CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDINAL COUPLE
We report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports here. Thanks for checking us out! Click the picture of Louie to hear the latest Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast!!

Monday, September 15, 2025

VB, WSOC Win; FH Doesn't -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sweep Blue Jay Invitational


After victories over Creighton and Northern Iowa, one match stood between Louisville and a clean sweep of the weekend. The Cards dropped a set for their fifth straight match, but they recovered to beat the Owls 22-25, 28-26, 25-14, 25-15. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Dan Meske had words for his squad at halftime after the first two sets. 

Louisville got back to their blocking ways in this one, totaling 13 team blocks. It was a group effort, as the Cards had just one solo block, which again came from Nayelis Cabello. Cabello contributed four block assists as well, tying her with Hannah Sherman for second in that category. Cara Cresse and Kalyssa Blackshear led the way with six apiece. Addison Makun chipped in a pair and Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen each had one. 

Petersen finished with a double-double after picking up 11 kills and 11 digs. Cresse led the way in kills as well, slamming home 14 and leading the team in hitting percentage with a .458. Blackshear was close behind with 13 kills and a .333 percentage. Chicoine had nine kills and no errors. Louisville also had a strong day at the service line, finishing with 10 aces, outnumbering their nine errors. 

Louisville improved to 7-1 after the win, and it will be interesting to see where they land in the AVCA rankings today. Though the Cards suffered their first loss of the season, it was in a functional road match against the second-ranked team in the country, and they followed it up with a road win over a ranked team. The Cards will get their next major test back in the friendly confines of the Yum! Center when they face UK at 6PM on Thursday. The match will be on ESPNU. 

Soccer Beats VT 1-0


Louisville left it late in their conference home opener, but they ultimately scored a game-winner to beat Virginia Tech and move to 1-1 in ACC play. The win was a big one. Louisville will play some of the top teams in the conference this season, and a return to NCAA tournament play means beating teams you have the chance to. Virginia Tech entered at 4-3-2 on the season and lost just 2-1 against UNC on Thursday. The Hokies had scored 23 goals and given up 13. A win gives Louisville a precious three points and sees them in the top half of the league (although BC, SMU, and NC State have yet to play two conference matches). 

The Cards were stymied offensively in the first half, earning just one shot off-target. Virginia Tech controlled much of the possession and took four shots, forcing one save from Erynn Floyd. The Hokies also enjoyed two corners compared to just one for the Cards. Louisville turned up the offensive pressure in the second half, though. The two teams each had just one corner kick, but Louisville totaled 10 shots in the period, and they put five of them on target. 

To Virginia Tech's credit, they had a couple of chances as well. The Hokies put two of their three second half shots on frame, but Floyd was up to the task. The two teams looked headed for Louisville's first draw of the season until late in the half when Liza Suydam found herself with space in the offensive third. Carrying the ball up field, she saw an opening and slotted a great through ball for Emersen Jennings to set the forward up with a 1-on-1 opportunity with the VT goalkeeper. Jennings showed once more that she has found more touch and accuracy in her senior season, taking a light touch on the ball before firing it home high into the side netting. Louisville led 1-0 in the 82nd minute and would go on to complete the victory. 

It was a brutal finish for Virginia Tech. The Hokies had conceded three times in the final five minutes of matches entering yesterday, and the late winner for Louisville will add to that frustration. For the Cards, it was a great recovery after the difficult match in Tallahassee on Thursday. A scoreless draw would have netted the Cards a point in the conference standings, but it would have felt empty after showing so much punch in non-conference and being quite frisky on the road against FSU. One goal is not ideal, but it's better than none. 

Louisville's win gave them their highest win total since 2019. The Cards had 13 wins that season, and it was the last time they made the NCAA tournament. While there are still eight games remaining, 13 wins would be quite tough this season. Double digit wins, though, should definitely be on the table. Louisville's next opponent will be a tough Clemson team. The Tigers opened their ACC slate by bringing the two California teams to South Carolina. They stole a point off of Stanford late on Thursday and earned a matching 2-2 draw against Cal on Sunday. Clemson has already picked up five draws this season and sit at 3-1-5. 

No lead will be safe against the Tigers, and Louisville will need to stay focused on Friday to earn a victory. It's an unusual game day for the Cards with the Friday slot instead of Thursday, but it comes ahead of a bye on Sunday. The match will begin at 7PM. 

FH Stumbles in Hangover Loss


Louisville field hockey suffered a shocking loss on Friday, giving up the lead in the waning moments of the match before losing to the #1 team in overtime. Those bad vibes apparently carried through the weekend, as #15 Iowa took the Cards to task on Sunday. 

Louisville gave up four goals in the first quarter on seven shots by Iowa. The Hawkeyes added a fifth goal on three more shots in the second quarter and Louisville was held without a shot in the first half. The Cards managed ten shot attempts in the second half, and actually finished with more shots on target overall (9-8), but Iowa's had been of higher quality, and Louisville could find the back of the cage just once. 

Annabel Sep scored her third goal of the year on a penalty corner shortly into the third quarter. While it jumpstarted the offense and the Cards had more corners and shots immediately after, they couldn't find the back of the net. A 5-1 loss was a painful way to close what could have been a huge weekend. 

The Cards have a long practice week ahead before their next match on Friday. It will be another Big Ten team headed to Trager Stadium, as Ohio State comes to town. A win would keep the Cards above .500 on the season, both overall and against B1G teams. With two matches to go before conference play begins, getting back on track before heading to California next week would be significant. 

Until next time, Go Cards!
Case

Sunday, September 14, 2025

VOLLEYBALL BESTS NORTHERN IOWA -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

#4  CARDS GO TO 6-1 


i was ready to start today's article with the sentence "Cards knock off UNI" but then thought it sounds like "you and I" have played the Volleyball and so, I thought i might talk about the two CC's

Mind you, this is not about the Cardinal Couple's (sometime referred to as C.C.) two major forms of communication (internet articles and podcasts) but a shorten reference to Cara Cresse and Chloe Chicoine who led Louisville Volleyball with 13 kills each in their Saturday night win over The University of Northern Iowa in Omaha, Neb. at the Bluejay Invitational. 

Setter Navelis Cabello had 42 assist and 15 digs for the Cards and Louisville held UNI to .167 hitting. 

The match was also  contest between the two Petersen sisters, Payton (UofL) and Jayden (UNI). Keeping it a family affair, their mom (Bobbi). Bobbi has done pretty well as a Volleyball head coach, amassing a record of 583-209. She also played at UNI.

SET 1

Louisville took control early at 14-9 and was able to stretch that to 19-12, and despite three UNI blocks late in the game, was able to win the first set 25-18.

SET 2 

The Cards flew out to an early 7-4 lead, but UNI rallied and got back to an 8-8 tie. The Panthers led 11-10 before Louisville went up 15-13. UNI would not say die, though, and tied it agains at 15-15. The  regained the lead at 21-20..but after a Cards time out, the Birds finished the set with a 5-3 advantage and took Set Two 25-23

SET 3

This set was a close one the majority of the way with ties at 10-10, 13-13 and 19-19. UNI grabbed a 22-19 lead, though...and ended up winning 25-21.

SET 4

Louisville established a large 9-5 lead early on a 5-1 run, and pushed that out to a 15-10 edge. The Cards went to a 23-16 lead before taking game and match 25-17. 

The Cards will have Rice for their next opponent (and we don' t mean Uncle Ben, Minute Rice, A Roni or that boil-in-the-bag stuff) today at noon. This one is also in Omaha as a part of the Bluejay Invitational. It's a 1 p.m. affair and will be shown live on YouTube. I've not tried watching a Louisville Volleyball event before on YouTube, so we'll see how that goes. 

The link is: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO4hQPstTME

It looks to be  busy day for UofL women's sports today, with Field Hockey and Womens Soccer also in action.

Have a great Sunday

paulie


Saturday, September 13, 2025

Volleyball Wins; FH Drops Stunner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Snap Blue Jays Streak in 3-1 Win


Louisville walked into Sokol Arena in Omaha and did something that opposing teams have struggled to do against the Creighton Blue Jays: win a set. Entering last night, Creighton had dropped just two sets in the previous 91. When Louisville bounced back to win the second set last night, they made it three out of the previous 93. After the Cards completed the victory in four sets, they accomplished an even tougher task: beating the Blue Jays at home. The win snapped Creighton's program-record 32-match home winning streak, which stood as the nation's third-longest active streak. 

Coming off the heels of their first loss of the season to Texas on Wednesday night, Louisville got off to a rocky start in Omaha. Creighton hit .364 in the first set and used a quick 5-1 mid-set run to take a strong lead at 15-11. Louisville fought back to keep the set close, but after the Cards made it 18-20, Creighton rattled off three straight points to put Louisville at a significant disadvantage. Louisville could only win one more point and the final score in the first set was 25-19. 

The Cards got their feet under them a bit more in the second and held a 12-9 lead before the home crowd empowered the Jays to take another swipe at Louisville. Creighton used a 9-1 run to turn Louisville's lead into a precarious deficit. At 18-14, the Cards were staring down a 2-0 set score on the road heading into the halftime break. The two teams edged toward the 25-point marker for the end of the set, but Louisville used a short burst to tie it at 21, and things got awfully nervy from there. Louisville was the first to find a set-point opportunity at 24-23, but Creighton fought it off to earn their own at 26-25. The Blue Jays missed their golden opportunity with a service error to put the Cards level. From there, Creighton wouldn't earn another set-point chance, but they fought off three more from Louisville before the Cards ultimately evened the match with a 31-29 second set win. 

The third saw Creighton build another moderate lead toward the middle of the set with the score at 12-6, but Louisville used a run from Chloe Chicoine at the service line, including an ace, to pull the set level at 12-all. Creighton continued their strong play at home by leading through the latter parts of the set, but a late service error gave Louisville the opportunity for another boom. A Nayelis Cabello (playing on her birthday) serving run pushed Louisville to a 23-19 lead. The teams traded points, putting Louisville in the driver's seat with four set-point opportunities. The Cards needed three of those, but another service error by Creighton gave Louisville the 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win. 

The fourth set was fairly tight for the majority, but it ultimately played out similarly to the first with the teams reversed. Louisville held the lead for most of the set, but never by more than a couple of points. Once the Cards stretched their lead to 20-16, it took the wind out of the Blue Jays' wings a bit. Creighton couldn't overcome the deficit, with the crowd becoming a bit more resigned with each passing point, and Louisville flipped the set one score with a 25-19 victory to win the match 3-1. 

Creighton was christening their new Taraflex floor in Sokol Arena with the Blue Jay Invitational, so the Cards spoiled that party a bit. While the FS1 announcers praised it, and I certainly appreciated the detailing and concepts, I thought it was a bit distracting as a television viewer. Perhaps it was less so in person, but I digress. A few reviews last night also displayed the disparity between different facilities in collegiate volleyball. The fact that we can have high-definition line and net cameras for one match and be limited to three television camera views for reviews in the next is rough. It makes it difficult for coaches to make consistent challenge decisions and it's frustrating as a viewer. 

Louisville was led offensively last night by Payton Petersen. Petersen finished with 18 kills on .318 hitting and nearly had her second straight double-double with nine digs. Chloe Chicoine did pick up a double-double with 17 digs (led the team) to go alone with her 11 kills. Chicoine struggled early and had to dig herself out of a negative hitting percentage midway through the second set, but she finished with .111, so not terrible. Kalyssa Blackshear also had 11 kills and Cara Cresse had 14. 

Nayelis Cabello finished with three kills and two errors to go along with her 42 assists. She had two of Louisville's five aces (including one to win the second set) and picked up seven digs. Cabello also had a block assist and an incredible solo block against the Creighton middle blocker after a Louisville over pass. The birthday girl was everywhere, and the sophomore is showing that she is well-deserving of all the praise she has received and more. 

Defensively, Louisville wasn't able to be as effective on the block as Wednesday night. The Cards finished with just six total team blocks and were out-blocked by the Blue Jays (10). Creighton did a good job of tooling blocks, with a large number of their kills coming off of Louisville hands. The Jays actually outhit Louisville .279-.258. Kamden Schrand had 12 digs and Hannah Sherman led the team with three block assists. 

For Creighton, it's a tough result at home that moves the Jays to an unfortunate 3-4 record on the year. If there's any consolation for them, it's that all four losses have come against top-25 teams and they have picked up a win against a ranked opponent (Kansas). If they can pick up wins over UNI and Rice to finish the weekend, they'll likely remain ranked. Louisville moves to 5-1 on the season, and Creighton marks their first ranked victory of the year. Louisville is back in action against UNI at 7:30PM tonight. The match will be streamed on the Creighton Athletics YouTube channel. 

FH Falls Late to Northwestern


Louisville forced the #1 team in the country to concede their first goal of the season, but they were ultimately unable to close out the win against Northwestern in an overtime heartbreaker. The Cards withstood relentless pressure from the Wildcats and needed just 153 more seconds of scoreless hockey to notch a massive win. Louisville got a huge boost from an overturned goal by Northwestern late in the fourth, but they couldn't keep the NU offense at bay when they pulled the goalie with four minutes remaining. A goal at 57:27 tied the game, and the golden goal rule sealed Louisville's fate when Northwestern scored two minutes into overtime. 

Gigi Edwards took the honor of marring Northwestern's perfect clean sheet record when she scored an unassisted goal early in the second quarter. The goal came at Louisville's third time of asking in a flurry of shots. NU goalie Juliana Boon saved a shot from Lauren Masters and a rebound from Edwards before Edwards's second rebound attempt found the back of the cage. Those three shots on goal, which came in a span of seven seconds, were Louisville's only shots on target in the match. The Cards managed eight total shots, with six coming in that second quarter.

NU also had six shots in the second quarter, which followed four shots in the first and which they matched in the third. The Wildcats ended with 19 total shots and put 11 of them on target. Their fewest shots came in the fourth quarter. They tallied just one, it was on target, and it was the equalizing goal. Field hockey can be a brutal game. Emily Young was incredible for Louisville, as the defense faced seven penalty corners and she finished with nine saves. 

Northwestern is an incredible team, and a 2-1 result would be encouraging in other circumstances. It will likely still be viewed positively when it comes time to review resumes, but being less than three minutes away from a 1-0 win over the top-ranked squad takes just about all of the shine off of a quality loss. 

The Cards get no respite from tough competition as they'll face the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes of Iowa at 1:30 tomorrow. The match in Trager Stadium will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. 

No CCRHP This Week


With hosts scattered about, we're taking the week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We should be back next week, but we'll let you know if that changes. 

Until next time, Go Cards!
Case

Friday, September 12, 2025

UofL Offense Goes Silent in Loss at Florida State -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Shut Out For Second Time This Season

Photo by GoCards

Louisville women's soccer opened up ACC play with a 2-0 loss at #7 Florida State. It was Louisville's first loss since losing at then-#17 Vanderbilt 2-0 on August 17.

Florida State split their goals with one coming in each half. Their first goal came in the 24th minute on a penalty kick. Karsyn Cherry was called for a foul at the very top of the box. The play went to review to determine if the foul occurred before entering the box or as soon as the players entered the box. The officials were unable to come to a true decision and let the play stand. Erynn Floyd went left on the penality kick but the shot went right down the middle to the back of the net.

Photo by Jared

The second goal for the Seminoles was a true earned goal, coming in the 86th minute, effectively closing the lid on the match. Louisville has momentum taking them towards the FSU goal, but the header was saved. Florida State immediately went for a counter attack and beat the defense down the pitch.

While Louisville's offense was silenced, much of that goes to the strength and effectiveness of the FSU defense. The Seminoles played tight on defense and used speed to prevent Louisville from attacking from the sides. Louisville still tried to remain aggressive and their offense had their best showing against Florida State in ages. Louisville managed just one shot on goal.

On the defensive end, outside of the one hard-earned goal and the freebie goal, Florida State was limited on scoring opportunities, recording just one other shot on goal on the night. The Seminoles were averaging 4.0 goal per game entering the match.

Louisville returns home with a 7-2 record and will host Virginia Tech on Sunday. Florida State is now 5-0-1. 

Photo by Louisville Tourism

Daryl will hopefully be back here in about a week and a half once we get through music festival season here in Louisville. Bourbon and Beyond is going on this weekend with Louder Than Life following suit next weekend.

Friday 13th

Oh..it is Friday 13th...as well. Avoid strange black cats, don't spill the salt, avoid walking under ladders, don't break any mirrors, don't step on cracks in the sidewalk and don't open an umbrella indoors. Off you go, enjoy the day...


Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Cards Fall in Texas -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Drops 5-set Heartbreaker


In a match that was largely ruled by momentum, it seemed inevitable that the de facto home team would have the edge. Louisville fought hard against it, but when it came down to "don't allow a run" in the fifth set, the Cards couldn't quite get over the finish line. In a matchup that may be repeated in the NCAA tournament, Texas made their case to be the new #1 team in the land by dispatching of their fourth top-15 team of the season. Louisville suffered their first loss of the year by a final score of 25-23, 16-25, 25-21, 22-25, 14-16.

Texas and Nebraska have both played a gauntlet of a schedule so far this season, and Louisville is just getting into the meat of their own. The Longhorns have defeated (rankings listed at the time) #12 Creighton (neutral), #8 Wisconsin (away), #6 Stanford (home), and now #4 Louisville in a home-leaning "neutral" match. Nebraska, on the other hand, has beaten #1 Pitt, #6 Stanford, and #7 Kentucky. All three of those matches are listed as neutral courts, but the first two were in the AVCA First Serve Showcase, hosted in Lincoln. It would be like if matches at the Yum! Center were listed as "neutral" for Louisville. 

The Cards continue their road trip after last night with a trip to Omaha for a tough weekend. Louisville faces the hosting Blue Jays on Friday night, followed by a scrappy Northern Iowa squad on Saturday and Rice on Sunday. Creighton is still ranked 18th, and although the results don't show super well for the other two teams, they've been very tested. UNI is 3-3 and have played #13 Arizona State and #11 SMU. Both of those matches were sweeps, but the Panthers just took down Iowa State Tuesday night. Rice sits at 2-3, but all three losses have been to ranked teams in Texas (A&M, UT, Baylor). The Owls took a set off of the Longhorns last week. 

Back to the match at hand, the final set played out much like the match overall. The Cards took a quick 5-0 lead in the first set before Texas brought things back to level at 12-12. A back-and-forth battle ensued, with Louisville ultimately coming out ahead. The second set was a very different story. This time it was Texas who took an early lead, stretching their advantage to 10-3. Louisville wasn't able to produce the run to bring themselves back into contention, leading to the most lopsided set score of the match. 

After halftime, Texas again jumped out to quick lead, pushing the score to 8-4 before Louisville reeled them back in. The Cards took a 10-9 lead, but an extended run by the Longhorns gave them a 16-13 advantage. Louisville rattled off a 7-0 run to put themselves ahead and build a bit of a gap on the back of a strong serving run by Hannah Kenny, which included two aces. Texas wasn't able to recover from the four-point gap, and the two teams traded points to the end of the set. 

The fourth was a series of runs early, but it looked to be all Texas after things settled down. Texas opened with four straight points, Louisville followed with another seven-point run, and Texas fought back with an extended 8-1 run to regain a 4-point lead. The Longhorns kept the Cards at arms' length until 20-17 when Louisville found some juice. The Cards fought back with some key blocks to bring the score to 21-20, but they needed a little bit more to get over the hump and couldn't find it. 

That set up the fifth. As I said, the fifth set was a bit like the entire match distilled down into a sprint to 15 points. Louisville got Kenny to the line early and she put together a quick three-point run to give the Cards a 4-1 lead. She tried to play fast while Texas was on their heels following a bad set, but a forced ball change slowed her pace, and her next serve went into the net. Texas owned the "second quarter" as it were, winning five points before Louisville could reach eight to change court. After the side-change, Louisville won three quick points to take an 11-6 lead. That set up what I mentioned to open the column: don't allow a run. 

As noted, though, this match in Dallas was a de facto home game for Texas. The Longhorn faithful were the largest contingent in an otherwise underwhelming crowd, and they flipped the script on the Cards. A 6-1 Texas run made two critical things happen. First, Louisville's lead disappeared. That one is obvious. Second, Louisville's confidence went with it. At the close of the fourth set and the beginning of the fifth, Louisville was buzzing. The team was excited, and players had fire in their eyes awaiting serves. The big Texas run sent all of that energy to the opposite side. Still, Louisville won the next point following their final timeout. Up 13-12, they sent Kenny to the line, which was quite encouraging given her performance through the night. Her serve was long. Dan Meske used a challenge, which made sense given how meaningful going up 14-12 would be, but it was also mostly an additional timeout. The ball was quite long. 

Once again, Louisville responded by winning the next point, giving them match point. Texas challenged a net violation, which was a shot in the dark and was, again, primarily a timeout opportunity. I found it annoying, but Meske did the same two points later after Texas took two straight points to set up their own match point. Louisville couldn't hold off Texas any longer, and the Longhorns turned an 11-6 deficit into a 10-4 run to win. 

While the final result is unfortunate, the match was about as close as it could be. Louisville was outscored overall by Texas 110-102. They lost the second set by nine points, more than the final deficit of the match. That's a tough pill to swallow, but it's the way things go. Louisville hit .150 and Texas hit .153. Louisville set their season-high in blocking with time left to play in the fourth set. This one came down to the wire, and while I'm not one for moral victories (especially if they coulda/shoulda/woulda been wins), there is a lot for Louisville to take out of this match. 

The Cards were led by Payton Petersen and Chloe Chicoine, who had 18 and 13 kills, respectively. Chicoine had just five errors, though, while Petersen had 13. Each had an ace. Cara Cresse and Kalyssa Blackshear continued their domination at the middle blocker and opposite hitter positions, particularly in the battle at the net. Each had eight kills and contributed heavily to Louisville's 19 total blocks. Blackshear finished with five assists (although I believe one should have been a solo), while Cresse had three solo blocks and 11 block assists. Nayellis Cabello finished with another strong night as a threat at the setter position with three kills and no errors on nine attempts and seven block assists to go along with her 38 attack assists. Four players had double digit blocks with Chicoine leading the way at 14, followed by Hannah Kenny and Kamden Schrand at 12 and Petersen with 10. Kenny and Ava Utterback each had two of Louisville's six total aces. 

The loss stings, but there's no time to dwell. The Cards are back in action on Friday with another late one. They'll take on Creighton at 9PM Eastern Time, and the match will be aired on FS1. 

Soccer Opens ACC Play with FSU


Louisville women's soccer will take their first ranking in a long time (#20 according to TopDrawerSoccer; receiving votes in the NCAA polls) on the road to open ACC play in a major test. The test won't be of Louisville's capabilities. We already know that they can play well and perform against quality teams on the road (Auburn is 4-2-1 and Vandy is 6-1; both teams undefeated at home except for Auburn's loss to Louisville). This will be a test of Louisville's confidence. The Cards followed their loss to Vanderbilt with an impressive non-conference homestand. The competition wasn't stellar, sure, but Louisville outscored their opponents 36-2 over the course of six games. They played difficult matches against Coastal Carolina and Dayton, and came out with 2-0 victories over both. They're riding a high. 

Enter the Seminoles. Florida State is ranked #7 in the country and have a chip on their shoulder after feeling a bit robbed by the result of last season's NCAA tournament. The Seminoles lost to 8-seed Vandy in penalty kicks and then watched the 2-seed from their region, North Carolina, go on to win the championship. FSU is 4-0-1 on the season, with the lone non-win being a curious 1-1 draw against Kansas in Lawrence. The Seminoles haven't played a very tough schedule so far, but their defense has been lights out. The single goal against Kansas is the only one they have allowed. They put up clean sheets against Florida, FIU, Stetson, and FAU, while scoring 19 goals in those matches. 

A result tonight would be huge for the Cards. A win would obviously be incredible, but coming away with a draw would be a major accomplishment. Louisville is 0-10 all-time against FSU, and now would be a great time to take their first point. The Cards have scored just five goals against the Seminoles in their matches, but this team has shown the ability to score. They'll need to be strong on the ball and get clean looks at the goal to score on this stingy FSU team, but too much aggression could be deadly. Disciplined defensive play will be key. The Cards have gotten away with some dangerous play against lower-tier competition, but FSU could make them pay. 

I'm excited for this one, and it gets underway at 7PM tonight. The match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

Until next time, Go Cards!
Case

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

#4 ranked VolleyCards to face #2 Texas -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MATCHUP IN FT. WORTH WEDNESDAY NIGHT 


Yes, it is very early in the NCAA DI Volleyball season for such an important matchup but #4 Louisville faces a tough test when they  face the #2 Texas Longhorns on Wednesday night in the Shiners Children's Showdown at 9 p.m. ET. 

The match will be shown on ESPN. The natch will be in Dickies Arena, The arena holds 14,000 for Volleyball. 

The two haven't locked horns (sorry, bad pun) since they met for the 2022 National Championship match that Texas took in three straight sets. All told, in five meetings between the two powerhouse programs, the Longhorns hold a 4-1 edge. The Cards got their lone victory in their first ever Elite eight...back in 2019. 

Jerritt Elliott

While Dan Meske is in his first year as the Cards skipper, Texas head Volleyball coach Jerritt Elliott is in his 25th season as the Texas head coach. The record for Elliott is impressive at 611-121.  He also has three national championships. The Longhorns are located in Austin, so they'll have a three hour trip to Ft. Worth (flight time one hour), but nothing like the 861 mile trip for the Cards (flight time 2 hr. 30 minutes).

Nya Burton (on right)

Nya Burton is on the Texas roster as a middle blocker. You might remember her from Louisville Manual, where she was the 2022 Ms. Kentucky Volleyball and a AVCA First Team All-American.

Stafford

Torrey Stafford leads Bevo's bunch in kills...Volleyball fans will remember her from Pitt. She has 63 in 15 sets. 

The Longhorns are 4-0 on the season...with wins over #12 Creighton, #8 Wisconsin, Rice and #6 Stanford. The won their first two games in Madison,WI. and then returned to Texas to beat Rice in Houston before taking the home opener over Stanford in a close 3-2 match.

Ella Swindle is the assists leader with 118. 

Vander Wal

The Horns also have Abby Vander Wal, an outside hitter out of Elmhurst, IL. She was the 2024 Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year.

Here is a great clip about Vander Wal. The Cards and Nebraska were high on her, but Texas eventually got her. She has a brother who plays basketball at Furman. 

Payton Peterson

For the Cards, Payton Peterson leads the way with 49 kills. Nayelis Cabello has 117 assists in 10 sets and they are are 4-0, winning 13 of the 14 sets they have played. Match wins were against Auburn, Morehead St. St. John's and Illinois

This should be a good one and Case will have the recap in the Thursday Cardinal Couple. 


paulie

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Weekend Photo Galleries -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Weekend Photo Galleries

We had another busy sports weekend here in town- a little less busy than Labor Day Weekend, but still busy. Women's soccer earned a pair of wins on Thursday and Sunday and volleyball took a win on Sunday. The men's sports saw some wins too (congrats to football on beating James Madison and men's soccer on upsetting #1 Stanford) but we won't share any of those pictures here. 


Women's Soccer vs Kent State









Volleyball vs Illinois







Women's Soccer vs Dayton






We do get a few days of rest before any teams head back home. Volleyball and women's soccer both hit the road. Field hockey returns home from a 1-1 road trip to host a preseason #1 Northwestern squad.


Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Monday, September 8, 2025

WSoc 2-0 over Dayton -- VB 3-1 vs Illini -- FH beats IU 5-4 MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Good morning readers,  

Another new week ahead of us and a busy few days on Floyd Street over the weekend.  Sunday particularly was jam packed with Cardinasl action where Jared and Case made it out for the night cap at Lynn Stadium.  

So lets get right into the action.. 


Field Hockey


Photo: Jared Anderson


Louisville 5 - Indiana 4

Five different players scored for Louisville in the winning effort to move to 3-1 on the season.   The Cards outshot IU 17-7.

The Hoosiers got the scoring started about 7 minutes into the action before the Cards were able to respond with a goal of their own about 3.5 minutes after by Annabel Sep.  She totaled 6 shot attempts on the day.  At the start of the second quarter, IU retook the lead under 1 minute back in action.  Louisville would need more than 10 minutes to even it up at 2 all. Gigi Edwards put it in the back of the net before the half.

Chloe Cuzzupe and Aubreigh Uba would score back to back in the 39th and 40th minute, just about 20 seconds actually, for Louisville's first lead of the day and a 3-0 scoring run.  

In the 4th quarter, UofL secured more insurance when Izzy Bianco netted her first goal of the season in the 50th minute to make it 5-2.  IU would manage to score 2 more goals just as time expired but it would not be enough to surpass the Louisville lead and the Cards secured the battle of the border. Sophia Parker delivered three assists to lead the Cardinals offensively. Emily Young earned the win and secured a single save.    

UofL hosts a big one on Friday evening when they welcome the reigning national champs, Northwestern to town.  


Volleyball


Louisville 3 - Illinois 1
(25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18)



#3 Louisville dropped a set for the first time this season but move to 4-0 on the season.  On Sunday afternoon they cruised to a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18) win over Illinois at the KFC Yum! Center in front of a crowd of about 6,300.

Payton Peterson lead all scoring efforts when she had a career high 20 kills, 11 digs and an ace. Outside hitter Chloe Chicoine notched a season-high 17 kills while stacking on 11 digs, one block and two assists while surviving 10 service errors. Cara Cresse, Nayellis Cabello and Kalyssa Blackshear each posted five blocks on the day. 

As a team, the Cardinals hit at a .288 clip. 


      from gocards


Set 1: Louisville 25, Illinois 19
The two teams traded points to begin the match with neither team able to take more than a one-point lead. Louisville used a 6-0 run to take a 10-5 advantage forcing Illinois to use its first timeout. Out of the break, the Illini started to gain momentum with three-straight points, but the Cards put a stop to their run with back-to-back kills. Louisville used a 8-4 run to push their lead to 20-13. Illinois attempted to rally scoring six of the final ten points, but Cresse won the set for the Cards with a kill assisted by Cabello.

Set 2: Louisville 25, Illinois 22
After a back-and-forth set, Louisville started to pull away with a 12-7 run before Illinois rallied to tie the match at 13-13. Chicoine scored three out of four of Louisville's points in a row, but Illinois matched the momentum, bringing the score to 20-20. Back-to-back kills by Peterson forced Illinois to take a timeout, but the Cards outscored the Illini 4-2 to take the set, capped off by a block by Cabello and Cresse. UofL hit .382 in that set as a team.

Set 3: Louisville 20, Illinois 25
Neither team was able to claim more than a two-point advantage over the other until Illinois took a 14-11 lead. The Illini used their momentum to go on a 9-6 run, forcing Louisville to burn a timeout late in the third set with the score at 23-19. Peterson notched another kill, but it wasn't enough as Illinois took their first set of the match 25-20 with a block and kill by Ashlyn Philpot.

Set 4: Louisville 25, Illinois 18
With the score close at 5-4, Louisville went on a 6-0 run that featured four different players with kills and forced Illinois to take an early timeout. Illinois used a 13-7 run to bring the score within one point at 18-17. This forced a Cards timeout, but UofL was able to bounce back and win the set with six straight points including the final two points coming on blocks, one from Blackshear and one from Cresse.



Soccer


Photo: Jared Anderson



Louisville 2 - Dayton 0

Well, they did it!  The kicking Cards managed to go 6-0 in the previous homestretch and are heading into ACC play with a 7-1 record.  The visitors were more defensive than those prior when they only gave up two goals against Louisville. 

Emerson Jennings struck first in the 25th minute, Amelia Swinarski secured the insurance goal at the 73rd minute marker.  UofL out shot the Flyers 20-3 in the match, Erynn Floyd recorded 3 saves in the victory. 

Up next, the Cards head to Tallahassee for a match with the Seminoles at 7pm on the ACCNX.  




As Always
Go Cards! 

~Daryl

Sunday, September 7, 2025

FIELD HOCKEY FALLS TO DREXEL -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 1-0 LOSS TO DRAGONS IN BLOOMINGTON FOR THE FLOCK


The Louisville Field Hockey squad took to the road Saturday for a couple of games at IU and lost their first one to the Drexel Dragons. The visitors from Philly defeated the previously undefeated Cards 1-0. 

The teams battled to a scoreless first half, but Drexel put one in the net with 5:19 left in the third quarter. A shot from outside the circle bounced off one of the goalpost and the ball fell in front of a Drexel player who guided the ball past the Cards goalkeeper. 

Justine Sowry had this to say about the loss:

"Credit to Drexel, they were the better team today. I though they pressed and defender very well and completely took out game away from us. When you get that defensive pressure, you have to have poise on the ball and you have to be able to reshape and move and demand the ball to get out of the dangerous pockets...and we were unable to do that."

The loss sends the Cards to 2-1 on the young season. Sowry and her players will take on IU today. IU defeated Drexel 3-0 earlier on the schedule. It'll be shown on the Big Ten Network Plus. 

VOLLEYBALL AND WSOC IN ACTION TODAY ON CAMPUS


Floyd Street on campus today will be busy with both Volleyball and women's soccer in action

Viewing for these will be on the ACC Network Extra if you can't make it down to campus to view the evens. 

The  #3 in the nation Louisville Volleyball squad will face Illinois at 3 p.m....whle farther south on Floyd Street, WSOC brings in Dayton for a 7 p.m. match.. 

paulie


Saturday, September 6, 2025

Field Hockey Takes on Drexel -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Faces Drexel at 11AM


In a somewhat unusual scheduling set up, I'm left with a Saturday column with no games to recap. Volleyball had yesterday off, and field hockey's round robin event in Bloomington sees them play today and tomorrow instead of the traditional Friday and Sunday games. The Cards will take on the Dragons of Drexel University today before playing the hosting Hoosiers tomorrow. Today's game will be at 11AM, but no video is listed. 

Louisville and Drexel have met just one other time in history, with the Cards falling 2-1 at the hands of the Dragons in 2011. That one was a home match for Drexel, who were 8-4 at home that year. They struggled on the road, going just 1-4 and finished the season 10-9 overall. The Cards were a similar team that year, also going 10-9 and being much better at home (7-2) than they were on the road (2-6). Louisville's schedule back then was quite similar to this season. They also faced Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Ohio State, California, Wake Forest, and Syracuse. Louisville will be looking for a better outcome against Drexel and on the season overall.

Drexel is coming off of a 3-0 loss to Indiana yesterday. The result moved the Dragons to 1-2 on the young season after they won their opener against Central Michigan and lost to Lafayette in game 2. Drexel has scored two goals and given up six so far this season. If Louisville's offense can do anything like what it did in the first two games, Drexel might see some problems. The start is not what Drexel had in mind. After a 14-5 season last year, a season in which they were undefeated in regular season Colonial Athletic Association play, Drexel would have been looking for a hot start to help avenge the sting of losing in the CAA tournament to Monmouth and missing the NCAA tournament. The Cards should try their best not to be the momentum starter for the Dragons this year. 

So far this season, Louisville's offense goes through Rylie Wollerton. The senior leads the team with five goals through two games and is one of just three players so far to record both a goal and an assist. Lauren Masters is second on the team in points by way of scoring two goals, and Izzy Bianco leads the team in assists with three. Gigi Edwards and Gracie Potter have each scored and assisted once. 

Defensively, the Cards have a full-time warrior in Annabel Sep. Other than Emily Young in the cage, the junior from The Netherlands is the only player to have recorded 120 minutes so far this season. Sep also has a goal on five shots. They must be very well conditioned in Holland, as Trijntje Herfkens has earned the second-highest minutes total among field players with 104. 

Louisville is looking to return to its winning ways. Prior to last season, Louisville had not failed to start the season at 3-0 since 2018. The Cards have had a lot of success under Justine Sowry, and everyone wants to be reassured that last season was a blip. Conference performance has been relatively steady at around .500 since joining the ACC, but last season's 1-7 mark was a black eye. While Drexel isn't the strongest opponent, this is Louisville's first test away from Trager Stadium, so a win today would help build their confidence for a tougher match against Indiana tomorrow. 

Best of luck to the Cards as they continue their season. We'll have results and an IU preview tomorrow. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast


It's three on board again this week with Jared on the road. Paulie, Daryl, and I will recap exciting results for all three fall sports before looking ahead to tougher matches on the horizon. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 


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

Friday, September 5, 2025

WSoc Flushes the Golden Flashes 8-0 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Photo: Jared Anderson

GoooooooOOd morning readers and welcome to another weekend. It's GAMEDAY for football fans so I am EXTRA excited to get off work today and take the walk down Floyd Street to get some tailgate time in and hope the weather cooperates. Today is also EXTRA special because it is Thomas' and I's 10 year dating anniversary.  


Soccer

Louisville 8 - Kent State 0 

Photo: Jared Anderson

It was another shot party for the Cardinals over at Lynn Stadium on Thursday evening as they move to 6-1 on the season and are now on a current 5 game winning streak.  


throwback to the LMFAO song from 2009


Jared made it out to the park and Katy and Bentley joined for the second half for Pups at the Pitch night. That means Bentley got to see a total of 3 UofL goals including two of them coming from Amelia Swinarski, who had a hat trick in the match against the Golden Flashes. I hope there weren't any golden flashes from Bentley in excitement out on the pitch! 


Jared and Katy's puppy Bentley!


Louisville netted its first goal in the first 10 minutes of play on a Karsyn Cherry penalty kick. After that the Cardinal offense put together a string of 3 more goals in the following 10 minutes when Betsy Huckaby (11:24) Swinarski (13:11) and Liza Suydam (19:15) each put one on the board. Huckaby's was a result of a penalty kick that was saved by the Kent State keeper, but Huckaby followed her shot off the rebound and tapped it in.


Suydam would also score in the 67th minute of the match. As a team, UofL had 33 shots, split pretty evenly between halves and 16 of them on goal. Kent State received a red card just before halftime in the 41st minute and had to play the remainder of the match down a player. Mackenzie Geigle added to her scoring campaign when she put UofL ahead 5-0 heading into the break.


Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cards added the final trio of goals in the second half. Swinarski's big hat trick moment came with about 63 seconds left in the match. After going up 8-0, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes called off the dogs.  

On defense, the Cards split goalkeeping duties between Erynn Floyd and Brielle Baker with each getting a shot to stand there and enjoy the fresh air... KSU managed just 3 shots on the evenings none of them on goal. 


Photo: Jared Anderson


Jared was out there representing Cardinal Couple and got a chance to talk to Amelia Swinarski following the match. The hat trick is the first by a Louisville player since 2018. You can watch that here.


The Cards continue to lead the country in goals and assists.


UP NEXT 

Louisville vs Dayton 
Sunday 9/7 
Lynn Stadium 7p.m.
ACCNX



As Always, 
Go Cards!

~Daryl