Louisville to Honor NCAA Runners-Up at Alumnae Match -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Hosts Alumnae All-Star Match Today

Louisville volleyball has been announcing the all-stars that are returning for this afternoon's alumnae match throughout the week, and many of the names are those that were rumored last week. In addition to today's match, UofL will be hosting a season-opening "Block Party" at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, including a ring ceremony for the 2024 runner-up finishers, a team Q&A, an autograph session, and an opportunity for fans to take photos with the runner-up trophy on the court. 

The latest announcement for today's match were the coaching staff for the all-star team. One of those coaches will just be heading across the floor, as Sarah Drury Petkovic moves over from the current staff to take part in leading the group. The other is another one of the all-stars herself, though she is unable to play. Anna DeBeer will join Petkovic at the helm of a stellar alumnae team. 

Though they won't have DeBeer, the all-stars will still have a strong hitting contingent, as Aiko Jones, Claire Chaussee, and Charitie Luper join the team. Louisville's blocking and defense will be put to the test with those three on the attack. On the flip side, Louisville's offense will have to contend with a strong alumnae defense as well. The all-star team will roll with Elena Scott at libero and Emily Scott (no relation) at middle blocker. Emily, if you'll remember, was also a national champion for UofL in the high jump. She finished her volleyball career with 207 kills and 133 blocks, despite playing in just 138 total sets. Also joining the alumnae are Elle Glock at setter and Jamie Vasilou, who primarily served as a serving specialist in her time with the Cards.

Today's match won't be available for streaming, so you'll have to get into the arena to be a part of this one. First serve is scheduled for 2PM and the doors will open at 1PM. I suspect the line is already forming (which may or may not be a joke depending on what time you are reading this). It should be an exciting match and will be Louisville's final competitive tune-up before opening the season on Friday, August 29th against Auburn. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today as Jared takes in the final weekend of the fair. Paulie, Daryl, and I will still have plenty to discuss with the soccer season fully underway and the other two fall sports in their exhibition schedules. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

ACC Championship Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Track and Field Hold 8th

After a successful start to the ACC Championship meet on Thursday, Louisville women's track and field didn't make much impact on day two. On the men's side, Louisville got a big win in the Decathlon from Paul Kallenberg. His ACC title came after setting a facility record and placing second in the all-time school record for total points in the event. The points from his victory helped pull Louisville up to 7th on the men's team side. On the women's side, Louisville fell to 8th. 

Scott looks to repeat her
victory from 2022

The Cards got second place finishes from Synclair Savage (long jump) and Aliyah Welter (pole vault) on Thursday to help them accrue 19 points, good for third overall. Carly Pujol scored a seventh-place finish in the pole vault to score the remaining points for the team. Katie Martin also set a new school-record in the 400M hurdles (breaking her own mark) to qualify for today's final. 

On Friday, Louisville saw three Cards set new personal bests. Madeline Castleberry (3000m steeplechase), Alba Cuns Iglesias (triple jump), and Brooklyn Hammons (shot put) all broke their own records, but only Cuns Iglesias scored for the team, taking home eighth to score the Cards' only point on the day. Saturday will see the Cards compete in seven of the twelve events. Those will start at noon, after a change to the schedule. Emily Scott, Jenna Hensley, and Soledad Jean will take on the field in the high jump, with Scott looking to defend her title. Zoe Yeast and Brooklynn Hammons will compete in the discus throw to round out the field events. On the track, the Cards will compete in the 4x100, 4x400, 400m hurdles, 200m, and 5000m races, with two runners in the distance race. 

Rowing Sends One Boat to Grand Final

The ACC Rowing Championship is being held at Lake Wheeler in Raleigh, North Carolina. Yesterday saw prelim action with Louisville having four boats compete. The Cards sent three Varsity Eight boats and one Varsity Four boat. It's the III Varsity Eight squad that qualified for today's Grand Final, after they edged UNC by just 0.4 seconds over a 7-minute race. Odds are that by the time you're seeing this, the races have already concluded, with action scheduled to begin at 8:05 this morning. Louisville's other three boats will all compete in the Petite Finals after finishing below the cutoff for the Grand Finals in their respective heats.

ACC Softball Continues

Despite Louisville's knockout, the ACC Softball Championship continues through the weekend, with the results potentially having an impact on Louisville's tournament hopes. With the long softball season, single elimination tournaments won't likely have much impact on resume building for teams that aren't actually participating, but you never know. That's particularly true in the event that a bid is stolen. 

That isn't particularly likely to happen this year. After knocking off Louisville in the 4-5 game, Virginia Tech had the great honor of being run-ruled by the top-seeded Seminoles. FSU took care of business with a 9-1 win in six innings. With VT being the only team seeded lower than Louisville playing on Friday, there wasn't much chance of anyone other than them having to "steal" a bid, as the top-three teams in the league should be comfortably in.

Photo via ACC

Taking on the 3rd-ranked FSU squad will be Duke. Outside of the shocking pair of losses to Notre Dame, Duke and FSU are the only two teams to beat Louisville in conference this season. The Cards didn't play Clemson or Virginia Tech in the regular season. Duke had to get through the Tigers to advance, and they did so in fairly spectacular fashion: by getting a no-hitter from a freshman. Cassidy Curd is one of two Blue Devils that kept Sarah Gordon out of the top-ten finalists for the Freshman of the Year Award. Perhaps someone should have told the ACC voters that, since Gordon won the league's honor. Either way, Curd threw 113 pitches to earn her 16th win of the season, ringing up eight strikeouts and hitting two batters. The two HBP were the only marks that kept the game from being perfect. The Duke offense did just enough to support the pitching effort, scoring one run each in the second and third innings to lead to the 2-0 win. 

Today's championship will be played at 1PM on ESPN2.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll be back on the airwaves (Kind of? Maybe? I'm a little shaky on the physics of the internet.) this week after taking Derby Day off. There will be just four of us, so you can stop holding your breath if you listened to Daryl yesterday. Jared will be out as he attends commencement for his wife-to-be. We'll have plenty to keep us busy as spring sports seasons wind down and we try to forecast softball's NCAA hopes. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

USA Advances from Pool Play; Leon Awarded -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Van Lith and USA 3x3 to Quarters

Hailey Van Lith has continued what some may consider her dominance in the 3x3 space. She is becoming a fixture on Team USA in various tournaments in the format, and her performance this week has shown why. After taking down Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, the US team faced a bit stiffer competition yesterday in Brazil and France, though they dispatched both. The game against France took overtime, but Team USA got it done and finished 4-0 in pool play.

In those games, HVL has been all over social media, making great 2-on-1 baskets or, in one case, completely breaking someone's ankles on the check-up. I mean, come on, you have to be at least a little bit prepared for HVL to blow by you when you're the one that decides when she gets the ball.

In any case, the US advances out of pool play and into the quarterfinals, where they will take on Canada at 10:35 this morning. Only the quarters will be played today on the women's side, with the semis, 3rd place, and championship games coming tomorrow.

Gabriela Leon's Successes Continue

After already becoming the first outdoor champion for UofL, Gabriela Leon's accolades keep coming. On Thursday, Leon was named the ACC Women's Outdoor Field Performer of the Year. It was a bit of a no-brainer award after she won the ACC title, set the second highest ACC pole vault ever, and won the national championship. What isn't a no-brainer is Gabi herself. A day after picking up the Performer of the Year Award, Leon was also named the ACC Women's Outdoor Track & Field Scholar Athlete of the Year. Leon carried a 3.83 GPA through her career at UofL, and, in such a busy competitive season, she finished with a 4.0 in both semesters this year. As someone who recently pulled their college transcript and looked back on their academics, I can assure you that 3.83 cumulative and 4.0 as a senior are just as impressive as they sound.

The academic award came along with the announcements of the All-ACC Academic Team, which included five other competitors on the women's side. Leon was joined by Soledad Jean, Synclair Savage, Emily Scott, Auriane Viola, and Aliyah Welter.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're without Paulie this week, so it will be a rare show without our fearless leader. Nevertheless, we'll find a way to fill the hour, as it is awards season and the Cards have had quite a bit of other news. I haven't created a quiz, so the return of the Cardinal Couple Quiz Show will have to wait at least another week. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

NCAA TRACK AND FIELD REGIONALS BEGIN TODAY -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SAVAGE, MARTIN AND SCOTT IN TOP DOZEN FOR THEIR EVENTS. 

We took a look Monday at UofL women's track and field's three pole vault student athletes that will compete in Bloomington, IN beginning today in the DI NCAA Track and Field Regionals  Let's shift focus today to three other members of the women's squad who were ranked in the top 12 going in to their events.

In the long jump, Synclair Savage is ranked fourth amongst the participants and performed a jump of 6.65 M in the ACC Championships to win the event. She is a sophomore at UofL and began her collegiate career at South Carolina

In the high jump, Emily Scott won the high jump in the ACC Championships with a leap of 1.82 M. That equals out to 5'11" in feet, which means she could have cleared Volleyball teammate Tori Dilfer with a half-inch to spare. Scott is also a middle blocker on the Volleyball squad and stands 6'2". 

Katie Martin will compete in the 400m hurdles and recently set a Louisville school record in the event. She comes to Louisville by way of Mississippi State and is a redshirt junior. 

Rounding out the rest of the UofL women's participants:

Taylor Herbert will run in the 100M dash, Soledad Jean joins Scott in the high jump, Brooke Weimer competes in the long jump, Katherine Coffey is in the discus throw and the Cards have a relay team that qualified in the 4x100 M composed of Savage, Herbert, Je'Nyia Burton and Kiyah Yeast.

IU has set up a link to watch the regionals and you can access it HERE

We wish all the Louisville athletes competing in the Regionals the best of luck in the four day event!

paulie

Conference Championships Results - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Rowing

With all of the entrants in the ACC championships for the Cards in Rowing advancing to the Grand Finals, Louisville had a chance to put up a decent showing in the overall standings.

OK, 6th place overall may not be something to do backflips over, but it's not bad in the ACC field.

Virginia took the top spot with 98 points, and in similarly shocking pronouncements, grass is green, and something about bears in woods.  The second place finish was a tight one, with Syracuse edging out Duke with 83 and 82, Clemson got the 4th spot with 60 points.  Miami was 5th with 52, and Louisville tallied 43 for the 6th spot.

The rest of the field was Notre Dame - 29, Boston College - 26, and North Carolina - 21.

The NCAA Selection for Rowing will be Tuesday, and UofL will await their fate.  The Cards, and Clemson, are the top two teams in the "Receiving Votes" section of rankings.  Rowing ranks 20 teams, and the NCAA championship takes 22 teams with 10 being automatic qualifiers.

To me, that looks like a stretch for Louisville to make it, but I'll remain hopeful.  The Championship competition will take place May 27th through 29th in Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota, FL.

Track & Field

Congratulations to Emily Scott, who gets to claim two ACC Championships in the same academic/sports year, in two different sports.  Not too many people get to make that type of claim.

Emily, of course, claimed an ACC Volleyball ring by being part of the undefeated-until-the-Final-Four volleyball squad.  After volleyball was done, and she had made the decision not to come back for her Covid year and...she thought she might try her hand at high jump.

Turns out she's pretty good at that, too.  Scott was the only competitor to clear 1.82m (5' 11.5"), and did so on her 3rd attempt.  She gave it a go at 1.85m, because why not at that point, but wasn't able to clear.  At 1.82m she, as mentioned, won the event and her 2nd ring of the academic/sports year, but also set a facility record and personal record in the process at Morris Williams Stadium at Duke University.

In other Track & Field action, Katie Martin set a school record, good for 2nd place in the competition in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.57 seconds.

Overall, the Women's Track & Field squad finished out in 6th place.

The assumption is that Scott, along with other top Cardinals finishers such as Gabriela Leon in Pole Vault, and Synclair Savage in Long Jump will get bids to the NCAA Championship Preliminary meet, but we'll have to wait for that selection to be sure.

Presumably Louisville athletes would compete is the eastern preliminary meet in Bloomington, Indiana instead of the western one in...Fayetteville Arkansas?  Is that right?  I'm not sure I call Arkansas "West"...but hey, this is the NCAA we're talking about, here.

The prelims will take place May 25th through 28th, with the Championship meet in Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, June 8th through 12th.

Louisville Softball

We find out tonight whether Louisville Softball will receive a bid to participate in the 2022 NCAA Softball Tournament.  64 teams will hear their names called tonight

The selection show will be tonight on ESPN 2 at 7 p.m.

The Cards (27-25) are ranked 44th in the NCAA DI Softball RBI numbers. Checking a couple of NCAA DI Softball Tournament Bracketology sites (yes, they do exist for softball) both have the Cards as being 'out' of the tournament. and six ACC squads (FSU, Clemson, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Duke and Georgia Tech) as "in". Georgia Tech with a #24 RBI...so the Cards are hoping for a record seven ACC schools getting invites and them being one of them...but it has to be considered a definite longshot   

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We were a threesome for yesterday's Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared, Paulie, and I on the call yesterday.  Daryl was busy with the Bats, and Case is moving house, both worthy endeavors and understandable absences.

Plenty of good discussion with just the three of us, though.  Softball being the biggest subject, with a big look ahead to next season.  Basketball news, Rowing updates, some Track & Field...we go where the sports take us.

You can check it out on the Youtube replay at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pmzBU0c-U

JMcA

Cards Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Soccer Rebounds from UNC Loss, Beats 'Cuse 3-0

After suffering their first loss of the season last Saturday night, the Louisville women's soccer team hit the road for the first time since the opening game of the season. This weekend, the Cards headed to the northeast to take on Syracuse and Boston College to open their conference road schedule. The Cards faced their first hiccup before ever stepping foot on the field in Syracuse. Thursday evening, prior to the scheduled 6PM kick, an e-mail was sent out explaining that the team was suffering from a team-wide illness and that the game would be postponed to Friday morning. Though Syracuse has struggled this year, a team full of players recovering from food poisoning (the presumed culprit) did not inspire a ton of confidence for a strong effort.

Louisville proved me wrong. The Cards rolled out the primary starting lineup, showing that even if everyone wasn't fully recovered, thy were certainly going to go for it. Delaney Snyder got Louisville into business with their first goal less than two minutes into the game. Louisville had taken control of the game early, already earning a free kick deep in the offensive third, but the goal came on a bit of buildup play, with a through ball finding Snyder just barely onside (she looked off to me but the camera angle wasn't good). Snyder dribbled across the top of the box and deftly sent a ground ball into the opposite side of the net. Cards led 1-0.

Later in the half, it was a pair of subs that played add on. Louisville subbed quite a bit yesterday, perhaps showing that not everyone was fully recovered from their illness the night before. In this moment, it was Maisie Whitsett and Corinne Dente doing work for the Cards. In a similar situation to Snyder's goal, Dente found herself getting behind on a through ball from Whitsett. Just like Snyder, she settled herself and found the back of the net. It was Dente's first career collegiate goal (news flash to the Syracuse announcers and the women's soccer twitter, a freshman's first goal of the season is going to be their first career goal), and I get the feeling it won't be the last.

Louisville's final goal came much later in the second half, as Emina Ekic was determined to restart her points streak. Prior to the North Carolina game, Ekic had scored a point in every game except for the Ohio State game. That's a pretty impressive streak, and as long as she is finding ways to affect the offense, Louisville will continue to earn opportunities. Ekic's goal in this one was unstoppable, as her 76th minute shot rose to the upper left corner and was completely out of reach. Ekic's ability to score, assist, and draw fouls is what makes her a Hermann Award watch list player and it's what drives this team. It may be a little early to look at that award list, but with just a month left in the regular season, it will be time for the list to shrink soon. Ekic affects the game in so many ways, including those that show up on the stat sheet, but for those recordable stats, Emina's best is probably points per game. With five goals and four assists through nine games, Ekic currently sits tied for 67th at 1.56 points per game. That mark happens to be tied for fifth in the conference. Ekic is not likely to appear at the top of the list nationally, but she's only a few points behind the top points earner in arguably the top conference in the country. She's doing alright.

Louisville is back in action with what is a quicker turnaround than normal due to the schedule shift. The Cards will take on Boston College tomorrow at noon in Chestnut Hill. The game, like most, will be available on ACC Network Extra. Tune in to see if the Cards can continue to get back to their winning ways and earn their way back to the top half of the conference table. The Cards and Eagles are currently tied at 3 points, with BC sitting at 8-1-1 on the season compared to Louisville's 8-1-0. It should be a good match.

Field Hockey is Huge After Half Against BC

Continuing their trend of playing teams right around the same time as soccer, Louisville field hockey was in Massachusetts yesterday to take on the Eagles of Boston College. The Cards currently find themselves ranked sixth, and since they were playing in a conference game, you can be sure they were in a ranked matchup. This time around, Boston College is ranked 17th, right on the fringe of what might make the tournament this season. In a road match against a tough team, Louisville showed a bit of fight, despite going down early.

The Cards actually made two comebacks in this game, trailing 1-0 for nearly 25 minutes and then 2-1 for just over two minutes. The two teams scored four combined goals in the third quarter in under five minutes, in what was a wild swing for the fans in the stadium. Louisville's goals came from Bethany Russ, already her 8th this year, Margot Lawn (3), and Madison Walsh (4). All three were goals scored by taking advantage of big opportunities. Russ scored on a reserve shot after her shot was illegally blocked. Lawn did what makes everyone happy by converting a corner. Her shot was technically not on the corner, but was a rebound after the initial corner attack. However, since it was all one play, I'm counting it. Finally, Walsh's goal was an open play goal, as she knocked in a goal after her shot was originally saved. 

All three Louisville goals show different skill sets and different abilities to get on goal. A diverse scoring offense is key to not getting stymied by a strong team that can limit specific areas. Also important was the mental fortitude shown by Louisville to come back twice as I mentioned earlier. The Cards didn't give up throughout the first half, and put their halftime coaching to the test by getting a quick goal. After conceding quickly to trail again, a weaker team might get a bit deflated. Louisville instead scored a pair of goals in a pair of minutes to flip the script. 

Louisville's defense should also get a shout. Giving up two goals is not great, but when your team scores three, your only job is to give up fewer than three. Remember that this was a road game against a good team, and one of the goals came on a corner which are always challenging to defend. Perhaps surprisingly, Hollyn Barr went the distance in goal for the Cards, earning one save to go with her two goals allowed. If this was the test to see if she would be taking a stranglehold on the goalkeeping position, I can't say she locked it down. We'll see if Sam Minrath sees her way back into the net soon.

Louisville remains on the road for their next match and, like women's soccer, they'll stay in the northeast. Field hockey will take on the Providence Friars tomorrow at 1PM. This one won't be on ACCNX, but there is a watch link listed that takes you to a video player. Not sure if it's free or paid, but be sure to tune in to watch another good Louisville team.

Volleyball Goes Five in Win Over NC State

For the second match in a row, the Louisville volleyball team needed a fifth set to secure a win, as they did so last night in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena over the Wolfpack of NC State. Like field hockey, volleyball earned their win with multiple comebacks, losing the first and third sets and getting strong victories in the second and fourth to force a decider. 

After starting pretty hot, Louisville's hitting actually trailed off consistently through the third, fourth, and fifth sets. Fortunately for the Cards, so did NC State's. Louisville finished the match with a respectable, but not lovable, 0.254 hitting percentage compared to the Wolfpack's 0.150. The Cards earned more aces (5-4) and dominated in blocks, outblocking the Wolfpack 15-6. Anna Stevenson led the way on blocks, with 2 solo and 5 assisted. Emily Scott had a solo and five assists as well, and even Tori Dilfer got in on the block party with 5 assisted blocks. Dilfer also earned a career high in assists as she picked up 54 of the team's 61 assists in the match.

Leading the way offensively was a familiar name, as Melanie McHenry crushed 29 kills on 61 attempts with just 8 errors for a cool 0.344. I'm thinking she's back. Aiko Jones and Emily Scott effectively tied McHenry as they picked up a combined 29 kills with 7 errors on 68 attempts with 0.308 and 0.345 hitting percentages, respectively. 

Though perhaps not the cleanest win for the Cards against a struggling NC State team that is now 5-8 on the season, no one can complain about a victory in the conference opener. Louisville will have their hands full as they try to keep pace with Pittsburgh and Florida State in the title race, and every win counts. The Cards will be back in action, just like everyone else, tomorrow at 1PM against North Carolina. This match is at home, so if you can make it out, head on over to the Arena Formerly Known as Cardinal. As a home match, it will also be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're back in the studio once more for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this week. Jared is banking and Daryl wants to get to Louder than Life when the gates open, so Paulie, Jeff, and I will man the mics. Jeff may be there in name only, though, as he fights voice issues, and I'll try not to sound like a frog after the first night of LtL yesterday. We'll have plenty of game action throughout the week to talk about as well as important women's basketball news to cover. Tune in to WCHQ FM at 11 AM to listen along. WCHQ is available at 100.9FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Christmas Approaches - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Christmas Wishlist

It's that time of year when Cardinal Couple thoughts turn to metaphorical gifts to get the UofL women's sports programs and a wish for you, the reader.

So let's get right to it, and please...let's hear your wish-list items in the comments. Here are mine:

The "three wise men" enjoy some holiday cheer

First off, for you readers...take some time to relax, reflect and revel.

For WBB...a good rest and period of relaxation with your family and friends back home during this holiday season.  Any workaday employee knows that occasional breaks and vacations are critical for maintaining peak functioning in a role.  The women's basketball squad, one of the few squads actually in action in this time of year gets a lengthy break in their schedule and will get to spend 5 or 6 days home with family and friends, a near eternity in basketball scheduling.  Use that time wisely, enjoy it, maintain your conditioning, and be grateful for the support structures that you have there.  Most of the other programs are out of season, but the same notions apply.  Use that off-season time wisely, take a bit of a break, but don't get completely out of your habits and practices that help you perform at your best.


Second, and this is similar to the first, on my wish-list is the gift of healing.  During the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday, I shared a bit of news from the Volleyball front, but the discussion evolved from there into a discussion about some of the injuries that the team had sustained this year.  The off season is a chance to heal those up and be able to come back, hopefully in the spring, but certainly in the fall, fully healed up and ready to play.

Next, I want to put one specifically on my list for Volleyball.  I suspect the coaching staff is looking for a transfer or two in the off-season to bolster the ranks of this squad for the coming year.  Specifically, it looks to me like the squad will be in need of a setter, and some boosts on right side hitting.  The signed freshman class has players coming in that are adept at playing these positions, but perhaps a graduate student transfer or two to plug the immediate holes and give these freshman some time to get up to speed would be helpful.  We saw, this year, that freshmen can sometimes come in and immediately find "the college gear" of play (Emily Scott, and Mia Stander particularly come to mind, here), but putting that level of expectation on incoming freshmen is not ideal to my mind as a fan.

And I'd like to put a couple of wish-list items for some individuals.

First, for Asia Durr, more ACC Player of the Weeks honors (I'm pretty sure she's gonna get this one), the ACC Player of the Year honor, and dare we even hope for overall Player of the Year honors?

For Jess Laemmle, I wish more scoring opportunities taken.  I always love games where everyone gets to play and everyone scores.  Jess, to her credit, is a role player and plays that role to perfection.  She is unselfish, she is supremely supportive of her teammates, and frankly she's just inspiring to have around.  The lone Attack Yorkie on the squad this year, and surely all-around fan favorite, I have no complaints about her play whatsoever, I just hope she gets the gift of a little confidence to shoot the ball herself.  Everyone loves you, Jess, we want to see you get some points up there, though!


What about you, dear reader?  What gifts do you wish to see these players get?  We'll talk next week about resolutions for the coming year, about what you would like to see them do and accomplish.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared and Worldwide escort Paulie to the studio

Three of the knuckleheads were on the air yesterday, as Paulie, Jared, and myself made it to the magnificent, media, musical mansion on Mellwood....the wonderous and wonderful home of WCHQ.  We had a great studio guest -- Jared's girlfriend Katy -- who took a viewer's role.

You can check out the Facebook Live stream at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2290967671136636/

We talked a lot of basketball, covering the NKU and Central Michigan game for the women.  I shared a tidbit of news about volleyball, and we discussed, briefly the latest shock out of the athletic department as a whole, the firing of Todd Sharp.  Join us, won't you?

-- 

JMcA

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 Handles GT -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Moves to 3-0 in Conference with Win

Despite Georgia Tech's previously undefeated home record, the Louisville Cardinals headed do to Atlanta yesterday and handed the Yellow Jackets their first home loss and third conference loss of the season. GT dropped to 0-3 in conference with the loss while the Cards remained undefeated. Louisville now sits at 10-4 on the year with a good chance to move to 11-4 (4-0) tomorrow when they take on Clemson in South Carolina. 

Louisville's win last night was of the sweep variety, as the Cards took the three sets 25-16, 25-21, and 25-17. Georgia Tech was never close in the first two sets but were sitting at 23-21 in set number 2 before the Cards put the game away with back to back blocks of Mikaila Dowd. It was the same issue that we have seen in the second set numerous times this season where the Cards just lost focus a bit and lost that hitting edge. Fortunately, the additional errors in this one were not enough for Georgia Tech to steal a set and extend this match. The crowd in the arena seemed very into the match, especially during that second set where it seemed like they might have a way to claw their way back. Had Louisville dropped the second set, the rest of the match may have gone quite differently.

After the set break, Louisville caught fire. After a quick barrage of points traded led to the two teams being tied at three, the Cards went on to win 15 of the next 20 points to go up 18-8 and effectively ice the game. Louisville hit .543 in the set with 21 kills, only 5 fewer than their previous two sets combined. 21 kills is insane, as it means that only 4 points came from opponent errors or blocks. The Cards did everything right in the third set and it showed. One could argue that the show of quality from UofL was actually a negative for Georgia Tech, but even if playing a poor defense, the hitters have to find their spots. Louisville was doing that in the third set. 

Louisville was paced in the third set by Megan Sloan, who snagged 8 of her team leading 12 kills in the third. Emily Scott finished second on the team with 11 kills on the night and did so on only 16 attacking attempts. Scott had no errors and added in 6 block assists to stand out to me as the hitter of the night. Melanie McHenry was consistent, finishing with 8 kills at 2-3 per set, but still struggled with errors. McHenry is one of the best all-around players on the team and has a ton of talent at the outside hitting position, but she has been slumping hard of late. For Louisville to finish with the type of season they did last year, and also improve on that finish, they'll need McHenry to break out of whatever fog is holding her down.

All in all, the victory is a good one for Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly's squad, despite the minor downturn in the second set. The Cards looked dominant in two of three sets and they'll need performances like that throughout entire matches down the stretch against some of the better ACC teams. They'll especially need to be able to recreate that kind of performance if they'd like to have any success in the NCAA tournament. Another chance to test the rotation will come tomorrow against a struggling Clemson team. The Tigers are 9-7 on the season and fell to 0-3 in conference with a home loss to Notre Dame last night. Clemson will be playing only their fifth home match of the season tomorrow against Louisville, and they had their fourth largest crowd in history last night, but in their three matches against Boston College, Syracuse, and Notre Dame, the Tigers picked up only one set. Louisville should be able to play their game tomorrow and leave town with a tidy victory. That match is set for 1PM on Sunday and will be available on ACC Network Extra.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared gave a good preview of the packed weekend in his article yesterday, so why not join us for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour to start it all off. The "A-Team" will be in the studio in full force this week and we've got plenty to talk about. While the week may have been a bit slower than an average fall sports week, we'll discuss victories aplenty and preview the big games the rest of the weekend. Tune in to WCHQ at 11AM for all of the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. Check out the links on the side of the site for more info!

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Friday Sees Mixed Results -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Takes Two at Stacey Clark Classic

After the women's soccer team fell at Purdue Thursday night, Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes squad probably passed Coach Dani Busboom Kelly and the Louisville Volleyball team somewhere on I-65. The Net Cards headed up to Purdue for a three match set yesterday and today, taking on Lipscomb, Xavier, and Purdue. 

Louisville played Lipscomb in the first match of the tournament yesterday at noon and may have been looking ahead to the other two matches a bit. Lipscomb made themselves seen and refused to be walked over by the better team in Louisville. In fact, the Bisons were able to take an extended third set off of the Cards at 28-30 and led 18-14 and 22-21 in the final set before Louisville was able to wake up and finish the match. Louisville ultimately took the match 3-1, but played a much closer match than I'm sure they anticipated. 

As is to be expected in a match that goes additional sets, the final raw numbers were a bit higher than normal. Melanie McHenry led the Cards with 17 kills and was followed by Jasmine Bennett (14) and Megan Sloan (10). Molly Sauer added 5 (!!) service aces to her 23 digs and 5 assists, and Emily Scott contributed to 9 of 13 team blocks. Lipscomb did not have the ability to take Wilma Rivera out of her typical role as she assisted 45 of the team's 59 kills and added 2 kills of her own. 

As a match that the Cards ultimately won, it is hard to find exactly where they went wrong. They won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-14, but after that they may have forgotten that it was a best of five series. Errors are easy to point at as a culprit, as the Cards committed only 4 total in the first two sets followed by 7 and 5 in the third and fourth respectively, but there is more to it than that. I don't think Lipscomb suddenly got a lot better during the halftime break, so it is definitely something to look out for in the future. Earlier in the season, Louisville was having trouble getting out of second sets. Now do we have to worry about them looking past lower tier teams? Let's hope not.

In the second match of the day for the Cards, they took on the Musketeers of Xavier. Xavier was 1-5 coming into the match and they left it at 1-6. Ultimately, they put up no real resistance to the Cards, with Louisville completing the sweet 25-18, 25-15, 25-14. Xavier's best hitting percentage in the match came in the first set when they hit .074. Both other sets were negative. In addition to Xavier's best hitting set, Louisville committed 7 errors in the first set, leading to the relative closeness of that score. The Cards cleaned it up a bit after that and walked out of the building with two wins. They'll take on Purdue, the biggest test of the weekend tonight at 7:30PM.

Once again, Melanie McHenry led the way with 15 kills, this time with no one joining her in double digits. Claire Chaussee was closest with 8. Melanie had a very big game, completing one of her highest hitting percentages of the season at .440. I know that Xavier was a very down team, but being able to complete kills and find spots even against a bad team is important. If you can do it against an inferior opponent, you have a better chance of doing it against better teams. 

Wilma Rivera was called on to get 6 digs in this one, second only to Molly Sauer's 9, but she was still able to contribute 28 assists out of the team's 35 on 40 kills, so it's safe to say she was still comfortably in her role. The Cards again put up double digit team blocks with 12 but had far too many service and hitting errors. 

While I just made a case about Louisville overlooking lower tier teams and then talked about them thumping Xavier, I still think the point is valid. Xavier is very bad, and Louisville still was not the cleanest against them. Had Xavier been of the talent level of Lipscomb, the match probably would have been very similar. Louisville will play tough matches and they will play less tough matches in the ACC. The goal is to always win the games that you should, and I would hate for the Cards to drop matches that they shouldn't due to a lack of focus. There is still plenty of time to get it together this season, but they'll need to do so relatively quickly if they'd like another shot at an ACC title. 

Field Hockey Falls To UNC

Louisville began their conference season the same way that they ended it last year: a loss to North Carolina. The Cards actually struck first in this one with a goal by Katie Schneider, assisted by Madison Walsh, 10 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, that goal would be one of only three shots on goal the Cards could muster as the Tar Heels dominated for most of the rest of the game. 

The majority of the action (and all of the scoring) came in the first half, as UNC put up 12 total shots. They scored three times in the half, and 3-1 would be the final score. UNC was content to come out of the half playing more defensively, as they only put up 4 shots in the second half, even while winning 4 corners. Ayeisha McFerran started in goal and finished the game with 6 saves. One of the UNC goals came off of a rebound off of McFerran's pads and another came from penalty corner. Both are hard to blame on McFerran and the turnover in Louisville's defense may be starting to show. The Cards have always been a strong defensive team but now have two losses where they've given up three goals in a single half. 

There is not much good to glean from this match. North Carolina was able to do pretty much whatever they wanted. They are the number 2 team, sure, but Louisville was number 11 and you'd like to see UNC have to work for it a bit. The Cards were outshot convincingly 16-5 (10-3 SOG) and that's with UNC letting off of the gas in the second half. I harped on the defense a bit before, but not having consistent attacking can also contribute to too much pressure on the defense. Louisville lost a lot in the attack over the summer and Coach Justine Sowry will need to find some answers fast or the high hopes that Louisville had of building on last season may be slipping away already.

Field hockey takes on California in their next match on Sunday at 2PM. That is a home game but is also available on ACC Network Extra. Cal is 2-1 on the season with a 5-0 loss to #4 Maryland and will take on UNC today at 1PM. Cal's wins were a 5-1 win over Providence to start the season and a narrow 1-0 victory over Miami (OH) this past Sunday. The Cards will hope to get back on track with a win tomorrow.

JUSTINE SOWRY POSTGAME

UNC COACH KAREN SHELTON POSTGAME

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

After taking the day off last week, I'm back in the studio today for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. We'll have plenty to talk about this week with nearly every fall sport in action, so be sure to tune in to WCHQ FM at 11AM. The show is available on local radio at 100.9 and online via the website (wchqfm.com), the app (WCHQ FM), or on Facebook Live. Join us as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports as only the Cardinal Couple Crew can.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Field hockey pictures in today's article provided by Jared Anderson. As always, check out more of his work at jdaphotos.com.