The Dayton Flyers came to visit the Louisville volleyball squad Monday night for a match in the LNFCUA, but might have been well advised to just stay home and save the travel expense. Louisville took down the Flyers in three sets -- 25-14, 25-14 and 25-11.
In the process, UofL set a new record for team hitting percentage (.487). Here's a brief recap:
SET ONE
Dayton did get the first two points of the set, but Louisville came back aggressively and took a 7-2 lead. The Cards continued to keep up the attack and a 8-3 run had them up 15-5. After the media break, Dayton did their best to keep pace with Uofl, and just narrowly lost the final segment 10-9. Louisville showed out for an appreciative home crowd and took the opener 25-14.
SET TWO
Dayton was able to stay pretty close to open the second set...playing to a 3-3 tie early on. That may have raised an eyebrow or two among the Louisville fan base. Chloe Meester decided she wanted to get in on the party, though, and had six kills in a 12-3 stretch that had the Cards up 15-6 at the media break. Addison Makun impressed with two kills to close out the second set -- giving UofL another 25-14 win.
SET THREE
After the halftime break, the Cards decided to flex a bit and scored the first seven points of the set. Dayton did try to battle back as best they could and the ensuing 8-6 Louisville advantage set the score at 15-6 at the media timeout. Chloe Chicoine decided to slam a few across the net, and UofL took the final segment 10-5 and end the match. A 25-11 closing set.
A good workman-like effort by the Cards against the A-10 foe, and Dan Meske remarked after the match:
"It was a great match. Dayton is a really good program that plays teams tough .and to play the way we did against a program like that was really impressive. It's nice to get a lot of people involved. It's always the plan to play our best, and if we have opportunities to get people some chances ,we'll take advantage and today was a great day for that. We had a lot of people get extended time, and that was nice."
Louisville, now 3-1 on the season, will host TCU next in the L&N on Friday. Sept 4th.
After an abnormal three-and-a-half month break in the "middle" of the season, UofL Volleyball will get back to work with their spring season today. While this week's action will be just an exhibition against Dayton and there is yet another break between this match and the next, it's the start of a what is a pretty busy schedule. There's also space for another match to fill in next week if Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly wants to try to find an opponent to keep the team sharp.
As a refresher, Louisville is coming off of a 5-2 fall, which puts them in fifth in conference, though they're tied for third with two losses. If Louisville is able to knock off Notre Dame in their first conference game of the spring set, Louisville would move into a four way tie for second at 6-2. The Cards swept Syracuse and Boston College in their double-headers and split with Pittsburgh to end the year. Along with Louisville and Notre Dame, three other teams failed to play eight conference matches in the fall: Clemson, Florida State, and Wake Forest. Clemson and Wake each played six, while Florida State finished their fall with just four matches played.
It's unlikely that these teams would be able to catch up to the rest of the conference, given the tighter spring schedule, but they'll be keen to try, as the NCAA tournament is set to start on April 9th. Particularly, Clemson would like to get more matches under their belt as they sit the highest of those three at 3-3.
For today's matchup, Louisville will get a Dayton squad that is playing their first match of the 2020-21 season, as the Atlantic-10 canceled fall sports completely last year. The Flyers will open their conference season with a double-header next Saturday against Saint Louis. They'll bookend their season that way, actually, finishing with two matches against the Billikens as well at the end of March.
Dayton made the NCAA tournament in 2019, losing to Marquette in the first round after going 20-8 in the regular season and winning the A-10 conference tournament. They played Louisville early in that year at the annual Cardinal Classic, and the Cards swept the Flyers in the last match of the event. Dayton opened 2019 with an exhibition win over Pittsburgh, and, while they went 0-3 at the Cardinal Classic, they took both Texas A&M and Florida to five sets.
The Cards and Flyers will get action underway at 3PM today in the L&N Federal Credit Union Arena. Attendance for all spring home matches will be limited to family and close friends, though we've yet to find out if Jeff will manage to sneak his way onto that list. No video is listed for this one, so keep an eye out for a full rundown from Jeff in his write-up tomorrow about the match.
Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast
Louisville finally suffered their first loss of the 2020-21 basketball season, but it's not all bad for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast as we get to recap the bounce-back win they had as well. We're without Daryl this week, but the four knuckleheads will file in as normal to bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. Tune in to the Cardinal Couple YouTube Channel at 11AM for the live show, or check out the replay any time after the show ends. You can also subscribe to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour on your favorite podcast player to have the show pushed to your device every week.
ASIA DURR'S 25 LEADS CARDS TO SEVENTH WIN OF SEASON.
The word to Cardinal WBB fans this morning is enjoy greatness while it is still around. Asia Durr knocked down four three pointers and totaled 25 points in a 85-68 win over Nebraska in the ACC vs. Big Ten shootout last night in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 7334 fans. Durr was one of four Cards that hit double figures in a close game for three quarters that eventually became the Cards seventh win of the year...thanks to strong start to the final quarter. The Cards stretched a 12-point lead into a 24-point advantage in the first six minutes of the fourth. A spectacular lob to Jazmine Jones from Durr with 9:47 to go led to a basket that got the crowd roaring and was the first step in finally shaking off a very pesky and resilient Cornhusker squad. At the 3:45 mark, Arica Carter buried a soft jumper generated from a fast break that set the totals at 81-57 Cardinals. A 19-7 run. The Cards had a 8-0 run in the quarter, but a 9-0 run from Nebraska was coming. Then, things got a little weird. Asia was called for a foul, her first of the night. Walz went to the bench and brought in the freshmen. Seconds later, the refereeing crew of Dee Kanter, Eric Brewton and Mark Resch called a technical foul on Durr for bouncing the basketball too hard. Fueled by the displeasure of the crowd and the ridiculousness of the whistle, Jeff Walz began a tirade from the sidelines that eventually led to a technical against him. Two more free throws for designated Nebraska shooter Hannah Whitish, who sank a total of four of them without the clock moving. With possession, the Huskers got the ball to 6'5" center Kait Cain, who connected in the paint. All of a sudden, the Big Ten visitors were on a 6-0 run, in a mere two seconds. The Cards did go on to preserve the victory, with Lindsey Duvall, Segan Robins, Jess Laemmle, Mykasa Robinson and Kylee Shook on the hardwood for the final minutes. This was a Nebraska team that caught Louisville napping several times throughout the game, especially early on, with the old "back door" cut. The first ten Nebraska points came from this strategy. They led the Cards 11-10 with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter by employing the technique to counter the over-lapping aggressive Cardinal defense. After the media timeout, where Walz addressed the defensive efforts of his squad, Louisville rallied with a 11-4 run...fueled by strong interior play by Kylee Shook and Sam Fuehring and a timely three from "Nite-nite" to take a 21-14 first quarter lead. The second quarter was a fairly even effort from both squads. Louisville was getting offense from Durr, Fuehring and Bionca Dunham...but the Nebraska squad hung in there with impressive guard play from Nicea Ellery and Sam Halby, plus interior help from Maddie Simon. The Cards 40-31 halftime lead was augmented by forcing the Huskers into 13 first half turnovers and the Cards getting 13 points off these. A Durr "3" early in the third quarter pushed the lead to ten. Although Nebraska was able to trim that to eight several times in the quarter, Louisville won the quarter after halftime 22-19 and had weathered Nebraska best punch.
Dee "T" on Coach.
Defensively, Louisville did allow 42.3% shooting by the visitors. The Cards also committed 21 fouls...fortunately the Huskers were only able to capitalized at a 75% success rate. In addition to Durr's 25, double figure scorers for Walz's squad included Fuehring with 14 (on 7-11 shooting) and a double-double with 10 rebounds. Arica Carter added 12, with a couple of threes and Bionca Dunham was good for 11 (5-6 from the floor). Asia made sure everyone enjoyed the party with eight assists. The Cards enjoyed a 38-26 points-in-the-paint advantage against the taller Nebraska squad and barely won the rebounding battle 35-33. THE FRED REPORT
This "Fred" -- Fred McGriff --
would appreciate UofL's
power-in-the-paint
FREE THROWS -- Not the Cards strongest feature of the night. 12-20 equals 60%, the Cards lowest "at the stripe" percentage of the year. We can't award a letter here. REBOUNDING -- Sam and Kylee combined for 19 grabs and held the towering Cain to 10. Only one from Durr...anytime you out-rebound a taller team and win the "second chance" battle (9-3) it's a mark of effort and grit and I'LL AWARD THE CAPITAL "R' HERE EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards came out wanting to run and they did all night, something that eventually wore down the foe. Creating 23 turnovers, scoring 26 points off them and winning all four quarters...while only committing 15 turnover are good. The fourth quarter "door closing" included...I'M GOOD WITH A CAPITAL "E" FOR THIS CATEGORY. DEFENSE -- Early success by Nebraska and good shooting show that there is still work to be done when UofL doesn't have the ball. Walz pointed out it's easier to teach defense than scoring with a team...Louisville did hold Nebraska to under 70 and forced the 23 miscues...but I'll only offer a lower case "d" for the sum of the night's work. FRED TOTAL: -_R-E-d At 7-0... Louisville moves on to a Sunday match up against Tennessee State. With these Thursday to Sunday type turnarounds, there isn't a great deal of time to study, breakdown and review film or work on flaws...but I'd think that coaches and staff will work on trying to creating a little more consistency, shoring up opponent's "in paint" scoring and continue to fine-tune what won this one today for the Cards. Quickness. It's how you overcome height. Let's give a lot of credit to the Cards paint-prowlers, though. The trio of Shook, Dunham and Fuehring are getting the job done and holding their own with taller teams. Dunham's continuing improvement and fine-tuning is a joy to behold. Fuehring continues to be the hardworking, blue collar, let's-get-down-and-do-it warrior and Shook is getting more and more aggressive and become a paint pugilist every game. That will be needed more and more as the schedule grows tougher. This is Asia's squad, make no doubt about it...but, as a unit, the Cards are setting up and creating the successes she has. Louisville got to 7-0 by employing teamwork and sacrificing so that the overall success outweighs the individual numbers. Let's continue to see that grow. A lively Thursday night in the YUM! with Louisville exhibiting their penchant for quickness, spectacular efforts...like the JJ "alley oop" score pictured here and "TV Dee" putting on a oscar-worthy performance. Ah, the thrill and excitement of Louisville WBB... Post game comments below: POST GAME ASIA AND SAM
(photos by Jared Anderson, when he wasn't busy eating cookies)
VOLLEYBALL TO FACE DAYTON IN CHAMPAIGN
An active day for NCAA First-round Volleyball matches and the Cards are on the University of Illinois campus awaiting today's 5:30 match against the A 10's Dayton Flyers. A tough first round match, yes, and I can't help be a bit envious of Cincinnati's seeding in the Marquette quadrant. Still, in tournament time, you go to your strengths and the Cards have plenty of those. The front line attack of Melanie McHenry, Amanda Green and Jasmine Bennett will need to be on their "A" game and force the issue. Wilma Rivera's ACC Setter of the Year accolades have to be a strong presence and guiding force. Molly Sauer's libero and serving skills will be very essential in securing the win today and getting the Cards to the round of 32. Any other contributions will be of prime importance from Dani's squad for Louisville to get a shot against what certainly appears to be a showdown with Illinois on Sunday. Illini Volleyball website saying that the Louisville vs. Dayton and the Illinois matches will be available (free) on line at: BTN2Go.comon the BTN Plus format. DONATION MONTH We come to the end of Donation Month here at Cardinal Couple. Honestly, it wasn't quite what I hoped for, but it wasn't a total disaster. A heartfelt "THANK YOU!" to all who helped out in our drive to fund the site for 2019. It's not too late to be a part of it. We will carry on, as best we can, in 2019. I'll reach heavily into my own pocket, again...to keep this site up, running and providing the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. If you'd like to help: CARDINAL COUPLE P.O. BOX 91521 LOUISVILLE, KY 40291 I'll renew and double my efforts to get corporate sponsors for 2019. It is still my hopes and dreams to make this a fully corporate-advertising sponsored site. I want to thank those of you again who provided donations to help sustain us, until that happens, in the months ahead. CAPTION THE PICTURE
CAPTION ME!
Finally today...our "shared" writer/photographer Jared Anderson approached me last night with an idea for home WBB games. He proposed he take a picture of Coach Walz and let you, the readers, create a caption for it. Keep it clean, in good taste and let's have some fun with Coach and his movements during a contest. No prizes or awards, but we'll make mention the following day of ones we thought were pretty clever and creative captions. Leave those captions in the comments section, along with your dirty laundry and bus vouchers...or e-mail them to Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com or text them to @cardinalcouple paulie xxxxx ##############
Volleyball Receives At-Large Bid in NCAA Tournament
Not that there was too much need to worry following a sweep against Georgia Tech on Friday night, but we can now breathe after hearing that Louisville volleyball has made it into the NCAA Tournament. They will gear up to face Dayton in the first round in Champaign, IL. The winner will face the winner of Illinois and Eastern Michigan. The Illini are the 3-seed, sitting just behind Stanford and Minnesota. They'll play Dayton on Friday 11/30 at 5:30 p.m..
Coach Dani Busboom Kelly felt confident following Friday's victory that her team would be in, but you can never be definite. She's thrilled the team gets to continue playing, especially with players finishing recovering from injuries and the team peaking.
Former UofL assistant coach Alyssa D'Errico is currently in her second year as an assistant for the Flyers. D'Errico helped the Cards win their first ACC Championship in 2015. Prior to that she won four NCAA Championships as a player at Penn State and won three state championships in high school.
The Atlantic-10 Champions got hot at the right time as they have won six straight, including upsetting 1-seed VCU in the conference tournament. At 23-7 overall and 12-2 in the A-10 their record is on par with the Cards who are 21-8 and 14-4.
Dayton has had issues with serves similar to Louisville. They have 255 errors vs just 139 aces.
On the attacking end they have accumulated a .275 attack percentage. With 12 players 6'0 or taller (up through 6'5) Dayton has averaged an impressive 2.28 blocks per set.
Louisville and Dayton will square off on Friday with the time to be determined. With Illinois being the host site I expect the Cards to get the earlier match.
Worldwide will most likely add his thoughts on UofL's draw and the entire field either in the comments section so stay tuned.
THEY said it:
Comments from Molly Sauer below
Amanda Green discusses
Dani Busboom Kelly POST-SELECTION thoughts:
Women's Basketball Opens Home Season
After starting on the road for the first five games of the season Louisville women's basketball will make their first visit to the KFC Yum! Center of the year tonight. They will take on the RedHawks of Miami (OH).
Miami has started this season 4-0. Coach Megan Duffy is in her second season and led the team to a 22-11 record and WNIT appearance last year. Four of the five starters from last year returned this year for the RedHawks.
Louisville is 7-4 all-time against Miami. The two teams last played in the NCAA Tournament in 2008. The Cards won the first round game en route to Jeff Walz's first Sweet Sixteen appearance. Louisville has never lost at home (5-0) to Miami.
The Cards are 5-0 on the year with the most recent wins coming in Las Vegas against Arizona State and Hartford. Thanks to a Sam Fuehring layup in the final seconds of the game the Cards topped the Sun Devils. Louisville ousted Hartford with ease after a sluggish start.
Prior to tip-off Jeff Walz and Stephanie Norman will be recognized for their 300th wins at Louisville, which the duo accomplished in the season opener at Western Kentucky.
You can catch the game online on the ESPN website. IF you are unable to do so I would recommend trying to tune into the radio to listen to Nick Curran and AJ call the game on Cards Radio 790 WKRD AM.
I will not be able to make this game, sadly, but Paulie and Sonya will both be on media row and Paulie will bring the coverage of the contest to you in the Tuesday edition of Cardinal Couple .
Paulie brings this preview of the RedHawks.
4-0 yes. Quality of wins? Not so impressive. They opened the 2018-19 season at Canisius (Scott Teeter's old haunts) with a 62-59 win. Their home opener was versus Eastern Kentucky and won 60-44. A trip to Detroit brought a 78-59 victory over Detroit Mercy. Last time out, they invited High Point to Miami and got a 68-55 win. None of the four will probably appear in the NCAA Tournament, in my opinion.
"Swoop" is the name of the Miami Redhawk mascot
6'2" forward Savannah Kluesner averages 13.3 points per game and leads in rebounds with eight a game. 5'3" point guard Lauren Dickerson runs the show on court and also is averaging 13.3 a game. Other double figure producer is Kendall McCoy a 6'0" guard/forward with 10 a game.
The Red Hawks shoot 41.9% from the hardwood and 24.6% from beyond the arc. Dickerson is the main three-point threat, 7-30 so far on the year. She also leads in assists with 26 on the season. The Red Hawks average 15.5 turnovers a game and aare out-rebounding their opponents 40.5 - 35.
Let's hope for a strong Cardinal first quarter against Miami (OH) and another big night for Asia, Arica and Sam. And, a comfortable lead by the fourth quarter so Coach Walz can continue to get the freshmen and Lindsey Duvall more experience.
Yacine Diop done for season
It was revealed last night and confirmed by Jeff Walz this morning that Yacine Diop suffered a torn ACL against Arizona State and is done for the season.
A big blow for a team that was looking for her skills to help replace Myisha Hines-Allen.
Diop will undergo surgery as soon as it can be scheduled. Whether or not she'll be able to get a rare sixth year of eligibility or not remains to be seen. Or, she may rehab and decide to test her skills in the WNBA or in overseas hoops.
Our thoughts and "get well soon!" offerings to Yacine.
Donation Month
We enter the final few days of donation month. Thank you to everyone who has participated and if you haven't quite yet there's still time. As a reminder we accept cash, checks, and Paypal. You can mail donations into
CARDINAL COUPLE
P.O. BOX 91521
LOUISVILLE, KY 40291
Once again, thank you all for everything you do to keep Cardinal Couple going strong as we strive to bring you the best coverage of all women's sports at UofL.
