Cardinal Notes and News -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Welcome back to the weekend readers, we hope it was a week of celebrations and hopefully fulfilling to spend some time with family and friends.     

The next time I chime in on these pages will be well after the wedding,  so I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and I'm looking forward to another successful year of UofL women's athletics!! We appreciate your viewership !!

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cardinal athletic programs enjoyed a few days of a break and we are looking forward to catching the WBB squad back in action at Boston College on Sunday afternoon 2 p.m.   

This one will be viewable on the ACC Network!

i took this pic when we were tailgating for the football game

Volleyball news

Phekran Kong posted on IG that she was saying goodbye to Louisville after quite the experience.  We wish her well in her next endeavors.  

After that news Thursday afternoon, we also heard the news of an addition for the VolleyCards 

From Sports Illustrated

Chloe Chicoine entered the transfer portal after enjoying a second straight All-Big Ten season in 2024. She averaged 3.08 kills and 2.95 digs per set for the Boilermakers last season. She helped lead Purdue to a 27-7 record, a 16-4 mark in Big Ten play and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament.



Chicoine will have two seasons of eligibility to use at Louisville. She was an All-Big Ten player in each of her first two seasons at Purdue and was an All-American as a freshman in 2023.                                                                                                 As Always, Go Cards!!  ~Daryl







   

The Day After Christmas Reality -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Post-Christmas Back to Reality

The Anderson family

While the holiday season can provide plenty of time with friends and family and time off from work, the day after Christmas can be a harsh reality. For many of us, we are back to work at the crack of dawn with no time to recover from the busy holiday. Still, it's nice to have that time off.

For me, my wife and I hosted Christmas this year. We bought our house last year but were in South Carolina for Christmas 2023, so this is the first time we were able to host. Fortunately, our house is plenty big to host my whole side of the family. Our family has dwindled down to just nine of us over the years as we have had to say goodbye to family members over the years. The only addition to the family recently was my wife after we got married last year. 

My wife's parents and brother (and their one-year-old puppy) will be traveling up here from South Carolina beginning Friday and staying with us through New Year's Eve, so we get to play host all over again. It's always a nice treat when we are able to see them for several days at a time. Puppy proofing a house will be quite the challenge. 

My grandma's favorite gift- a picture of her three grandchildren

I prefer hosting events and holidays instead of traveling elsewhere as it is nice to be home. Sleeping in may not be a thing as there is plenty of cleaning and preparation when hosting, but when everything is all over, it is nice to sit and rest after everyone is gone.

I'm not ready to get back to work yet, but we only have two days left in the standard working week this week and have a shortened week next week too with New Year's Day approaching. By this time next week, we will also see Louisville women's basketball back in action when they welcome ACC foe Miami to the KFC Yum! Center.

Cardinal Couple will be back to its regular coverage of Louisville women's athletics as they pick back up after the holiday season, but we hope all of you had a great holiday and can find some time to rest and recover in the coming days.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! - CHRISTMAS DAY

From all of us to you, 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

-- CARDINAL COUPLE

Silent Night

Ten Hours of Xmas Music

Paul, Sonya, Jared, Case, Jeff and Daryl

.

The Cruel World of Sports -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Volleyball the Latest Victim of the Cruelty of Sports

Picture this: You spend your entire childhood playing volleyball with dreams of playing for your local school and winning a championship with them when you get older. You receive a scholarship playing for your dream school. You become an All-American. Your final year, the Final Four is hosted in your hometown. As if it was a fairytale, your team goes on a magical run to advance to the national championship. But... you get injured in the days before the championship and cannot play. Your team loses.

Pretty easy thing to imagine in your head, right? We witnessed this situation this past weekend. Anna DeBeer is a Louisville native who grew up dreaming of playing for Louisville. In her five years, DeBeer was named an All-American three times, helped lead the Cards to two Final Four appearances, and appeared to be on pace to help give Louisville its first volleyball championship. However, an ankle sprain in the semifinal helped her collegiate career come to an abrupt ending and Louisville was missing its heart and soul in the final match and fell.

Sports are cruel. They can dangle the thing you want the most right in front of you and yank it away at the last second. Sports can be Lucy, from the comic strip Peanuts..holding the football for you to kick..and jerking it away at the funal second...as you miss the ball and land on your back. 

The volleyball world watched in disbelief as DeBeer was helped off the court against Pittsburgh in the fourth set. Then, Louisville fans everywhere watched in disappointment as Penn State was able to take control of the second half to win the title in the ards next outing. Louisville was as close as you could be to winning the championship and even began building momentum at halftime after winning an extended and grueling second set. But, without their leader, Louisville came up just short.

"What if?" Now all of Louisville has to look back and think "What if". What if DeBeer didn't get hurt? Does Louisville win? Personally, I believe Louisville wins. The Cards played a competitive match even without their star player. Just think how they could have fared had she been healthy enough to play.

But...

But, while sports can show its cruelty at times, sports offers so much more than that. Sports offers excitement, joy, love, passion, and hope. Sports can bring so much positivity into someone's life.

Looking back at the last few Louisville volleyball seasons, we have seen massive growth in popularity. For the last couple years, the waiting list for season tickets has grown into the hundreds.

Louisville set its own program record for number of fans at a regular season match. They then turned around and helped shatter the attendance records for the national semifinals and final- a sold out KFC Yum! Center.

In a time where both Louisville womens and mens basketball teams were falling short of expectations (one much more so than the other), fans turned to Louisville volleyball for hope and joy. Fans were hopeful for great seasons and big tournament runs. The wins against top tier opponents brought joy and excitement to Louisville fans everywhere. Louisville fans united to cheer on the Cards and celebrate in the many joyous occasions, but to also offer each other support and a leg to stand on through the losses and heartbreak.

The Cards got into some epic matches against the best programs in the country. Many of these matches were aired on major national tv networks, drawing in hundreds of thousands of viewers and even surpassed one million viewers on multiple occasions. 

Young girls everywhere looked up to this new generation of role models. DeBeer and Elena Scott being Louisville natives were certainly fan favorites but posters boasting the names of all players on the UofL squad could be seen in the crowd. Fans would line up and wait for over an hour to get autographs and pictures with players. Many of these young girls found inspiration and courage to continue to pursuing their passion and dreams to play the sport they love.

We saw a women's sport grow in popularity more this season and continued to make strides in attendance numbers and tv viewership. We saw the first woman head coach to win a volleyball title happen this year.

It's not just volleyball where we see these things happen. It's across all sports. But Louisville volleyball helped make an impact in the world of volleyball. It's a beautiful thing to see the good that sports can bring.

Cardinal Couple had another great season in 2024...covering the joy and excitement of Louisville volleyball and all Cardinals womens athletics.. While our part may be small in the overall spectrum, we are glad to be a part of the great things that sports can bring. And, we are grateful toyou, the reader, for being there to follow us, to make suggestions, give compliments and being the target we hope to hit successfully as we thro our journalistic darts at the big circle of Carinals women sports each day. 

Thank you, We hope Santa brings you lots of goodies tomorrow and that you also remember "the readon for the season". 

Happy Tuesday, Happy Christmas Eve, and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards fall to Penn State in NCAA Championship Match -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUISVILLE FALLS TO NITTANY LIONS IN FOUR SETS. 

A tough Sunday for the VolleyCards, getting all the way to the DI NCAA Title match and falling to Penn State in four sets -- 23-25, 34-32, 20-25, 17-25 in the KFC YUM Center.  

The Cards took out #1 Pittsburgh on their way to the championship game, but also lost their best player in Anna DeBeer in that historic win Thursday night. Did the win over Pitt  take too much out of UofL? Or was it the loss of DeBeer that contributed to the loss? We'll never be able to say for sure, but they really didn't lose much of anything with Payton Petersen filling in for DeBeer...except for the foreboding presence of DeBeer on the court. 

Maybe it was k just a case of Penn State, who knocked off Nebraska in the semifinal, having superior "kill" numbers -- they had 72 to UofL's 53... Jess Mruzik had 29 for the Nittany Lions, eight more that Louisville's leader -- Charitie Luper.  

Maybe that seemingly   never ending second set that Louisville won took it out of the Cards for the remainder of the match. Here's how Dani Busboom Kelly and student-athletes Navelis Cabello and Sofia Maldonado Diaz saw it: 

POST MATCH LOUISVILLE

Maybe it wasn't a case of Louisville playing badly at all, just a situation where Penn State played better. Only Pitt and Wisconsin had hung losses on PSU in the regular season and they did defeat #2 Nebraska twice during the season.

Was it a situation where the Cards didn't have anything to lose and benefitted from the pro--Louisville crowd for the Final Four? I suppose that's one way of looking at it, but still, doesn't lessen the disappointment of the Louisville fans who believed in the team and largely helped make up the largest crowd to ever see a NCAA Volleyball Championship match. 

POST MATCH ANNA DEBEER

On this particular afternoon, Penn State proved to be the best team. But, Cardinals fans will remember this group of girls a very long time, and with the youth that returns and contributed so heavily this season, Louisville will be another force again next year in the ACC and the NCAA in volleyball. 

MORE JARED ANDERSON PHOTOS

Basketball Gets a Win, Volleyball Plays for it All - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Plays for it All

Today is the day.  It's been circled on Louisville Volleyball's calendar since the Final Four coming to Louisville was announced several years ago.

The chance to play for a national title on a team's home floor doesn't come around often.  The last team to accomplish the feat is a bit debatable, with some media outlets identifying Nebraska in 2006 (with one "Dani Busboom" playing as Libero), but that was in Omaha at what was then called the Qwest Center, and is now the CHI Health Center, while the University of Nebraska is in Lincoln.  Before that you have to go back to 1991 when UCLA won it all in Pauley Pavilion.

Today will also make history in another way, and if you've paid much attention to the volleyball coverage in the media, you've likely heard this already.  On the opposite side of the net, the head coach for Penn State is also a woman, Katie Schumaker-Cawley.  The volleyball national championship has never been won by a team with a woman as a head coach, and today it's guaranteed, regardless of who wins.

So let's get down to this matchup.  The teams did meet early in the season, where Louisville, frankly, had a terrible performance, losing in a sweep, 25-15, 25-19, 25-13.  Now, that match was in Rec Hall in State College, which is a brutal place for visiting teams to play.  And this Louisville team has developed quite a bit since then.  Of course, PSU will have developed in that time period as well.

The two big threats for the Nittany Lions are outside hitter Jess Mruzik and opposite hitter Caroline Jurevicius.  Both bring a lot of power, and intelligent play to the court, though neither are particularly tall.  Mruzik is listed at 6'1", and Jurevicius is 6'2", giving a better chance for Louisville's all-important block to be effective against them.

The big question mark coming into this game is what Anna DeBeer's status is.  There's been no word beyond what we've heard from DBK's press conference where she said DeBeer was "day to day".  She had an MRI on Friday and while there has been no word on the results, a "day to day" status suggests that no structural damage was found.  She's been wearing a boot, as was seen at the All-American banquet, and certainly getting routine treatments with the Louisville sports medicine folks.

What changes in the lineup for the Cards would result if DeBeer can't play?  Some people have suggested radical changes, including such proposals as shifting to a 5-1 offense and moving Sofia Maldonado Diaz over to the left side.  Personally, I think we saw the answer in the 4th set Thursday after DeBeer left the court.  Payton Petersen looks like she's ready and capable of slotting right in and holding her own in that position.

This is a big day for volleyball, and for UofL volleyball in particular, with messages of support arriving for one or both teams from all over.  Luminaries such as Dawn Staley (head coach of South Carolina WBB) and no less than Billie Jean King (tennis legend) expressing joy and support for both coaches and ascendancy of a woman head coach to a national championship.

 

On the Louisville side, Pat Kelsey took the first four minutes or so of his press conference over the weekend to praise the Louisville volleyball team, and the sport of volleyball as a whole, before getting down to previewing his team's game against Florida State.  We've seen social media posts with support from Donovan "Spida" Mitchell, Jeff Walz, Harry Douglass, Deion Branch, Peyton Siva, and more...and those are just the "famous" people.  My personal social media timelines have been filled with less notable people (though all still awesome) who aren't particularly known for their affiliation with Louisville Volleyball singing the praises of the team and the excitement of the game.

The Louisville "Fan HQ" is O'Shea's on main street and would be a good place to gather before (and maybe after) the match to get hyped with other Cards fans, and if you don't have tickets to the event, they will have the match on all of their screens you can watch.  The "Red Carpet Arrival" will be in front of the KFC Yum! Center at approximately 1pm, doors open at 1:30, and the match starts at 3pm.

The match will be televised on ABC, so it will be easily accessible to anyone who wants to see the pinnacle of college volleyball competition.

If you do have tickets, and want to join in on the C-A-R-D-S cheer when Penn State calls a timeout, I'll be in section 114, row G, so you can find me there and follow along.

Basketball Packages Up a Win

Louisville looked to get back to their winning ways last night and did so in a big way over Memphis, taking home the win, 87-68.

The Cards did take some time to settle before starting to really pull out a lead, like all of the first quarter, joining Memphis in a 21 point tie after the first 10 minutes.

 

The Cards would take charge in the second quarter, however, pulling out to a 15 point lead for halftime, 51-36.  The 3rd extended that lead just a bit with another four point margin.  The score was 73-52 after 30 minutes of play.  The Tigers would "win" the fourth quarter, but by only a two point margin, far too little to catch up to the Cards significant lead at that point.

 

Freshman guard Tajianna Roberts led the way for the Cards, earning 23 points with a trio of steals and a couple of assists.  She was supported by Jayda Curry and Olivia Cochran in what was a double-double for Cochran made up of 12 points and 13 rebounds, and add in a pair of blocks on the effort.  Curry had 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, and two steals.

 

FRED Report

Fred MacMurray would approve...Cards win in Memphis. 

F - The Cards went seven for ten from the charity strip.  That just sneaks in under the wire for a letter.  As has been mentioned, in my approach to the FRED report, I give a lower case "f" for 70-75% and the upper case for above 75%, while other writers consider this an all-or-nothing "F" category.

 

R - UofL did outrebound the Tigers, 35-27, which is a fairly significant margin.  Eight extra possessions is big in a game.  The Tigers did win the offensive board battle, getting 12 off of their own attempts compared to nine that continued play for the Cards.  I'm feeling generous today and go ahead and award the capital letter on this one, but I'd like to see more offensive rebounding.  "R"

 

E - It was a slow start, for both teams to be fair, with the score only 7-5 after four and a half minutes of play, but the second quarter made up for it.  Once again, however, the Cards kinda fell off at the end, narrowly "losing" the 4th quarter, so I'm only going to award the lower case letter here.  It was a good win, with spans of good play, but now they need to work on the consistency and finishing strong.  "e"

 

D - The defense showed up pretty well for the Cards, with 10 steals and three blocks, definitely dominating the Tigers in that phase of the game with their eight steals and no blocks.  Capital "D", here.

 

So, a f-R-e-D, is a pretty good result on the Fred report and it shows with a nearly 20 point win.

 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Case, Paulie, and I made the call yesterday for the CCRHP...though Case just barely did, joining right as we went live!

After a bit of idle chatter including some job search advice, we got down to the meat and potatoes, or in this context, Basketball and Volleyball.

It was a great show with great insights, check it out!

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-Plays-for-a-Title-e2sk48n

-- 

JMcA

Basketball Set to Face Memphis -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Takes on Old Foe in Tigers

Louisville women's basketball (along with the men) will provide today's entertainment as Cardinals fans try to catch their breath ahead of tomorrow's volleyball national championship. Both normal occupants of the Yum! Center are on the road this week due to NCAA rules regarding the volleyball court remaining in place. WBB headed south on 65 and hung a right when they got to Nashville as they'll face the Memphis Tigers for the first time since 2014. 

Louisville and Memphis have long been foes, but the rivalry took a break in most sports when Louisville joined the ACC in 2014. The Cards and Tigers played 10 times from 2000-2014, and they've played 46 times in history. The all-time series is tied at 23, but Louisville won eight of the last ten games. The Cards have also won the last six meetings. 

Dating back to 1977, Louisville dropped the first game 89-67. Fastforwarding to the modern era, Louisville's smallest margin of victory over the Tigers came in 2004, when the Cards won 66-65. Proving just how fast things can change in college hoops, the Cards took their largest margin of victory just three seasons later in a 102-64 win. The Cards are 11-7 at home and 7-12 in Memphis. 

All of that goes to the wayside, though, when you look at teams that are playing for the first time in a decade. In Louisville's final non-conference game of the season, they'd be extremely disappointed to come away with anything but a significant victory in this one. This year's iteration of the Memphis Tigers is not a good one. They've started the season 2-8 and are currently on a seven-game losing streak. Their wins came over Mississippi Valley State and Samford. They've been beaten at home by Southeastern Louisiana and Murray State.

Although Louisville's last time out was nothing to write home about, this weekend's game should be a reset. We've said that a fair amount this season, but a road win over an old rival heading into Christmas break would at least be a palate cleanser after last week's home drubbing at the hands of NC State. Statistically, the Cards should have the upper hand. While they're only scoring 72.1 points per game, matching Memphis's output, the Cards give up just 67.7 to opponents, a fair shake off of the 83.3 the Tigers are yielding. 

Memphis is allowing opponents to shoot 45% from the field and they turn the ball over 17 times per game. Their transition defense leaves a bit to be desired as well, as Memphis opponents are averaging 20.1 points off turnovers. Louisville has been very hot and cold this season, but this is not a game in which they should be under pressure. One thing to look out for, and I'm sure it's on the scouting report (although we've talked about Louisville's performance against the scout), is Memphis from beyond the arc. They're only shooting 31% from there and averaging 5.7 makes per game, but those are both pretty well in line with what Louisville allows from their opponents. As we saw in the tournament last season, allowing a lesser team to get hot behind the line is a recipe for disaster. 

I am still bullish on Louisville's ability to turn it around this season. I really do think one complete game could be the spark they need. But, despite that, they've been unable to find it. Even in a 96-57 victory over Grambling State, we had plenty of nits to pick, and that game was sandwiched between a pair of stinkers. We'll see how the Cards respond to the NC State game today at 5PM on ESPNU.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today with Jared and Daryl taking the week off. Paulie, Jeff, and I will have plenty to discuss, and I imagine we'll spend quite a load of time on Thursday night's volleyball match and the big one on the horizon tomorrow. 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

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