Volleyball on Tour; Engstler on the Move -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Headed to Brazil This Summer

UofL officially announced a Brazilian Tour for the volleyball team over the summer yesterday. The Cards will make their way south of the equator to get to know each other on the court as well as off. In addition to having five planned matches, the trip will include a cultural whirlwind as they travel to four cities over ten days from June 8th to the 18th. You can check out the full list of experiences on the itinerary over on the Go Cards website, but the team will travel to Arraial Do Cabo, Saquarema, Rio De Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. Amongst other things, they'll visit the Corcovado statue in Rio and meet with local students in Saquarema. 

The trip will be key for the Cards to prepare for the upcoming season. Though the opponents of the planned matches aren't named, any competition will help the team gel as they work to integrate new members. With key departures from last year's national runner-up team, Louisville will be adding transfers Charitie Luper and Brigitta Petrenko to the mix along with upcoming underclassmen looking to fill a bigger role. The experience should be exciting for all the players and we're looking forward to hearing more about the trip as it happens.

Engstler Joins Jones, Hines-Allen in Washington

Last week saw Indiana waive Emily Engstler, their 4th overall draft pick from 2022. Engstler's departure from the team means that the Fever have waived their first pick from the last three drafts. They moved on from Lauren Cox (Baylor) in the middle of 2021 after selecting her 3rd overall in 2020 and from Kysre Gondrezick (West Virginia) in January of 2022 after selecting her 4th in 2021. Emily Engstler had 40 blocks in her first season, tying for the team lead and falling just four short of tying Tamika Catchings' rookie franchise record. Engstler's 35 games played added her to a list of just three players in franchise history to play more than 34 games in a single regular season. In those games, she started just six and averaged 5.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 blocks. Her 181 rebounds were the fifth most ever recorded by a Fever rookie. 

She wasn't on the street for long. After being waived on April 26th, she was signed yesterday, just one day after the beginning of training camp. It was a heck of a birthday present. Her deal is with the Washington Mystics, a familiar home for former Cardinals. Though she only has a training camp contract, her numbers suggest she should be able to find a home in the W. Seeing her, Jaz Jones, and MHA on the floor together could be quite a sight (and might make us wonder what could have been in red and black instead of red and blue). 

The Mystics and former Cards had fun with it being Emily's birthday as part of the photo shoot as well: https://twitter.com/WashMystics/status/1653084599210197001?s=20

We wish Emily (and all the Cardinals working to make rosters in the woefully under-teamed WNBA) the very best!

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball sinks Virginia on Sunday -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS SOFTBALL DOWN CAVS 9-4 TO TAKE SERIES

It was Carmyn Greenwood last appearance in Ulmer Stadium and she made the most of it. 

Starting the game with a home run, Greenwood went 3-3 on the the afternoon, adding a double and triple to her one-woman wrecking crew assault on the Wahoos. She scored three runs, drove in two and made a spectacular assortment of catches and throws in left field in the Cards 9-4 win. She probably even drove the UVA squad to the airport after the game and made sure they boarded the flight home safely

Louisville unloaded for ten hits against an assortment of UVA pitchers, including a three RBI, round-tripper from Korbe Otis in the fourth inning that put the Cards ahead to stay at 6-3. Doubles from Kendall Smith, Hannah File and Dylann Cravens also boosted the Cards attack, who go to 26-21 on the season and 10-11 in ACC play. 

It was "T-and-T" in the circle for the Cards -- Taylor Roby getting the start and going 3.2 innings before giving way to Taja Felder, who gets the win while allowing just three hits and one run in 3.1 innings of relief work. 

A fitting way to end the 2022 season ending home-stand for the Cards, who will travel to Notre Dame for three next weekend, after stopping off to play UIC on Wednesday. Louisville is currently in seventh place in the ACC and could, conceivably climb to sixth in the conference standings with a sweep of the Irish on Derby weekend and some losses by the teams above them in the conference race. 

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

POST GAME CARMYN GREENWOOD LINK:  https://youtu.be/uMyj7lphug8

POST GAME HOLLY APRILE LINK:  https://youtu.be/B8PKOdPG97c

JAZ JONES RELEASED BY FEVER

It's always a bit of sad news when any of our former Cardinals student-athletes get waived or released from a professional franchise, and we learned Saturday afternoon that Cardinal Forever Jazmine Jones was released from the Indiana Fever. 

One would think that a player like Jaz won't be on the sidelines long and get added to another WNBA roster.

We wish her the best of luck and feel certain we haven't seen the last of her yet. 

paulie