaz, although the usual suspects of Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer were hot on her tail. Maldonado Diaz had nine kills and hit .368, while also adding a solo block and four block assists. She picked up an assist and two digs to go along with the offense. Luper also finished with nine kills, but hit just .273. Luper added an ace, a block assist, and five digs. DeBeer was relatively quiet outside of her hitting (seven kills; .235) as she registered no other stats except for five digs. 

Defensively, Louisville was stout, allowing just the .009 hitting I mentioned earlier. The Cards finished with ten blocks, compared to just four for CSU. Hannah Sherman was the blocking leader, as she finished with seven block assists. The Cards had just two solo blocks (PK had the second), so the defense was reading CSU very well. Louisville also allowed no aces, while the Cougars committed five serving errors. The serving game benefited Louisville decently, as they were net +6 in that category. Louisville had five aces and just four errors. 

Louisville will face a familiar foe this evening when they take on UNI. The Cards swept the Panthers earlier this season, but that win was actually their first in the historical series. The two teams have played in early season events on four occasions, but their last meeting prior to this season was in the 2017 NCAA tournament. You may remember that upset loss, a sweep at the hands of UNI in Minneapolis. All five matches in the series have been sweeps, coincidentally, with UNI taking wins in 1987, 1989, 2013, and 2017. Louisville will be looking to add to their list of victories in the head-to-head tonight. As DBK mentioned in her postgame comments, this Louisville team is nothing new to UNI. In addition to having played earlier this year, UNI's head coach has had plenty of reason to watch every Louisville match to this point. 

The Cards should be prepared for a major test. There haven't been many upsets in this year's tournament so far, but Missouri proved last night that the top-two seeds are not invincible. SMU fought off a sweep by winning the third set in their match, but the 7th-seeded Tigers ultimately won 3-1. The winner of tonight's match between Louisville and UNI will face Purdue in the next round. Purdue was the beneficiary of one of the few upsets that have happened. Loyola Chicago swept the 5th-seeded BYU Cougars before becoming the second team to be swept by the Boilermakers in the tournament. Should Louisville win, next week's match will be in Freedom Hall. 

Tonight's match gets underway at 6PM eastern time and will likely be available to watch on ESPN+. No official broadcast is listed yet. 

WBB Looks to Bounce Back in Big Matchup

After the shocking fourth quarter collapse against Oklahoma earlier this week, there's no rest for the weary when it comes to Louisville women's basketball. The Cards face another huge test tonight, this time on a neutral floor. Louisville will take on UConn in the Women's Champions Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Tonight's game is part of the first ever edition of the Women's Champions Classic, so I imagine there will be plenty of eyes on the game. 

UConn is currently ranked #2 in the country, taking seven first-place votes in last week's AP Poll. The Huskies have two ranked wins so far this season, having beaten UNC 69-58 on the road and Ole Miss 73-60 in the Bahamas. Apparently they've decided to do the thing where they're good no matter where they play again. 

Louisville will be looking for their first major win of the season, having come close in a number of big matchups. Tonight's game will air on FOX and is scheduled for 9PM. With the event styled the way it is, tipoff will be dependent on the first game, which features Tennessee and Iowa. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl and I are out this week, but the three stooges remaining hosts will have plenty to talk about. Jeff will be buzzing to talk about exciting volleyball, and I'm sure Jared and Paulie will be thrilled to give him the floor and ignore the WBB midweek game. 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