Volleyball Advances, Ekic Honored -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Uses Comebacks to Sweep Dayton

Yesterday evening's match against Dayton could have easily gone the other way. In both of the first two games, the Cards found themselves in a hole late. In both of those games, Louisville was able to recover and regain the lead, holding on for the win. In the third, Louisville took an early lead and then held off multiple charges from the Flyers to complete the sweep and advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012.

A look at the stats show that Louisville may have escaped with this match. The Cards trailed in aces and blocks and had more overall errors than the Flyers. However, Louisville was able to garner more kills to outweigh their errors, and actually finished with a higher hitting percentage than Dayton in each game. Louisville was led in kills by, you guessed it, Melanie McHenry. However, McHenry was joined at the top by Amanda Green. The two finished with 15 apiece, which was tops in the match for both teams. In fact, Green and McHenry's 30 total kills were only three fewer than the entire Dayton team. The two contributed 12 errors, but finished hitting .206 (McHenry) and .355 (Green). Louisville finished at .232 as a team, and Dayton was all the way down at .155. 

Dayton's game plan was clearly to try to get Louisville out of rotation, and they had some measure of success. The Flyers forced McHenry into 7 digs and 12 receives (1 receiving error), Green into 8 and 19 (1 RE), and Wilma Rivera into 10 digs. Molly Sauer was held to only 16 digs and contributed a receiving error on her 23 attempts. To their credit, Rivera was able to recover and pick up 40 of the team's 49 assists on 50 total kills, with Sauer contributing 6 assists to the cause. The Cards finished with only three aces compared to seven service errors, which is a statistic that has bitten Louisville significantly this season. They were able to weather it in this match, but they can be sure that their tournament run will end early if they are unable to prevent giving away points with absolutely no work required by the opponent. 

The Cards finished by winning the match 25-21, 25-23, 25-21. I could give you a play by play, but the stats really do tell the story. Dayton was not scoring on the Cards. Rather, Louisville gave away points left and right which could have cost them the match. Fortunately, they were able to focus up at key moments and bring it all back together to get the victory. Advancing in the tournament is huge, and obviously you will take a win any way you can get it, but you can be sure that Coach Dani Busboom Kelly will have been poring over film last night to figure out how to prepare the team during their walkthrough and practice this morning. 

 A tough match awaits, as the Cards will take on the hosting Illini, but this team has shown resilience and the ability to hang tough with strong teams. We'll see if the Louisville team that is capable of winning big matches shows up today, or if the moment will get the better of them. Louisville faces Illinois at 8PM Eastern, and the match should be available on the BTN2GO option.

Emina Ekic Named Second Team All-American

Just days after she and two of her teammates earned regional honors, Emina Ekic was taken a step further and named as an All-American. Ekic was named to the second team, which is quite the honor for a player whose team bowed out in the first round of both the conference and national tournaments. Ekic was 3rd among midfielders in total goals and tied for 12th among midfielders in total assists. (These stats are according to TopDrawer, which actually had Ekic's numbers wrong. They may have had other players' numbers wrong as well, but the NCAA, which had the correct stats, didn't show positions. Either way, Emina was really good this year among her peers.) Ekic played in fewer games than most of these players, and ranked in the top 200 of all players across the country in points per game. The sophomore was third on the team in points behind the two high scoring strikers. She ranked 8th on the team in minutes, trailing only the keeper, defenders, and defensive midfielders. It is the second straight year for Emina earning high postseason honors, and Louisville has two more years to hopefully turn her individual success into additional team success.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jeff is up in Champaign to watch the Cards advance toward that black banner and Jared is training the computer to take over his job, so Paulie and I will be joined in the studio by Paige Sherrard and Daryl Foust. We'll have plenty to talk about with the women's basketball team in full swing, and we'll use the wonders of technology to get a segment with Jeff over the phone. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 11 AM to join us on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. WCHQ is available at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ App, and on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Survive Close Calls -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Closer than Expected Sweep

With just a match against Georgia Tech remaining as the only thing Louisville could do to impress the selection committee for the NCAA Tournament, a comfortable win would have been nice. The Cards have seen their probability of making the tournament go down in recent weeks as their hot start cooled off aggressively in the later portion of the season. As Jeff and I mentioned on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour last week, a win would do nothing for Louisville's chances of making the tournament; a loss would surely sink them. Louisville settled for something in the middle. Yes, they earned the sweep, avoiding a terrible dropped set against a lowly Yellow Jackets squad, but the Cards also needed a comeback and extra points to win a set and kept the other two sets closer than desired.

It was senior night for the Cards, and if it was their last match in the red and black, the four seniors honored last night will be sorely missed going forward. Honored last night were former setter of the year, Wilma Rivera, the always faithful libero, Molly Sauer, and two huge pieces of the offense in Amanda Green and Jasmine Bennett. Rivera was the latest addition to the group, beginning her impact as a transfer last season, but the other three have become names that even people marginally paying attention to Louisville Volleyball would certainly recognize. All four have made the Cardinal Faithful extremely proud and it would be wonderful to see them get the opportunity to continue their careers at UofL for a couple of more weeks. 

Looking at the stats of the match, it doesn't really seem as though this match should have been as close as it ultimately was (25-18, 28-26, 25-21). Melanie McHenry dominated the floor to the tune of 20 kills. The Cards hit .264 to GT's .211, had 10 aces to GT's 2, and outblocked the Jackets 7-4. Despite these, the overall kills were very close as were the errors, assists, and digs. Louisville did a lot of things pretty well; Georgia Tech just seemed to match them when it mattered. 

The Cards jumped out of the gate to a 5-1 lead and then stretched that to 17-10 in the first set before ultimately winning by 7. It was the opposite in the second, as the Cards quickly found themselves in the hole 4-0 and then all the way at 11-4. The Cards kept in close, but trailed for the entire second. They soon found themselves down 24-20, and it looked like they would drop a set to a bottom third team in the league. However, Molly Sauer and Melanie McHenry took over as McHenry staved off set point with a kill on 4 of the next 5 points led by Sauer serving on the final four. The Cards turned a 24-20 deficit in to a 25-24 lead and did what was necessary to win the match in the next five points. 

The third set was the closest from start to finish, as the teams stayed within three points of each other for the first 30 points in the set. After a tie at 15, Louisville decided they didn't like that status quo any longer, so they rattled off 5 straight to take a strong lead at 20-15 on an Akela Yuhl serving run. Georgia Tech struggled back and were able to make it 22-20 before Louisville took 3 of the next 4 points and the match. 

Despite being only a junior, Melanie McHenry wanted to be sure Senior Night was a victory for the Cards. Her 20 kills was double the next highest player in the match and she did so with only two errors in the match for a hitting percentage of .462. McHenry chipped in 4 digs and a block assist. She didn't attempt any serves but had no receiving errors on 16 attempts. The seniors were not flashy last night, but they did their jobs as expected and greatly contributed to the Cards' win. Rivera had 36 of the team's 40 assists on 44 overall kills. She didn't convert any of her dumps and struggled from the serving line, but she added 2 block assists and 11 digs to round out her night. Bennett and Green combined for 15 kills and 5 block assists with Green adding 10 digs. Sauer was as reliable as always and finished with 17 digs, 5 service aces, and an assist.

Louisville will find out their fate tomorrow, as the selection show airs live on ESPNU starting at 8:30 PM. The Cards made the tournament last year before being bounced early, and I'm sure they'd like an opportunity to prove that they could make some noise. Louisville played some very good teams close this season, but what may ultimately doom their tournament hopes is that they were not able to convert any of those quality losses into marquee wins. In the interview below, Coach states that the team was confident that they would see their name tomorrow with a win last night, so we'll see. If it's the end of the road for Dani Busboom Kelly's 2018 squad, it was a fun ride. If it's not, we could see something interesting before it's all over.

Postgame with Coach DBK

WBB Needs Fourth Quarter Comeback to Down ASU

In a break from their season normal thus far, the third quarter really let the Cards down against Arizona State as a 6 point quarter loss had them trailing by 4 going into the final stanza. The matchup against No. 19 Arizona State was the Cards first true test of a season in which they still haven't gotten to see themselves on Denny Crum Court. A fourth straight victory in a fourth straight game away from home is nice, regardless of how it ultimately came about, especially against a ranked team. As I like to talk about with every team, it is good to see a squad be able to win games in numerous ways. Blowing out every team on the schedule would be fun, but we've seen how that can sometimes bite UCONN when it comes to playing a quality opponent. Likewise, you don't want to play every game close, because the ball won't always bounce your way. I shouldn't have to say why you wouldn't want to play from behind in every fourth quarter, but it is good to see the team win a game in which they trailed like this.

Last night's game was an instant classic, as the score was tied 6 times and the lead changed hands another 6. The largest lead that either team had came when the Sun Devils stretched their four point third quarter lead out to six with just 18 seconds gone in the fourth quarter. Louisville was not a fan of that and would tie the game up again at 45 just three minutes later. The game came down to a flurry of a sequence with thirty seconds remaining. Up by four, Same Fuehring went to the line to shoot two free throws. She hit one of two to put the Cards up five with 26 seconds remaining. Louisville then went on to do the one thing you're definitely not supposed to do in that situation on defense and Jazmine Jones, already back playing with bone bruise in her hip, fouled a three point shooter. Kianna Ibis went to the line and calmly sunk all three to cut the deficit to two with 17 seconds left. Fuehring was fouled as soon as the ball was inbounded, this time hitting both free throws to bring the lead back to four with just 16 seconds left. Again, rather than play solid defense and give up a layup if necessary, Louisville fouled. Again, ASU sunk their free throws to make it a two point game, this time with 12 seconds left.

After deciding that doing what you aren't supposed to do on defense wasn't enough, the Cards showed they could mix it up and do the wrong thing on offense as well. Arica Carter mishandled the inbound pass and had the ball stolen away. Durr quickly fouled to show Arizona State they would have to earn the late game tie. Sophia Elenga was happy to oblige, and we were all knotted up at 56 with 11 seconds remaining. Arizona State, playing to preserve the tie and go to overtime, didn't foul. Looking back, they may wish they had. Instead, Louisville was able to work the ball inside to Sam Fuehring, who converted a layup with 3 seconds remaining to set the final score. Arica Carter stole the inbounds pass to atone for her previous mistake and the game was over. Louisville survived to move to 4-0.

As is typical, as Asia Durr goes, Louisville goes. Last night, Durr struggled to score (which is funny to say when she put up 14 points), as she shot only 5-18 from the floor and got to the line only once, where she went 2-2. Fortunately, the rest of the team pulled up the slack, as Fuehring led all scorers in the game with 18 points and Dana Evans chipped in double digit points as well. This was not the fast-paced, offensive affair we have grown accustomed to seeing with Louisville, but the Cards were able to grind it out when it mattered. 

 The CASE Report

It's been awhile, so let's get a refresher on the CASE Report. Each stat category has two goals that we want to see the Cards accomplish, and they're granted a half a point for each goal achieved. Each stat has it's own little primer, so let's just get right into it.

C-Care: In this category, we're looking at how well Louisville took care of the ball compared to their opponent and how well we could expect them to based on the opponent. We talk a lot about the raw turnover number. Obviously, you'd like to see it fairly low, but it comes down to how you perform in each game. Yesterday, Louisville turned the ball over 10 times, compared to ASU's 13. That's a half a point. Arizona State is not a strong turnover forcing team, averaging only 13.75 per game (that's tied for 309th in the country). We'd like Louisville to commit less than 60% of the opponent's average, and 10 is 72.7% of 13.75. Cards finish with a lowercase 'c'.

A-Assists: The assists category kind of speaks for itself, but again, we aren't looking at raw numbers. We want to know how many assists Louisville had on their made baskets, and how well they performed in the Assist-to-Turnover Ratio, which is a good indicator of their passing. We want a 50% assist share and a 2.0 ATO Ratio. The Cards had 15 assists on 24 made baskets, which is good for 62.5%, but they only had a 1.5 ATO. Half point again; lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals: Steals are a raw number stat. We want to know if Louisville was aggressive on the ball and if they outperformed the opponent. The goal is 7.5 per game. The Cards finished with 7. So did the Sun Devils. No benchmark reached and no outperforming of the opponent. No letter.

E-Efficiency: Paulie's FRED Report looks at just free throw efficiency. The CASE Report takes free throw efficiency into account, but we also want to see Louisville taking and making good shots from the floor. We're looking for at least 45% FGs and 75% FTs. Louisville shot 24-59 from the floor for only 40.7% and were greatly held back by only 3-11 from behind the arc. The Cards did just sneak ahead of 75% going 7-9 from the stripe (let's please get to the line more). Lowercase 'e'.

Ultimately, the Cards finish with c-a-_-e. A good game ends with the Cards earning at least 2.5 of the available 4 points, a mark they missed here. To struggle from a statistical standpoint overall (Louisville also lost the rebounding battle and were heavily outrebounded on the offensive end) and still win the game is promising. Louisville will not look so out of sorts normally, and they will surely try to avoid allowing their opponent to go 11-11 from the free throw line in the second half.

The Cards have a quick turnaround as they take on Hartford today at 3PM. The game is still in Las Vegas and the Cards will finally get to return home on Monday. This one is available to be streamed online by following this link or can be listened to on the radio as normal.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

With a late football game, our resident banker having a day off, Jeff not being a cartographer and me making the drive back to town last night instead of this morning, we'll have a full house in the studio today for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Unlike last week when Jeff and I brought you mostly opinion and general chatter, this week you'll get plenty of post game analysis and breakdowns. We'll talk all your favorite sports and bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. Tune in to WCHQ at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ App, or on Facebook Live at 11AM to join us.

Donation Month

As always, November is donation month for Cardinal Couple. Your donations allow us to continue bringing the coverage that we do here. Please do not feel obligated to donate to access the site, but if you enjoy coming to the site and interacting with us, know that any and all donations are extremely appreciated. Take a look at the top right of the site for more information on donation options.

As we go into the last week of Donation Month,
we would appreciate any support you feel is warranted.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Volleyball photos provided by Jared Anderson.

Volleyball Weathers the Storm -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Beat Hurricanes 3-1

With an unexpected late scratch of their offensive leader, Melanie McHenry, due to illness, the Cardinals found themselves in uncharted territory last night against the Miami Hurricanes. Louisville struggled mightily to find their hitting rhythm in a losing first set effort as they hit only .048 in a 21-25 set. From there, the Cards put on a reverse sweep led by Claire Chaussee and Amanda Green, despite a 25-14 error deficit in the final three sets. Not only did the Cards win three straight sets after the first, but the only times they trailed over the last three sets were at 1-0 and 2-1 in the third set. Miami kept the fourth and final set close, tying it at 22, but unlike against Syracuse last weekend, Louisville was able to close out the final few points in the fourth to avoid a fifth set. 

Two big ways that the Cards got around low hitting percentages were winning a frenzied blocking battle and dominating the serving game. Miami finished the match with 12 blocks, but the Cards tacked on one more to win the battle with 13. It doesn't seem like a big difference, but a point is a point and when it gets the ball back into your hands, good things can happen for your team, especially given the service battle. Louisville finished with 9 service errors, yes, but they also put down 8 service aces. A -1 in the serving game isn't great, but when compared to the -7 (1 ace, 8 errors) that Miami put up, Louisville came out smelling like a rose. The blocking Cards were led by Green, who had 4 solo blocks, and Emily Scott and Megan Sloan, who had 5 and 4 block assists, respectively. Serving was led by Molly Sauer, who had three aces and no errors. Akela Yuhl and Mia Stander each had two aces, but Yuhl chipped in 3 errors of her own. Still, not bad for the sophomore making her first start.

As mentioned previously, the offense was led by Chaussee and Green. Each had 16 kills and Chaussee finished with a nearly .400 hitting percentage to go along with it. High volume, high efficiency hitting wins matches. Green's hitting percentage was a bit lower, but she added on the 4 solo blocks and 10 digs to cement herself as player of the game. Green has been having a semi-quietly fantastic season that is somewhat overshadowed by what McHenry does game in and game out. Credit to Amanda for seeing her opportunity to show out and seizing it at the perfect time. The Cards needed someone to fill in for the absence of a huge all-around piece, and they got it from multiple players last night. 

Defense saw Molly Sauer, Green, Yuhl, and Stander combine for 70 of the 79 receiving attempts with only one receiving error. Sauer, Yuhl, and Stander also added 30 digs to keep Louisville's offense with opportunities to score. Wilma Rivera did former setter of the year things with 46 assists on 54 kills, 2 block assists, and an ace.

For a team that has, perhaps, struggled with some confidence issues this season, losing a star late could have been enough to throw off the entire team. Keep in mind that Miami is not a bad squad, as they sat at 13-6 (9-3) before last night's match. It should be a huge boost to the Cards to know that, while Melanie McHenry is a fantastic player, the entire match doesn't have to play through her. Coming to this understanding could help McHenry, as well, as increased confidence throughout the offense can reduce the pressure on her and open up the front line even more by teams not being able to key in their blocks as much. That said, Louisville will hope for a speedy recovery for McHenry as the Florida State Seminoles come to town tomorrow for a 1PM matchup in Cardinal Arena. The Noles sit at 15-8 and have struggled a bit on the road, but they are coming off of a road win over Notre Dame so their confidence will be high. Tune in to ACC Network Extra or head down to Floyd Street to catch the matchup, the second to last of the regular season in Cardinal Arena.

Postgame with Dani Busboom Kelly

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

After a long absence, I'll finally be making my return to the studio this morning alongside Paulie plus Paige Sherrard and Datyl Foust. Jared and Jeff sit out today with other obligations, but we'll do our best to hold down the volleyball discussions without our experts. Paulie has plenty to talk about from his adventures at the Yum! Center and basketball season is right around the corner. Tune into WCHQ FM at 11AM to hear all the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is available at 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ app, or on Facebook live. Links are at the right side of the site!

November is Donation Month

If you're already getting tired of seeing the donation month discussion, well... I don't know what to tell you. Strap in, because there's quite a bit of month left. Cardinal Couple is brought to you by a group that does this for no financial gain. We cover the women's athletics at UofL because they deserve the coverage. However, this coverage isn't free. There are administrative fees to consider, as well as costs to ensure we can cover games that aren't just at UofL's home sites. If you are a frequenter of the site, or if you're new and enjoy what we do here, please consider donating to keep this operation up and running. It is a personal joy to be able to work with this team and I know what it takes behind the scenes. If you are able, any and all donations would be greatly appreciated!

Checks to: 

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Donate through PAY PAL:

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Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Pictures in today's article provided by Jared Anderson. Check out his site for more from last night and beyond.

Volleyball Back on Track; A New ACC Champion Approaches; WBB Luncheon -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It's been awhile! After a couple of weeks off for wedding festivities, I'm back in the Cardinal Couple saddle and ready to bring the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics to these pages. Unfortunately, my reintroduction to the studio will have to wait a week as the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this week has been cancelled due to scheduling conflicts, but I'll be back on Mellwood soon enough. The bachelor party and wedding week were tons of fun, and now it's on to the real adult things like house hunting. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes! Now, let's get into the real reason we're here!

Volleyball Takes Down Boston College 3-1

In a bit of a hangover from the loss against Pitt last week, Louisville's win over Boston College in Cardinal Arena last night was a very sloppy one. Louisville erred 6 times in the first game and finished the match with 22, yet still managed to hit a reasonable .284 in the match. The Cards dropped that first game 18-25, and it looked like there may be trouble afoot against the Eagles. BC came into the match at 13-9 (3-7), so a loss would have been quite the surprise. Fortunately, Louisville found their footing and swept the next three games to take the match pretty handily at 3-1.

Despite the talent gap, Louisville did not truly dominate BC in the match. The Eagles blocked well, tallying seven, and the Cards' largest win was 25-17 in game 3. BC was close at 25-20 and 25-23 in the remaining two games. If it was a matter of loss hangover, hopefully the Cards have put that behind them with this win and can carry a bit more confidence into their next game against Syracuse. If it was more than that, Louisville may be in some trouble. 

Statistically, Louisville didn't play a terrible match. Every hitter with at least ten attempts hit at least .214 despite the 22 errors. The Cards did have more service errors than service aces (5-4), but it wasn't like a couple of games ago when they couldn't serve the ball without giving up a point. The Cards chipped in 14 block assists to go with their one solo block for a total of 8. Jasmine Bennett and Marijke Van Dyke jumped off of the page the most to me with 8 kills (.571) and 10 kills (.444) respectively. Amanda Green led the team with 16 kills but chipped in 6 of the 22 errors which tarnishes it a bit. Melanie McHenry played her typical game (which is crazy to say that this is typical), adding in 13 kills. McHenry was also honored for recording 1000 kills in her career. She is only a junior.

The Cards will look to put this win behind them, but may need to take a lesson two from it as their next match is against the Orange of Syracuse tomorrow at 1PM in Cardinal Arena. The Orange are 12-7 (8-3) on the season but are coming off of a tough 3-0 loss to a struggling Notre Dame team. In that loss, Syracuse tallied 15 blocks. If blocks were part of Louisville's struggles against Boston College, that issue is not going to be relieved against Syracuse. Here's hoping that Coach Dani Busboom Kelly can prepare the team effectively for high pressure at the net, and that the Cards can have an accurate swinging game to find their way around the blocks while staying in bounds.

Dorcas Wasike Becomes ACC Champion

While the Louisville women's cross country team struggled on the whole in the ACC Championship race yesterday (placing 14th out of 15 overall), there was one bright spot for the Cards in the event. And it was very bright. Dorcas Wasike claimed the women's championship trophy with a first place finish, coasting to the finish line after six kilometers a full 8 seconds ahead of second place. It was redemption for Wasike, who last year finished the race in second place. This victory was something she eyed all season, and she was determined to hold off those that she called very good runners in the final stretch. Wasike should qualify for the Southeast Regional meet with this victory, which will take place at Winthrop on November 9th. As Louisville will not be advancing to the NCAA championships as a team, Wasike can still make the NCAA championships as an individual. She'll have to finish in the top 25 of the regional meet and be one of the top 4 runners that has not already qualified with their team. Barring this method, she could still be selected as one of the two at large runners, but it would be best to get in the easy way. Best of luck to Dorcas as she continues her pursuit of a national championship to add to her trophy case.

Women's Basketball Tip-Off Luncheon

This was supposed to be the time when Paulie wrapped up the article with his takeaways from yesterday's tip-off luncheon. Unfortunately, I woke up a bit later than expected, pushing my timing for finishing the article back, and Paulie was unable to add in his thoughts before having to leave to tailgate for today's football game. See? Noon games aren't just frustrating because they're early. They have actual consequences. Anyway, I'm not even going to pretend that I have insight as to what went on yesterday other than what I saw on Twitter. Paulie, on the other hand, has plenty to say. You'll have to wait until Monday's article to hear about it, but with women's soccer and volleyball tomorrow, Monday is sure to be a column that you don't want to miss!!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Additional pictures from last night's volleyball match below. As always, be sure to check out Jared's site for great photos of UofL athletic events.

Volleyball Set to Host Notre Dame -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Notre Dame Visits Cardinal Arena Wednesday Night

#22 Louisville Volleyball continues their home stint with a midweek match-up against Notre Dame.  The game is set to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Following a pair of sweeps at home this weekend against mid-tier ACC opponents the Cards moved from 25 to 22 in the AVCA Coaches Poll.  The Cards are 13-4 and 6-0 in the ACC while currently riding a seven-game win streak.  At home, Louisville is 6-1 with the sole loss coming against Kentucky.

Melanie McHenry is way out in front with 217 kills.  Megan Sloan has 164 and Amanda Green has 142.  Jasmine Bennett sits a little further back with 112, but her stats are skewed after having sat out for a handful of games.

Wilma Rivera has more assists by herself with 650 than all other opponents, who have a combined 623.  Molly Sauer is nearing triple-digits with 72 assists.

Sauer captains the defense with 268 digs.  She has friends on the floor with McHenry tallying 126 and Rivera with 112.

Louisville's biggest weakness up to this point has been service errors with a whopping 166.  That number is well beyond the 92 service aces on the year.  However, the ratio isn't too bad when looking at opposing teams' 113 service errors against 53 aces. Improvement lately for the Cards in that stat brings hope that failure to clear the net is a thing of the past.

Notre Dame enters the game with a 10-6 overall and 4-2 mark in the ACC.  Historically, the Irish have been a solid program, but have hit a few bumps in the road recently.  They are still dangerous, nonetheless.

The Irish have relied heavily on their defense.  They've held their opponents to a .153 hitting percentage, including holding four opponents under .100.  Their defense ranks best in the ACC and 16th in the country.  The back line has also helped pace the Irish defense as well.  Their 16.88 digs per set sits atop the conference.

There is a pair of freshman on the roster for Notre Dame who have made a notable impact.  Zoe Nunez is second on the team with 170 kills and leads the team with 590 assists. Sydney Bent is third on the team with 105 kills.

Notre Dame has won eight of their matches in straight-set fashion.  Their only non-sweeps were a 3-2 victory at Georgia Tech and a 3-1 victory against Wake Forest.

Both teams have played against Purdue on the road.  The Cards lost a heart-breaker in five sets while the Irish were downed in four.

Louisville swept Duke while Notre Dame fell in five sets to them.  The Cards swept Wake Forest while the Irish claimed the win in four sets.  The Cards also got a sweep at Georgia Tech while Notre Dame held onto win in a five-set thriller.  Louisville squeezed by at Clemson, going down to the wire in the fifth set while the Irish swept the Tigers.  Louisville won at North Carolina in five sets while Notre Dame claimed the win in straight sets.  The Cards took a four-set victory at NC State while Notre Dame fell in four sets to the Wolfpack.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 21-14, but haven't beaten the Cards since Sept. 23, 2016, in a sweep in South Bend.  Louisville has won three straight matches since then against their conference rival, 3-1, 3-2, 3-2.

Tonight should be no different than the series history suggests.  Both teams are similar on paper with the Cards having an edge on the record, ranking, and quality of opponents.  I expect to see either a four-set or five-set bloodbath between the two teams with neither of them taking a set with ease.

Louisville hopes to remain undefeated in the ACC alongside Pittsburgh while Notre Dame tries to remain in the top six in the conference with a win.

If you cannot make the event I suggest you tune into the ACC Network (ESPN Watch Live online or on the app).  Our own Worldwide will be present for the event, although he typically does not tweet while in attendance at volleyball. Paulie will be monitoring the action either live or on the ACC Network.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Volleyball Remains Undefeated -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke in Cardinal Arena

Just mere hours before something dreadful happened on one end of Floyd Street, Dani Busboom Kelly's serve-and-net Cards were making something nice happen on the other end. As Jeff promised last Saturday on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour, Louisville came out of this week at 5-0 on the ACC season. They didn't do it in a total of 6 sets, as Jeff assured us would happen, but they did get the sweep of Duke last night, despite the Blue Devils staying relatively close. The Cards won 25-15, 25-16, and 25-21 to move to 12-4 on the year and 5-0 in the ACC. They remain in the tie for first in the conference and should be in a position to hold or advance their standing in the top 25, depending on how tomorrow's match against Wake Forest goes.

The Cards came out hot yesterday, hitting a smoking .552 in the first set. They had no errors on their way to a comfortable victory in the first. After stretching the early lead to 10-4, Louisville didn't look back on their way to the first set win. The second set was a bit similar, unusually. The Cards did add 3 errors in the second, but despite Duke's early efforts to stay in the set, the Cards turned a 9-7 advantage into an 18-8 advantage in the blink of an eye. Louisville hit .346 in that one, which was a general improvement on the typical second set we've seen so far this season.

Of course, the Cards had to save that set meltdown for some other time. Louisville hit a whopping eight
errors in the third set, but still managed to finish with a respectable .250 hitting percentage in the set. Duke came out of the set break prepared to jump on any Louisville mistakes, though, and jump they did. After an early back and forth, the Blue Devils took advantage of 4 Cardinal errors to turn a 4-6 disadvantage into a 10-6 lead. The Cards got the hitting into better shape after that rough stretch to win 13 of the next 19 points and regained the lead at 19-16. Duke was unable to recover from the body blows and Louisville finished off the sweep.

Duke is not all that great. The loss drops them to 1-4 in conference and 7-7 on the season. However, Louisville has to win these games, and it's better to see them win sweeps rather than the five set barn burner style of game they won against Clemson. The Cards have struggled a bit with consistency, but it is only Coach DBK's second season. First you compile your talent, then you get them to win games, then you get them to win games consistently. We started step two of that process last season, finishing atop the conference, but step three is eluding us. Poorly timed injuries to key players and thinning at positions that can't spare the bodies have put Louisville in a bit of a bind against some of the better teams on their schedule, but as long as the Cards keep their nose down and continue to hit the ball better each night, they'll be just fine.

Speaking of hitting the ball better, it would appear that a second Louisville player was listening in on the "Case Bashes People with Good Intentions" Hour last week. Melanie McHenry had a great game against Duke, finishing with 15 kills and only 4 errors. She did have a service error but contributed to a block assist and had only one receiving error in 11 receiving attempts. McHenry is the lifeblood of this team offensively, as the team seems to feed off of her energy and hitting. Wilma Rivera is equally as important to the success of the offense, but I feel as though when McHenry is having an off night, everyone else struggles too. Also on offense, Piper Roe, Megan Sloan, and Emily Scott continued to impress with their opportunities. It was Amanda Green's turn to struggle a bit, with 6 kills and 4 errors, but I'm not concerned about her ability to bounce back quickly before the next game.

Louisville stays at home for their next match tomorrow against Wake Forest. Wake, like Duke, sits at 1-4 in conference, but they're a dismal 6-11 overall. Louisville *should* see another sweep tomorrow, so we'll be watching to make sure they're consistent in their hitting and force Wake to beat them, rather than the Cards beating themselves. The match is at 1PM and will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

For the second week in a row, all four writers will be in the studio together today.

We'll talk soccer, volleyball, field hockey, and maybe even a little lacrosse, softball, or basketball. With fall sports in the thick of their seasons and spring sports getting a bit of offseason work in, this is a fun time to be a Louisville fan (as long as you ignore that one fall sport that appears to be doing their best)

Join us at 11 AM for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on WCHQ FM.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Volleyball Wins ACC Opener; Field Hockey Stumbles on Road -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Down NC State in Raleigh

Last season, the only match I managed to make it to for volleyball was when NC State came to town. It was a huge ACC matchup in Cardinal Arena late in the season. Last night's match against the Wolfpack was not quite as high profile as 2017's version, but it was still an important match, acting as both teams' ACC opener. It was made even more important for Louisville because of their less than stellar performance last weekend and their uninspiring performances on the road thus far this season. 

The Cards put both of those demons behind them for the time being as they beat NC State 3-1 in a fairly close match. Louisville won 25-19, 28-26, 20-25, and 25-18. Barring the slip-up in the third, Louisville very nearly took down the Pack in straight sets, which would have been an even bigger confidence boost. Unfortunately, you don't have to look very far to locate the source of the third set struggle, as the Cards hit only .087 in the third. Overall, it was a much better match than last week, as Louisville finished with a .227 over four sets. It's not a world beating hitting percentage, but it was serviceable, and will win you matches if your opponent hits only .160.

A big improvement over last weekend came for Melanie McHenry, who was very much not herself against the Cats and Mocs. Kentucky had her locked down while she was just missing spots badly against Chattanooga. McHenry finished with 8 errors, still, but also killed 17 points and contributed to 4 total blocks. McHenry has shown that she can be the offensive leader of the team and Coach Dani Busboom Kelly has shown that she wants McHenry to do so. Now we just need to see a bit more consistency from the sophomore for her to become a feared hitter across the land. 

McHenry was joined in double digit kills by Amanda Green (13), Jasmine Bennett (12), and Megan Sloan (10). Wilma Rivera was very much in system, assisting on 53 of 60 kills and being forced into only 8 digs. Molly Sauer was stalwart on defense, picking up 26 digs and adding 4 assists. Nobody on the team was particularly useful on the serve, as the Cards finished with 11 service errors and only 3 aces. Serving has been a strength of this team early in the season, so we'll consider last night an exception rather than the rule. 

After a big win to begin the conference season, Louisville will stay in the Tarheel State for their next match, taking on North Carolina tomorrow at 1PM. The Cards started off the ACC last season with a huge winning streak. Let's see if they can duplicate such success this season. They're off to the right kind of start.

Corners Doom Field Hockey at Wake Forest

The Cards dropped their second ACC game of the season yesterday in Winston Salem as a 7-2 penalty corner disadvantage led to a 4-2 loss at the hands Wake Forest. It was Wake's (1-1) first ACC win of the season and the Demon Deacons were unranked going into the game. Louisville is sure to fall from their number 7 position after the loss but there is a long season remaining. The Cards will look to get back on track tomorrow against Appalachian State before returning to ACC play against Virginia next Saturday.

To open the scoring, it was Bethany Russ capitalizing on a penalty corner rebound. It was the first of two Louisville scores and the first of two times they would take the lead. The second came in the second half when Whena Munn broke the 1-1 tie off of a goal during the run of play. Louisville played well in the open field, and defended the run of play solidly. Unfortunately, Wake earned corner after corner, finishing with 7 corners that led to 15 shots (9 on goal). Ayeisha McFerran picked up 5 saves but all four goals for the Deacs came as a result of a penalty corner conversion. Louisville finished the game with only 4 shots, both on goal shots finding the back of the cage.

Penalty corner conversion, both offensive and defensive, is often an indicator of game results. Louisville completed 50% of their chances. Wake completed only 57%. However, the difference also comes in volume. 1/2 is usually going to fall to 4/7. Without having watched the game, I can't speak to exactly what was happening for the Cards to be hit so hard and give up so many corners, but I know that if you're giving up so many attempts on goal, you're usually going to have a bad time, even with the best goalie in the world. 

There isn't much else to say on this one. Coach Sowry will surely have the team poring over film on the off-day as they seek to determine what went wrong. The Cards have had some good wins, but again, their inability to create consistent offense (still no more than 2 goals in a single game) has come back to bite them. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm sure that everyone related to the team is trying their best to figure it out as well.

Wrap-Up Thoughts on WSoc vs Notre Dame

After nearly turning my iPhone into a brick while attempting to update yesterday, I was waiting patiently for my computer to update so I could finish fixing everything. While not being able to do anything, I decided to check in on Cardinal Couple and saw someone request my thoughts on Thursday's game in the comments. I had a nice big comment written up when my computer decided that it didn't need to ask me if I wanted to restart to finish the updates; it just went for it. Anyway, let's get into what I saw Thursday night against the Irish.

Straight out of the gate, Louisville did not look fully prepared to play. The Cards were sluggish and almost refused to run to the ball. Numerous times, players were jogging while within striking distance of a Notre Dame pass. There was simply no urgency from Louisville. In addition to the lackadaisical ball hunting, the Cardinals were also getting out-physicaled left and right by the Irish. I could probably count on one hand the number of fifty-fifty balls Louisville came away with in the first half. If not for some spectacular defensive play by the back line and a save by Gabby Kouzelos, Louisville could have been in major trouble in the first half. For most of that time, I considered it only a matter of time before the Irish broke through. They looked like the better team for much of the night.

During the second half, Notre Dame's pressure intensified. They put five shots on goal in the second half, forcing Kouzelos into four second half saves. The potential first goal of the game was saved off of the line by a Louisville defender after bouncing dangerously past Kouzelos. Still, Louisville lacked hustle and creativity. Every ball won by the defense was slammed forward with no intent. The area talent scouts seated behind me had the same thoughts saying, "They've got no ideas." It was true. I was busy mentally lamenting Louisville's passing rate (it was extremely low) when the sequence that led to the first goal began. Louisville was able to make crisp passes into space, avoid defenders, and get forward dangerously before Brooklynn Rivers headed home what was ultimately the winner. It was a similar sequence later in the game when Maisie Whitsett regained the team points lead with her goal. 

Louisville is a better team when they pass well. They have some straight line speed, but they were not physical enough against Notre Dame to commit to the long ball style of play. I would much prefer to see them continue to create thoughtful attacking chances rather than just hitting the ball upfield and hoping for the best. Additionally, the time for slowly growing into a game has passed. Poor starts like the one Thursday night will haunt against better finishing teams or on a night that the defense is not up to their very best as they were Thursday. I'm not sure what was going on, but let's hope it was isolated. 

I won't be able to make it to Sunday's game against the Orange, but this season's results show that Syracuse is not the threat that Notre Dame was. That said, Louisville cannot come out slow and play down to their opponent. I'll depend on Paulie and Jared to relay the "perkiness" of the team and how they look compared to Thursday night. Louisville finished last season with only 11 points in the conference standings, and they've already got 6 through their first two games. A win against Syracuse would be huge for this team's standing in the conference and the nation and for their confidence, as well. Let's see what they figured out in film review and training between the two games.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared and I are both MIA from the studio this morning, but that doesn't mean you won't be treated to
a (nearly) full house with a great show. Daryl Foust sits in with Paulie and Jeff, and she's got more than enough talent to replace the two of us. The Crew will talk the three major fall sports that were in action of the last couple of days and do what they do best in bringing the Joy and Excitement of Louisville Women's Sports. Tune into WCHQ FM at 11 AM for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour via 100.9FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ app, and on Facebook Live. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

First 2018-19 Battle of the Bluegrass Tonight -- Volleyball in Florida -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY FACE OFF IN WOMEN'S SOCCER 

There will be 16 events between Louisville and Kentucky in the 2018-19 schedule for Louisville Athletics. 14 sports go head-to-head, with Softball and Baseball meeting twice. 8 on the men's side, 8 on the women's side. 

The first "Battle of the Bluegrass" takes place tonight in Louisville's Lynn Stadium...when the Cards and Cats take to the pitch at 5:30 p.m. 

Tonight's contest is part of a soccer double-header at Lynn, with Louisville Men's Soccer facing St. Louis after the women's game. The match has been designated a "Red Out", so make sure you're sporting your red Cardinal gear if you go. (Unless you're a Cat Fan, of course). 

Karen Ferguson Dayes and her Cards come in unblemished after four matches this year. Louisville has earned wins over Wright State, Xavier, at Dayton and at Michigan so far in August. Brooklynn Rivers and Maisie Whitsett lead UofL in scoring with three goals each. 

- Rivers' scoring came in one game, when she pulled off the hat-trick against Michigan. The Cards have scored 14 goals in their four wins, while allowing just three to be scored against them. 

UK enters Lynn with a 3-1 record. They recently fell against Wisconsin in Lexington and have gained victories over Morehead, SIUE and Arkansas-Little Rock. Kentucky was pushed to overtime in the Morehead and Arkansas-Little Rock wins. The Cats are led in scoring by Yuuka Kurosaki and Hollie Olding...who have three goals each on the season. 

Last year, Louisville visited Lexington and came home with a 3-1 win in rainy Bell Soccer Complex. It broke a six-game UK winning streak over Louisville women's soccer. 

Keys to a Cardinal win tonight? We'll look at three things in Paulie's Pre-Game Primer.  

1) Shutting the door.  Louisville's defensive middle of "Gabby squared"...keeper Gabby Kouzelos and Gabrielle Vincent have proven to be a tough task for offenses to overcome so far this season. They'll need to stay strong on the stops to ensure the Cards outscore the Cats. Freshman Sarah Hernandez and Arianna Ferraro have also helped build that impenetrable wall by the net and continued success from those two will be needed if the Cards are to push the win streak to two against Big Blue. 

2) Flying Freshmen.  The Cards have received a pleasant burst of efficiency and scoring from their freshmen this season. In addition to Whitsett's three scores, Delaney Snyder has found net success twice. UofL has also gotten valuable contributing minutes from first-year student-athletes Anna Henderson, Amari Hopkins and Morgan Jackson . Anything the freshman can contribute tonight will only boost UofL's win chances. 

3) Ekic Energy.  The scintillating sophomore Emina Ekic has two goals on the season and had two goals against Kentucky last year. She's a marvel and joy to watch on the pitch and seemingly fully recovered from the ACL that ended her season in 2017. A midfielder from Louisville Manual High School, Ekic knows one speed -- full throttle. We would like to see her duplicate her scoring total from last year against UK. Know this -- a good Ekic performance tonight is essential for a Louisville victory.

This one will be available on the ACC Network Extra and ESPN + at 5:30 if you can't get out for it. There is a 40% chance of rain and temperature is expected to top out at 90.
Good ol' muggy Louisville weather, right?  


VOLLEYBALL FACES UCF IN FRIDAY FLORIDA ACTION

Moving on to a different type of net and different player personnel, Dani Busboom Kelly  takes her Louisville Volleyball squad to Gainesville, FL for action in the Bubly Tournament...hosted by the University of Florida. No pre-game tailgating for the Louisville/Alabama football game for these set and serve stars...they'll be involved in three games in three days and start it off against an Orlando squad and former conference foe in Central Florida. 

Jared Anderson gave you a great preview of all three matches in the Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE and I encourage you to check out his article. He's down in Orlando, doing whatever Jared and Katy do, but it's rumored he'll be tweeting and taking phone pics. Follow him at @MrAndersonJared. 

The Cards found net success in their season opening Cardinal Classic tournament with convincing wins over Tennessee Martin, Southern Illinois and IUPUI...sweeping the three game round robin. 

Louisville's offense, so far, has been led by Amanda Green and Melanie McHenry. They lead the Cards in kills with 28 and 26 respectively. Senior Molly Sauer stands out for the defense with 40 digs. She was also the Cardinal Classic MVP and joined on the All-Tournament team by teammates Jasmine Bennett and Wilma Rivera. 

The competition goes up a few notches this weekend, starting with UCF. They began their season with two wins and a loss in the Sunshine State Challenge....downing Florida Gulf Coast and Florida Atlantic but falling to ACC opponent Miami. 


MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE...PLUS THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. 


We'll have more on the other two opponents (Florida on Saturday and Southern California on Sunday) as those matches draw closer. Viewing for UCF today is allegedly available at the link below: 

http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3429012/ucf-vs-louisville-w-volleyball

The listing at the link, though, shows the match will take place Sunday at 1 p.m., which is incorrect, according to what we've heard. The Golden Knights and Cards are scheduled for a either 4 p.m. or 6 p.m. start (once again, two sources, two different game times listed). 

You can also supposedly follow action at the stats link below...I tested it, however, this morning and I got a "not valid URL" message : 

http://www.sidearmstats.com/florida/wvball/

We'll have a recap of the opener in Florida for you regardless of time and stat availability, though, here in the Saturday Cardinal Couple column and we'll also recap it on Saturday morning's broadcast of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and Facebook Live. No mystery or intrigue there, as far as we know. 

We'll have Ky. Women Talk Sports co-host Daryl Foust joining Worldwide Jeff McAdams and I for the broadcast along with River City Cards managing editor Mike Gilpatrick. It should be a legendary show...don't miss it! 


paulie
xxxxx

Field Hockey, Volleyball Take Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Earns Sweeps in First Two Matches of Season

Louisville Volleyball opened their season yesterday in the Cardinal Classic, hosting three teams in Cardinal Arena. Louisville played their first game against UT Martin and showed the fans on hand that last season's performances were no fluke by putting together a dominant performance against the outmatched Skyhawks. The Cards finished the match hitting .478 as a team and had a whopping 10 aces. UT Martin was outscored 75-36 over the duration of the match, with the closest game of the three coming at 25-17. 

Despite Melanie McHenry and Amanda Green both finishing with 9 kills, it was really Piper Roe who paced the office, converting 8/11 attempts with no errors to finish the night with 8 kills and a .727 hitting percentage. Roe also added 5 block assists and a dig to round out a very solid match. My player of the match would have to be Wilma Rivera, though. Rivera picked up right where she left off and finished the first match of the day with 2 kills (on 2 attempts), 23 assists, 4 aces, 2 blocks, and 7 digs. Rivera was the Setter of the Year last year and it is good to see her come out of the gate strong. 

Unfortunately..we found out before the first game, Louisville lost a key contributor on defense in Alexis Hamilton. It was confirmed by her family at the later game that Hamilton tore her ACL and will likely miss the remainder of the season. Look for Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly to apply a medical redshirt to Hamilton this year to give the sophomore an additional year of playing time.

In their second match last night, Louisville took on the Salukis of SIU. The team from Illinois put up a bit more of a fight, scoring a total of 42 points, and pushing one game to 25-19, but in the end, Louisville walked away with a second sweep. The Cards again hit well as a team with a .443 performance, and finished the second match with 7 aces. Unfortunately, the aces were outnumbered by service errors, and you know that I like to look for the bad in the good to find things the team can improve.

Despite her effectiveness in the first match, Piper Roe did not start the second match. Roe came away ok with her limited opportunities, though, earning a kill on 4 of 6 attempts, but erring on the other two. It was Emily Scott that started in place of Roe and Jasmine Bennett that played a similar game to Piper. Bennett finished the match with 10 kills on 15 attempts with just one error for a .600 hitting percentage. McHenry and Green were again strong, with 10 and 8 kills respectively, and Rivera again put together a solid match with 38 assists. The new transfer, Marijke Van Dyke, finished the second match completing 4/5 attempts with no errors and may find herself moving up the depth chart if such success continues.

Louisville will wrap the Cardinal Classic today against IUPUI at 5PM and will look for another strong outing. Winning 9 straight sets would be a good way to start the season. I will be looking for the Cards to perform better in the second set, as that was where the best games came from both opponents yesterday. Jeff will have plenty more to say about this opening weekend in his writeup tomorrow so be sure to check back in then!

Field Hockey Defeats Indiana in Opener 2-1

The Cards opened and closed the scoring yesterday with both goals coming on converted penalty corners. Shout out to the box score play-by-play for calling them "penalty kicks". Maybe they let Paulie at the controls for a moment. Louisville's first goal came after 23 minutes from Bethany Russ. Russ was active on the ball yesterday, taking a total of 6 shots and putting 2 of them on frame. 

The Louisville lead would last only 4 minutes, as Indiana scored a goal in the run of play after a bad pass from the defense led to an open breakaway. To the potential surprise of many, Ayeisha McFerran heard her number called yesterday to start the game in goal. She gave up the one goal (but it is hard to blame a goalkeeper for getting scored on in a one-on-one situation) but finished the game with 4 saves, including 3 during a tied second half. 

After Indiana's goal, the two teams went on the be frustrated for about 43 minutes before Louisville's Erica Cooper prevented overtime with a goal with no time on the clock. Louisville was awarded a penalty corner as time expired, and field hockey rules state that the penalty awarded team must be allowed an untimed play to complete their offensive attack. Indiana was unable to clear the ball, and a second attempt from Cooper saw her loft a shot over the IU keeper for a buzzer beating goal. It was the first goal of the freshman Cooper's career at UofL, and it came at a pretty good time for the Cards.

The goal gave Louisville a 40% completion rate on penalty corners for the day while the Cards successfully defended all 5 attempts from the Hoosiers. The defense for this team will be a strong point for Louisville, but the passing and possession out of the back will need to be cleaned up to prevent more open attempts like came in the first half of yesterday's game. It was good to see McFerran back in the goal so quickly and playing well when it was expected that she would miss a few games.

Louisville field hockey is back in action tomorrow at 1PM against Ohio State at Trager Stadium. The game is available on ACC Network Extra.

Rouse and England Place Third

Like Ayeisha McFerran, Mollie Rouse will be returning from international duty with some hardware in tow. The Young Lionnesses were bumped from the finals in a defeat by Japan earlier this week, but took on the host team France in the third place game yesterday morning. Japan went on to defeat Spain 3-1 in the championship. It took penalties for England against France after the teams were tied at 1 with both goals coming in the second half. England converted 4 of their 5 penalties in the shootout and held France to just 2 of 4 (the last kick by the hosts being moot). Rouse will likely not return to the squad before tomorrow's match against Michigan, but may be back with the team by Friday's match against Kentucky. Match fitness shouldn't be an issue after starting nearly every game for England, but her team cohesion, as mentioned before, may be. However, with the surprising speed of McFerran's return to the field hockey starting lineup, I'll be keeping an eye on Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes onboarding of Rouse. The Cards take on Michigan tomorrow at 2PM. No video is listed for the game.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're without Jared today, but should have plenty to fill our Cardinal Couple Radio Hour as more fall sports have gotten underway. We'll talk women's soccer, volleyball, and field hockey as all three have been active and will do our best to generally present the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. As always, join us on WCHQ at 11AM via 100.9 FM, wchqfm.com, the WCHQ app, or on Facebook Live. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-