Cats best VolleyCards in five sets -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CATS DOMINATE FINAL TWO SETS IN WIN OVER CARDS

From what went to a match that anyone could win after three sets to a UK blowout, the Cats defeat the Cards in five sets in the KFC Yum Center before about 11,000 fans. 

Louisville had a 2-1 set lead after three sets, winning a nail-biting 26-24 game...but UK came out hot in the fourth set and took the final two sets 25-12 and 15-7. The Cards blocking success seemingly caught a cab and left the premises in the final two sets...still winning the block totals 18-17 but only getting three in the final two sets. 

25-21, 21-25 , 26-24, 12-25 and 7-15 were the final set totals. 

UK had four players with double digit kills...Brook DeLeye with 24, Eva Hudson with 17, Brooke Bultema with 11 and Lizzie Carr with 10. The Cards had Payton Petersen with 14. 

The Cards looked tired at the end and they had good reason to be...having played their previous four matches in eight days against an 2024 NCAA opponent....all on the road.

A huge task, playing five matches in nine days ...four of them against NCAA Tournament teams from 2024, three of them top 20 teams this year and going five sets in two of the matches. The only thing missing were three French hens, two Turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Give UK credit, though...for solving the Cards blocking superiority and taking control of serve and volley. Hannah Sherman had 11 block for the match.

The Cards continue in-state contests when they welcome WKU for a visit on Monday. That day is National Ice Cream Cone Day... maybe the Cards will skip the soft serve and give WKU a rocky road.

Volleyball alums Elle Glock, Elena Scott, and Ceci Rush

Women's soccer is back home again tonight when they welcome Clemson to Dr Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium at 7:00pm. The Kickin's Cards put their 8-2 record on the line. We hope to see Case and Jared out there for some of this one.

Field hockey is also back home, looking to avenge their two losses last week... a heartbreaker to #1 Northwestern in overtime and a butt whooping from Iowa. The Cards and #14 Ohio State are set to begin at 4:00pm. Due to the early start time on a weekday, we will not have in-person coverage for this game.

photos by Jared

paulie

RIVALRY DAY -- CARDS vs kitties Preview -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers, 

Daryl here for a quick check in in-between the festivals in town to preview the other big event going on in town tonight.  Volleyball between UofL / UK downtown will draw a great crowd as well!  

Its RIVALRY day in the Bluegrass

The Cards (7-1) and the Cats (5-2) will face off at the KFC Yum Center tonight. First serve is scheduled for 6pm and you can catch this one on ESPNU. 

Photo : Jared Anderson

 Louisville has won the last 4 matchups with the last one being a 3-1 win for UofL in Lexington. Of the leaders in that match, only Cara Cresse returns and she had 9 blocks for the Cards. Cresse was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week after leading the Cardinals to the championship of the Bluejay Invitational last week.  

Photo : Jared Anderson

UK is returning 3 leaders from last years’ battle… Brooklyn Deleye (17 kills), Molly Tuozzo (17 digs) and Jordyn Dailey (2 blocks).  DeLeye leads the attack for UK and is 3rd in the SEC and 9th in the country in kills per set (4.88). Senior Eva Hudson gives the Cats another offensive weapon, averaging 3.67 kills per set.

The Cats have lost to #1 Nebraska and #7 Pittsburgh, but have beaten (at the time) #5 Penn State and #10 SMU.

I will be doing my best to catch these 'sets' in between 'sets' at the festival too.   Should be a great night!!   

As Always, 

Go Cards!
~Daryl 

AVCA Recap: Nebraska beats UK, Cards take down #3 Wisconsin in 4 games -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 5 Hours of Volleyball in KFC YUM! Center

The joint was jumping, On Tuesday night in the KFC Yum! Center as  #6 Louiville defeated #3 Wisconsin in four sets and #2 Nebraska downed #9 Kentucky in four sets also. 

Nebraska Over Kentucky

This match began the evening and the lower bowl in the KFC Yum! Center was full for the 7 p.m. tip off. Nebraska dominated UK 25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20. I didn't keep specific stats or a recap on this one, watching it on cable (ESPN2) in my living room at home, but Nebraska did double the number of blocks UK had (18-9) and hit .258 to UK .139

Three Nebraska players finished in double figures in kills, and, despite a second match slip up, Nebraska look like much the better squad, especially after halftime. 

A 10 page recap (seriously) is available at HUSKERS DOWN CATS is you want more.

 

LOUISVILLE HANDLES WISCONSIN

It was an exemplary effort by the #6 Louisville Volleyball squad to hand a 3-1 set defeat on #3 Wisconsin in the nightcap game. Set scoring was 18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20. Here's how I saw it...

SET ONE

1-6 Wisconsin gets off to an almost perfect start against the Cards
7-10 Anna DeBeer with a UofL kills to get Cards within three
11-14 Charitie Luper gets a kill for Cards
13-18 UofL takes a time out to regroup
15-21 DeBeer with another Cards kill
18-25 Cards put a return in the net, Wisconsin take first set

SET TWO

4-3 UofL forging to an early lead

12-13 Wisconsin regaining lead in a nailbiter so far

15-14 Reece Robins gets a UofL kill

16-14 Luper follows with a kill

18-14 Cards on a 5-0 run now, Place is going crazy

20-14 Robins tips one over

21-15 Cara Cresse kill

23-17 Wisconsin service error

24-17 DeBeer kill

25-17   Wisconsin puts return in net. Cards tie the match at halftime 1-1.

SET THREE

3-1 Luper block
6-4 Maldanado-Diaz kill for Louisville
7-8 Wisconsin jumps ahead on Robinson kill
10-10 DeBeer ties it with a kill
15-12 Wisconsin hits long
16-16 Wisconsin block ties it
20-16 Cresse kill pushes Cards up by four
21-21 Wisconsin ties it and Louisville looking flat right now
23-23 Wisconsin block ties it again
24-24 Cards block ties it... bonus ball ahead!
26-24 Wisconsin mishit gives third set to UofL     

                                                                      

SET FOUR

2-2 Robins kill ties it early
2-2 Time out...gum on floor. Even DBK assists on the scrape off and removal. We'll blame Jared for this one.
6-3 Luper kill puts the Ville up by three
8-6 Wisconsin block
11-8 DeBeer kill
12-13 Wisconsin block gives them lead
14-15 Franklin kills for Badgers
17-16 Franklin kill gets Wisconsin back within a point
20-18 Ace serve by UofL
23-20 Cards get block at net
24-20 Robins kill
25-20 Louisville block at net gives Cards set and match.

A fun, although lengthy, evening volleyball in downtown Louisville Tuesday night !! 

Apologies for today's formating...my laptop went berserk this morning. Probably mad at me for waking it up so early.

NOTE: Jared checking in real fast. Formatting issues should be corrected now. -Jared

(Photos by Jared Anderson) 

paulie

pau                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

VolleyCards Take on Wisconsin in Showcase Tonight -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville and Wisconsin Play Second Match

The volleyball season has finally arrived! Louisville volleyball kicks off their season in the AVCA Showcase tonight at the KFC Yum! Center as part of a featured doubleheader. Nebraska and Kentucky will play the first match at 7:00 pm and the Cards will square up against Wisconsin afterwards at approximately 9:00 pm or later.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers went 33-2 last season and fell in the championship game to Texas. Head coach John Cook, who has been the Huskers' head coach for 24 seasons, recently signed a contract extension through January 2029. Louisville coach Dani Busboom-Kelly has been a popular name as a replacement at Nebraska when Cook retires so we will have DBK for at least a few more years... or even more time to convince her to stay.

Kentucky

The Wildcats went 21-8 last season and fell to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen. Kentucky is back to their home arena of Memorial Coliseum this fall following a multi-million dollar revamp. Head coach Craig Skinner has been with the Cats for 20 years now and won a championship with them back in the altered COVID-19 2020-2021 season.

Wisconsin

The Badgers went 30-4 last season and fell in the Final Four to eventual champion Texas. Head coach Kelly Sheffield is entering his 12th season. Wisconsin won a title in 2021, the year they knocked Louisville out in the Final Four in Columbus.

Louisville

The team we all know and love is no stranger to the public spotlight in the DBK era. The Cards have multiple Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight appearances. They've made it to two Final Fours and have advanced all the way to the national championship game. Louisville had a "down year" last season, going 27-5, finishing third in the ACC, and falling in the Elite Eight to Pitt.

You can catch both matches on ESPN2 or the ESPN app. There are also still tickets available in the 300 sections.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Slightly Shaky Sweep for Volleyball - Thursday Cardinal Couple

Slightly Shaky Sweep

In the first of three matches scheduled this season for Cards Volleyball to play at the KFC Yum! Center UofL gets a sweep over rival Kentucky 25-19, 25-23, 25-18.  I call it a slightly shaky sweep because I thought there were aspects of play where UofL wasn't quite up to the level of play that we know they're capable of.

The Cards and Cats got under way at 8pm, and the first handful of points in the first set were a bit back and forth, but gave the impression that Kentucky was going to be able to play up to the level of play of Louisville.  The Cats got out to a 7-4 lead, and then 9-6 before the Cards said, "Nope!".  With Anna DeBeer at the service line, the Cards transformed a 9-6 deficit to a 9-16 lead.  Cara Cresse had back-to-back-to-back kills in the run, along with another, with the next most points in that run coming from UK errors.  Maybe UK Head Coach Craig Skinner remembered to clean out the litter box at that point as the Cats got the play back into gear and mostly traded points with UofL the rest of the set.  At that point, however, the damage had been done.

In the second set, well, it didn't start well for the Cats with UofL jumping out to a 4-0 lead but to their credit they were able to play their way back into the set tying it at 5-5.  Lots of little 3 point runs for both teams, but UofL was able to climb out to a slim lead, getting ahead by as much as four points.  UK wasn't done and was able to claw their way back into and eventually take a lead at 22-21.  Three side outs later and UofL tied it at 23-23 before a UK attack error and a DeBeer kill finished off the set.

In the third set, Louisville started to tighten up some of the sloppy play that we had been seeing.  UK did get out to an early lead, reaching as much as 6-2 before UofL's newest serving star, Kamden Schrand came to the service line after an Aiko Jones kill.  Interestingly, for most of the season, and even earlier in the match, Jones has been serving, but for some reason in this rotation, DBK went ahead and subbed Jones out and let Schrand take a shot at the service, and it paid of handsomely.  From a 6-3 UK lead, Schrand's service, including a pair of aces, got the Cards out to 8-6 lead.  Again, lots of side outs, but a few little UofL 3-point runs would start to build a bit of a lead for the Cards again.  First to 13-10, then to 22-16, and finally to finish out the match at 25-18.

Coach Skinner earned himself no friends among the 12,760 fans by issuing a coach's challenge on the last play of the game, but you can't take the green cards home with you, so he had nothing to lose.  And after the challenge was denied, UofL got to celebrate the rivalry win a second time.

So why do I call this a Slightly Shaky Sweep?  Subjectively, I just don't think the Cards played sharp, with miscommunications, some missed coverages, and a few, "Uh, what happened there?" moments.  Objectively, we see just a hint of some of this in the stats.  First, we see nine service errors for UofL in the three sets, particularly when compared to just six aces.  The other salvation on that stat was UK's 10 service errors.  I guess you can give a bunch of points away if the other team is giving away even more.  Second, five serve receive errors is a bit higher than I'd like to see in three sets, but again, UK had six, so still a net win for the Cards there.

Offensively, DeBeer did...well...fine.  She had nine kills for .174.  Aiko Jones also claimed nine kills but did it more efficiently at .333.  But both are capable of more and while that's "good enough" for an overranked-at-21 Kentucky squad, we need to see more from both of them when fully-justified-at-5 ranked Stanford comes calling on Sunday.

OK, enough doomsday, let's shout out Charitie Luper for 13 kills at an impressive .385 clip, along with 7 for Cara Cresse, error free at .583.  Elena Scott impressed as always with 15 digs, which is impressive for a good blocking team in three sets.

There have been a number of questions about how this season was going to play out as far as lineups go as well.  We've talked about position battles for middles, and setters, as well as an ongoing "Will they, Won't they" about the coaching staff perhaps choosing to run a 6-2 offense.  If we take last night's line-up as a guide, those questions are definitively answered.  DBK only played eight players.  With six in the rotation, plus a libero swapping for middles, that only leaves one other player to sub in and out of the match, and that's the aforementioned Aiko Jones/Kamden Schrand swap.  Middles?  Looks like we've settled on Cara Cresse and PK.  Setters?  Elle Glock looks like she may have solidified her hold on that spot.  6-2?  Nowhere in sight, last night.

Ultimately, it was a fun night, and a good win that will be remembered and recorded as a win over a ranked team, in addition to the rivalry win.  Playing at the KFC Yum! Center was great, giving about 11,760 fans a chance to come see the team play that wouldn't have been able to if the match was at LNFCU Arena.  Spotted in the crowd at various points were Alumnae Tori Dilfer Stringer, Anna Stevenson Hall, Katie George - in her professional role as color commentator for ESPN - and Amaya Tillman.  Tillman was also recognized with a pre-match bit for topping 500 career blocks in the post-season last year, and had plenty other of her accolades announced - my favorite being the Elite 90 award for having the highest GPA of any athlete at the Final Four.  Many current athletes from other sports were there, with contingents seen from Women's Basketball, Softball, Field Hockey, and more

.

Volleyball will be back in action this Sunday, again from the KFC Yum! Center at 1pm, hosting the aforementioned 5th ranked, and soon to be conference-mates, the Stanford Cardinal.  If you are one of our remote readers, it will be on ESPN2.  If you're in or near Louisville, though, get a ticket and come down to watch this team play.  You won't regret it.

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

-- JMcA

Player of the Week -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ELLE GLOCK C.C. PLAYER OF THE WEEK

(presenting...the lovely Elle Glock)

Elle Glock is a setter on the Louisville Volleyball team and is my choice for Cardinal Couple Player of the week. 

She had 35 assists in Louisville's win over Penn State Sunday, which was a top 15 matchup. The role of setter goes underappreciated sometimes in volleyball, but Glock stepped in for graduated Rachel Lazaro this season and has done a remarkable job. She transferred to the Cards after sitting out a season at USC and then playing sparingly last year at Louisville, so she's a redshirt sophomore. 

She was on three high school state championship teams in Nebraska before heading to USC. After a freshman year at USC in 2021 (where she redshirted) she and Lazaro both came to Louisville in 2022. Glock was a backup to Lazaro most of the season, but has been essential in the Cards in 2023 as a starter.

Glock has 235 assists on the season and the Cards VB squad is #2 in the nation. 

Congratulations to Elle and keep up the wonderful work on the overhand passes!  I guess you could say Glock "loads up" the Cards kill artists. 

                              ***************************************************

CATS VS CARDS

A big night Wednesday night ahead for Louisville Volleyball, as they bring in intrastate rival Kentucky for a match at the KFC YUM! Center at 8 pm. 

This one will be on ESPN, so there are undoubtedly a lot Spectrum/Charter subscribers happy that the media carrier and Walt Disney Group solved their little tiff and programming has returned to normal. 

The Cats are 2-4 on the season, yet ranked #24 in the polls. Their losses have come at Colorado State, to Pitt (twice) in Rupp, and at Purdue. They did beat Houston and Northern Colorado.  It's interesting that they would play Pitt in Rupp this year, but brought Louisville to Memorial Barnyard last year. 

Anyway, tickets are still available, so head downtown for looks like it could be an interesting one. 

paulie  

VolleyCards win 3-2 vs UK -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning all, 

Daryl checking in on a Thursday this week.. I am taking vacation days for the next couple weekends for the festivals in town.  

Paul, Jeff and Jared scooted down to Lexington for the Cardinals volleyball matchup with Kentucky and it was a barn burner.  With the good guys coming out on top.  !!!

Volleyball 

The Cards took down the Cats in Lexington Wednesday evening in five sets moving the squad to 8-1 on the season and UofL now has back to back victories  over UK in the wide net sport.  It was a 3 hour match on prime time ESPN, 7th largest crowd in UK program history with more than 3,750 in the stands and Louisville Alumni Katie George on the call and it was magical. 

OK, the Cards coulda won in 4 sets, they just coulda...but they remembered they were on prime-time ESPN. As it was reported, this was just the 4th time in ESPN's program history that they've shown a regular season volleyball match.  And this match gave the people what they wanted!  More volleyball!  If you recall last year's matchup, it also went to 5 sets where the Cards came out victorious. 

Claire Chaussee had 16 kills with Anna DeBeer adding 15 to lead the Cardinals to victory. Freshman Cara Cresse had eight kills and seven blocks. Setter Raquel Lazaro had 46 assists, 14 digs, three aces and three blocks. Libero Elena Jones had 14 digs and two aces. Kentucky hit .231 with 10 aces and six blocks.  UK's Adanna Rollins hit .233 for the night with 19 kills on 51 swings with 10 kills for the third double-double of her season and a block. 

Set 1  UK wins 25-20

The Cats had 18 kills compared to the Cards' 13.  Rollins had 5 kills and a service ace in the first set.. The teams traded the first couple points with Cara Cresse scoring 3 of the Cards' first 4 points. Claire Chaussee also had 3 kills in the set. Emma Grome got the Kentucky offense going early as she dished out 16 assists in the first set. She led her team to a .441 hitting percentage through the first set.  UK lead by as many as 7 points before taking the first set.

Set 2 Louisville wins 25-15

UofL went on a 6-0 run early in the set to punch back after falling in the first.  Elise Goetzinger continued to be a force at the net for UK. With a 17-9 Louisville lead, Azhani Tealer delivered her sixth kill of the match to slow things down a bit. Louisville found themselves at set point with a score of 24-15, ending the frame with a tip off of an overpass by the Wildcats.

Set 3 Louisville wins 26-24

This set featured 16 ties and 8 lead changes as both squads tried to go ahead in the match. The Cats had the 15-14 kill advantage in the set. At 7-5, libero Eleanor Beavin dug a hard-hit ball and Lamb earned the next point off a Cardinal block. Halfway through the set, Reagan Rutherford sparked some offense for UK and push the UK lead to 15-14. A Tealer kill and ace brought the Wildcats and Cardinals to 18 all

Amaya Tillman had a block and a kill to get the Cards to a tie at 24 and spark a UK timeout. A kill by Anna DeBeer right after the timeout forced the Cats to call their last timeout. DeBeer was unfazed as she bounced the final ball of the set for the 26-24 win.

Set 4 UK wins 26-24

Again, UK had the 15-14 kill advantage but with the Cats evening it up 2 sets and forcing a fifth set. the Cats went on a 4-1 run to take a 10-6 lead. The Cards fought back to come within one at 10-9 on an ace by Elena Scott.  Tealer served two aces to put UK ahead 13-9. With 10 less hitting errors than the Wildcats, the Cardinals pushed their biggest lead of the game at 22-18. Two Cardinal errors and a service error ended the set.

Set 5 Louisville wins 15-11

The Cardinals jumped off to a 3-1 lead. UK's Goetzinger and Rutherford added a pair of kills to tie up the set 4-4. Lamb then added another kill for the Wildcats first lead of the fifth set bringing them to 5-4. Midway through the fifth set, The Cards had a 4-2 run powered by a Cara Cresse block and a Chaussee kill and had the 8-5 lead. UK aced the Cards to come within two at 12-10 and force a Cardinals timeout. Chaussee scored on a swing from the outside and Cresse got a block to get to match point. UK staved off the next point but fell 15-11.

We have a rarity in post game video/audio from Dani Busboom Kelly and players! 

Listen/view: POST GAME DANI, ANNA and CLAIRE

UP NEXT

The Cards head west to face Stanford Saturday at 10 p.m.

(Photos by Jared Anderson)

WGolf

Rylee Sutton has joined the program. She was previously at Centre College

She was named an All-American and Southern Athletic Association Player of the year for the second-straight season.

She led the nation with a 71.4 scoring average in 2021-22 and she won four of the eight tournaments she competed in and had two runner-up finishes.

 

As always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

VOLLEYBALL FACES KENTUCKY TONIGHT -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS AND CATS VOLLEYBALL SQUARE OFF IN MEMORIAL

Another chapter in the Louisville vs Kentucky battles takes place tonight when UofL and UK Volleyball face each other at 7 p.m. in Lexington. The # 13 Cats are 5-2 in the 2022 season, with losses to Marquette and Wisconsin. The Cards are #3 in the nation, with a 7-1 record. Their lone loss came at the hands of Ohio State. 

Junior Reagan Rutherford leads the Cats in kills with 95 on the season and she was also the SEC Player of the Week last week. Azhani Tealor and Adanna Rollins are also front line threats with Rutherford. The main difference between this squad and UK squads of the past is that none of the three UK leaders I've mentioned here are over 6'0" in height....a far cry from the tall UK front lines of years past. 

The Cards defeated UK in the LNFCU last year in a five set thriller. That Louisville win broke a seven match win streak UK held over UofL. 

Key for the Cards will be the continued strong showing of their veteran front line. Claire Chaussee, Anna DeBeer, Aiko Jones, Cara Cresse and Amaya Tillman have been unstoppable for most opponents this season. Add in the strong setting of Raquel Lazaro and the deep bench that Dani Busboom Kelly can call on and the Cards are well deserving of their #3 in the nation ranking. Elena Scott is an expert at digs and one of the best libero in the nation. 

The crowd noise at Memorial will be a factor that Louisville will have to deal with. The coliseum can get pretty loud when it's full of UK faithful and the Cats do tend to fill it up for Volleyball. 

Coaching is another key for UK. Craig Skinner has skippered UK Volleyball for close to 20 years now and been very successful at what he does. He has an in-depth knowledge of the game and is widely respected among his peers  Mind you, UofL has a very good coachi n Dani and staff to go with her. I can't see coaching blunders affecting this match on either side/

There were a few tickets left for the contest late Tuesday afternoon (general admission is $5) but if you can't make it to the UK campus tomorrow, the match will be shown on ESPN. The network is even Katie George the call on it, along with Eric Frede, Those two do a very fine job in calling a Volleyball match, Katie lets her professionalism override her love for the Louisville program, and that's the sign of a excellent announcer. You know she's gotta be hanging on every long, competitive volley and officials' review. 

I'm expecting a five-setter here. Naturally, I'd be thrilled if the Cards could sweep or win it in four and, I'd be disappointed if Jared and I leave Lexington after seeing Louisville lose their second match of the season. 

The Cards could conceivably move up to #2 in DI if they win it. based on Stanford defeating current #2 Nebraska last night. Oh, and guess who Louisville has next, after UK? That's right, the Cardinal. 

So, is this trip to Lexington the toughest road match of the year so far? Yes, I think you could say that with no qualms or hesitations. WKU was a challenge, obviously, but the intensity and pressure tonight will surpass that. It's Kentucky, after all. We'll have Jeff in the stands for this one, Jared taking photos and me at press row. (Yes, Paulie's going to a volleyball match) .I won't attend any of ours at LNFCU during the regular season.  Personal preference. 

(PHOTOS ARE FROM THE 202! MATCH BETWEEN THESE TWO THAT JARED ANDERSON TOOK)

paulie 

 

Volleyball News, Women's Golf in Minnesota -- Never Forget -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VOLLEYBALL VS. KENTUCKY A SELL-OUT

It's official.

The Friday night volleyball match against Kentucky is now sold out. In this next "battle of the Bluegrass" the venue is Cardinal Arena...the home court for the Cards nestled on Floyd Street in the SAC building. If you haven't purchased a ticket yet, too bad. 

Louisville traveled to Lexington last year and fell to the Cats in Memorial Coliseum. We'll have much more on this as the game draws closer. I haven't found an official announcement on whether this one will be shown on the ACC Network Extra or not. 

The Cats are 4-4 on the season...after losing their first three, they've taken three out of their last four. They are now a ranked team at #20 in the latest poll.  Louisville stands at 6-3 on the season. The Cards fell out of the top 25 in yesterday's poll.


WOMEN'S GOLF IN MINNESOTA

The Chip and Putt Cards are participating in the Minnesota Invitational and are currently in sixth place after two rounds on the Prestwick Golf Club course in Woodbury, MN. Louisville is 13 strokes back of leader San Jose State. 

Lauren Hartlage leads the way for Courtney Trimble's swingers with a two round, two under par 142 total. She's tied for sixth place in the overall standings.  Also participating for Louisville are: 

Mairead Martin           73-73  t-21
Olivia Cason               73-74  t-31
Margot Bechadegue    74-73  t-31
Lauren Thibodeau      76-72  t-38
Kristen Engle             78-74  t-66

The Cards complete action today and are paired with Kentucky (tied for 4th place) and Middle Tennessee (tied for 4th place). Hit 'em straight, Cards and stay out of the sand! 


911

It was 17 years ago today when the United States was the victim of a series of four coordinated attacks from the Islamic terrorist group al-Queda. 

2996 people lost their lives in this cowardly, airplane hi-jacking attack and over 6,000 were injured. The North and South Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a thwarted attempt where the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, PA. Others died later due to 9/11 related cancer and respiratory complications over the following months and years. 

343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers were killed. 

As you go through the day today, remember and honor those who lost their lives in the attack. 

Do you remember were you were that Tuesday morning? I do.

I was out making sales calls for the coffee company I worked for. I had walked into a chain drugstore to buy some replacement batteries for a electrical device associated with my work. A morning show that was on the television near checkout was interrupted with the news.

I stood there at the counter with several other patrons and employees and watched with shock, disbelief and horror as those almost two hours unfolded...leaving eventually to listen on my car radio and then heading to my father's house to watch on television.

It was not a day to be selling coffee. My elderly father recalled Pearl Harbor. The friends he lost there. Dad was one of the lucky ones. 

I attended a Louisville football game 11 days later in Champaign, IL against the Illini. I'll never forget the thousands of American flags that myself and other fans were waving in the air throughout the game and during the halftime remembrance. We are not Cardinals or Fighting Illini that day. We were Americans.  

Never forget. Always remember. The hated and eventually captured Osama bin Laden. We must never allow something like this to happen on our shores again.  



paulie
xxxxx

Friday Cardinal Couple - Injuries Slow Volleyball

Volleyball Takes a Hit

Injuries slowed the Cardinal Volleyball squad last night against a good Kentucky team.

With almost half of the Louisville starting line-up out of commission for the match last night, the Wildcats took advantage of it and took the match with a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-18, 25-9).  The Cats hit a very good .358 as a team for the match, and a blistering .524 in the third set as a team on their way to the win.

The Cards were without the services of starting setter Kali Eaken, and starting middle Jasmine Bennett for concussions.  The third member unavailable was all-around utility player and hitter Janelle Jenkins.  Jenkins was not in attendance, with the report being that she was at the hospital with, initially, suspicions of appendicitis, though a report later indicated that was ruled out.

Of course, in the middle, the Cards can fall back to Maggie DeJong, who did a marvelous job playing that position for the past two years, although she is just returning from a hamstring sprain, and while cleared to play full speed, may not be quite at 100%.  The setting is backfilled by a combination of Lyndsay Palmer and Morgan Miller.

In Jenkins' place, we saw the first starting line-up appearance by freshman Megan Sloan, who acquitted herself fairly well in the match with 5 kills on 19 attempts.  That comes out to an average of .158, which is typically pretty uninspiring, but is one of the better hitting averages for The Cards last night.  Coline Coessens made it to .222 with 3 kills on 9 attempts.

Looking for the positives in this one, the service errors were brought under control in this match.

Coach Kordes was concerned after the match against Wisconsin about the 12 service errors, and the team brought that down to only 2 in this match.  The tradeoff is less aggressive serving, and Kordes was also disappointed in the serve targeting by the Cardinals, with too many serves being handled by UK's libero instead of going to the zone called for by the coaching staff.

While it particularly stings to continue a lengthy losing streak to the Cats, and Coach Kordes made a point of not wanting to give, or accept, excuses in the post-match press pow-wow, you probably can write this one off, at least somewhat, to circumstances overtaking the Cards team.

The Cards have struggled through the whole season so far with a constantly shifting line-up, and have persevered and shown their depth, but the lack of consistency in line-ups can't help in bringing consistency, and thus tuning for excellence, to their play.

The Kordes Krewe doesn't have long to dwell on this one as they are back in action tonight against Lipscomb, this one at Cardinal Arena on campus, adding to the hustle and bustle all along Floyd Street.  With a first serve of 7pm.

Field Hockey and Men's Soccer

Adding to that hustle and bustle on Floyd Street, Field Hockey has a major game tonight against the Duke Blue Devils.  This, of course, is "The Student vs The Master" battle, with former UofL Head Coach Pam Bustin coming in with Duke, to play against her former assistant and current UofL Head Coach Justine Sowry.  The Field Hockey Cards have started the season 6-0, which ties the best ever start for the Cards, a 6-0 start back in 1977.  So Field Hockey will be looking for a win tonight to secure that best ever start, as well as make a statement with the overwhelmingly dominant ACC.  Duke comes into tonights game ranked second in the country and in a three-way tie for first in the ACC in the still extremely early conference slate.  This is the conference opener for the Cards while the Blue Devils secured a 3-2 win over UVA last Friday and also are 6-0 on the season.  Current overall rankings for ACC schools see Syracuse at number one, Duke 2nd (as mentioned), UNC 3rd, UofL coming in at 6th, Wake Forest 11th, UVA 14th, and Boston College 18th.  In a shocking turn of events (insert sarcasm mark, here), every ACC Field Hockey team is in the top 20 rankings.

Also along Floyd Street, Men's Soccer will be in action at Lynn Stadium against the number one team in the country Notre Dame.

Field Hockey gets underway at 6pm, while Men's Soccer shares a start time with Volleyball of 7pm.

Radio Recording

WORLDWIDE AND CASE TRYING TO GET
PAULIE TO THE STUDIO

Due to scheduling conflicts with some incidental event tomorrow at noon, Paulie and I will be prerecording https://twitter.com/CardinalCouple, while I plan on starting the evening at Trager, catching roughly the first half of the game, and then moving north on Floyd to Cardinal Arena to catch the Volleyball match.  I'll try to tweet some of the coverage from https://twitter.com/CardCoupleRadio.  I believe Case may be making an appearance at the Men's Soccer match, so if Soccer is your bag, you can catch up with him at https://twitter.com/bstcasescenario.
to the studio this afternoon to pre-record this week's Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  This means we won't have results, when aired tomorrow morning, of tonight's Volleyball, and Field Hockey events, but we will be splitting our efforts to cover the events of the evening.  Paulie will be spending the evening at Trager Stadium to cover Field Hockey and should be tweeting some from there. 

-- JMcA

Six and Four -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

What's In a Record?

At Sunday's Volleyball match against Kentucky, I started to sense some frustration from the crowd over how the season is going for the Volleyball team thus far.

I thought it was time to take stock of where things are and where they are going this season.

First, let's keep in mind that we're 6-4, only a third of the way through the season.  There's still a long way to go and we haven't even started the conference slate, yet.  Yes, we've talked about how the ACC is a step up in play over the American/AAC, and that remains as true now as when we first started talking about it when UofL got invited to join the Atlantic Coast.  But the ACC isn't, still, at the top echelon of volleyball play as a conference, either.  The result is that Coach Kordes and the volleyball coaching staff has still scheduled a very tough out of conference schedule.

I'm a little dismayed at having four losses at this point -- as I'm sure many other fans are as well -- but when you stop and really think about the four losses that we've taken, you start to lose some of the sting.  Looking at the coach's poll that was released yesterday, all four of the teams that we have lost to are Top 25 teams.  Illinois is #9, Wisconsin is #16, Minnesota - who wasn't ranked when we played them - is now ranked #21, and Kentucky is still ranked #24, even with five loses.

OK, so none of our losses are bad losses, so let's take a look forward at what we can expect in conference play.  In the next eight games, we play Notre Dame, Miami, Syracuse, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, and Duke.

I think all eight of those matches could be wins for the Cardinals. I don't even think I'm going out on too much of a limb to say it.

Notre Dame is in the first year of a new coach and essentially rebuilding the program after the wheels pretty much fell off in the past couple of years.  They've got losses to Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Seton Hall, Temple, and South Dakota.  They also have losses against Penn State and Purdue, but I'm not going to count either of those against them.  I think they're probably a better team than they were last year, but we should win this one.

Miami could be a challenge.  With losses to Missouri State, Marquette, and Oral Roberts, you have to think they're vulnerable, but wins over Purdue (now ranked #20), and Kansas State suggest that they are capable of playing at a pretty high level of play.  If we show up and play well, I think we can win this one.

Syracuse is something of a crap-shoot right now.  With their only losses to current #14 Arizona, and #12 Ohio State, they don't have any bad losses, but the rest of the matches they have played are all against relative nobodies with the best wins over Auburn, and Georgia.  Syracuse typically hasn't been much of a threat given the way the teams match up, so I think we get this one in the win column again.

Boston College doesn't look to pose a real threat, with eight wins over no one of any real relevance, and four losses to Fairfield, Marshall, Michigan State, and Delaware.

Georgia Tech doesn't appear to be a major concern either. With losses to Coastal Carolina, and Kennesaw State, and no real quality wins, they appear to be more concerned with mammal urination, than volleyball.  I won't count a lose against perennial powerhouse Nebraska against them.

Clemson is 5-7, probably enough said, but let's look at the losses.  UNC Wilmington, Appalachian State (OK, let's be generous and toss this one out as we saw last year that App State can put together a pretty good Volleyball team), South Carolina, Furman, SMU, UTSA, and TCU.  Moving on...

Wake Forest looks beatable, with an 8-4 record with losses to Northwestern (good in Lacrosse, not so much in Volleyball), New Hampshire, Marshall, and VCU.

That leaves the next real potential for a significant challenge as Duke, with losses to Long Beach State, Kansas, Stanford, Michigan, and Michigan State.  Let's toss out that Stanford loss, and they don't really have any good wins at this point, so they're certainly beatable as well.

OK, so we've got some easier play ahead of us, but also some challenges in getting into post-season play as not too many teams left on our schedule will give us much of an RPI boost.  #17 Florida State is out there, and North Carolina is "Receiving Votes", but other than those two, we're going to have to crawl our way up the RPI, because it doesn't look like anyone else will give us any real big boosts.

We've seen this UofL Volleyball team play well, at least in stretches, and occasionally for whole matches.  They are capable of playing with any team in the country when they're "on"...at least in my judgement.  We have to get service errors under control, though...if you have 14 service errors like we did Sunday, you'll have trouble against pretty much any team.  Coach Kordes has said that they are trying to serve aggressively, which I understand, but perhaps it's time to dial it back a notch or two.

Overall, there is potential in this team to end the season with a pretty good record, good enough, I believe, to make post-season play.  They are going to have to pull it together and bring some consistency to their play, but if they do that, I believe they have a chance of finishing out the season strong.

JMcA