Cards Cruise in NCAA Opener -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Sweeps Loyola Chicago

There wasn't a ton of drama in last night's match, as Louisville opened their 2025 NCAA Tournament with a relatively easy win over the visitors in L&N FCU Arena. An easy win was desperately needed for Louisville, who were coming off of a pair of difficult losses to the other front-runners in the ACC to end the season. That includes a loss to Stanford in this building their last time out. The Cards appeared to have shaken those demons, as they won with a 25-17, 25-9, 25-12 romp of the Ramblers. 

Loyola came out with some intensity in the first set, keeping up with Louisville for about the first 20 points of the match. After a Loyola kill made it 8-10, though, Louisville rattled off the next seven points to make it a 17-8 advantage for the Cards. Louisville would go on to hit .400 in the set, while Loyola finished with a .121 hitting percentage in the first. 

Unfortunately for Loyola, that .121 was their best hitting percentage of the match. Even worse, it was the only set in which they weren't negative. They finished the match with an .011 overall percentage. Louisville certainly had something to do with that, as they finished the match with 12 blocks, which accounted for 60% of Loyola's errors. Moreover, part of the problem was that Louisville just defended well. The Cards had 39 digs, nearly double the 21 kills totaled by Loyola. 

Offensively, the Cards had 43 kills and only eight errors. Three of those were Loyola blocks, so Louisville was pretty crisp, with just five unforced errors. Louisville's .400 in the first set was under their overall percentage of .417, as they hit a whopping .588 in the second, before coming back down to earth with a .351 in the third set. The Cards were incredible across the board on offense, with three players tying for second with nine kills behind Kalyssa Blackshear leading the way with 10. Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Payton Petersen were the three with nine apiece, and none of the four hit more than two errors. Chicoine had the lowest hitting percentage of the four, and it was still a stellar .381. 

Defensively, it was (who else) Hannah Sherman joining the party. She, Cresse, and Blackshear all had four block assists each and Sherman added two solos. Blackshear had one, as well, as it was a big night for the freshman. If there was one spot to still complain for Louisville, it was the service line, as there is some cleanup to do. The Cards had five aces, with Cresse leading the way with two, but they had nine errors. Despite that, they did still win the service battle with a net +3, as Loyola had seven errors and no aces. 

It was critical for the Cards to make quick work of Loyola, as they have a short turnaround with the second round match taking place tonight. Louisville's opponent also had the benefit of a sweep, as Marquette surprised the 7th-seeded Hilltoppers by sweeping WKU yesterday in L&N. As noted in the gocards writeup, tonight's match will pit sister against sister. Freshman Hannah Kenny's older sister, Calli, is a sophomore for the Golden Eagles. Tonight's match will get underway at 6PM. If you weren't able to secure a ticket, you'll be able to catch the match on streaming. It isn't listed officially just yet, but it is most likely to be carried on ESPN+. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Fall in Pittsburgh -- THANKSGIVING CARDINAL COUPLE

HAPPY TURKEY DAY

Many people consider Thanksgiving to be the day to finally take stock of what they've been grateful for over the last year, and there's nothing wrong with that. That said, my wife and I have recently begun trying to bring that thankfulness into more of our everyday lives. It's not some groundbreaking or revolutionary idea, but trying to verbalize three things we're grateful for each day has had noticeable impacts on our moods. 

The idea is pretty simple: every evening before bed, we just say three things we're grateful for that day. They don't have to be unique. They don't have to be profound. They just have to be something. I've found that it not only helps me remember the positives from even the toughest days, but it also helps me stay more positive throughout the day as I'm looking for those moments of gratefulness so I don't just repeat the same thing every night. 

So while everyone will rightfully look at the big picture items from the year that they're grateful for when sitting around the table, try to keep your eyes open to the smaller stuff as well. In today's (seemingly constantly negative) news cycle era, it's easy to lose sight of what's right in front of you. 

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. 

Volleyball Swept at Pitt

Louisville volleyball saw their hopes at a share of the ACC title all but disappear last night at the Petersen Events Center. The Cards can still beat Stanford on Saturday night to finish the conference season 17-3, but they'll need help for Pitt to fall to the same record. The Panthers play on the road at Georgia Tech, so there's a chance. If tiebreakers come into play, we can look at those later. 

Last night's final set score of 3-0 looks bad, but doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. Louisville had strong opportunities in the match, but the nearly 8,000 strong (mostly Pitt fans) on hand to watch the top-ten matchup pushed the Panthers in critical moments. Louisville ultimately fell by just eight total points in a 25-23, 25-22, 25-22 sweep. 

As I mentioned, the Cards could have been on top early and had multiple chances to extend the match. Louisville led 23-19 in the first set, 22-20 in the second, and 22-21 in the third. It just wasn't meant to be. The Cards finished with a .173 hitting percentage and were outblocked 10-6. Louisville committed five service errors with just four aces while Pitt committed the same number of errors but picked up seven aces. Many of those came in critical spots. 

Similar to the first matchup between the two teams, Louisville was unable to slow down Olivia Babcock, who finished with 22 kills and just three errors for a .404 hitting percentage. If the two teams meet again in the postseason, the Cards have to make someone else beat them. 

On offense, Louisville had three players in double-digit kills as Payton Petersen led the way with 13, Chloe Chicoine had 12, and Cara Cresse finished with 10. Petersen added 12 digs to earn a double-double, and Kamden Schrand led the team with 15 digs. Cresse had a strong night overall, as she had two solo blocks, two block assists, and two aces, leading the team in all of those categories. 

The Cards are back in action Saturday night in the season finale. First serve against the Stanford Cardinal is at 7PM, and this huge matchup has somehow been relegated to ACC Network Extra. The match will be in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Wins at GT; WBB Battle of the Bluegrass -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Win 3-1 in Atlanta

Louisville volleyball hit the road this weekend to take on a Georgia Tech team that isn't quite as fear-inducing as they have been in years past. The Yellowjackets entered yesterday's game at 15-10 (10-5), but they were still ranked 40th in the RPI. With every match being critical in a race for the ACC regular season championship, dropping a game you should win on the road would be very bad. Louisville is still alive in the ACC, as no team has fewer than two losses. The Cards (14-2) are currently alone in third on the basis of having played one fewer games than Stanford and Pitt (15-2). SMU has dropped a third match and sits at 14-3. Louisville controls its own destiny in the league, as they play the Cardinal and Panthers next week and could seize the outright championship. 

Let's take it back to Atlanta, though. Before Louisville could worry about the huge opponents on next week's calendar, they needed to take care of business against a scrappy Georgia Tech team. GT jumped out to an early 5-2 lead and played with that lead for much of the set. Louisville clawed back to an 11-11 tie, but GT pushed its lead back to 15-12 and then 17-14. As the number of available points kept falling, Louisville finally put together a series to bring it level at 19 points. The Cards won the race to 20, but couldn't string together two in a row for the next few points. Louisville finally took a two-point lead at 24-22, and won the set on their second set point. 25-23 was nervy, but it counts either way. 

The second set was much less dramatic. GT hung with the Cards early on and used a five-point run to draw within one point at 13-12. The two teams largely traded points again, with Louisville only able to get to a 16-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Bees, Molly Wilson's service error to get them to 14 would be their last point of the set. Louisville won the next nine points to seal the set at 25-14. 

Coming out of the half, the third set looked a lot like the first, but with Louisville holding the arm's-length lead. Just like the first, the trailing team closed up late, and the two teams traded points in the 20s. Louisville was able to keep getting the side-out whenever GT would tie for many of the opportunities. Service errors kept GT in it, as the Cards committed them at 22-21 and 23-22. GT took a 24-23 lead and won the set on their first attempt at 25-23. 

Disappointed, but not dismayed, Louisville came out in the fourth and decided they were ready to be done with the match. GT held on early once more, but the Cards stretched to a 13-7 lead and never let the Bees get closer than five points afterwards. A 25-15 fourth set gave Louisville the 3-1 victory. 

Statistically, it doesn't seem like this match should have been as close as it was. Louisville hit .336 while GT was just .090. Part of the low Georgia Tech hitting performance came from the fact that Louisville finished with 21 team blocks. Yes, you read that right: 21 blocks. GT had only 35 errors, so Louisville was the direct cause of 60% of their errors, and the block was likely the indirect cause of many more. Louisville's service errors (12) were part of the problem, as the serving game really wasn't working for them with only three aces. GT had just four aces, but they limited the damage with just seven errors. 

Chloe Chicoine and Kalyssa Blackshear led the team with 15 kills apiece, and Blackshear totaled a double-double with ten blocks. Even with ten blocks, Blackshear was only second on the team, as Hannah Sherman put up an astounding 14. Cara Cresse narrowly missed a double-double herself, as she had eight blocks to go along with her ten kills. Payton Petersen was close as well, as she often is due to the full-rotation. Petersen was third on the team with 13 kills and added eight digs. If there was one thing GT did well, it was to limit Nayelis Cabello's sneaky offense. Cabello had just five attempts, and she had no kills and one error. That didn't deter her from putting up a great performance in her normal duties, though, as she finished with 47 of Louisville's 53 assists and added eight digs and four blocks. 

Louisville will also need to dispatch Clemson tomorrow, but a loss there would be stunning. After starting the season 12-0 in non-conference play, the Tigers are a woeful 4-13 in the ACC. Their wins came against two teams behind them in the standings (Cal and Virginia) and the two teams directly ahead of them (Syracuse and BC). Clemson has also been one of Duke's two wins and one of Virginia Tech's three. The Tigers took Notre Dame to five sets last night, but Louisville should still have a fairly straightforward outing. That match is at 1PM on ACC Network. 

Louisville Hosts UK at Yum! Center

As I noted in last week's soccer writeup, the Cards and Cats will face off twice more this month, with one of those meetings coming this afternoon. Louisville and Kentucky will get underway at 2PM on The CW in a fairly evenly matched game (according to the polls). This will be the 61st meeting between the two teams, with UK holding a 35-25 advantage. It will be a battle of trends this afternoon in Louisville. The Cards won seven straight in the rivalry game before last season, but UK won five straight before that. Will Louisville be able to win their fifth straight at home or will a new streak start for the Wildcats with their first win against the Cards in Louisville in over a decade?

I wrote a bit about UK's offensive output this season, but it will be interesting to see how the Cards manage the versatile Wildcats. Kentucky has four players averaging double figures, while two more are over nine per game. Clara Strack is the team leader in points with 16.8 per game. She was preseason second-team all SEC and leads the nation in double-doubles. Point guard Tonie Morgan is second in the nation in assists per game and the Cats are making 10 three pointers per game (tenth in the country). While Strack has made five of those, the shooters for the Cats are Amelia Hassett and Asia Boone. The two have combined to make 32 threes already this season on 34.8% shooting from beyond the arc. Louisville will need to be careful as Kenny Brooks goes to the bench as well. Lexi Blue is averaging just 11 minutes per game but she has already made eight three pointers on 42.1% shooting from range. UK also gets to the line consistently, and they're capable of knocking down free throws. I'm sure they'd like to be better, but they're shooting 75.9% from the stripe on an average of 18 attempts per game. 

Defensively, UK is also stout. Their competition hasn't been the most stellar, but they've held their last five opponents to fewer than 50 points and less than 30% from the field. They're first in the country in blocks per game (10), scoring defense (43.5), and field-goal percentage defense (26.9%). They've won their first two true road games by 30+ points (Buffalo and Marshall), a feat they haven't accomplished since the 1999-2000 season. With Louisville showing a propensity for getting out to a slow start, they could be in trouble if UK gets the chance to put the clamps on. 

The Cards are coming off of a bit of a get-right game. They are undefeated since the opener against UConn, but you could almost say, "that's not for a lack of trying." Louisville has had to pull some second-half performances out of the bag to meet that mark, but they were able to put a fairly complete game together on Thursday. Anaya Hardy and Reagan Bender had career nights, while Elif Istanbulluoglu matched a career-high in points. Laura Ziegler scored in double figures for the fourth time this season, and Taj Roberts scored double-digit points for the fourth straight game. 

The Cards will need to take care of the ball against the difficult UK defense. Louisville is averaging 11 turnovers per game. That could be dangerous, considering the Cats are forcing 17.5 on average from their opponents. Clean offense from the Cards will go a long way, as they'll have to find good shots, likely from the outside, to put up points this afternoon. 

All will be revealed in a few hours. Paulie will have the recap tomorrow. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Sweep Wolfpack in Raleigh -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Chicoine Leads All Hitters in Win

After a home-and-home series with Notre Dame last week, the Cards and Irish returned to North Carolina for their second ACC travel weekend in the Tarheel State in a row. After facing Duke and UNC last time, the two teams face NC State and Wake Forest this weekend. Louisville continued the brief run of sweeps they are on (after sweeping ND twice last week) by taking care of the Wolfpack in three sets. The win moved Louisville to 19-4 overall and 11-2 in the ACC. NC State is struggling this season, and the loss pushed them below .500 overall at 11-12 (4-9). 

Despite leading nearly wire-to-wire in all three sets (minus a few early points here and there), Louisville never really distanced themselves in the way that might have been expected over an outmatched team. The final scores were 25-19, 25-18, 25-20, which seems quite surprising given that Louisville hit .343 in the match compared to .169 for NC State. Even in a second set in which Louisville had no errors and hit .567, NC State played fairly clean with .367 (three errors) to keep it close. Part of the issue may have been that Louisville wasn't blocking nearly as much as they usually do against a team that they should dominate. The Cards had just nine blocks on the night. 

The Cards also had a decent night at the serving line, hitting six aces and only eight errors. They were net +2 in that battle, as NC State had just two aces and six errors. Nevertheless, Louisville came away with the win and did so in the minimum number of sets. Chloe Chicoine led all hitters in the match with 15 kills. She had just two errors and added two assists and eight digs. NC State had just one player in double-digit kills with 13. Kalyssa Blackshear was Louisville's second player in double-digits with 11. Blackshear had just one error, but NC State avoided her defensively. Somehow, Blackshear finished with no blocks. 

Cara Cresse showed out in the middle with nine kills on 11 attempts and no errors for an .818 hitting percentage (Blackshear was second in the match with .526). Cresse also had two solo blocks and three block assists. Not to be outdone, Hannah Sherman had four solo blocks. Payton Petersen (2) and Ava Utterback had the other block assists. NC State may have read their scouting report on Nayelis Cabello. Cabello had a strong 39 of Louisville's 41 assists, but she was 0-11 on attack attempts with one error. We don't really want our setter to have a negative attack percentage, but if she's the only one on the team doing so, it's not the end of the world. Kamden Schrand and Hannah Kenny both had strong nights with a pair of aces each and 16 and 11 digs, respectively. 

Louisville returns to play against Wake Forest tomorrow at 1PM. The Demon Deacons just moved ahead of Notre Dame in the conference by way of a head-to-head victory last night. Wake won 3-1 to move both teams to 5-8 in league play. Wake Forest is 11-13 overall, with non-conference losses to Cincinnati, Michigan, George Mason, Alabama, and East Carolina. They split the home-and home series with NC State a month ago. The Cards should be able to take care of business before returning home for a tough weekend against the Florida schools. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Join us this week for a special episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. With the happenings in Louisville women's athletics and news around town, there will be plenty to discuss. The show will appear on our YouTube Channel and all of the regular podcast haunts around 1PM after recording. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

FH and Volleyball Host -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Hosts Syracuse on Senior Day

Louisville field hockey has a big game today in their season finale. As expected in the ACC, it's another top-ten opponent. More than that, it's the last game of the regular season and all eyes are on this game. Louisville and Syracuse are the only two ACC teams in action. Biggest of all is that it's a game with incredible impacts on how Louisville's season ends. If the Cards win, they will make the ACC Tournament, which will be hosted at Trager Stadium next week. If they lose, they'll fall to the bottom of the ACC and be the only team left out, due to Boston College holding the tiebreaker via head-to-head win. 

Louisville needs to win this game to make the ACC Tournament, but they'll need to spring a couple of upsets next week as well. The Cards are currently 7-9, which would make them ineligible for the NCAA tournament. A win today would put them at 8-9, but they'd need two wins in the ACC tournament to finish the season .500. That could be quite the challenge. But the NCAA tournament is something that shouldn't even be on their minds right now. The team will be going for a big win against a strong opponent to make this not the last game they'll play at Trager this year. 

Syracuse enters the game fifth in the conference at 3-4. Their four conference losses are their only losses of the season, as the Orange went 8-0 in non-conference play. Their non-conference wins included road victories over Ohio State and Princeton and a home win against Penn State. Their conference wins are over Duke, Stanford, and Boston College. They haven't beaten some of the big teams in the ACC, but they've more or less taken care of the teams they are ahead of. Worse for Louisville is that Syracuse has been relatively comfortable on the road. They're 2-1 in road conference games, with wins over Stanford and BC and a loss to Cal. The Cards can't depend too much on home field advantage to close the gap. 

It's tough to say just how wide that gap is, though. Louisville has played very well at times this season, a point we have belabored here at the site. The head-scratching part is that they seem to be one team one day and a completely different team the next. The Cards will have to put last week's surprising road loss to BC behind them and bring the team that thumped Cal to play today. 

Senior Day festivities will take place before the game, which is scheduled to get underway at 12pm. Today's match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

Volleyball Brings Notre Dame to Yum! Center

Another team closing out its regular season in a particular venue is Louisville volleyball. The wide-netters are far from done with their season, but today's match is the last game scheduled to be played in the KFC Yum! Center downtown. The Cards will likely use the arena as a site if they host NCAA tournament games, but that information will come much later. Today, Louisville will host Notre Dame in the return game of the travel partner home-and-home week. The Cards took a 3-0 win over the Irish on Wednesday in South Bend. 

Louisville's win earlier this week moved the Cards to 9-2 in conference play. They currently sit alone in fourth place, but the path to a share of the ACC title is still more or less in their own hands. Louisville trails Stanford, Pitt, and North Carolina by one game. The Cards will get a second crack at the Cardinal and the Panthers in the last two matches of the season. Louisville won't play North Carolina again this season, but the Tar Heels face Pitt tomorrow and then hit the road to take on Stanford on Friday. They will also still play Miami twice. 

Wednesday's loss pushed Notre Dame to 5-6 in conference play and they're just 8-11 overall. It has been another tough season for the Irish, but weird things tend to happen when these two teams play. Louisville will need to stay sharp and take care of business to take advantage of their extra day of rest before a Carolina road trip next week. 

Today's match will begin at 3PM on ACC Network Extra, and tickets to the Yum! Center are still available. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With travel and game times impacting host availability, we'll be off for the show again this week. Make sure to stay tuned for the next show. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Volleyball Sweeps; Soccer Finale -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Manages Sweep in South Bend

It may not have been the prettiest sweep in history, but at the end of the evening, Louisville volleyball left the Purcell Pavilion with a 3-0 victory. The Cards finished with a final score of 25-21, 25-19, 25-23. For a sweep, the match took much longer than expected, since the two teams played a half dozen or so points in the second set twice. Louisville was found to be out of rotation in the set, but not until the Cards had gone on an extended run. However, the rules state that when the officials determine the rotation error, they can "rewind" the match as far as needed to rectify the issue. Louisville still went on to win the set, so no harm no foul; just weird. 

It wasn't a stellar hitting night for either team. Notre Dame struggled to a 0.183 percentage with 18 errors, but the Cards managed just 0.282 with 15 errors of their own. Both teams blocked decently, with the Irish actually edging the Cards by one block. The stat sheet credits Notre Dame with 8.5 blocks due to a triple block, but since that's not how the points work, they only had eight blocks compared to Louisville's seven. That means the Cards took advantage of Notre Dame hitting errors and their own relatively clean play to stay on top. 

The Cards also had fewer aces in the match, but they won the battle at the service line with a net +1. Louisville had two aces and six errors while Notre Dame had four and nine. The Irish also committed two setting errors, giving the Cards a couple of additional free points. 

Louisville was led offensively by Chloe Chicoine, who finished with 14 kills. Chicoine had the highest number of kills in the match and she was the only Cardinal to eclipse double-digits. She finished with a double-double, as well, adding 10 blocks to her stat line. She also assisted a block. Cara Cresse returned to form a bit, coming home second with nine kills. Kalyssa Blackshear had eight and Payton Petersen had seven. Cresse also led the team in hitting percentage at 0.467. 

Defensively, Hannah Sherman continued to show her strength in the middle with a solo block (Louisville's only solo block) and two assists. Cresse had four block assists and Blackshear had three. Kamden Schrand had 14 digs, and the team was able to stay mostly in system, as Nayelis Cabello was forced into only six digs. Notre Dame may have finally picked up on Cabello's offense, as she was limited to two kills and two errors on eight attempts. 

Escaping South Bend with a win is nice, and doing so with a sweep is even better. Louisville will get another crack and Notre Dame on Saturday, as the ACC volleyball travel partner quirk means a home-and-home week. That match will be Louisville's final volleyball match of the season in the KFC Yum! Center, as all of their remaining home matches will return to L&N Arena. Basketball makes scheduling in the Yum! a bit more of a hassle. The two teams will get underway at 3PM and plenty of tickets are still available. 

Women's Soccer Hosts SMU

Louisville women's soccer will host their regular season finale tonight against the SMU Mustangs. There is still all to play for on the final ACC matchday of the season. With eight games tonight, every team is in action, save Syracuse. As is typical on Decision Days, most games will take place at the same time. Two games (Wake/FSU and Stanford/Cal) will finish before the final game (NC State/UNC) kicks off, but all other matches will overlap. 

As Jared wrote on Tuesday, it's a pretty straightforward task for the Cards to make the ACC Tournament. All they need to do is win tonight's game. With a victory, the Cards can finish no worse than sixth place. With a draw, they can still make the ACC tournament, but they will need a few results to fall their way. Jared wrote about those scenarios, so I won't belabor them too much. 

The best the Cards can finish is third, but that's a bit unlikely. Simply, Louisville would finish third if Wake, BC, and Clemson beat FSU, Virginia, and Duke, respectively. The BC win is the biggest hiccup there. Tiebreakers could play a major role in the seeding, but there are too many scenarios for a draw, so let's only look at a Louisville win. If the Cards are in a two-way tie, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. Louisville loses a two-way tie with Florida State outright, but they drew Virginia, so they would move to the second tiebreaker, which is wins over common conference opponents. 

Coincidentally, Louisville and Virginia played very different schedules this season and have only four common opponents: FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. Both teams lost to FSU, and if we are assuming they are tied on 20 points, both teams will have beaten the remaining three teams. The next tiebreaker is conference goal difference. Louisville's season goal difference is a staggering +37, easily beating Virginia's +22, but the Cards' offensive production has fallen significantly in conference. Louisville is +4 in conference play, while Virginia is +9. The Cards would need to beat SMU by six more goals than however many Virginia beats BC by to win the tiebreaker outright and by five more to advance to the next tiebreaker. 

The fourth tiebreaker is goals scored in conference matches. Louisville has 11, while Virginia has 19. For Louisville to win the fourth tiebreaker without winning the third would be an incredible evening of soccer in Louisville and Charlottesville. Here's a funny quirk. The fifth tiebreaker is goals allowed in conference matches. Why? If the teams are tied on goal difference and on goals scored, they must, by definition, have given up the same number of goals. The next tiebreaker is head-to-head results against conference opponents highest rated in the standings, but we already mentioned that Louisville and Virginia have the same results against their four common opponents, so that one is moot. As a result, if Louisville manages to somehow match Virginia on goals scored and goal difference, the tiebreaker would be a coinflip. 

The three-way tie scenario, in which Louisville, Virginia, and FSU are all on 20 points is actually rather simple. Since FSU beat both teams, they win the first tiebreaker (total points in head-to-head conference game results) and then Louisville and Virginia are sorted out on the two-team tiebreaker described above. 

While a Louisville win guarantees they're in the ACC tournament, the seeding possibilities show how tight the points have been this season. A Louisville win could see the Cards finish in any position from 3rd to 6th. We'll see what happens at the end of the final whistle. Kickoff is at 7PM in Lynn Stadium. Dress warm and stay dry. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Sweeps, FH Drops Home Match -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke on the Road

Following a tough week at home last weekend, the Wide-Net Cards hit the road to take on a pair of teams in North Carolina. That started last night with a victory over the Duke Blue Devils, which Louisville took down in three sets despite some surprising fight from the home team. The hosts, who fell to just 5-15 (2-7) this season, pushed Louisville to the brink in sets one and three, though the Cards took care of business in a big way in the second. The final score was 25-23, 25-13, 25-22. 

The match was also not without its worrisome moments for Louisville. After taking a 16-15 lead in the first, Louisville gave up a five-point run to Duke to trail 20-16. The Cards worked back a 6-1 run of their own to make it 22-21, and the two teams traded a couple of points before the Cards used back-to-back kills to win the set. 

The third set also saw Louisville facing a moderate deficit, though this one came much earlier. Duke came out of the halftime break with a vengeance and jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the Cards. Louisville didn't respond with a major run right away, but instead methodically chunked down that lead to get back in touching distance. After a Duke kill made it 13-11, Louisville used a quick 7-2 burst to take an 18-15 lead. While three points doesn't seem like much, a lead like that late in a set against a very good team like Louisville would have been a bit demoralizing for Duke, especially after squandering a big advantage early. The Cards played with their food a bit, allowing the Blue Devils to stick around, but Duke never got closer than two en route to the final score. 

Louisville's offense spread the love last night, with no player finishing with more than ten kills. Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen had 10 apiece, while Kalyssa Blackshear and Nayelis Cabello each finished with seven. Apparently Duke learned nothing from Cabello's offensive performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday, leaving her mostly undefended. Cabello's seven kills came on 13 attempts and she had no errors. Cara Cresse continued to be in a bit of a slump, finishing with three kills and two errors on 12 attempts for an 0.083 hitting percentage. Not ideal for the star middle. 

Cresse did make up for the hitting woes a bit with a strong defensive presence, as she had a solo block and four assists. She was one of two Cardinals with a solo block, as Cabello had the other to go along with three assists. Louisville finished with ten total team blocks, heavily winning that battle as Duke had just three. Louisville hit only .327 in the match, but they held the Blue Devils to .142. 

Louisville also narrowly won the serving battle with two fewer service errors than Duke. Each team finished with six aces, and Kamden Schrand led the way for the Cards in that category with three. Louisville was even on the night from the line, as they also had six errors. Interestingly, the Cards' advantage at the service line was erased by a very whistle-happy referee on the set game. Four total bad sets were called in the match, and Louisville was on the wrong side of three of them. Cabello was called for just one of those. 

Louisville's win keeps them level with SMU at 7-2 in conference play. Both teams are also 15-4 overall and are tied for fourth in the league. The Cards will have a difficult test in their next match, facing the current conference leaders in Chapel Hill. UNC is 16-2 overall and have won ten straight matches to keep them undefeated in conference play. Like Louisville, all of UNC's losses have come in five sets. Unlike Louisville, UNC's were not to top-ten teams. UNC has losses to South Carolina and Kansas State this season, and they have played just one ranked team. The Tar Heels swept then-#11 Florida in Chapel Hill on September 9th. 

The Cards will be a bit fresher, as UNC went five sets with Notre Dame last night. The Heels pulled off a reverse sweep to beat the Irish 19-25, 15-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-13. The win came in UNC's first match on their new Taraflex court. Unfortunately for Louisville, they won't get to spoil the new floor debut like they did at Creighton, but they can hand UNC their first loss on the new surface. Tomorrow's match between #8 Louisville and #21 UNC will be on ESPN at 3PM. 

FH Offense Falters vs #3 Virginia

Louisville field hockey brought in another ranked team to Trager Stadium yesterday afternoon, but they couldn't repeat the magic of last week's win over California. The Cards' offense wasn't able to break down the stout Cavalier defense and Virginia went on to beat Louisville 2-0. The loss pushed the Cards back below .500 (7-8) and ensured they will finish the conference season below .500 as well. Louisville is still ahead of Boston College in the ACC standings and will have a head-to-head opportunity to lock up their spot in the ACC tournament tomorrow. 

Make no mistake: Virginia is very good. The 12-1 Cavaliers have scored 29 goals this season and they have given up just six. Their defense allows only 7.85 shots per game and has given up just 55 shots on goal for the entire season. On the other side of the ball, the Cavs can create opportunities in a multitude of ways. They've got 82 shots on goal this season and they have only earned 62 corners. All that is to say that Louisville put up a pretty tough fight in this one, but moral victories only go so far. 

Virginia scored early in both the first and second quarters, with a goal in the fifth minute of the match and another in the third minute of the second quarter. Each goal was the scorer's second of the season, which isn't super surprising as the 29 goals scored by the Cavaliers this season have come from 14 different players. The Cards were held fairly quiet in the first half, earning just one shot in each quarter, with both forcing a Virginia save. 

Louisville was able to put the pressure on in the second half, but Virginia's goalie was too much for the Cards to handle. Louisville came out with a clear intent to cut the deficit and try to equalize, as they put up eight shots in the second half. None of their three shots in the third quarter found the target, but they were stymied on four shots on goal in the final stanza. Louisville made use of five penalty corners in the second half but were unable to find the back of the cage. Meanwhile, Virginia kept the Cards honest by taking three second half shots and forcing an Emily Young save on each one. 

The Cards get a very quick turnaround this weekend as they follow a Friday afternoon home match with a Sunday afternoon clash in Chestnut Hill. Louisville will face Boston College tomorrow at noon. If Louisville wins, they'll be guaranteed a spot in the ACC tournament. A loss means they'd need a win over Syracuse or they'd be out on head-to-head tiebreaker. With Trager hosting the event, being left out would be extremely unfortunate. Tomorrow's match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're out this week due to various hosts being unavailable. We should return with the show next week. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Field Hockey, Volleyball Split Upsets -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It was a night of upsets for Louisville athletics on Friday, with football taking the crown by knocking off #2 Miami in Hard Rock Stadium. Back at home, field hockey defeated Cal, who was ranked 19th. Unfortunately for volleyball, they weren't the underdogs Friday night in L&N Arena. Their upset wasn't huge, as SMU was ranked 8th, but the Cards fell in a 5-set thriller. Louisville women's soccer will look to continue the upset vibe tonight against #3 Virginia.

Field Hockey Beats Cal 3-1

Louisville field hockey flipped the script on how many of their games have played out last night by being the team to take control late. The Cards scored two goals in the fourth quarter to beat #19 Cal and earn their first ACC victory of the season. Last night's win moved Louisville to 1-4 in conference and got them back to .500 overall. Cal fell to 6-6 (2-4).

Louisville had all of the pressure early in this one, earning their first shot just four minutes into the game. The Cards would go on to have four shots in the first quarter and a penalty corner, but they could only put one on target, which was saved. Louisville won the shot battle 11 (6) to 5 (1) overall. Unfortunately for the Cards, Emily Young didn't earn a save, and Cal's only shot on target was a goal. 

Louisville's early pressure didn't pay off in the first quarter but they did find the back of the cage in the second. Izzy Bianco opened the game's scoring with her second goal of the season on a direct shot from a penalty corner. Gracie Potter sent the ball into play and earned the assist. The Cards looked like they'd head into the half with a 1-0 lead, but after holding the advantage for about ten minutes, Cal found a goal with just under a minute and a half remaining before the break. 

The two teams were scoreless again in the third, but this time Cal was able to keep the pressure a bit more balanced. The Golden Bears earned their first penalty corner of the match and prevented Louisville from scoring on two more chances. Both teams finished the third period with a pair of shots, and Louisville put one of those on target for a Cal save. 

In the final quarter, Louisville again applied early pressure. The Cards picked up the first shot of the quarter from open play with just over nine minutes remaining in the game, and it was another goal for Izzy Bianco. This one came off of an assist from Mary Wordelmann. Holding a one-goal lead is dangerous, so Rylie Wollerton wasted no time scoring her ninth goal of the season to give the Cards a 3-1 lead. That goal came just 18 seconds after Bianco's. Louisville had to survive two dangerous situations, one when Annabel Sep was shown a yellow card and Cal earned a penalty, and the other when Cal pulled their goal for the final four minutes. The Cards were content to maintain possession and not give up a potential counter attack, as neither team took a shot in that final four minutes. 

The Cards will get a week off now as they next face Virginia in Trager Stadium on Friday 10/24. 

SMU Beats Cards in Five

Louisville volleyball dropped the first set in last night's top-ten matchup, but they looked on course for a 3-1 victory after a tight third set. The Cards opened up a 14-11 lead in the fourth, but the Mustangs fought back and went on to win the set. Louisville fans were treated to extra volleyball in the fifth, but a three-point run after Louisville held match point doomed the Cards to a 3-2 loss. SMU ultimately won the match 25-22, 19-25, 24-26, 25-21, 19-17. 

Louisville's offense was figured out a bit in that pivotal fourth set, as the Cards had 11 errors, with five of those being blocks. The Cards had a combined 24 of their 30 errors in the three sets that they lost and SMU had 15 total blocks, with another four coming in the shortened fifth set. Whether that was a case of SMU adjusting to Louisville or the Cards just not being as crisp late in the match, it was definitely concerning. Louisville did win the block battle overall, 18-15. 

Another place that the Cards came up a bit short was in serve receive. SMU was extremely aggressive at the line, and it resulted in 16 service errors. It also resulted, though, in 10 aces. Kamden Schrand struggled particularly hard with the SMU serving game as she had five receiving errors. The Cards had just three aces and seven errors. While they were technically +3 in the net serving battle, giving up seven more aces than you hit is difficult to overcome from a momentum standpoint. 

The Cards were led offensively by the usual suspects, though no one for Louisville hit over .240. The Cards were .180 as a team. Payton Petersen led the way in kills with 18 on 47 attempts, but she also had 10 errors. Kalyssa Blackshear had the highest team hitting percentage and was second in kills with 17. She also led the team in attempts with 50. Chloe Chicoine hit .222 with 12 kills and Cara Cresse had 10 kills. SMU clearly keyed on Cresse in their preparations for this match. Louisville's star middle blocker had eight errors. 

Cresse and Hannah Sherman did what they normally do and led the way in blocks, with Blackshear close behind. Cresse had three solos and five block assists, while Sherman had 2/7 and Blackshear had 1/7. The other hitters didn't get involved in the block, but Nayelis Cabello had five block assists. While Schrand was bullied in serve receive, she was all over the floor defensively, as she had 23 digs. Chicoine was forced to defend her position as well, as she finished with 17. 

There's no rest for Louisville this weekend, as SMU's travel partner is Pittsburgh. The Cards will play another top-ten matchup on Sunday when the Panthers come to L&N. Tomorrow's match will begin at 1PM on ESPN. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three again this week as we chat about the week that was. There were some nice wins and some other big games to be played, so be sure to tune in. 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

Volleyball Sweeps Again; FH Falls Short -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Continue ACC Win Streak

Although their run of sweeps was broken Sunday by Stanford, Louisville upset the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion to continue their hot start in the ACC. That hot start was extended last night with a 3-0 victory over Virginia Tech in L&N FCU Arena. The Hokies didn't come in with a stellar record, but they are above .500 overall. Taking care of business at home is an important part of staying on track for a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Louisville won fairly handily, slipping just a tad in the third set with a final score of 25-11, 25-12, 25-17.

The Cards mostly dominated statistically. They finished with a .430 hitting percentage in the match and only had six errors overall. VT had 15 errors and hit .172. Ten of those VT errors were Louisville blocks, and the Cards dominated the serving battle with ten aces to VT's zero. Louisville was on fire at the line, as they had just four service errors, while VT dumped ten. That gave Louisville a net +16 in the category, which is going to be tough to overcome for the opposition. 

Points coming in different ways meant that kills were actually at somewhat of a premium. Louisville only had 40 as a team, and they were fairly well spread out. Chloe Chicoine (11) and Kalyssa Blackshear (10) led the way, as has become the norm, with only one error between the pair of them. Cara Cresse and Payton Petersen each had five while Hannah Sherman and Ava Utterback had four apiece. Cresse's five kills came on five attempts, giving her a hitting percentage of 1.000, and she had a solo block and two assists. Sherman and Blackshear each had five block assists. 

Louisville is back in action tomorrow at 1PM when they host the Virginia Cavaliers. UVA is very similar to VT, as they now sit at 8-7 overall (VT is 9-7) and both teams are 1-4 in conference play. Virginia is coming off a sweep at the hands of Notre Dame last night. Tomorrow's match will be carried on ACC Network Extra.

FH Drops Close Match at Duke

It's a tale as old as time, or at least as old as this season: Louisville field hockey came up just short with an opportunity for a marquee win. The Cards scored first in Durham yesterday, but Duke answered the goal in the third quarter and scored a winner in the fourth. Louisville wasn't able to find the back of the cage more than once, and it doomed them once more. 

Louisville field hockey has plenty of chances this season, and they do have some good wins, but the biggest victories have eluded them. Nearly beating Northwestern hurt a lot. Now, facing an incredibly difficult road trip against Duke and North Carolina, nearly beating Duke doesn't get it done. The Cards face UNC tomorrow and the #3 team will be looking to ensure the Cards can't finish over .500 in conference play. 

Rylie Wollerton scored her 8th goal of the season, which leads the team. Her goal came after a great pass by Gigi Edwards, who is now tied for third on the team in assists with three. Wollerton herself is second with four. Louisville faced significant pressure from Duke, with the Blue Devils putting up seven total shots, compared to just two for the Cards. Duke also had four corners (Louisville one), which they took advantage of by converting one for their equalizing goal. The Cards earned a chance late in the fourth when they won possession with an extra player on the pitch due to the empty net, but they weren't able to find a chance for a shot. 

After the match, Coach Justine Sowry lamented the mental lapses that prevented the Cards from closing out the game. Louisville has been susceptible to giving up the ball in critical situations late in games, and yesterday saw that unfortunate trend come into play once more. The Cards fall to 6-6 overall and 0-3 in conference play. With five conference games to go, they'll have to run the table to finish over .500 in the ACC. Louisville gets a very difficult opponent to open that final stretch when they take on UNC in Chapel Hill tomorrow. The match gets underway at noon on ACC Network.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on hand this week as Daryl took the opportunity to grab a tee time with Louisville football off. Paulie, Jared, and I will discuss the joy and excitement that have been brought by all three teams this week, while also touching on some of the other news that has come and gone. 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

Volleyball continues west coast swing at Stanford -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 A TOP SIX VOLLEYBALL MATCHUP BETWEEN STANFORD AND LOUISVILLE

A 5 p.m. matchup (EST) between #4 Stanford and #6 Louisville tomorrow on ESPN will help give you a break from football today..as the two squads match up in Palo Alto in Maples Pavilion.

Just who is Maples Pavilion named after? A guy named Roscoe Maples, who was a part of the 1904 graduation class at Stanford and was the principle donor for the building of the pavilion, which was built in 1969 and renovated in 2006.  

The Stanford squad is 12-2 with loses to Texas and Nebraska and wins over Florida, Long Beach State, Oregon State, Missouri, Utah State, UC Davis, Hawaii, Texas State, UCLA, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame.

Elia Rubin leads Stanford in kills with 148 and Logan Parks has 401 assists. 

Kevin Hamby is the Stanford head coach. he's in his ninth year of coaching there.

Stanford is known as the Cardinal (no "s" on the end) and named after a color (Cardinal red) not a religious figure, bird or a primary or principle entity in various fields.. including mathematics. The program also has a unofficial nickname..."The Trees" and they have a tree mascot, designed by students each year, who dresses for home basketball, football and other home athletic events. They even have "tree week" to celebrate the choosing of the year's mascot .

Can you name five D1 schools with the Cardinals or Cardinal nickname? Answer at the end of today's column

The schools have played each other five times, with Louisville holding a 3-2 advantage. Three of those matches were ln 2024. Louisville won all three in 2024, including their NCAA Elite Eight matchup. 

Dan Meske's Cardinals are 10-2 with losses to Kentucky and Texas and wins over Auburn, Morehead State, St.John's, Illinois, Creighton, Northern Iowa, Rice, Western Kentucky, Boston College and California.  it should be a fun one and we'll have a review of the match in Monday's Cardinal Couple

                                                                  ******

                                                                  ******

                                                                  ******

(the five schools that are Cardinals or Cardinal...Louisville, Ball State Lamar University, Catholic University and Wesleyan University (in Connecticut). 

Paulie

Volleyball Survives Friday Night Frights -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Cal

Louisville volleyball was the last team to get underway for the Cards last night, but they were only one of the three to come away with a win. The only drama in the 3-0 victory came in the second set when the question was just how badly would Louisville win the set. Sandwiched between a pair of 25-16 wins, the Cards beat the brakes off the Bears in the second with a 25-5 victory. 

Cal is... not very good. They hit for 0.000 on the match, and Louisville only finished with eight total blocks. The Bears hit 22 total errors, although they did have fewer service errors that the Cards (3-5). Both teams had two aces. Louisville's offense was fairly efficient in their own right, finishing with a .384 hitting percentage. The Cards had eight total errors and five of those were blocks by Cal. Only hitting the ball out of the court on your own three times is pretty good. 

Chloe Chicoine led the way for Louisville with 13 kills and no errors. Kalyssa Blackshear also hit for no errors as she finished with eight kills. Payton Petersen had eight kills as well, but she was more covered by Cal and had four errors. Cara Cresse was first in efficiency among hitters as she finished with a .538 percentage and had nine kills.

Louisville's defense was all over the place as Petersen and Hannah Kenny led in digs with ten apiece and three players (Chicoine, Kamden Schrand, and Nayelis Cabello) finished with eight. Cresse led the team with four block assists and Cabello tied Hannah Sherman for second with two assists and one solo block. 

This one was never really in doubt, but it serves as a good preparation match on the west coast for Louisville. The Cards have a big test coming up tomorrow when they take on Stanford. The Cardinal are ranked 3rd in the country and have won 20 straight matches at Maples Pavilion. Notre Dame gave them a ride in the second set last night when they pushed it to extra points, but Stanford came out ahead in that one and finished with a 25-22, 26-24, 25-14 sweep. Tomorrow's match is on ESPN at 5PM. 

Overturned Goal Sinks Field Hockey

Louisville field hockey tried to give Justine Sowry a good birthday present yesterday against Wake Forest, but they weren't able to overcome a tough call in the fourth quarter. The 18th-ranked Cards fell to 5-5 (0-2) on the season with a 2-0 loss to #7 Wake Forest. 

Louisville struggled offensively early in the match, with Wake suffocating them every time they received the ball. That pressure paid off for the Demon Deacons in the second quarter, when they used a turnover to work forward and score the first goal of the match. That goal came about halfway through the second quarter, and both teams continued to keep the opponent at bay afterwards.

Louisville's offense finally showed up in the fourth quarter. After failing to record a shot for the first three periods, the Cards put up five in the fourth. Early on, they appeared to equalize, but the goal was overturned on replay review. Instead of a 1-1 match in which they had some momentum, Louisville found themselves still trailing and a bit deflated. Wake ultimately earned the first penalty corner of the game for either team and scored to double Louisville's deficit. The Cards weren't able to find the back of the cage and the final score was 2-0. 

Each team finished with five total shots and three on target. That's an unfortunate stat when you consider how good Emily Young has been this season. Louisville has to avoid giving up clean looks to the opponent and they have to be able to score more effectively. 

Nevertheless, the Cards are back in action Tuesday at Trager Stadium. Louisville will play their last non-conference match of the regular season when they take on Bellarmine at 5PM. 

Soccer Falls Short in Second Half

Louisville women's soccer had the toughest draw of the evening for the three sports, as they faced a road game against the second-ranked team in the country. For the first 45 minutes, Louisville looked every bit as if they could pull off a big upset. Adjustments at halftime for Notre Dame found the mark, though, and back-to-back goals early in the second set the final score. 

Louisville came out on a mission in the first half, and their tenacity got them an early lead. Notre Dame had the first shot inside the first minute, but Louisville settled in and held them at bay until their second shot in the ninth. Erynn Floyd picked up her first save of the match on that one and Notre Dame was offsides a minute later. Then it was Louisville's turn to play offense. Over the next eight minutes, they had three corner kicks and eight total shots. The eighth shot finally found the mark. Following a corner, Ella Bard had an attempt that was blocked and came to Hadley Snyder's feet. Snyder settled and sent it into the back of the net for her second goal of the season. 

Notre Dame didn't allow Louisville to celebrate for long, as the Irish equalized just seven minutes later on strong team play. What was extra unfortunate for the Cards is that their early goal seemed to wake up the Notre Dame midfield and defense. Over that eight minute stretch, Louisville had three corners and eight shots with two on target. Over the final 72 minutes of the match, Louisville had no corners and just three shots with one on target. 

Don't get me wrong: Notre Dame is very good, but man that is a disappointing final stat line after a frenzied start. Notre Dame, on the other hand, was relentless in the second half. The Irish had Floyd under constant pressure as they took five corner kicks, earned 13 shots, and put eight shots on target. Erynn Floyd finished the match with seven saves, but you can't blame someone for yielding a couple of goals when they're getting that much work from a top offense like Notre Dame. 

At the end of the day, this is another two-goal road loss for the Cards. Is that frustrating? Yeah, a bit, but if your only three losses so far have all come by just two goals on the road to teams in the top-25, that's not terrible. Louisville's next opponent won't be any easier, though. The Cards take on Wake Forest on Thursday in Winston-Salem. While the Demon Deacons will lose some of the shine from their #12 ranking after their last match, a shocking 2-1 loss to NC State will have them fired up to get revenge on the Cards. Wake is 9-2-2 (3-1-1) with a 3-2 victory over Duke on the resume. 

No CCRHP This Week

With a couple of hosts out and about and other obligations keeping me away, we'll take this week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We'll look to return next week to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case