Cardinal Couple - Just Keep Driving

On the Road Again

After upwards of 24 hours of traveling over a 3 day period, to spend less than 20 hours in Minneapolis, I'm back in the 'Ville.  I'm tired, disappointed in the outcome of events in Minnesota, but oh so very glad I made the trip.

EDITOR NOTE:  Jeff was nice enough to join us on the radio yesterday while watching his Tesla drive him back to Louisville, I haven't heard if he picked up beer cheese or Huber Beer yet...but you CAN hear the show HERE

VolleyThoughts

The UofL Volleyball playing year has come to a close with a disappointing 1st round NCAA
tournament loss to a surprisingly good Northern Iowa team.

My thoughts about the season are still all a-jumble, but I want to try to get some down here.

First and foremost, if you take anything away from my chaotic thoughts, take this one away.  This team over-achieved compared to what was expect of them...by a lot!  Picked in pre-season to finish 8th in the ACC, which would likely have left them on the outside of the NCAA tournament looking in (again), with a new coach...not only new to UofL, but new to being a head coach altogether, this team put together an amazing later season run through the conference only losing two matches, and taking the co-championship with Pitt and earning the NCAA automatic qualifying bid for the conference.  Drawing an NCAA tournament draw that pitted them in the sub-region of the 7th seed vs the much closer 4 seed in Lexington.

So what happened in Minnesota?  While I haven't had the chance to go back and rewatch the match (and I'm not sure I will) to analyze, my first instinct points to blocking.  Not our blocking so much, although we were certainly a better blocking team than we have been in recent past, but to the opponents blocking.  If you look at the later season losses and matches where we struggled, the one theme that I think I found is that the other team blocks well.  In the UNI match, we were even in total blocks on the stat sheet, but not all blocking efforts make the stat sheet.  Deflections and tips that don't result in a point don't show up in the stat sheet at all, and good blocking teams don't just rack up stats, they deflect and tip shots that give the defense a better chance to play the ball and get a good in-system offense set.  Getting tips and deflections also causes the hitting team to try to start adjusting their shots to hit around, tip over, or just power through the block, all of which are actions that can be fraught with peril.  Any time you can get the other team reacting to you, rather than the other way around, you have a leg up.

We had an amazing defensive trio this year in Molly Sauer, Gabbie Wiley, and Alexis Hamilton.  We got less playing time late in the season from Alexis due to a wrist injury, but these three did an amazing job covering the digging and passing duties using just two players at a time, particularly on serve receive, when most teams would use three.  Add in a sprinkling of all-around playing from the likes of Amanda Green, and Melanie McHenry, and our digging and passing were much improved over last years, and drastically so over two seasons ago.  In basketball, turnovers and rebounds can generate offense (particularly if you're playing Walz-style of basketball), the equivalent in Volleyball is digging and passing.  We lose Gabbie to graduation, and looking on the current roster, the name that jumps to mind to fill that spot would be Natalie Palastro.  We do have two signed Libero/Defensive Specialists, including a standout from Nebraska name Maggie Mullen who I expect will compete for this role.

In other graduations, we will lose Maggie DeJong (apparently we have a firm quota of one "Maggie" per season) in the middle.  I expect Piper Roe to step up to fill that role.  Again, we have a signed freshman from Appleton, WI named Emily Scott, but I expect this role to be Piper's unless something crazy happens.  Tess Clark will also be departing, and the current roster player that would most naturally slot into that spot is Megan Sloan, but we incoming freshman Aiko Jones out of Jamaica who looks absolutely dynamic, as well as a Wisconsinite, Claire Chaussee.  I can see both competing for the role as incoming freshmen.  Lastly we graduate Coline Coessens, who mostly helped out as a serving specialist, but did occasionally play full-rotation with all around skills.  Not being confined to one specific role, I expect her contributions will be replaced with a patchwork of players and adjustments in play over the overall team.

This was a great year for UofL Volleyball, it hasn't matched the most successful years of the squad over the years, but given the starting point, I don't believe there is any room for complaints here at all.  This was a huge step forward for the squad, and I expect more to come as this team gets molded more and more in Dani Busboom Kelly's image.

I look forward to spring play, and the start of play next fall.

"You and I" might be advancing, yes, but I love the future
of this team. 

Basketball In Action

Two basketball games today.  The men host Seton Hall at the KFC Yum! Center at 4 p.m, while the women are hoping to outrun the Jackrabbits of South Dakota State with a 3 p.m. tip.  While the men will be looking to get back to their winning ways, the women will be working to continue to remain undefeated and go to 8-0 to start the season (with wins over 3 Top 25 teams in there already, lest we forget).  If you can't make it downtown, the men will be shown on ESPN2, while the women's stream will only be available on the added-cost SDSU streaming service.  I'll give Nick and AJ the listen on 790 AM (probably streamed) instead, and perhaps pull up the #3 Notre Dame vs #1 UConn game starting at 4 p.m.

 Muffet McGraw vs Geno Auriemma is always an entertaining match-up of two very good teams, both of which we'll be playing later this season.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Looking for wins to talk about from yesterday?  The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour was a walk-off
Grand Slam home run of a broadcast.  It was particularly awesome if you ignore the dufus who couldn't even manage to stay on a phone call.

It was a bit of a different lineup from our usual, but man was it fantastic.  Julie JC "no periods" Sullivan, Paige "Wiener Dog Lover" Sherrard, and Daryl "#4" Faust joined Paulie in studio, and we couldn't ask for better analysis and discussion of Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccer than from this crew.  I did manage to maintain a phone connection for long enough to talk about the Volleyball loss some as I was driving across the hinterlands of Wisconsin, and then got to listen to the rest of it via the wonders of Internet streaming.

The replay is already up at

 https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20171202.

 If you didn't get to hear it live, definitely go check it out.

-- JMcA

Volleyball and WBB Earn HUGE Wins -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Volleyball Scores Ticket to Big Dance

Louisville defeated Syracuse yesterday afternoon to clinch at least a share of the ACC regular season championship. ACC Volleyball does not have a conference tournament, so the winner of the regular season earns the ACC's automatic qualification to the NCAA tournament. As Louisville holds the tiebreaker over Pittsburgh, the Cards are guaranteed the AQ. Louisville could still win the conference outright, if Pitt falls to Virginia today, however that is rather unlikely.

While Louisville managed the win yesterday, finishing with a .900 winning percentage in the conference season, they didn't do so without earning the "Cardiac Cards" moniker. After holding off a reverse sweep effort by North Carolina on Sunday, it was Louisville that found themselves playing from behind after losing the first two sets to Syracuse yesterday. With Louisville a bit out of sorts, hitting only .211 and -.050 with 19 total errors in the first two sets, Syracuse managed to win 25-27 and 23-25. Louisville found themselves behind the eight ball and their NCAA hopes may have been on the line with yesterday's match.

Fortunately, Coach Dani Busboom-Kelly had a strong halftime message for the Cards, who came out
taking care of the ball much better. After 19 errors in the first two sets, Louisville had only 15 errors in the final three. In the third set, Louisville worked their way out to a 14-9 lead and maintained the lead, holding off a late Syracuse to push to win 25-21. In the fourth, the Cards took advantage of 0.000 hitting by the Orange to get a big win 25-15. Thus set up a decisive fifth set. After back and forth scoring for the majority of the set, Wilma Rivera took over the serve tied at 10. Rivera has a wicked serve and was able to put the Orange off balance enough that the Cards were able to win four straight points to force Syracuse to call time out at match point. Syracuse won two points out of the timeout, but a Jasmine Bennett kill secured the match for the Cards. 

Bennett had a great game, with 10 kills and 9 block assists. She had five errors but most of the team didn't hit well so we can let that pass. Also having a great game was Melanie McHenry, who finished with a double double. Her hitting percentage wasn't great (she had a triple double if you count her errors), but she got 20 kills and 12 digs, peppering in 4 block assists. Molly Sauer was solid, with 20 digs, 2 aces, and only one service error. Maggie DeJong also went to double digit kills with 14. Wilma Rivera may have had the best game of all, though, finishing with 49 assists, 3 kills, 5 block assists and 12 digs. She had one error and one service error. 

Louisville is playing great volleyball right now, and it's great that a team that finished so poorly last season and was picked to be inconsequential in conference this year has outperformed all expectations. The team is full of talent and Coach DBK is only scratching the surface of putting her mark on this program. The Cards will find out their fate with the NCAA selection show tomorrow night. All of the matches from here on out will be tough, so it may be best to hope for Louisville to get stuck in Kentucky's region, just so there are more opportunities to see them this season. Cardinal Couple will be on the lookout for the latest news affecting UofL Volleyball. 

WBB Sets New Scoring Record en route to Win

Murray State came into the Yum! Center yesterday afternoon to get an opportunity against a top-5 team. They were promptly dispatched, as Louisville set a new scoring record in the victory, winning 115-51. The Cards jumped on the Racers early, winning the first ten minutes 29-8. The halftime score was 57-22 and the beatdown was on. Murray State apparently received the halftime speech of all time, as they came out of the break with their best performance of the game, losing the third quarter only 26-23. Louisville responded with another dominant quarter in the final stanza, finishing 32-6. 

Murray State is not off to a great start in their first season under their new head coach, sitting at 1-4 after yesterday's game. The Racers were picked to finish fifth in the OVC with the preseason player of the year. Their one win came against Northern Kentucky, but they lost by only 1 point on Tuesday against Lipscomb and by only 8 earlier against Butler. Reports say they showed promise in yesterday's game, so they'll have plenty of opportunities to improve as the year goes on. 

Louisville played the way you would expect a top 5 team to play yesterday, but they put up a school record 115 in ways you might not expect. The Cards made only 7 of 21 three point shots and only 14-17 free throws. They shot only 1 free throw in the second half. It was two point efficiency that the Cards rode to victory, scoring 66 points in the paint and posting a 62.5% shooting efficiency on two point field goals. The Cards got 76 points from their bench, showing that they've got quality depth at all positions. 

Louisville had five double digit scorers and two double digit rebounders, with Bionca Dunham posting an amazing 19 and 16 in only 21 minutes. Early season Player of the Year candidate, Asia Durr, had a less than stellar outing with only 7 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal in 20 minutes. She shot only 20% from the floor. When Durr is shooting the ball well, she's unstoppable. When she has a cold shooting start, though, it is a bit tougher for her to get back on track. Walz and Durr will have to work together to develop strategies to keep her out of her own head when she isn't shooting well so that she can turn around cold starts. Myisha Hines-Allen put up 8 points and 12 rebounds in only 14 minutes and peppered in 2 assists and a block. Kylee Shook was the leading scorer in the game with 21 points in 19 minutes. She shot 3-4 from behind the arc and 8-10 overall. Dana Evans, Arica Carter, and Jessica Laemmle were great distributors, with totals of 18 assists and only 5 turnovers.

The C-A-S-E Report

I still haven't figured out quite how to best represent these statistics, so the CASE Report is still fluid, but let's see how the Cards fared in the blowout.

C-Care - The goal here is to determine how well the Cards took care of the ball. Sheer volume of
turnovers is an OK indicator, but as was pointed out in the comments, adjusting for the quality of the opponent's defense would help put the value in context. Louisville finished with 15 turnovers, which isn't great, but it's far less than Murray's 26. According to the old model, Louisville would earn a lowercase 'c'. Using the NCAA statistics site, we can see the opponents average turnovers forced, then compare UofL's performance to the average. Before yesterday's game, Murray State forced an average of 17.5 turnovers/game. Louisville had 85.7% of Murray's average. I'd like to see that number be below 66.7%, so we'll stick with the lowercase 'c'.

A-Assists - Louisville finished with 25 assists. I've decided to not track assists compared to the opponent. We'll look at assist ratio and assist/turnover ratio. An assist ratio of >50% will be worth half a letter and an ATO ratio of >2 worth the other half. Louisville had an assist ratio of 53.2% and an ATO of only 1.667. That's a lowercase 'a'.

S-Steals - Louisville had 15 steals and Murray State had 10. I like the comparison of this stat to the opponent because of the way it compares the two defenses' performances. More than the opponent is half a letter and they were well over the 5 steal benchmark for the other half. We may need to address that benchmark. Definitely an uppercase 'S'.

E-Efficiency - Efficiency is the mark of the offense. We'll work free throws in here instead of comparing it to the opponent.
o with 75% free throws for that half of the letter and stick with 45% from the floor for the other half. Louisville shot a whopping 55.3% from the floor and 82.4% from the stripe. That's enough for an uppercase 'E'.

That wraps up the CASE report with Louisville earning a c-a-S-E. As mentioned earlier, they played the way you expect them to against a very outmatched opponent. Let me know what you think about the revamped CASE report in the comments below. Louisville now gets a break before going on the road to Bloomington to take on the Hoosiers of Indiana on Thursday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared and I are out of the studio today, but that isn't stopping Paulie and Jeff from holding down the fort. They'll be joined in studio by Julie Sullivan and may have other guests in the works. They'll break down some Louisville wins, with Jeff surely to wax poetic about the huge volleyball news. They may even mention a specific football game today. Tune into WCHQ FM at 11AM for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. You can listen at 100.9 FM or via the WCHQ app or WCHQFM.com.

Donation Month

November is Donation Month at Cardinal Couple. Thank you for what has been received so far. It's a good start. More is needed though, per Paulie. Can you help? Pay-Pal, check, whatever you are comfortable with.

We enjoy coming to you daily. WE would like to continue to come to you daily. You can help us continue to do that.

 Mail to:

Cardinal Couple
c/o Paul Sykes
PO BOX 91521
Louisville, KY  40291

Thank you! 

Until next time, Go Cards! (Beat UK!)

-CH-

Louisville Volleyball Moves into Driver's Seat; Kicks NC State Out of the Car -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Sweeps NC State in Battle for First Place

The starters do their pregame ritual.
(Courtesy Jared Anderson)

After constant badgering by my fellow Cardinal Couplers to make it out to a Louisville women's sporting event that isn't soccer, I promised I would make my way to the Louisville/NC State volleyball match. It's not that I don't like the other sports. I quite enjoy watching them and often do on my laptop. It's just that it is often tough to find the time in my schedule to drive over to campus to watch the games. Last night, though, I upheld my promise and stepped foot in the Student Activities Center for the first time since before I received my undergrad degree. After being told the best place to park was the Floyd Street Garage, I headed across the Watterson to campus. 

There were pedestrians abound as the field hockey final four matches were just wrapping up. Because of the final four and the volleyball match, signs saying "$5 Event Parking" were posted near the garage. I turned in, pulled up to the man taking money, and asked "Do you take card?" He looked at me with disgust and said "No. Is that all you have? No cash at all?" I informed him of the measly $1 bill sitting in my wallet. "Go all the way to the top and pay me on your way out." I'm sure the kind man didn't expect me to pay him on my way out, but I got cash from the ATM just to do so after the match. He wasn't there. If you want to ensure that you don't let people park for free, a sign saying "Cash Only" would probably be wise. Or just don't try to extort money from people at every opportunity, especially in a parking area that would otherwise be free to students and visitors alike after a certain time of day.

Jeff and Vivian McAdams and I talk pregame.
(Courtesy Jared Anderson)

After receiving my student ticket, I ran into Jeff, who was kind enough to extend an offer to sit with him and his mother Vivian, a regular of the site. The people who owned the season tickets next to them apparently never go, so there was plenty of room. I was appreciative that I wouldn't have to sit in the awkward endzone balcony all alone. I got my happy hour beer and settled in. After the National Anthem and player introductions--Gabbie Wiley threw her little mini ball pretty much directly to me and I handed it to the little girl in front of me--we settled in for what we expected to be a tough match between two ACC leaders.

Louisville promptly served up an error to open the match. It was fine, though, because it would prove to be NC State that couldn't get out of their own way for the rest of the match. The Wolfpack ended with a whopping 24 errors in the match and hit only .110. Giving 24 points to your opponent is a pretty good way to get swept, and Louisville was able to capitalize on those errors, committing only 10 of their own. Louisville added 13 team blocks to the stat sheet, absolutely dominating at the net. These blocks included two jousts that Wilma Rivera shoved straight back at NCST middle hitters and two cheeky, quick kill attempts that the NCST setter had sent right back down her throat. Louisville came prepared to play, and they seemed to execute their game plan extremely well.

Louisville squares up one of 13 blocks.
(Courtesy Jared Anderson)

Louisville's stranglehold on the match was only really in question in the second set, when NC State stretched out a 12-17 lead. They had led most of the set due to Louisville being a bit out of sorts, but went on a run to put the set in jeopardy. Louisville responded with a five point run to tie the set, then won 6 of the next 8 points to stretch out their own lead at 22-19. NC State couldn't recover and the Cards won 25-22. The third set was much less fun for the Wolfpack as Louisville jumped out to an early 5-2 lead and never really looked back. NC State was able to cut it to 8-6 at one point but it was never that close again, and Louisville won 25-15.

Unsurprisingly, Melanie McHenry was the statistical MVP in this one. I feel like I've written that phrase after almost every match, but seeing her play in person I could understand why. As Vivian remarked to me early in the match, "She's a competitor." McHenry plays with a fire on the floor and she was determined to win last night. At one point in the first set, NC State hit it straight at her 3 times in a row and she blocked all three. NC State finally went to the other side. McHenry finished with 13 kills, 1 ace, 6(!) blocks, 7 digs, and hit .343. She had only one error and was on the floor for all 131 points. Absolute warrior. Maggie DeJong also came up big with 7 kills and 6 blocks and Molly Sauer and Wilma Rivera were their typical star shining selves. 

The Cards celebrate their big win. (Courtesy Jared Anderson)

Louisville now sits alone with Pittsburgh atop the ACC. They are in complete control of their own destiny, as winning out would give them the ACC automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. If Pittsburgh loses a match (which is unlikely since the rest off their schedule is a cakewalk), Louisville also has the luxury of remaining on top with a loss, because they now hold the tiebreaker over both Pitt and NC State. No one else can join the tie without Louisville and Pitt losing all of their remaining games. Louisville looks to get one step closer to that conference championship when they take on North Carolina tomorrow at 1PM. UNC, if you remember, is the team that was able to reverse sweep the Cards, giving them one of their two ACC losses. The Cards will be looking to avenge the match they should have won on Senior Day. The match will be available on ACC Network Extra if you are unable to make it out.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We're in the studio today at 11AM to bring to you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports. We've got a lot of women's basketball wins to go on about as well as more about last night's volleyball victory. Jeff will have audio from his postgame interview with head coach Dani Busboom-Kelly and Paulie will likely have postgame from basketball. Tune into WCHQ FM however you feel most comfortable, via 100.9 on your FM radio, the WCHQ app, or WCHQFM.com. 

Also remember, as Thanksgiving approaches, that Cardinal Couple is thankful for all the donations we have received and may receive throughout the rest of this donation month and any other time throughout the year. You all give us the platform to spew our thoughts and opinions on Louisville women's sports and your donations help us achieve the coverage that we do as well as accomplish other goals that we have. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Recaps Ahoy

Volleyball Gets an Easy Win

The Volleyball squad finished off their competition in Las Vegas with a pretty easy win over a clearly overmatched UNLV squad.  We did get notification of a streaming option on this one at the last minute, which I retweeting from the CardCoupleRadio account.  While it's always nice to watch your team get a win, this one wasn't particularly gripping and exciting volleyball.  The Cards played well, though there's always room for improvement  The Running Rebels of UNLV...well...they're just not in the same level of play at this point.  The Cards take this one 25-16, 25-16, 25-18.

Offensive power came from Melanie McHenry who hit is bombing .517 with 16 kills in the match.  Amanda Green also contributed, though less efficiently with 12 kills for .286.  In the middle, Maggie DeJong and Jasmine Bennett kept it solid with .545, and .250 hitting for 7 and 5 kills respectively.  They gave the Rebs fits with blocking though, with Maggie picking up 2 solos and 4 shares, while Jasmine got one of each.

I'm going to start calling Molly Sauer, "The Rock", with apologies to Dwayne Johnson, because she
is so even keeled and basically always turns in solid performances.  14 digs for The Rock, Gabbie Wiley also got 9 and 8 for Wilma Rivera accounts for the bulk of the defense.

I don't have a great deal of commentary on this one.  Whether you're the overmatching or overmatched team, it's hard to draw too many conclusions.  UofL played well, but it wasn't much of a test.  The match time clocked in at less than an hour and 20 minutes, as even the 16, 16, and 18 for UNLV is a bit misleading about how mismatched these teams were.

It's always good to get a win, and encouraging for the team to come away with a sweep of the weekend after the gauntlet that they've been running through the beginning of the season.  The team got to celebrate out with family and friends (documented in social media) with excursions out to the Las Vegas strip.  Take the time to enjoy yourselves and celebrate, because you'll be getting back down to business when you get back to Louisville to prepare for the next match in Lexington on Friday against a very good, and 13th ranked, Kentucky team.

After watching this match last night with my parents at their house, we pulled up the Minnesota vs Texas volleyball match that they had recorded Friday night.  A sobering reminder that, despite UofL outclassing UNLV like they did, there is still quite a long way to go to be playing at the level of teams like Minnesota and Texas.  For the record, Minnesota, #1 in the country, took down #5 Texas in 4 sets.  The level of play during that match was amazing, however.  If you want to see high level volleyball in action, you can check it out via the WatchESPN app as it was on The Longhorn Network Friday night.

Football Get a Not-So-Easy Win

UNC didn't really have any success in stopping everything Lamar tried to do, unsurprisingly to anyone in Louisville, but still apparently surprisingly to most Football pundits who still aren't taking Lamar seriously as a potential repeat Heisman winner.  UofL struggled in the first half of the game, but were able to put some distance on the Tarheels in the second in the 47-35 win.  I credit some of this to just tiring the UNC defense out as time of possession early in the game heavily favored the Cards.

The offensive line is holding well, a welcome change from last year, but our defensive secondary is not impressing.  UNC was able to break loose a number of big plays.  Special teams?  Yeah, a UNC kickoff return for a TD tells the story there.  While the likes of Barstool sports acknowledged the good effort of Blanton Creque in trying to run down the returner, it's pretty rare to find a kicker that can outrun a returner, who was able to pull away to get the TD.

Men's Soccer

Ken Lolla's squad lost a tough one to a very good Wake Forest team by a score of 3-1.  I don't see much shame in this one, but Case and Jared have shown that they're so much better analysts of soccer that I'll leave the breakdown to them.  Hopefully we'll hear from Case about this one tomorrow.

Don't Fear The Turtle

Maryland has used the phrase "Fear the Turtle" for their sports teams in the past.  I prefer to channel Blue Oyster Cult and "Don't Fear the Turtle", with more cowbell!

Sowry's Field Hockey team continues their weekend in the craziest shaped state in the country (I mean, really geographers, wassup with that?), and take on Maryland on their home field at 11:30.

Since Maryland left the ACC, they haven't been as aggressively testing in their conference schedules, but they make up for it with non-conference opponents.  They've already faced fellow ACC squads Duke, and Boston College, taking loses in both.  Wins against Towson, and Saint Joseph are solid wins, but not top level.  Coming into this game, Maryland sits in the 11th spot in the ranking, two below Louisville's 9th position.  This has the makings of being a very good game, and if you want to shell out for the Big 10 Plus addon to the Big 10 ToGo platform, you can watch it on streaming.  I'll be following along with Lori's tweets at the ULFieldHockey twitter account...which will also show up in the twitter widget on the right hand side of the site.

Radio Ga Ga

I think Queen hit the nail on the head in describing The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  Four guys babbling incoherently for an hour on Saturday morning?  Well, Case and Jared are pretty on the ball, at least.

In all seriousness, we covered a lot of territory yesterday, including a weather update, with lots of sports in action.  Check it out at https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20170909.  We had fun, we hope you did, too.

-- 

JMcA

Football, Volleyball and More -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Football

Let's start on an upbeat note, shall we?  At least mostly upbeat.  Football, in their season opener did knock off Purdue up at Lucas Oil Stadium by a score of 35-28.  This victory is diminished slightly by some bad ball security, and a shocking number of penalties.  As I saw someone say on Twitter this morning, an ugly win is better than a pretty loss, so we'll take it, learn from it, and move on.

Credit to Purdue for keeping it close and forcing the Cards to score the last 10 points of the night to win this one. And, once again, Lamar Jackson shows why he is the reigning Heisman trophy winner with a huge performance in Indy.

485 Total Yards for LJ8...which was over 100 more than the entire Purdue team managed. 

Volleyball

Kent State

Volleyball had two matches yesterday in The Cardinal Classic.  The first, in the early afternoon was
against Kent State.  KSU was clearly the outclassed team all weekend, but they were a fun team to watch, mostly because they scrambled a lot, and did a pretty good job of it.  With the result is that they kept all of the games surprisingly close in score, though I don't think they won a set all weekend.  The Cards won, in straight sets, 25-14, 25-17, 25-19.

A slight change to the starting lineup in this one, with Piper Roe starting in place of Maggie DeJong.  Unofficial word that I heard is that she pulled an abdominal muscle in warmups for the Kent State match, very minor, and she saw action again in the evening matchup.  Piper made the best of her opportunity, putting down 7 kills on 9 attempts, for an absolutely eye-popping .778.  Melanie McHenry and Tess Clark again formed the third leg of the offensive stool, both hitting .318.  Melanie got 8 kills on 22 attempts, and Tess got 10 on 22 attempts, just with two more hitting errors than McHenry (3 vs 1).  Megan Sloan made an appearance in this match, and also took advantage of her opportunity with 5 kills on 10 attempts in only 2 sets played.

Defense was mostly by committee, though Piper did contribute well in blocking as well, with a solo and four shares, nearly half of the team's total of 7.  Digs were pretty evenly distributed, with Wilma Rivera getting the most at 13 as opponents continue to target her to try to take her out of her setting duties.  The two dynamic duos in the back row, Molly Sauer, and Gabbie Wiley, along with Molly and freshman Alexis Hamilton accounted for a total of 18, (7 for Molly, 9 for Gabbie, and 6 for Alexis).  The 6'2" McHenry continues to show her versatility in all-rotation play by also picking up 6.

Overall a good outing, and then evening came.

Illinois

Illinois came in to form the marquee matchup of The Cardinal Classic.  An (honestly, surprising to me) unranked Illinois team came in and showed that, despite having a new coach (probably a big part of why they were unranked to start the season) they haven't dropped a beat.  The Cards were looking for revenge for the elimination from the NCAA tournament in 2015, also in Cardinal Arena, but it wasn't to be.  Illinois came away with the win, 25-18, 25-15, 25-20.

Full credit to Illinois, who is still a very fine team, that never gave up on a ball, and with size and power that the Cardinals just couldn't match.  While Louisville was getting a lot of deflections and tips at the net, they just didn't have the size and height to get solid blocks, with only three total for the match.

UofL struggled to remain in system, and just didn't play very sharp.  I have no doubt that the team will be looking at plenty of film from this one, to find their mistakes and ways to improve.  One of Coach Busboom Kelly's saying comes into play, here, "Win, or learn."  There will be lot's to learn from in this one.

The Wide Netters head back out on the road next, with a trip out west to Vegas, for the UNLV Challenge.  There, they'll meet up with UC Irvine, Weber State, and of course host UNLV.  From what I've seen of this Cards team, and despite knowing precious little about these opponents, I do expect UofL to come out of this weekend with three more in the win column.

Don't give up on this team.  They may be only 2-3 in their record at this point, but those three losses are to ranked teams and a team that should be ranked, and probably will be in tomorrow's poll.  Also, in that win column is a win over a ranked team.  I would stand up UofL's strength of schedule to this point against any team in the country.  There are good things ahead, here.

Field Hockey

Sowry's squad looks to get back to the winning ways today at noon, where they also take on the Kent State Golden Flashes.  Let's hope the Field Hockey squad has as much success against them as the Volleyball team did, and help set a pattern for the Football team to follow three weeks from now when they tangle with Kent State here in Louisville.

Field Hockey is on the road for this one, in Columbus OH.  They'll be coming out angry after taking the loss to Ohio State, Friday.  No video or audio of this one, that we're aware of.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

The latest episode of The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is up on the soundcloud, and my snarkerator was a finely tuned machine yesterday.  We had audio from Dani Busboom Kelly after the volleyball win over WKU Friday, and had a wonderful live chat by phone with Cortnee Walton in our Catching Up series.  One takeaway from that, be sure to listen for her on the call a number of ACC Network Extra events this year.  Otherwise, we did touch, at least briefly, on all of the various sports competing...things get busy in the fall.  Check it out, won't you?

https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20170902

-- JMcA

A Full Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

But First, FOOTBALL!!

I know that we all come to this site for the women's coverage, but I cannot pass up the opportunity to share my excitement about the start of football season. Louisville is returning it's first ever Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, the stable of wide receivers has been supposedly restocked, the offensive line is under new tutelage, and the defense is more than ready to go behind their new leader. Louisville takes on Purdue tonight at 7:30 in Lucas Oil Stadium. If you didn't already know that, where have you been? Purdue is coached by former Cardinal, Jeff Brohm. According to multiple sources, Brohm was working to get Louisville on the schedule at his previous place of employment (Western Kentucky) under the stipulation that Lamar Jackson be off the Louisville team prior to the game. Unfortunately for him, Purdue hadn't made such arrangements. Sorry, Jeff! Louisville is heavily favored in tonight's game and they should be chomping at the bit to get the bad taste of last season's collapse out of their mouths. Purdue is a good team to do that against. They aren't a cupcake, so there is some talent to match up against, but they are also a team that isn't quite good enough to punish every mistake Louisville makes. Let's hope we're going into next season's opener against Alabama after ending this year on a higher note. But we can't worry about next year, yet! There are 12 (hopefully 13, maybe even 14 or 15) games to be played before we turn the football calendar over. It all starts tonight, so let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

Field Hockey Takes First Loss in OT

Marigrace Ragsdale was once again a point getter for the Cards yesterday as she netted her first goal of the season at the end of the 21st minute. It was the first goal of the game for either team and the last goal of the game for Louisville. Ohio State was able to draw level with fewer than 10 minutes remaining in the game after a Louisville defended corner was deemed to be illegal and Ohio State was awarded a second penalty. Louisville was unable to defend a second time and the score was tied 1-1. The teams played 10 and a half minutes of overtime before a second corner goal for Ohio State ended the game and Louisville's undefeated streak. Coach Sowry was clearly disappointed by the team's performance, noting in her post game remarks (per gocards.com) that "it was ... a disappointing performance on the field, and really, that's no surprise given how we practiced all week." Scathing words from Coach who later went on to lament that Ohio State dictated the play and that Louisville is an inexperienced team that needs to look at a lot of things on the individual and team level. It's a hard fall, losing to an unranked team after defeating the defending national champion, but there is still plenty of time to recover. Perhaps Louisville needed a loss like this, one in which they were in control for the first half and just coasted to a loss in the second and beyond, to wake up before conference play starts. There will be no days to take off in the ACC. While it is frustrating to lose any game, it is important to learn from that loss rather than let it lead to additional failures. Louisville is back in action, hoping to get back on track, against Kent State tomorrow at noon at a neutral site.

Wide Netters Break the Win Column

After hard fought losses to top ten teams last weekend, Louisville was ready to put a tally in the win column this week as they returned to Cardinal Arena for their first regular season action in their official full time home. Last night's match came against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky, a team that found themselves in the top 25 after a good opening weekend. It was not "Tops on Top" last night, though, as Louisville pulled away in the third and fourth games to win the match 3-1. WKU started out strong, taking the first game from Louisville 18-25, and it appeared as though there might be another long night in store for the Cards. The first game saw only 4 ties and 1 lead change. Louisville hit only .107 in the first to WKU's strong .343 mark. However, the Cards came out in the second game and led wire to wire, drawing level on the set score after a 25-19 win. Louisville hit .214 to WKU's .161 in the second game. The Toppers fought valiantly in the third and fourth games, holding tight to the Cards for the first 20 points or so in both games and forcing 14 ties and 4 lead changes between the two games. Louisville pulled away though, due partly to costly WKU errors and very good hitting by the home team, to win the last two games 25-15 and 25-16. 

On the night, Louisville was paced on offense by Melanie McHenry, Maggie DeJong, and Tess Clark, who all hit over .300 on more than 10 attempts. Wilma Rivera did her part on offense with 34 assists. Gabey Wiley did her part with 5 aces and 0 service errors. Defensively, Rivera and Molly Sauer held strong with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Wiley chipped in 7 and McHenry 6, to go along with her 12 kills. The Cards stood tall with 13 team blocks to WKU's 4. It was a game to be proud of, but one that Coach DBK is still likely to find places to improve, as all good coaches should. The Cards will look to pull their season record level today at 12:30 as they take on Kent State.

Cards Take First Rivalry Game of Season

Both inhabitants of Lynn Stadium were on the road last night, protecting our glorious soccer field from the tortures of long spikes on such a rainy night as last night. The men's team took a 1-0 win against Georgia State with a goal by Tim Kubel (that guy is really good), but it is the women's team with which we are interested. After 6 straight losses in the series, Louisville finally took one off of the Cats in Lexington. It was a rain soaked field, a goalkeeper's worst nightmare, and it showed, with 4 goals on the final scoreline. Kentucky was able to mar Louisville's clean sheet with a goal off of a corner kick in the 77th minute, but were unable to overcome the three goal lead Louisville had already built by that time. After a previously wide open goal race, the offense of Louisville is starting to settle in and one player is beginning to stand out as a present and future force that opposing defenses need to be wary of. Freshman Emina Ekic netted her 3rd and 4th goals last night, once off of a free kick and once off of a post rebound, adding these types of goals to her arsenal after already showing this season that she can score in space and off of the dribble. Alison Price, a senior stalwart on the front line, scored her second goal of the season on a corner kick. If you've paid much attention to my writeups so far this season, you'd know I am glad to see that Louisville is scoring on set pieces (twice this game). It is unfortunate that they gave up a corner kick goal, but they also defended two more and probably defended a few free kicks as well. (I have no way of knowing exactly how many fouls because that is an a statistic that is egregiously left off of the box score, but with 5 yellow cards issued in the match, I have to figure both teams had more than a few fouls.) (Also, I know it's a lot to ask, but possession stats and passing percentages would also be really cool to have.) It is great to see Louisville bounce back from the tough loss against Marquette, especially against their biggest rival, but I will have to wait until they return home to see if they've made some of the adjustments I can't get out of a game recap or box score. Louisville is back in action against Southeast Missouri State on Monday at 6:30. The road trip continues, so hopefully the Cards can take another road win before returning home against Purdue next Friday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

If you've made it this far, I applaud you. There was a lot to talk about today. If you didn't get your fill from the text on this page and would rather hear a few goofs talk about it over the airwaves, tune in to the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour from 11-12 on WCHQ FM. The station is 100.9 in the Crescent Hill area or you can listen on the WCHQ app or station website. The show is always available for rebroadcast, usually beginning on the Sunday after the original air date if you've missed it. 

Until next time, Go Cards! (Beat ... Purdue!)

-CH-

Volleyball Improves on the Weekend - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Loses, But Improves

Case touched on the volleyball loss to Minnesota from Friday, and Saturday was a partly more of the same, another three game loss by the Cards (25-19, 26-24, 25-20), but the tone and gameplay was considerably different.

First, let's point out that Wisconsin, the victors of the match last night, is a very good team, led by, as I've mentioned before, in my estimation the best setter in the country in Lauren Carlini.  Wisconsin currently sports a number 2 ranking behind perennial powerhouse Nebraska.

This was definitely a battle of defenses.  Louisville hit for a pitiful total of .094, while Wisconsin was only able to muster an also pretty bad .155.  Consequently, what may be the bright spot for the Cards is Molly Sauer's 19 digs, which in the 3-set match is darn impressive.  Melanie McHenry contributed 11 as well, which is very good for a non-libero.  Both teams also had a pretty impressive blocking game going, with UofL being credited with 13 blocks, and Wisconsin listed for 13.5.  The Louisville blocks were a bit more evenly spread.  The only solo credit goes to McHenry, while she and Janelle Jenkins each got in for 4 shares, Morgan Miller contributed on 3, and our middles Tess Clark and at least for this weekend featured the return of Maggie DeJong to the middle, got 6 apiece.  Coline Coessens got in on one as well.

Unfortunately the stats look pretty bleak beyond that, certainly our hitting percentages weren't great as hinted at above.  The bright spots are Maggie DeJong with 4 kills for a .200 avg, and Janelle Jenkins with 14 on 43 attempts for a .209 avg.  Nothing really to write home about in either case, but against a great team like Wisconsin with strong blocking, it's not bad.  Morgan Miller hit for a .500 avg, but that was only on 2 attempts, so it's a bit misleading.

What may be the worst look on the stat sheet is in the service errors.  In a 3-set match, to have 12 service errors is painful.  And that number alone almost accounts for the score differences in the sets.  Kordes has this team serving very aggressively, mostly to pretty good effect (Remember, aggressive serving doesn't just result, hopefully, in service aces, but also in the other team having to be out of system, which isn't covered in stats), but they may need to dial it back a little and get the errors under a bit more control.

Let's not forget, however, that stats sheets don't tell the whole tale.  Blocks, for example, only record play ending blocks, not deflections and tips that make it easier to pass the ball, which is one of the ways that the Kordes Krewe did much better last night vs Friday night against Minnesota.  Also, UofL was without the services of two starters this weekend.  Kali Eaken and Jasmine Bennett were not available.  Word is that Bennett was ill and didn't make the trip, but no word on Eaken, presumably something similar.  Losing Bennett for the weekend is a bit of a blow, but the only real shift in the lineup was to move Maggie DeJong back into the middle, a position with which she has a lot of familiarity.  The loss of Eaken for the weekend is a bit trickier to deal with, partly because that setter to hitter connection is so critical, and as a new setting squad, not well established for the Cards.  This is also the 3rd match out of the 8 so far that UofL has been without Eaken, which doesn't help establish a rhythm.  Last night, the Cards compensated by using both of the other setters on the squad.  This wasn't quite a 6-2 offense, as the goal of the 6-2 is to keep your setter in the back-row at all times, leaving 3 attackers in the front row.  In this case, the Cards subbed the setters for each other, so Lindsey Palmer was setting from the back-row, but when the position came around to the front-row, Morgan Miller subbed in for Palmer to do the setting in front.  Why?  The concern primarily is that Lindsey Palmer is only 5'8", and frankly is a bit of liability for blocking, while Miller, with 4 inches of height on Palmer, can participate in the blocking scheme to much better effect.  The switching of the setters does complicate that setter to hitter connection even further, though.  Despite all of that, however, we do see that improving as the matches pass, though there still is work to be done, there.  Hopefully the return of Eaken to the starting line-up will help that further.

One minor note to follow up on something noticed by some fans last weekend.  Brianna Lester was not present during The Active Ankle Challenge at the KFC Yum! Center last week.  I did spot her on the sidelines in the stream last night, so all appears to be well with her.  No word on her absence last weekend, but again, it likely is something as simple as an illness.

The Wide Net Cards are back in action this Thursday when Kentucky comes to town.  UK also started the season in the Top 25 rankings and subsequently dropped out.  A 4-set loss to Marquette on Friday probably won't help their cause any in that respect.  Hopefully the Cards can get back to their winning ways in this match, particularly vs Kentucky, who haven't been beaten by UofL since 2012.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

We were at it again yesterday.  Paulie, Case, and myself all back in the studio and less distracted all did an hour on the radio again talking about the joy and excitement of UofL Women's Athletics.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It was a good show, covering Football, Volleyball, Soccer, and Field Hockey.  Check it out!

College Gameday Coming to The Ville

We got the official announcement this morning that ESPN College Gameday is coming to Louisville for their first ever Gameday broadcast at UofL.  The game is set for a noon tip, but there is some question of whether that will be moved.

-- JMcA

Monday Cardinal Couple - Volleyball Returns

Volleyball Returns

The UofL Volleyball team is winging their way back to Louisville, having spent a week and a half touring part of Europe.

Twelve players went, five countries were visited: Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, and The Czech Republic.  Six volleyball matches were played, and most were lost by the Cards because that's kinda the point of these trips, to play teams better than you are to get better.  In the realm of uncountable we have: bowls of gelato eaten, stores shopped in, selfies taken, "L"'s hoisted, and Instagram and Facebook pictures posted.  And one ferry boat crewman rescued after falling into the water of a lake after sustaining serious injury by being hit by a car.

This trip has been an amazing opportunity for the participants, and you can definitely tell from the pictures and accounts being sent back via social media and the Volleyball blog on the GoCards website. 

Traveling to Europe provides an awesome sense of perspective to your life, and to your understanding of history.  The chance to play against several great teams in Europe as foils to improve the Cards play, and the extra practices that the team was allowed prior to the trip will certainly be a help come late August and September when the Volleyball regular season begins. 

Volleyball is one of the most intricate team sports around, with players relying on each other to a greater degree than in most sports.  Spending a week and a half seeing sights together, helping each other navigate in locations where you don't speak the native language, cheering each other as you push through the various challenges of international travel, supporting each other through the exhaustion of a week and a half of always being on the go and moving from place to place, and experiencing the fulfillment of the experiences that you all have together, no doubt has made this group of young women into a real team. 

This was already a close-knit and mutually supportive team, but a trip like this can only enhance that.  The extra practice and competition gives the team and coaching staff the chance to try out new lineups and rotations, to see how the different players react in different roles (Maggie DeJong as an outside hitter rather than a middle? It might happen.  Gabbie Wiley in the front row swinging?  You'll likely see that this year.  A 6-2 offense?  Your author has high hopes.)

Cardinal Volleyball has their first public event on August 20th, the annual Red and Black scrimmage at Cardinal Arena.  This is a free event and is always enjoyable.  This is a great opportunity to come and see the new players on the team (we have three freshmen, and a transfer that joined the team in January), get a chance to see some players that maybe don't see as much playing time normally out on the court, and start to familiarize yourself with the team for the year.  The season starts the next week, on the 26th, on the road at Bowling Green, OH.  The first home matches are September 2nd and 3rd at Cardinal arena for the Active Ankle challenge, with Santa Clara, Stony Brook, and Auburn making the visit.  It looks to be a great year for the Volleyball team.

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

Our show from Saturday is available for listening on the Crescent Hill Radio SoundCloud or at the link below. As we wind into the months before the Fall seasons, we plan on taking you some great places with appearances and interviews with some of the people associated with UofL women's sports that you may be very familiar with but are essential to the operations and success of the programs.  

LINK: https://soundcloud.com/chradio/cardinal-couple-20160528


The Kellie Young Interview, Handicapping Heroes and the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. Another 60 minutes of radio as it ought to be.

-JMcA

Volleyball Wins the Weekend -- Radio...SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Double The Winning

Seton Hall

Volleyball won the Active Ankle Challenge contested at Cardinal Arena, by winning all three of their matches, defeating Utah, Seton Hall, and Ohio University.

Yesterday's action started with Louisville vs Seton Hall. The Pirates didn't really provide a great deal of threat to the Cardinals, with the Kordes Krew winning the match in three straight sets (25-16, 25-10, 25-21). While Louisville hasn't been a particularly strong blocking team in recent years, this match was highlighted by 16 team blocks, led by Maya McClendon's seven.

Louisville's hitting percentage wasn't stellar, at .278, but it was certainly better than Seton Hall's .036. Quite a few service errors from the Cards in this one, at nine, but in a conversation with Coach Anne Kordes after the Utah match, she stated that she wasn't worried about the service errors this weekend because they were trying to be very aggressive in their serving.


The usual attacking by committee got the jobs done, with Erin Fairs getting 12, and McClendon joining her in double digits with 10. Tess Clark and Janelle Jenkins both claimed eight, with Maggie DeJong chalking up four by her name in the stats sheet.

I thought, despite the good stats numbers that the team felt a little lethargic in this one. Perhaps it was the 10am start time combined with a bit smaller than normal crowd, but they did get the job done and were able to take the afternoon for rest and recovery before matching up against the Ohio Bobcats.

Ohio

In the wrap-up for the weekend tournament, The Cards took on the strongest challenge of the weekend. A standing room only crowd on hand for the nightcap with 902 in 840-seat Cardinal Arena, was a great way to cap off the weekend of volleyball.

After the early match between Seton Hall and Utah went a full five sets, with Utah finally gaining the victory, the nightcap between Ohio and UofL didn't get started until after 8pm.

The fans certainly got their money's worth in this ticket, with the Cards and Bobcats also taking a full five sets to decide the outcome. UofL eventually got the job done, 25-19, 25-27, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9.

Ohio played a very scrappy game, with excellent defense which clearly had The Cards very flustered and frustrated in the middle sets. An overall hitting percentage for Louisville of only .228 is owed more towards The Bobcats amazing digging and defensive play. The big number for this game was Tess Clark's mind-blowing .760 hitting percentage. That's an error-free 19 kills on 25 attempts.

Again, the offense was by committee with Erin Fairs leading the way with 22 kills, Tess Clark's 19 put her in second, Maya McClendon tallied 13, Janelle Jenkins swung for 12, and Maggie DeJong got to double-digits with 10 and a very respectable .316 percentage.

Molley Sauer continues to be the heart and soul of the defense, with 30 digs, with Janelle Jenkins and Katie George joining her in double digit digs with 13 and 12, respectively. 11 service errors is still a little worrisome, but in a five set match with a very aggressive service plan, it's nothing to lose sleep over.

It was a good match to learn about good blocking, with both teams tallying 10. Perhaps that was appropriate, with Lecia Brown, one of the best blockers in Louisville history, being in attendance.

The Cards will be back in action Thursday evening in Cincinnati, taking on the Bearcats at 6pm. I'm just glad Cincinnati changed their apparel contract to Under Armor. With both UofL and UC using the same school colors, and previously both being Adidas schools, distinguishing the players in their nearly identical warmups used to be almost impossible.


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The weekly CARDINAL COUPLE radio hour is now available on the soundcloud for Crescent Hill RADIO and can be heard at the link below:

CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 9/12/15

JMcA