The Week Ahead for Louisville Women's Athletics -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Packed Schedule as Spring Ramps Up

Louisville women's athletics has a busy week ahead as the winter sports season hits its climax and the spring sports season gets rolling. Six sports are in action this week with only the track and field team having the week off. 

Women's golf and swimming will both be first in action today, as each of those teams continue multi-day events. The golf team is finishing up the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida today, and the Cards stand tied for 13th of 17 teams after yesterday's rounds. Louisville is just three shots off of 11th place and will get the final round underway at 9am this morning. Swimming and diving are getting into the third day of the ACC Championships, with the event scheduled to run all the way through Saturday. There are plenty of events on deck for that, so you can keep up with Louisville Swim and Dive on social media or check in with live stats here or live streaming via ESPN. Louisville finished third as a team in last season's ACC tournament, and seven ACC teams are in this season's top 25. Today's events get underway at 9:30. 

Softball will begin a loaded week with their home opener this afternoon as they host Bellarmine. It should be an unseasonably warm day, with highs forecast in the 60s today, so it should be more pleasant than people may have expected going into a mid-February matchup. This game was originally slated to be played next week, so the weather is a nice surprise for the rescheduled event. The Cards are 6-3 so far this season, with all three losses coming to the hosting opponents at their two weekend events. Louisville faces a Bellarmine squad that is just 1-8 in their first season under a new head coach. The Cards will look to extend their win streak to three games going into the weekend, where they'll travel once more. Tonight's game will be at 6:30 on ACCNX. After today, Louisville will go on the road again, this time to Fort Myers, FL for an event hosted by Florida Gulf Coast University. Louisville will play Buffalo and FGCU on Friday afternoon, Wisconsin and UConn on Saturday, and close the weekend with a Sunday morning rematch against Buffalo. 

Lacrosse will play a pair of games this week as well, as they look to pick up their first victory of the 2026 campaign. The Cards lost a heartbreaker in the opener, going down in double OT to Ohio State, and fell at the hands of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Saturday. Louisville will look to bounce back with a home match against Kent State tomorrow at noon and they'll play another road ACC match on Saturday. This week, Scott Teeter's squad will face North Carolina. 

Women's tennis will have two matches at home this week, as ACC play fully ramps up. The Cards are 6-1 so far this season with their lone loss coming last Friday against Notre Dame. Louisville is 0-1 in conference as a result, but they'll bring two Florida teams to Bass-Rudd this weekend to try to fix that. The Cards face Florida State on Friday and Miami on Sunday. 

Louisville women's basketball has a mid-week bye this week, giving their opponents a chance to catch up in league play. The Cards have won three straight since losing to Duke, and that head-to-head matchup is currently the difference between the top two teams in the ACC. Duke is 14-0, while Louisville sits at 14-1. Duke plays NC State on Thursday, but chances are running out for the Blue Devils to take a loss. After the Wolfpack, they'll play at Clemson, host FSU, then finish the season on the road at rival UNC. Louisville gets a mid-week break but they'll take on Virginia at the Yum! Center on Sunday. The Cards finish the season with a significant test of their own, going on the road to Georgia Tech on Thursday the 26th before hosting Notre Dame on March 1st. The Cards and Irish will square off at 4PM on ESPN2, and they'll be the second to last tip-off of the ACC regular season. The Cards can lock up a double-bye in the ACC tournament with one more win. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Spring ACC Smart Cards -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports See Many on All-ACC Academic Teams

All-ACC Academic Teams are being announced this week, and while we haven't heard about softball yet, the remaining spring sports are well-represented in the league. Requirements for inclusion are a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester, a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and competition in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. 

Tennis announced five honorees. Allie Gretkowski (R-SR; Sports Administration) and Berta Miret (SO; Neuroscience) each earned the nod from the league for the second time. Teammates joining them for the first time were Alice Otis (JR; Marketing), Germany Davis (SO; Political Science), and Elisabeth Iila (Psychology). 

Women's golf had a touch more than a handful, with six golfers being named to the list. That group was led by Carmen Griffiths (SR; Exercise Science) picking up her third All-ACC Academic honor. Beatriz Barrios Fernandez (SR) and Millie Cottrell (SO) are both majoring in Sports Administration (SPAD) and both were honored for the second time. SPAD is a popular major among Louisville athletes, as freshman Bailey Burkett, honored for the first time, is also in that program. The other two first-time honorees were transfer Thienna Huynh (JR; Political Science) and Veronika Exposito (FR; Finance). 

Lacrosse led the way in All-ACC Academic Honors as they placed a program record 23 players on the list. Forgive me for excluding classes and majors for a list so long. You can check out  the full post from gocards here if you want to see them all. Just know that the Business School is heavily represented. 

Three-time honorees: Ava Coyle, Negai Nakazawa, Abby Scully, and Izzy Seikel

Two-time honorees: Rian Adkins, Abigail Cole, Karli Kirchenheiter, Maggie McMahon, and Ashley Osborne

First-time selections: Kelsey Commerford, Abbie Dunlap, Riley Engelberg, Charlotte Jackson, Catherine Kangas, Issy Leech, Sophie Macleod, Erin Nicholson, J Pleck, Cece Reilly, Olivia Scorggie, Ella Terrell, Morgan Vasseur, and Reese Whiteman

Congratulations to all of these Cardinals on their academic accomplishments!

Aimee Plumb Honored by CSC

Formerly identified as the CoSIDA, the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America teams have been announced and Louisville field hockey's Aimee Plumb has been named to the At-Large third-team. Plumb is receiving her second national accolade from the group, having been previously honored following the 2022-23 season. Playing in her final season as a graduate, Plumb scored four goals and had four assists, moving up to seventh in program history in points (86) and goals (30) while going to ninth in assists (26). While doing all of this, she maintained a 4.0 GPA en route to graduating with a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Art.  

Plumb's second naming to the team makes her one of eight players on this year's list to be a repeat selection. It makes her just the second Cardinal to pick up this specific honor multiple times. Plumb joins Jessica Javelet, who made the list in three straight seasons from 2004-2006. 

A huge congratulations to Aimee for a job well done throughout her career. We'll be sorry to see Aimee not suited up for the Cards next season, but we hope to still see her around as her younger sister Chloe looks to help fill the gap in her absence. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

UofL Extends Contract of Mark Beckham -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Photo by GoCards

Hey, Cardinal Couple readers! Jared checking in here as Daryl and I are switching a couple days around this week. Tune back in tomorrow and she should be back.

We have definitely entered summertime here in 'The Ville' as 90-degree weather has arrived and is here to stay for a while. The 2024-2025 NCAA year has officially come to a close with LSU taking down Coastal Carolina in the baseball championship over the weekend. We do want congratulate the Louisville baseball team on a successful postseason run and a Final Four finish.

Photo by GoCards

In the world of UofL women's sports, things have been fairly quiet. We've seen a few folks transfer in and out for different teams. A couple transfers out to note include Char Lorenz (softball) and Maya Maxwell (women's soccer). We did see a contract extension for Louisville women's tennis coach Mark Beckham.

Beckham has been around Louisville for a few decades. He attended Eastern High School. He spent his entire collegiate career playing for the Cards and then joined the men's program as an assistant coach for 15 years. He then transitioned to the head coach role for the women's team in the fall of 2007.

The Cards posted a strong 2025 season. The finished with a winning record 13-10, a ranked win over #35 Clemson, and winning their opening round of the ACC Tournament. UofL rose up to #60 in the rankings.

Beckham's extension runs through June 30, 2028, keeping him at the helm for at least three more years. He joins four other coaches to receive contract extensions recently including rowing coach Derek Copeland and lacrosse coach Scott Teeter.

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

WTEN Advances in ACC Tourney -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Down FSU to Face Cal

We haven't talked much about Louisville women's tennis this season, but they've quietly been having their best season in the ACC. The Cards went 5-1 in nonconference play before dropping their first three matches of ACC play. Louisville then won three straight matches, beating Xavier, UAB, and FSU for their first ACC win of the season. The Cards ultimately finished 13-9 with a 4-8 conference record, having swept Boston College 4-0 to end the regular season. Those four conference victories are their most in the league and resulted in a 12th place finish in conference. While that doesn't sound great, consider that Louisville is ranked 63rd overall. The team they beat in the first round of the ACC Tournament, 13-seed FSU, was ranked 57th in the country. 

Photo via GoCards

The Cards won yesterday's match 4-2, with the decisive point coming before the last singles match had ended. Louisville won the doubles point, led by an upset victory from Allie Gretkowski and Alice Otis in the 1-doubles spot against the #39 pair from FSU. Moving into singles play, Otis lost on Court 1 6-1, 6-3 before Louisville retook the lead at 2-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory from Elena Noguero on Court 3. Lika Persypkina picked up a 6-1, 6-3 victory as well to give the Cards a 3-1 advantage. Germany Davis fell 6-3, 6-3 to set the score at 3-2, but Elisabeth Iila sealed the deal with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory on Court 6. Gretkowski led 3-1 in the third set when their match was suspended. 

It was a big day for Noguero and Iila, as they both won their singles matches after also helping to clinch the doubles point for the Cards. The Cards will face a tough test in their second matchup in the ACC Tournament when they take on Cal this morning at 10 AM. Louisville didn't play Cal in the regular season, but the Bears are ranked 18th in the country. Cal went 12-7 overall with a 9-3 record in the ACC. The Cards may be playing with house money at this point. While a conference season under .500 doesn't seem like it should be considered a major success on its face, that doesn't take into account the challenge in the ACC. Like in many other "non-revenue" sports, the ACC is a powerhouse. Winning the most conference games since joining the league and picking up an upset win (even though it was over a lower seed) in the tournament is a reason to celebrate. Anything from here on would be toppings on a sundae. 

Best of luck to the Cards moving forward. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Tennis Upsets Clemson -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Tennis Upsets Clemson at Home

Photo by GoCards

Hopefully everyone survived the storms and floods over the last week. While much of the region seems to be underwater, including portions of downtown Louisville, the Louisville women's tennis team went indoors to square off against #35 Clemson in an ACC match-up. 

#70 Louisville (extended rankings) pulled off a 4-3 upset against #35 Clemson in one of the tightest battles of the season. The Cards improve to 11-8 on the season and 3-7 in the ACC, tied for their most ever wins in a single season in the ACC. The Cards also secured the first winning regular season (post-season not included) since the COVID-19 shortened 2019-2020 season.

The Cards took the doubles point 2-1 with Berta Miret / Lika Peresypkina and Elena Noguero / Elisabeth Iila earning wins on their courts. UofL would split the individual court matches 3-3, but the 4-3 edge earned the win. The singles court winners were Alice Otis, Elena Noguero, and Allie Gretkowski.

Photo by GoCards

Clemson tied the match at 3-3 with Court One being the only match left to be played. On the lead court, Otis was taking on Clemson's top player Sophia Hatton. Otis pulled off the win 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a tight battle to secure the upset.

Louisville remains home for their final two matches of the regular season- Friday at 4:00 vs Syracuse and Sunday at 12:00 vs Boston College.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Lacrosse Hosts Liberty -- Tennis Beats Virginia Tech -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Hosts Liberty

Louisville lacrosse looks to bounce back from a loss with a midweek game against Liberty today. The Cards and Flames will square off at noon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.

The Cards enter the match 5-7 on the year and 1-5 in the ACC. Fortunately, they are able to step away from conference play momentarily.

Liberty has had a hot start to the season with an 8-3 record. All three losses came against ACC teams (20-5 to Virginia, 23-1 to North Carolina, and 15-6 against Pittsburgh). They do have a win against then-ranked Richmond by one. Most recently, the Flames defeated Queens University 18-17 with the winning goal coming with five minutes left in regulation.

Louisville won the only meeting between the two teams last season 11-8 on the road. The Cards held a one-goal lead entering the fourth quarter before pulling away.

Women's Tennis Upsets Virginia Tech

Photo by GoCards

Louisville women’s tennis earned a major win over the weekend, taking down #37 Virginia Tech 4-0. The win improves the Cards’ record to 10-7 on the year and 2-6 in the ACC. This is the first ranked win in nearly two years for the Cards.

The last time Louisville hit the 10-win mark was the 2022-2023 season. They have only hit the 10-win mark three times since the 2018-2019 season. The two conference wins is the most for the Cards since the 2020-2021 season when they went 3-10 in the ACC. Louisville has never surpassed three conference wins since joining the ACC.

In collegiate tennis, teams play a best-of-seven score. Despite a trio of doubles matches, only one doubles point is awarded. The other six points are determined in the individual matches.

The Cards took the doubles point after the teams of Berta Miret / Lika Peresypkina and Alice Otis / Allie Gretkowski won. The Cards won the first three singles matches with Gretowski, Elena Noguero, and Elisabeth Lila.

The Cards are back in action against ranked Georgia Tech on Friday at 4:00pm.

(photos by Jared unless otherwise noted)

NCAA Pick 'Em Update

We're down to the final four, so there are just a few more points on offer. The race for second is still close, but Karen J has locked up first place as she holds a three point lead. Tim F and Thomas both need South Carolina to beat Texas to challenge Karen's score, but a South Carolina victory would clinch the win for Karen J by giving her another point. 

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Basketball On The Road - Sunday Cardinal Couple

WBB vs Virginia

A week ago today, the Cards were in Blacksburg, VA, today they're 145 miles away in Charlottesville.  It seems a little crazy that these trips couldn't be combined in to a single weekend, but here we are, subject to the whimsy of ACC scheduling.

Charlottesville, is of course, the home to the University of Virginia who will be the Cards' opponent today at 2pm.  Louisville will be looking to get back into the win column and continue to add to their NCAA tournament resume'.  We still have a lot of season to play, but the team is currently 41st in the NET rankings which doesn't necessarily put them "On The Bubble", but it is uncomfortably close.

Virginia is down around the bottom third of the ACC standings, with a conference record of 3-5 and 11-9 overall.  The only real notable win on their schedule so far was against their neighbors Virginia Tech (73-65).  Losses to Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Duke, are certainly understandable.  Georgia Tech, Boston College, and NC State are a bit tougher to take for the Hoos, but the losses to Wyoming and Washington State would be concerning for fans of the blue and orange.

Only two players score in double digits for UVA, Kymora Johnson and Latisha Latimore, 18.3, and 13.3 points per game respectively, while Olivia McGhee, and Breona Hurd fall just short of the mark at 9.6 and 9.5.  From range, Johnson is the biggest threat, not being afraid of hoisting the 3-ball, and hitting about 41% of them.  McGhee hits about 36%, so she shouldn't be left open on the outside either.

Many of the team stats are close compared to their opponents, though UVA does fall short of their opponents, just slightly, in assists, steals, and turnovers.  On the other hand, they do outblock their opponents, and by a margin of almost 2-1, so careful shot selection will be the order of the day.

Let's give some credit to the UVA fanbase however, for a team that maybe doesn't inspire a huge amount of awe, they average over 4,000 in attendance, which is a nice turnout.  I always think watching a game is more enjoyable when you can hear a crowd getting into it, even if they're cheering for the opposing team.

A 2pm start suggests and TV scheduled game, and that is indeed the case here.  An unusual outlet for it, though with The CW being the network carrying this one.  That is a linear channel, and in the Louisville area it is broadcast channel 58 in some areas and on channel 7on Insight. .  It should be available on all TV providers such as Spectrum, DirecTV, YoutubeTV, and others.

Tennis and Swimming

Tennis bounced back from their "short-handed" loss against Middle Tennessee and were able to win, 5-2 against Tennessee Chattanooga.  The Cards were still missing two player to illness meaning that The Mocs got a point on singles court 6 by default.  Despite defaulting on the 3rd doubles court, Louisville won in tie-breakers on the other two courts to get the doubles point.  Regardless, four wins on singles courts would have been enough to secure the overall victory, but the doubles point gave a bit of insurance.

Swimming had a dual meet against Kentucky, and won both the men's and women's side of the event with solid margins.  The women, ranked 10th, out-paddled the Cats to a 206-94 meet win.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Daryl, Jared, Paulie, and I carried on without a illness-striken Case in the CCRHP and had a good discussion about Basketball, as is the norm this time of year.  We did spend a few moments towards the end of the show looking at the newly released Softball schedule and examining the plethora of pitching options on the squad.

Check it out at:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-Looks-to-Get-Back-to-Winning-e2u0gpa

-- 

JMcA

Tennis Begins Season Perfect -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Sweep UNC Greensboro at Bass-Rudd

Photo by GoCards

The first spring sport to start their season is Louisville women's tennis. The Cards are coming off an abysmal 2024 season, boasting a 4-19 record and going 0-13 in the ACC. They closed out last season on a 17-match losing streak.

Louisville started this season off on a much better note, sweeping UNC Greensboro 7-0. All six singles players won their match-ups and all three doubles match-ups went in favor of the Cards. Only doubles point is award in the overall scoring with the point being awarded to the team in a best-of-three series.

The Cards are relying heavily on the youth on the team as the seven-person roster consists of one senior, one junior, four sophomores, and one freshman. Louisville also is relying on international talents this season. Two players hail from Spain, one from Ukraine, and one from Estonia. Two players come from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and one comes from College Park, Georgia.

Photo by GoCards

Court 1: Alice Otis won 2-1

Court 2: Lika Peresypkina won 2-0

Court 3: Elena Noguero won 2-0

Court 4: Allie Gretkowski won 2-0

Court 5: Germany Davis won 2-0

Court 6: Berta Miret won 2-0

Louisville heads down to Tennessee next weekend to face Middle Tennessee and Chattanooga.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Women's Tennis Signs Two -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Add Lila and Otis

Louisville women's tennis added two new players for the 2024-2025 season, head coach Mark Beckham announced recently. Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila (iila) both signed with the Cards this summer.

Otis transfers in after one year at South Carolina and one year at Denver. During her freshman campaign with the Gamecocks, Otis earned four singles victories while playing in the five and six spots. She then transferred to Denver, where she went 20-11 on the season. She was named to the All-Summit League Team and was named 2024 Summit Newcomer of the Year.

Iila is set to begin her college career this fall, coming in from Tallinn, Estonia. In her young career, Iila has made a name for herself in both the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior rankings and ITF rankings. In the junior division, Iila has been ranked as high as #168. In the ITF World Rankings, Iila has been ranked as high as #1342 and currently sits at #1381.

The 2024-2025 schedule has not been released yet but the Cards look to improve off of last year's season, which saw plenty of struggles.

Walz noon presser today

Jeff Walz will hold a presser today at noon to discuss program updates and the 2024 Aflac Oui-Play  game in Paris vs. UCLA.

He'll be speaking from the media room at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center. 

We are working on having someone cover the presser and will review it in the Friday edition of Cardinal Couple. 

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Overlap Overload - Sunday Cardinal Couple

With Spring sports fully kicked-off, the Sunday article conundrum raises it's head...recaps first or upcoming schedule first?  Let's go with recaps.

Softball in Warmer Climes

Georgetown Round Two

Softball continues their weekend in the Fort Myers area, taking advantage of the warmer weather of the south as is typical for their early season.  After two games Friday that were good wins, but maybe didn't demonstrate as much offense as Case would have liked, they did get the bats going a bit more yesterday.  The defense continued to shine, keeping any runners from opposing teams from crossing the plate for the whole day.

The first game of the day for the Cards didn't get started until evening (spare a thought for the staff people working these long days of Softball in the opening weekends, they can be at it from sunup until well past sundown pulling off these events) with a second game against Georgetown.  Easton Lotus led off the game with a single, followed by a pair of walks to Daisy Hess and Kiley Goff to load up the bases.  Riley Frizell sacrificed to advance all of the runners getting the first score on the board.  The Hoyas would get another out before Paige Geraghty made contact for a double, scoring the other two runners, making the total in the first inning 3-0.

Georgetown gifted a pair of walks to start off the 3rd inning, to Goff and Frizell, Bailee Richardson, joining us from Georgia State as a graduate student singled, advancing Frizell to 3rd and scoring Goff.  A couple of batters later, Maddi Grant flew one out to right field, but Frizell was able to tag at 3rd and score before the throw could get there.  At the end of three, the score was 5-0.

With a new pitcher in the circle for Georgetown, Lotus took advantage of a fielding error to reach, but was out the next play when Daisy Hess hit into a fielder's choice.  Hess then took advantage of the empty base paths ahead of her to steal second, to the surprise of no one who has seen Hess on the basepaths before.  Hess finished the trip around from 2nd, again turning on the jets, after a fielding error in center field, making the score 6-0 after four innings.

The next inning, Paige Geraghty led off and gave the Hoya pitcher fits with a 10-pitch at bat that culminated in a free pass to first base.  Grant came up and smacked a double on the 3rd pitch, and Geraghty, possessing her own set of high speed jets, made it around from first to reach the final score of the game, 7-0.

Freshman Lindsey Mullen gets the win with four innings pitched, with Sam Booe finishing off the final three.  Both, of course, allowed no runs, and both issued a single walk, and three strikeouts.

FGCU

But the Cards weren't done for the night.  The Cards would get their first shot at their host, FGCU, later in the evening, an 8:30pm start time.

Sophomore Alyssa Zabala went wire-to-wire in the circle for this one, again allowing no runs, issuing only a pair of walks, getting an impressive eight strickouts.

The Cards, again, got started with the scoring early.  It wasn't the lead off batter as Easton Lotus flew out to left field, but Daisy Hess, batting second, hit the same direction, but with a bit more oomph putting the yellow orb outside the fence for a touch-em-all.  Maybe not the "string together offense" that we sometimes talk about, but hey, a home run will always do just fine.  Frizell got a free pass, and was followed up by Richardson also putting one beyond the fence in left field.  Another 3-0 first inning for the Cards.

Nothing much interesting on the scoreboard until the 6th with a bit of a two out rally.  Richardson drew a walk and scored on the next at bat thanks to a Geraghty double.  Geraghty may not be the all out strongest hitter, but she's so dang fast that if she gets a ball in play, she's probably going to make it to second.  That also means that she can quickly take advantage of the mistakes of opponents, like a passed ball on which she advanced to third.  Vanessa Miller, also quite fleet of foot, drew a walk, but like so many of these quickie Cardinals, promptly stole second.  The catcher, maybe a little unwisely, made the throw to second, but was off the mark.  That gave Geraghty the brief opening she needed to zip home from third.  Miller also took advantage of the miscue to take third.  While Ally Alexander was at bat, another passed ball and Miller made the quick run to home as well.  With all of that great baserunning, the final score of 6-0 was reached.

The Cards take the field against today at 12:30pm, again taking on the host FGCU.  Streaming is available on ESPN+ if you have the added subscription.

Tennis

Also on the road, Tennis matched up against Furman yesterday, coming away with the 5-2 win.  The Cards won the double's point with a pair of 6-2 wins.  The first by Jamilah Snells and Lillian Mould, and the second by Allie Gretkowski and Lika Peresypkina.  They then proceeded to pick up four of the six single's points for the overall win.  Wins went to Gretkowski, Peresypkina, Germany Davis (who's from Georgia, not Germany, just for the record), and Snells.

The Cards return home for a cross-town match against Bellarmine at the Bass-Rudd on Friday.

On Tap Today

Three events to keep you occupied this afternoon before the arrival of the Superb Owl this evening.

WBB

The next test in this end-of-season grind for the the Cards WBB squad is a visit to Syracuse.

Felisha Leggete-Jack has put together a solid performing team in the Orange.  19-4 on the season, 9-3 in the touch ACC conference, they're currently holding the 23rd spot down in both the AP and coach's polls.

It's been ages since the Cards last met up with the Orange...a whopping ten days ago.  The canvas hasn't changed that much.  Dyaisha Fair is still the main Syracuse threat from anywhere in the gym.  Will Hack-a-Shaq be part of the Card strategy today?  The Cuse shot less than 50% from the charity strip a week and a half ago, though they are over 72% on the season...which is, of course, enough to earn them at least a lower-case "f" for the season in their Fred report.

TV coverage for the game is on The CW network, yes you read that right.  That's WBKI broadcast channel 58 in the Louisville area, and should be included as a local channel on any of the significant cable-style services.  Also an early tip for the game, with a noon start.

Lacrosse

Teeter's team got to hang out in the state of Colorado after their game against Denver on Friday.

They'll be taking on Colorado in the Buff's season opener.  That, of course, means there's not much to scout, here.  CU did go 11-8 on the season last year, losing to the Cards 12-5 here on Floyd St.

They have a "Colorado Live Stream" listed on their site, but links through to pac-12.com: http://pac-12.com/live/cubuffs.  It's listed as a noon start on Colorado's site, and 2pm on UofL's schedule, so all the math checks out.

Louisville will, of course, be looking to get their first win recorded after the loss to Denver on Friday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

A fearsome foursome for the CCRHP yesterday as Case, Daryl, Jared, and Paulie convened to discuss the past couple of WBB games as well as Lacrosse and Softball action.  It's a busy, and seriously fun, time of year.  I was absent as I was on my way back from a road-trip to Atlanta to watch Tori Stringer (Dilfer) and Claire Chaussee face off across the net from each other as Stringer Atlanta Vibe lost to Chaussee's Grand Rapids Rise.

I have not, yet, had a chance to listen to this episode of the podcast, but I have every confidence that the discussion was great and fun, even in my absence...maybe even more so because of my absence.

Check it out at:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/WBB-Plays-Big-Games-and-Spring-Sports-Underway-e2fk7ei 

JMCA

Spring Around the Corner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Spring Sports "in" and Gearing Up for Action

We've been talking about it for quite some time, but with the calendar officially turning to February, it means spring sports are within view. Already, some have been in action. And the others are just around the corner.

We've talked about the track and field program having success so far this season, and that has continued with performances at three separate meets this weekend. That's right, three. The team added the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Indiana to the calendar, which was apparently a boon to Jayden Ulrich. Ulrich, returning to the state where she began her collegiate career, threw a new indoor personal-best for a result that ranked fifth nationally this season. Her throw won the shot put event by over a meter. Back in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, Ellie Maurer won her first event in the unseeded 3000m and Kiyah Yeast placed second in the 200m with a top-10 all time program pace. Natalie Lark took bronze in the women's pole vault. Lucy Fellows came fifth in the long jump.

Swimming and Diving have also been busy. After taking care of business against UK last weekend, they had a tough tri-meet hosted by Indiana last night. The Cards (M15 / W8) faced Indiana (M6 / W9) and Wisconsin (M22 / W14) and split the meet. The Cards topped Wisconsin on both sides of the pool but Indiana took care of business in their home waters. In the event, Louisville took wins with Gabi Albiero (200 fly, 100 free), Christiana Regenauer (100 fly) and Ella Welch (100 breast). Louisville took second in the 200 Medley Relay (Karoline Barrett, Welch, Regenauer, Albiero), the 200 freestyle (Summer Cardwell), the 50 free (Regenauer), the 200 breast (Kim Herkle), and the 100 fly (Welch). Julia Dennis came third in the 50 free, just 0.07s behind Regenauer. On the diving side, Lindsay Gizzi was top for Louisville with Else Praasternick in Doha. Gizzi finished fifth in the 1M dive and fourth in 3M. 

Louisville women's tennis continues to beat up on Austin Peay, as the Cards are undefeated against the Governors all time. Yesterday, Louisville won the head-to-head 5-2 in the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center. Louisville picked up the doubles point and got singles wins from Germany Davis, Jamilah Snells, Berta Mirat, and Lillian Mould. Louisville moves to 3-1 on the season, suffering a defeat to Middle Tennessee last weekend. The Cards have a week off before taking on Marshall and Furman on the road next week.

Women's golf is enjoying some sun and warmth at the Guadalajara Country Club for the Collegiate Invitational. Through the first round and a half played yesterday (as scheduled; the second half of the second round and the third round are today), Louisville stands at 16-over-par and tied for fifth in the tournament's 12-team field. Florida State leads with a 4-over. Carmen Griffiths leads the way for the Cards, as she enjoyed a tie for the lead after a 3-under first round. The front nine bit back a tad in the second round, pushing Griffiths to 2-over through nine holes, placing her in a tie for fourth overall after 27 holes. Rylee Suttor and Hana Ryskova are tied for 20th overall at 5-over. Suttor had a 3-over first and is 2-over through nine, while Ryskova had to bounce back from a 5-over first and sits at even-par in the second. Play continues today.

Lacrosse and softball will become more than just hypotheticals this week. Both teams start their seasons on February 9th. While both are on the road, the situations are quite different. Louisville softball heads south for the winter (like plenty of other people in Louisville, to be fair) to get nice weather while there's none to find at Ulmer. Scott Teeter and Co, on the other hand, will head to Denver for what may be their most brutal weather conditions games of the season. Plenty more to come on those sports in the coming weeks. It's time to get excited for the dreary grayness of winter in the Ohio River Valley to wind down. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

I'm out of the show this week, but Daryl, Jared, and Jeff will still take you on the exciting ride that is the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. After all the air time we gave it last week, Louisville moved right back into the lead of the ACC the very next day. The crew will talk the two basketball wins plus whatever else Jared thinks of to get them on their way.  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!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Adds Nina Rickards -- Lax Falls to Notre Dame -- Tennis Falls to FSU -- Softball on the Road -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Our musical chairs of taking over articles continues. While Paulie was originally covering for Daryl, Paulie ended up taking the day off. Daryl was working her duties at Louisville Slugger Field as the Bats recorded a rare win. Katy and I made our way downtown for the game but did not see Daryl.

Nina Rickards Commits to Louisville

Louisville women's basketball picked up another player in the transfer portal yesterday. Nina Rickards joins the Cards after four years at Florida, per her Twitter.

The 5-9 guard from Queens, N.Y. started nearly every game in her career with the Gators. Last season, Rickards averaged 12.1 points per game while shooting 40% from the floor. While not known for her three-point shooting, Rickards was reliable from the free throw line, knocking down nearly 76% of her attempts.

Jeff Walz and Co. are up to nine confirmed players for the 2023-2024 season with hopes to add a couple more before the season starts up.

Lacrosse Concludes Regular Season with Loss at Notre Dame

Louisville lacrosse wrapped up the regular season with a 15-9 loss at #7 Notre Dame. The Cards finished the season 5-11 with a 2-7 ACC record.

Notre Dame started strong, claiming the opening quarter 8-0 including a goal 14 seconds into the game.

The Cards did get on the board early into the second quarter before the Irish extended their lead to 10-1. Louisville would close out the quarter on a 3-0 run to go into the half 10-4.

Louisville closed their deficit to 12-9 midway through the fourth quarter before Notre Dame scored the final three goals of the match. Nicole Perroni was able to snag one of Louisville’s nine goals, setting a program record with a goal scored in 35 consecutive games.

The ACC Tournament begins Sunday with Louisville hosting Duke at 2:00 p.m.

Tennis Falls to Florida State in ACC Tournament

After an upset over Syracuse to close out the regular season and an upset victory over Boston College, Louisville women's tennis fell to Florida State in the second round of the ACC Tournament.

The Seminoles started off taking the doubles point. They then won on courts two, four, and six to claim the victory. Courts one, three, and five remained unfinished after it became impossible for Louisville to win the match.

Louisville finishes the 2022-2023 season with a 10-15 record. Eight of the 10 members of the roster completed their senior season so Coach Mark Beckham will have some work to do on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal.

Softball Travels to Virginia

Fresh off a win at Western Kentucky, Louisville softball is back in action with a series at Virginia. The Cards enter the game with a 29-14 record.

The Cavaliers carry a similar record at 29-15. They took down James Madison in a midweek game but fell in a three-game series at Florida State prior to that.

Virginia is 8-10 in the ACC, currently putting them in eighth place. Louisville's 10-4 conference record places them fourth.

With nine games remaining in the regular season, Louisville needs just six wins to match their 35-win season in 2019, the highest in the Holly Aprile era.

Tonight's game is set to start at 6:00 p.m. and will be aired on ACCNX.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

*Photos per Louisville Athletics*

Kiki Jefferson Joins UofL WBB -- Tennis Upsets Syracuse -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Kiki Jefferson Commits to Louisville

Photo courtesy of Kiki Jefferson's Twitter

James Madison University transfer Kiki Jefferson announced her commitment to Louisville last night on Twitter. Jefferson joins the Cards for her final year of eligibility, thanks to the COVID-19 year, after four seasons with JMU.

While with the Dukes, Jefferson started nearly every game of her four year career and became highly decorated. She was named the 2023 Sun Belt Player of the Year and 2023 Sun Belt Tournament Most Outstanding Player. She ranks second in made career free throws (550), fifth in points per game (15.8), sixth in all-time points (1,838), and sixth in career free throw percentage (80.2). Jefferson is also a career .339 three-point shooter. She averaged 7.0 rebounds per game in her time at JMU.

Photo courtesy of Kiki Jefferson's Twitter

Jefferson joins a somewhat slim Louisville roster. Returnees from last season include Olivia Cochran, Merissah Russell, Nyla Harris, and Alexia Mobley. Eylia Love transferred in midseason from Georgia Tech but was ineligible to play in the 2022-2023 season. Jayda Curry joined...she was previously at Cal. Hennie Van Schaik announced her transfer in from Cal State Bakersfield last week. Jefferson puts the roster at eight.

Ideally, we hope to see about three more players join the Cards before the start of the season to help fill out the roster...the chatter is that Walz wants 10-11 on the roster. 

Women's Tennis Upsets Syracuse to Close Regular Season

Photo courtesy of Louisville Athletics

Louisville women's tennis closed out the regular season by upsetting #36 Syracuse 4-3. The win is the lone win in ACC play for the Cards, who earned the 14-seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

The Cards claimed the doubles point to start the event. Rhea Verma and Andrea DiPalma took down the top Syracuse doubles squad 7-5. Cici Xin and Jamilah Snells fell in the second doubles group 7-5. Syracuse was not able to field a third doubles team, allowing the Cards to earn the point by default.

In singles play, Andrea DiPalma won her match-up 6-3, 6-4. Rhea Verma won 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. The Orange won the match-ups on courts three, four, and five. Syracuse was not able to field a player on the sixth court, forfeiting the point and giving Louisville the win.

The ACC Tournament begins Wednesday. Louisville will face Boston College at 12:30 p.m. at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Busy Start to the Weekend -- CC Carr Three-Point Contest -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Friday, everyone! With Daryl and I trading off, I get to take over this Friday, and we have plenty to talk about with this upcoming weekend.

Softball Visits Syracuse

While Louisville softball ultimately fell on the road to Kentucky earlier this week, the fight and late-game rally showed that this team won't roll over and play dead. A loss is still a loss, but this team showing their fight gives me more excitement to look forward to this season.

At 22-10, Louisville spends a majority of the rest of this season facing ACC opponents. A trip to Syracuse is next on the schedule.

The Orange are 10-15-1 on the season and are fresh off a 1-1-1 series against Notre Dame in South Bend. The two teams tied 0-0 in Sunday's game before the drop dead time kicked in. Syracuse is 1-7-1 in conference play. Freshman Madelyn Lopez is the only player batting above .300 at .314. The Orange have been outscored 130-77 on the year.

Today's game is set to start at noon and will be aired on ACCNX.

Tennis Travels to Notre Dame

Down to the final few matches of the regular season, Louisville women's tennis continues to try and get its first ACC win of the season. The Cards are 8-10 on the season and have lost all eight conference matches so far. 

#22 Notre Dame holds a 12-7 record, but has had some trouble in conference play with a 3-5 record. The match is set for 3:30 p.m. but there is no video listed.

Volleyball

The busy spring schedule for Louisville volleyball continues tonight. After a 3-2 victory against Kentucky last week, the Cards now welcome Athletes Unlimited to L&N FCU Arena tonight at 6:00 p.m.

Athletes Unlimited is a partnership with USA Volleyball to create a professional indoor volleyball league. The group in town features plenty of faces with connections to either UofL or the City of Louisville. Cardinal alum Erin Fairs is a current member of the team. Deja McClendon is a Louisville native who played her college career at Penn State. McClendon was also a volunteer asst coach for UofL for a brief stint. Taylor Reid also spent some time as a volunteer asst for the Cards and is on the Athletes Unlimited roster.

Admission is free but seating and capacity limit is first-come, first-serve. Doors open at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Daytona Showcase

Our Louisville Cheer and Louisville Ladybirds squads are less than one week away from their NCA and NDA Championships in Daytona. They're doing a free preview showing at Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL) at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight. Their Daytona routines differ greatly from their show-based performances at basketball games. We wish them the best and hope they bring back more national championships as a representative of the University and Louisville Athletics.

CC Carr Three-Point Contest

We got another chance to see CC Carr showcase her abilities in the three-point contest last night on ESPN2. She had a strong showing and finished fifth overall.

Iona's Kate Mager took the women's competition and then defeated men's champ Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) for the overall title. 

We also got to see some creativity on the men's side with the dunk contest, but the lights out shooting from several of the women's athletes was impressive.

Cardinal Couple Pick Em Contest in NCAA Final Four

With three games to go,  Karen and Jared are tied atop the leaderboard with 46-14 records. And, for the record...Jared has South Carolina and Indiana winning tonight's games. Karen has South Carolina and Ohio State. Both have South Carolina winning it all....so, it could come down to a points thing. 

Did anyone have all four Final Four participants correctly chosen?  Nope, quite a few with three of the four, but nobody got South Carolina, Iowa, LSU and Virginia Tech. 

Should be some exciting hoops. Can South Carolina shut down Caitlan Clark? Can Kitley and Kenny get to the final game by beating the Fighting Mulkeys? Action stars at 7 p.m.

Cardinal Couple Podcast

We are good to go tomorrow for our weekly Cardinal Couple Podcast. We don't anticipate a full house, but this crew has plenty to talk about ranging from Louisville women's basketball, to softball, to lacrosse, to whatever tangents we might go on, so tune in!

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Four Sunday Wins for Louisville women's sports -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SOFTBALL, W. BASKETBALL, LACROSSE and W. TENNIS TAKE VICTORIES SUNDAY

In horse racing parlance, taking down the "Pick 4" is usually a sign you're having a good day. Louisville women's sports took down the Pick 4 with four wins in four events that ranged in location from Boston, MA to Atlanta, GA...and two on the Cardinals campus.

 A dramatic, bottom of the seventh "W" for Holly Aprile's softball squad in the Peach State, a fourth quarter 12-2 scoring finish for Walz's crew in Beantown, Scott Teeter's LAX squad taking control early and levelling Lindenwood at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium and Mark Beckham's Louisville Women's Tennis defending the Bass-Rudd with a convincing win over Memphis. 

Let's look at each one a little closer. 

LOUISVILLE SOFTBALL 2 - WISCONSIN 1

Big blows and spot-on pitching were the keys for Cards softball Sunday morning on the final day of the ACC VS.BIG10 Challenge. The Cards were facing Wisconsin, a school they had handled 2-0 in the opening game of Saturday action and the Cards found themselves batting against the Badgers on Sunday's 10 a.m. eye-opener.

Wisconsin grabbed an early 1-0 lead with three hits in the top of the first inning, but freshmen hurler Alyssa Zabala was able to shut the door after that. Louisville evened it up in the bottom of the first when Taylor Roby sent one grass, track, and back, back, back over the wall into the center field trees. For Taylor, it was her 42nd career home run, which tied her for the all-time home run total (set by Courtney Moore 2004-07). 

And that's how the score stayed until the bottom of the seventh. The Cards infield helped keep the slate clean by turning double plays in the top of the sixth and seventh innings. Vanessa Miller led off the bottom off the seventh with a single and then proceeded to steal second base. She saw the next two batters return to the dugout, though, before Easton Lotus came to bat and smashed a deep double to right field that easily got Miller home for the win. 

Zabala improves to 3-1 on the season with the win in the circle and the Cards will return to play when they travel to Orlando, FL for the UCF Golden Knights Classic, where they'll face UCF Friday night to begin their stay. 

WBB BESTS BC LATE FOR 62-52 WIN

A 12-2 game-ending run led Louisville women's basketball to a win in Boston over the Eagles next on Sunday. 

The Eagles proven to be a foe that would not go away most of the afternoon.  The Cards got off to a grand start, with an early 10-0 run in the first quarter forcing the Eagles into playin catch-up the rest of the quarter. The 14-10 first quarter lead was good to have, naturally, but one got the sense that Boston College was nowhere ready to raise the white flag and surrender. 

And the second quarter was a prime example off that unwillingness to surrender. The Eagles scored eight of the first 10 points of the second quarter. But, the Cards faced the 18-14 deficit and took off on a 12-0 run. As if on cue, the Cards stopped scoring for the remainder of the half, but held a 32-26 halftime edge. 

BC must have heard something at halftime from head coach Joanne Bernabei-McNamee that fired them up. They went on an 11-0 run to start the second half and built a 37-32 advantage. Louisville didn't score a bucket until six and a half minutes had gone by in the third quarter. 

The Eagles actually led Louisville by eight points deep into the third quarter before the Cards rallied to make it 44-40 B.C. after three.

What kind of fourth quarter would it be for Louisville? 

The Cards scored twice early in the fourth to tie it at 44-44 and battled with the Eagles to a 50-50 tie with 5:03 to play. And, then, the Cards got the final run. Merissah Russell sank a layup, and added a free throw a few seconds later. A Chrislyn Carr second-chance three increased the lead to 56-50. B.C. would counter with a basket, but Russell drained two more free throws and a Van Lith jumper set the tally at 60-50 with 1:34 to play. Free throws added the final two UofL points and the Cards had pulled off the 10-point win on the road.

(Fred says, two points and no more for you...Eagles, in the final three minutes)

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS --  10-14 just barely squeaks the Cards past the 70% mark (71.4%)) and tat's all we require for a CAPITAL "F"  Russell and Van Lith were 3-4 each.

REBOUNDS -- 52-39 in favor of UofL and that'll work just fine for a CAPITAL "R". How about Liz Dixon with 12 to lead everyone, in just 30 minutes! 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 18 assists on 24 made baskets is superb and just 12 turnovers is encouraging. The 35% floor shooting is subpar, though, and those stretches were the Cards simply couldn't score lead me to award just a small-case "e" Consistency for 40 minutes would be nice...

DEFENSE -- Holding BC to 32% from the floor is note-worthy and watching BC go 5-23 from three point range was almost comical, allowing just 52 points admirable as well, but the Cards defense didn't really wake wake until the final 10-12 minutes of the game and I can't award a letter for that. No letter.

FINAL FRED COUNT:  F-R-e-_

The Cards invite Miami in for a visit next, on Thursday

POST GAME WALZ:  WALZ POST GAME B.C. 2/19/23

LACROSSE SHUTS DOWN LINDENWOOD 14-7 

Louisville Lacrosse got four goals each from Nicole Perroni and Kokoro Nakazawa and build a first quarter 5-1 lead that the Lindenwood squad could never overcome Sunday afternoon at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

Kylea Dobson started the Cardinals scoring barely three minutes in the contest and Louisville got their second score after Tiffany Natoli connected. After a Lions score, the Cards countered with net-finders from Allegra Catalano (her first goal of the year), Perroni and Kokoro Nakazawa for the 5-1 first quarter lead.

Perroni added two quick goals in the second quarter and Kokoro Nakazawa's score sent the Cards to a 8-1 advantage. Lindenwood would counter with three of the final four goals of the quarter, but the Cards were ahead comfortably at the half 9-4. 

The Cards extended the lead to 12-5 after three quarters and the squads had two goals each in the fourth quarter for the 14-5 final. J. Pleck relieved Sara Addeche at goalkeeper and had two saves in the final five minutes of play. Louisville won the draw control battle 15-10 and the Cards outshot the Lions 36-26. 

Lacrosse takes their first road trip of the season next week, beginning at Virginia on Saturday.

(LACROSSE PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

POSTGAME TEETER, KORORO NAKAZAWA and TIFFANY NATOLI:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an7RNVaW5CE

WOMEN'S TENNIS DOWN MEMPHIS 5-2

Louisville women's tennis won the doubles matches and also four singles matches to down Memphis at the Bass-Rudd Center on campus

#1 doubles pair Andrea DiPalma and Rhea Verma were successful and #2 squad CiCi Xin and Jamila Snells also won their doubles match 

In singles, Maria Campos, Rhea Verma Tyra Richardson and CiCi Xin got wins in their matches. 

Louisville brings in Clemson next, on Fri., Feb 24th. 

paulie

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