Cards vs Pitt in Final Four -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards to Face Pitt in Final Four

Louisville Volleyball continues their 2024 NCAA Tournament run tonight with a spot to the championship game on the line. The Cards welcome a familiar foe in Pittsburgh to the KFC Yum! Center for a 6:30pm start time. ESPN will be carrying the match.

UofL has improved to 29-5 following winning the first four matches of the tournament. The Cards finished second in the ACC this season and earned the final one seed. Their tournament run includes wins over Chicago State, Northern Iowa, Purdue, and Stanford. Louisville has lost three sets across the four matches.

Pittsburgh has improved to 33-1 on the season and rides an 18-match win streak. The Panthers' only loss came on October 12 in a five-set thriller at SMU. Pitt has lost 12 sets all season with two of those coming in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville took three sets in two matches against the Panthers. Pitt's road to the Final Four included wins over Morehead State, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Kentucky.

Pitt is looking for its first trip to the championship game in four tries. Louisville is aiming for its second trip to the championship game in three years.

Louisville and Pitt have built one of the biggest rivalries in the country over the last few seasons. All-time, the Cards lead the series 20-18, but Pitt has won four straight. Prior to that, Louisville had won six of seven matches including a win over the Panthers in the 2022 Final Four to go to the national championship game.

Cardinal Couple will have representatives in attendance to cover the match and a full report on the contest in the Friday Cardinal Couple column. 

All-American Honors for Scott, DeBeer

Two VolleyCards received All-American honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Elena Scott was named a First Team All-American and Anna DeBeer was named a Second Team All-American. Charitie Luper and Cara Cresse both received honorable mentions. DeBeer has earned four All-American honors in her career while Scott has earned three.

(All photos and graphics by GoCards)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

VB Final Four Set -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

All Top Seeds Advanced to Final Four

In a tournament where we saw a fair share of upsets, the NCAA Volleyball Regional Tournaments ended with a chalk result as all four 1-seeds from their respective regionals advanced to the National Semifinals.

Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Penn State, and Louisville all won their regions and will prepare for the Final Four, hosted at the KFC Yum! Center. For us Louisville folks, playing in town makes the trip much easier. Louisville's other two Final Four appearances were in Columbus, Ohio and Omaha, Nebraska.

Let's take a look at each team's journey to the Final Four...

Pittsburgh

Photo by Pitt Athletics

vs Morehead State 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-15)

vs 8-seed Oklahoma 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-19)

vs 4-seed Oregon 3-2 (25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12)

vs 3-seed Kentucky 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-17)

The toughest match for the Panthers came in the Sweet Sixteen against Oregon. The Ducks, who upset 2-seed Nebraska as a 3-seed in 2022 tried to pull off another tournament upset but the hostile crowd at the Petersen Events Center proved to be too much.

Penn State

Photo by Penn State Athletics

vs Delaware State 3-0 (25-4, 25-20, 25-18)

vs 8-seed North Carolina 3-1 (25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-15)

vs 5-seed Marquette 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 24-26, 25-20)

vs 2-seed Creighton 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25, 15-7)

Creighton nearly pulled off the upset against the Nittany Lions. The Blue Jays took Penn State to five sets, but could not get anything going in the final lap. North Carolina and Marquette both were competitive but were overpowered.

Nebraska

Photo by Nebraska Athletics

vs Florida A&M 3-0 (25-3, 25-9, 25-17)

vs 8-seed Miami 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-18)

vs 5-seed Dayton 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 25-13)

vs 2-seed Wisconsin 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-21)

Nebraska hasn't truly had a tough test up to this point of the tournament. While Dayton was able to steal a set from the Huskers, the Flyers weren't too competitive the rest of the time. Wisconsin was the only team to score in the 20's on two different sets.

Louisville

Photo by Louisville Athletics

vs Chicago State 3-0 (25-10, 25-18, 25-13)

vs 8-seed Northern Iowa (26-28, 25-22, 23-25, 25-13, 22-20)

vs 4-seed Purdue (25-17, 25-18, 25-18)

vs 2-seed Stanford (22-25, 25-14, 28-26, 25-20)

Louisville nearly saw an early exit from the tournament after Northern Iowa had multiple match point chances. The Cards found a way to pull out a win. Stanford played the Cards tough in a pair of sets but Louisville prevailed.

Facts and Tidbits

Photo by Jared Anderson

Pittsburgh has advanced to four straight Final Fours. Louisville has advanced to three Final Fours over the last four years. The ACC vs ACC match-up will guarantee the conference has a team in the title game for just the second time in history. Stanford has multiple titles, but they were not a member of the ACC at the time.

Nebraska has been to three of the last four Final Fours. This is Penn State's first Final Four appearance since 2017. In this Big Ten vs Big Ten match-up, the conference is guaranteed to have a team in the title game. The Big Ten has been represented in the national championship every year since 2007 with the exception of 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2022.

The top two teams in the ACC and the top two teams in the Big Ten make up the Final Four. This is the first time since 2008 that the top four seeds advanced to the Final Four. That year, the top overall seeded team beat the second overall seeded team in the final.

Stanford has won the most volleyball championships with nine. Penn State has seven titles and Nebraska has five. Texas and UCLA have both won four times. Hawai'i, Long Beach State, and USC each have three titles. Pacific is the only other school with multiple championships with two.

Louisville will face Pittsburgh at 6:30pm on Thursday. Nebraska and Penn State will play about 30 minutes after the first match ends.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Two Louisville Teams Play at "Home" Tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VolleyCards Set for Sweet Sixteen Match-Up

Louisville volleyball's postseason run continues. The 1-seeded Cards remain at home, this time hosting 4-seeded Purdue.

Well, Louisville's two primary home courts are L&N FCU Arena and the KFC Yum! Center. L&N FCU Arena is too small to host an NCAA Regional and the KFC Yum! Center has conflicts with a pair of women's basketball games and UofL commencement. The third option for a home match is somewhat familiar to Louisville fans- Freedom Hall.

Freedom Hall is the former home to both Louisville women's basketball and Louisville men's basketball. In recent years, it has also hosted events for the TBT, a basketball tournament consisting of teams made from college alumni, and Bellarmine basketball games. Freedom Hall also played host to an NCAA Volleyball Regional in 2021 when Louisville defeated both Florida and Georgia Tech to advance to their first ever Final Four.

This year, Louisville earned a 1-seed by going 25-5 in the regular season and 17-3 in ACC play. The Cards have a plethora of wins against ranked opponents. UofL opened the tournament with a fairly easy sweep over Chicago State. The second round was not so easy as Northern Iowa took the Cards to five sets and proved to be a back-and-forth affair all match.

Purdue went 25-6 during the regular season. They finished fourth in the Big Ten with a 16-4 conference record. The Boilermakers dropped matches to Kansas, Creighton, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Penn State (2x). They also have wins against Kentucky, Minnesota, Oregon, and USC. 

Purdue's trip to the Sweet Sixteen has been smooth. They opened the tournament by sweeping Western Michigan. The Broncos tried to put up a fight, with all three sets being in the 20s. The Boilermakers then swept Loyola Chicago. The Ramblers kept the first two sets close before Purdue slammed the door in the third set.

The match is expected to begin at approximately 9:30pm. 2-seed Stanford and 6-seed Florida play at 7:00pm so Louisville's match does have a possibility of starting late.

Women's Basketball Hosts Grambling State

One Louisville team is at the KFC Yum! Center tonight. Louisville women's basketball hosts Grambling State at 7:00pm on the ACCNX. This is just the fourth home game for the Cards, who have spent most of the early portion of the season on the road.

Louisville is 5-4 on the season after suffering back-to-back losses against Oklahoma and UConn. All four Louisville losses have come against current Top 25 teams. 

Grambling State is 2-7. After opening up the season with a pair of wins against Centenary College (Louisiana) and Xavier University of Louisiana, the Tigers have dropped seven straight including losses to LSU and ACC foe California.

In their seven losses, Grambling State has not scored more than 65 points. They have allowed 76 or more points in six of those seven losses.

Cardinal Couple plans to have coverage at both events tomorrow.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyballs Opens Up NCAA Tournament Against Chicago State -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Happy Friday, Cards fans! Jared checking in here for Daryl. She graciously traded days with me this week so I could edit photos from the Louisville women's basketball game Wednesday night. Sadly, Daryl had to recap a not-so-great loss. I, on the other hand, get to preview the excitement of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

Cards Face Chicago State in First Round

Louisville Volleyball opens up the NCAA Tournament tonight against Chicago State. The 1-seeded Cards will play the latter of the two matches tonight as 8-seed Northern Iowa and Illinois will square off at 4:00pm. With the Cards and Cougars set to begin at 7:00pm, we do not expect any major delays even if the first match runs long.

The match will be aired on ESPN+. All first and second round matches in the NCAA Tournament are exclusively aired on ESPN+ regardless of what other streaming options the host sites might have.

This is the 33rd NCAA Tournament appearance for Louisville, who has two Final Fours and a National Runner-Up finish since Dani Busboom Kelly took over as head coach. 

Louisville went 25-5 this season and finished second in the ACC with a 17-3 mark. 19 of the 30 opponents Louisville faced made it to the NCAA Tournament.

THE FOE

Chicago State went 19-9 this season. They cruised through the Northeast Conference, going 13-1 in the regular season and winning the Northeast Conference Tournament. The Cougars did not face many "Power Five" teams, but fell in all of them- Cincinnati (3-0), Indiana (3-1), and Minnesota (3-0).

Patrycja Lagida leads the offense with 3.39 kills per set. Karly Klaer (2.72) and Zahara Quraishi (2.27) have also produced strong numbers on the offensive end. Chicago State also utilizes aggressive serves to help with offensive production. The Panthers average nearly two aces per set.

Defensively, Andrea Calderon has been the go-to player with 4.48 digs per set. Karly Klaer (2.55), Wiktoria Zagumny (2.20), and Patrycja Lagida (2.15) have all provided solid back row defense. 

NCAA Volleyball Tournament Updates

NCAA Tournaments, regardless of the sport, are always enjoyable for me. You can't beat watching several games all back-to-back with all teams putting everything on the line.

This year's tournament opened up with an upset as Loyola Chicago swept 5-seed BYU. Upsets are bound to happen when postseason rolls around but it's rare to see an upset happen in sweep fashion. Another upset on the night was Ole Miss taking down 7-seed Florida State in five sets.

We did see 7-seed Georgia Tech hang out to beat Tennessee in five sets. The Yellow Jackets won the third set 32-30. The last of the three ACC teams in action last night was 2-seed SMU. The Mustangs had a little trouble against Wichita State, but prevailed. The two teams had an extended first set with SMU winning 28-26.

Looking into the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, two of the four Kentucky schools played last night. Western Kentucky fell to 6-seed Minnesota 3-1. The Hilltoppers scored 20 or more points in all four sets. 3-seed Kentucky was also in action as they easily took down Cleveland State.

Besides Louisville, the other ACC teams in action are 1-seed Pitt vs Morehead State, 8-seed North Carolina vs Yale, 8-seed Miami vs South Dakota State, and NC State vs 6-seed Florida.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Finals Week at UofL -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Good morning readers and happy hump day!!

It's Daryl checking in with you midweek as Paul and I traded places on our writing days to accommodate some of life’s happenings.

It’s that time of year that everything seems to speed up and slow down at the same time. Parents are shopping, students are wrapping up the semester and then there’s the rest of us just trying to maintain the requirements of adulting.

Finals are scheduled to take place in the coming week. Good luck to all the students and athletes!

There were no Cardinals games yesterday and none today so we are just taking the time to breathe and get ready for what’s next as a program.



Volleyball

Volleyball is getting ready to head to the Sweet 16 for the ninth time in program history.

The Cards are scheduled to face off with #3 Creighton at noon on Thursday at 12pm.

This one will be available to watch on ESPN2.

Outside hitter Anna DeBeer was voted East Region Player of the Year by the AVCA. The Cardinals placed six players on the First Team All-East Region: Cara Cresse, Anna DeBeer, Elle Glock, Aiko Jones, Charitie Luper and Elena Scott. Phekran Kong was named to the Honorable Mention All-East Region squad.



WBB

And then we have the WBB squad who is preparing for the Battle of the Bluegrass on Sunday afternoon. The Cats are not looking like the nationally ranked squad we’ve seen in recent years as they went on a 5 game losing streak to some questionable opponents. While its not nice to laugh at other’s misfortunes, this is one where we will make an exception. I wont tell Santa Claus if you wont… but I hope the Cards pour in on them and win by 40. No mercy!!

The Cats play Minnesota tonight, if you want to get a pre-game scout on them. The catch is...it's on SECN+, which islike our ACCN+, you goyya pay for the privledge..

Good luck again to the Cardinals this week, on the courts and in the classroom.


As Always

Go Cards!

~Daryl

A Fairly Quiet Saturday for Women's Sports -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A Quiet Saturday

Not much going on for the sports we cover heavily here at Cardinal Couple.  There was, what I think can best be described as a kicking and punting exhibition in Charlotte on the guy's side, for the women, only Swimming and Diving as well as Track and Field were in action.

We have no updates from the water side, but a few notable results from the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, where Louisville seems to be poised to do well in jumping events this year.

Synclair Savage picked up a silver in the long jump, while Sophia Day got her college career started with a win in the triple jump.  Autumn Bell and Riley Berger got 3rd and 4th.

Jenna Hensley won the high jump, with another freshman, Aubrey Lane getting her college career going with a 5th place finish.

Kiyah Yeast took 2nd in the women's 60m, with Sinclair Savage right behind in 3rd.  Olivia Jenkins took the 5th spot.

Volleyball Host Settled

After Friday's Volleyball win over Western Michigan, you might have noticed that none of the coverage said much about where the Sweet 16 match would be played.  That's because we didn't know for sure!  There were still 2nd round matches being contested yesterday, and among them was Pitt vs USC (Southern California).

Hosting for Regionals goes to the highest seeded team remaining in the region after the first two rounds are completed.  UofL is the two seed in the region, and Pitt is the one seed, meaning, if USC had upset Pitt - an unlikely, but not unthinkable, idea - the hosting would fall back to Louisville.

Alas, that didn't happen, USC did win the first set of the match, but Pitt hunkered down and got it done in four.  So Pitt will be hosting at the Fitzgerald Field House, and Louisville will have the first match of the day, against three seed Creighton, at noon on Thursday.

Women's Basketball Gameday

A bit of an early start for the Walz crew, with a noon tip vs North Carolina A&T.

Walz was spotted, along with Dani Busboom Kelly, in Charlotte yesterday for the punting and kicking exhibition, but apparently traveled there and back in a private craft, making the travel time reasonable for him to get a pretty good night's rest in his own bed last night.

NC A&T should prove a good competitor for UofL to continue to congeal this aggregate roster.  The progress so far has seemed to be pretty good, but some more mid-major level competition to tune and hone the rough spots will surely be welcome.

(The annual "baby race" is today at halftime !) 

We can't take the Aggies completely for granted, they sport a 3-3 record with the sort of results you would expect from this sort of mid-major.  They sport a beat-em-down win over Guilford College (114-41), and narrower wins over Wake Forest (56-51) and Liberty (56-47).  Loses are to Georgia by a respectable 59-71 margin, Saint Mary's College of California (65-73), and UT Arlington (76-87).

They have four players scoring in double digits per game.  Maleia Bracone leads the way at 12.3 with Jordyn Dorsey right behind at 12.2.  Chaniya Clark, and D'Mya Tucker come in at 11.8 and 11.5.  Don't expect Clark to be an outside threat, being 6'4" she'll likely spend most of her time posted up, but the rest can hoist them from range with some effectiveness.

ACC Network Extra has the coverage on this one, but of course Nick and Courtnee can be found on the radio (or a radio stream) if your preferences run that way.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

(all but Daryl were on the podcast)

A surprise foursome on the show yesterday as Jared was able to pop in and participate from...somewhere in the Carolinas.

Basketball and Volleyball, I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear, were the topics du jour.  Good discussion for both as we recap'ed past events and discussed what was ahead.  We did talk about what then were the different possibilities for volleyball hosting in the Regionals that hve since been settled, and more.

Check it out:

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Volleyball-Advances-to-Sweet-16-e2cnfnc

-- 

JMcA

Louisville Volleyball is Going to the National Championship! -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Volleyball is Going to the National Championship!

Let's go! The Cards win! Louisville beats Pitt 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-2) to advance to the NCAA National Championship!

Before we get into the meat and bones of the match and the celebration, let's take a look at some of the other events that happened in Omaha yesterday.

In the first match of the night, 1-seed Texas go against the semi-surprising 2-seed San Diego. The Tereros would pull off a 28-26 first set victory before the Longhorns woke up and dominated the next three sets 25-16, 25-18, 25-20. Texas dropped just their third set of the NCAA Tournament.

The much-anticipated match-up between 1-seed Louisville and 2-seed Pitt followed roughly 30 minutes later. The late 10:00 p.m. ET start had both teams' fan bases in their pajamas and drinking coffee at night.

Louisville and Pitt tied for the ACC regular season title with the Cards earning the tiebreaker. Some in the world of volleyball titled this one as the "ACC Championship That Never Happened". It lived up to that hype.

Notes about the Final Four:

-This was a rare Final Four that saw no SEC or Pac-12 teams.

-Two of the Final Four teams (Louisville, San Diego) have women's head coaches.

-Louisville and Pitt are the fourth and five ACC teams to make the Final Four (2011- Florida State, 2021- Louisville and Pitt).

-This is the first time an ACC team has made the NCAA Championship game.

-Texas is the only one of the Final Four teams to have won a national championship or even make a championship game appearance.

-Dan Meske was named AVCA Assistant Coach of the Year

-This is the fourth Louisville team to compete in a national championship (men's basketball- three times, women's basketball- two times, men's soccer- one time). Louisville has quite a few individual champions and student-athletes compete in championships over the years too.

Now, onto the match as we take a look at all five sets.

Set One: Louisville 25, Pitt 19

A service ace started the match for the Cards and ignited a 6-0 run for the Cards. In fact, Louisville had two aces in that stretch. Pitt would not go down and would go on a mini run to bring the Louisville lead to 7-6 and then tie it at 9-9. A couple of small runs helped the Cards go up 17-11, 19-12, and 23-15, allowing the Cards to put themselves in an almost-comfortable lead. Momentum was all in favor of the Cards at this point. A paid of Anna DeBeer kills were the final two Louisville points in an opening set highlighted by strong serving.

Set Two: Pitt 25, Louisville 23

Louisville saw themselves in an early 3-1 lead, but the Panthers weren't about to let themselves go down big or early again. Pitt would take a 7-5 advantage before two straight points evened the score again. A strong Pitt attack saw the Panthers pull ahead 11-8. The Cards would cut their deficit to one that saw Pitt lose a challenge, but the fourth service of the match halted the momentum and give Pitt a 12-10 lead. The Panthers would go into the media break up 15-12. The Cards struggled to go against Pitt's front line defense and Dani Busboom Kelly called a timeout down 19-16. A block by Aiko Jones and DeBeer's fourth ace of the night brought Louisville within two at 21-19 and caused Pitt to call a timeout. After trading points, DBK burned her last timeout down 24-22. The Panthers would ultimately take the set to even the score at halftime.

Set Three: Louisville 25, Pitt 22

Coming out of halftime, DeBeer logged her fifth ace of the night and the Cards went on a 3-0 run before Pitt would score a couple to make it 3-2. Another 3-0 spurt by the Cards highlighted by an Aiko Jones forced Pitt into an early timeout. Pitt would score four straight to even the score before a Claire Chaussee kill stopped the run. Neither team could build much of a lead and Chaussee tied the score at 15-15 with her famous sky high jump for the kill. A net violation by the Cards put Pitt up 19-16 and DBK would call a timeout. The Cards would rally to even the score at 22-22 and Pitt would burn a timeout. A pair of aces by Elena Scott and a kill by Chaussee helped the Cards end the set on a 5-0 run and take a 2-1 lead.

Set Four: Pitt 25, Louisville 22

A similar sight unfolded at the start as Louisville went up 3-0 and then 5-2 before PK Kong went to the bench to get checked out for a minor hand injury. Louisville's attack helped spark the next couple points as Pitt called a timeout at 7-2. Pitt wouldn't go down without a fight, though. They pieced together a run to bring the Louisville lead to 8-7. Then Louisville got hot for a bit. Everything seemed to click for the Cards. A monster kill by Jones and Scott's fourth ace put the Cards up 15-10. Timeout number two for Pitt. After Louisville's lead got cut to 16-13, Busboom Kelly called a timeout to give her team a breather and to refocus. Louisville's errors got the best of them as the score was evened at 17-17. Insert a quick 3-0 Louisville run capped off by a block by Amaya Tillman to help put the Cards back on top. Louisville used its last timeout of the set after the Panthers evened the score at 22-22. Sloppy play continued for Louisville as Pitt went on to take the set.

Set Five: Louisville 15, Pitt 2

Louisville started the deciding set on a 3-0 run. Kong's block forced Pitt to call an early timeout. Then, Chaussee found the corner for a kill and Kong logged back-to-back blocks to extend the lead to 6-0. The block party continued to push the lead to 8-0. Pitt managed a point and Louisville followed with a 4-0 run to go up 12-1. Louisville closed the door from there to take the win!

WOW! Talk about a helluva fifth set! The Cards left no doubt on which team was going to walk away victorious.

Claire Chaussee led the Cards with 25 kills and a .429 attack percentage. Anna DeBeer had 15 kills and Aiko Jones added 12 kills on a .310 attack percentage. Raquel Lazaro had 49 assists. Elena Scott had 28 digs. DeBeer and Scott each had five aces. PK Kong recorded a career high 10 blocks in the match. Amaya Tillman logged seven blocks and Jones had six.

Dani Busboom Kelly looks for the hat trick after winning national championships as a player and assistant coach, now going for her first as a head coach. Louisville looks to be the first women's team on campus to win a national championship. 

Louisville and Texas will face off at 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday for the national championship. We will recap all of the excitement on our Cardinal Couple Podcast tomorrow morning. Note: The podcast will be at 10:00 A.M. this week, since we figure some of our readers might be interesting in watching  Louisville Football in the Fenway Bowl at 11:00 A.M

(All photos courtesy of Louisville Athletics and Louisville Volleyball)

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Hosts Baylor -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Hosts NCAA Regional

Fresh off a great date night last night and enjoying a day off work today, I'll be one of the thousands of fans... er, media for me... heading downtown to the KFC Yum! Center to see Louisville volleyball play in the opening round of the NCAA Regional and the third round of the NCAA Tournament. 1-seed Louisville hosts 4-seed Baylor following the conclusion of 2-seed Nebraska vs 3-seed Oregon.

Louisville swept Samford in the first round of the tournament and followed it with a sweep against Purdue to advance to its fourth straight Sweet Sixteen. The ACC Champions have made eight Sweet Sixteen appearances in program history.

Baylor enters the match with a 25-6 overall record. The Bears received an at-large bid after they finished second in the Big 12 with a 12-4 conference record, sitting only behind Texas. They did take down Wisconsin early in the season, but are 0-3 against the remaining field with a loss to Minnesota and two losses to Texas. They also have wins against other teams that made the NCAA Tournament in Pepperdine, TCU, Iowa State, Rice, Kansas, and Stephen F Austin.

The Bears posted a dominant 16-1 record at home, but struggled on the road (6-4) and found moderate success at neutral locations (3-1). Baylor has had a balanced offense this year with five players having anywhere from 221-340 kills. Lauren Harrison leads the charge. Defense has also been by committee with five players recording anywhere from 171-381 digs. Libero Lauren Briseno has been the top performer there. Averi Carlson made an immediate impact this season as libero and was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Her stats include 1232 assists, 30 aces, 220 digs, and 30 blocks. 

Like Louisville, Baylor prides itself on being a blocking team, accumulating 294.blocks this season for an average of 2.6 per set. Seven players are listed as 6'3 or taller, giving them a slight height advantage over Louisville.

The Cards and Bears seem to match-up well in terms of style of play and stats, giving this match the potential to be an exciting one.

Only the lower bowl will be open for today's match with Ticketmaster listing tickets for $37.15 plus fees. You can also catch this on TV on ESPNU if you can't make it to the match. Start time is set for 30 minutes after Nebraska vs Oregon ends so it's anticipated the match will start between 1:30-2:00 p.m. ET.

Here is the regional schedule for Thursday, Dec. 8:

• No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 2 Nebraska | 11 a.m. ET | ESPNU | Louisville regional semi
• No. 3 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Minnesota  | noon ET | ESPN2 | Austin regional semi 
• No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 1 Louisville | 1:30 p.m. ET | ESPNU | Louisville regional semi
• No. 4 Marquette vs. No. 1 Texas | 2:30 p.m. ET| ESPN2 | Austin regional semi
• No. 3 Florida vs. No. 2 Pittsburgh |3:30 p.m. | ESPNU | Madison regional semi
• No. 4 Penn State vs. No. 1 Wisconsin | 6 p.m. ET | ESPNU | Madison regional semi
• No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 2 San Diego | 8 p.m. ET | ESPNU | Stanford regional semi
• No. 5 Houston vs. No. 1 Stanford | 10:30 p.m. ET | ESPNU | Stanford regional semi

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Volleyball Tournament Opening Round -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Where's Daryl?

(Jared with you this Friday filling in for Daryl, who filled in for me Thursday.  Sufficiently confused? Good! We'll begin! And, don't even start with me on Mondays or minor holiday..or Who's On First.)

Good morning and happy Friday, Cards fans! Or should I say happy NCAA Tournament for Louisville Volleyball?

If you're needing a distraction from the happenings on the basketball court following a pair of days this week with Louisville men's basketball (Tuesday) and Louisville women's basketball (Wednesday) falling at home, then maybe the NCAA Volleyball Tournament can help.

Before we look at volleyball, let's look at a few interesting women's basketball results from last night:

 

  #5 Indiana hosted #6 North Carolina and the Hoosiers cruised to a 24-point win without star Grace Berger playing.

    #20 Maryland traveled to #7 Notre Dame and won on a buzzer beater. Diamond Miller made sure to hush the Irish faithful when the final two of her 31 points went in as the buzzer went off.

    #12 NC State visited #10 Iowa and won by 13. Despite a 45-point performance by Caitlin Clark, the Hawkeyes suffered their third loss of the season.

Louisville Faces Samford in NCAA Tournament First Round

Now, onto Louisville volleyball and what we hope will be a fun evening at the L&N FCU Arena.

1-seed Louisville hosts Samford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Their match is set for 7:00 p.m., but will be at the mercy of 8-seed Purdue vs Tennessee in the event the Boilermakers and Vols run long from their 4:00 p.m. start time. 

The Cards went 26-2 in the regular season and tied with Pitt for the ACC title with a 17-1 record. Louisville has won three-straight ACC Championships and earned their second straight 1-seed, with the formatting switching to a new style this year.

Samford won the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament to earn an automatic qualifier bid to the NCAA Tournament. 8-seed Furman was the host site. Furman went on a hot run to advance to the SoCon final against 2-seed Samford. The Bulldogs would win in straight sets for their fifth conference title in the last seven years.

Samford went 19-12 on the season. They went 0-2 against "Power Five" programs with losses to LSU and Clemson. 

The Bulldogs average 13.9 kills per set with a .232 hitting percentage. They had five players break 100 kills on the year. Kenya McQuirter led the team with 439 kills. While Samford was strong offensively, they were average on the defensive end, averaging 1.8 blocks per set and 15.5 digs per set. Kate Morgan was the exception, with the defensive specialist earning SoCon Libero of the Year with 514 digs.

For Louisville, blocking should be the focus of the match. Samford has two players standing at 6'2, but only one played this season- Greer Golden. The freshman saw action in almost every set, but played a limited role. With Samford running with a smaller lineup, one of the nation's best hitting teams has the chance for a field day led by ACC Defensive Player of the Year Amaya Tillman.

To our knowledge, all Louisville players are cleared to play. Raquel Lazaro dealt with a minor injury several weeks back, but she missed minimal time and has looked dominant since then. Anna DeBeer missed extended time with a leg injury and has slowly eased her way back into the rotation, but looked solid to close out the season against Pitt and Notre Dame.

Cardinal Couple will have media at the event, even if it is just Jeff running the stairs leading the crowd in the C-A-R-D-S cheer and Jared taking selfies all over the arena and ignoring the court action.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

Louisville Volleyball a #1 seed in NCAA Tournament -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

VOLLEYCARDS TO OPEN FRIDAY VS. SAMFORD

Louisville Volleyball reacts to their 1-seed

We did have to wait a while to find out, while watching the NCAA Volleyball Selection Show, but the Louisville Cardinals are the #1 seed in their region and will open NCAA Tournament play Friday, December 2nd.at 7 p.m. against Samford.   The Cards weren't announced until the final of the four brackets were revealed. 

Purdue and Tennessee will also travel to Louisville to square off against each other in the LNFCU, They'll play at 4 p.m.

The Samford Bulldogs earned an automatic qualifier bid after beating Furman in three sets Sunday to win the Southern Conference Volleyball Tournament. Samford went 19-12 in the regular season and was 11-5 in Southern Conference play. 

All told, five ACC teams made the tournament. Louisville, Pitt (a #2 seed), Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami

Seven SEC schools got in (Kentucky, Georgia, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Tennessee and Arkansas) and the Big10 had six make the tournament. (Ohio St, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, Purdue and Nebraska.) 

We'll have more on this as the week advances. We had photographer Jared Anderson and Volleyball writer Jeff McAdams at the selection show, but they were not included in the entire post-show interview with Louisville Volleyball head coach Dani Busboom Kelly. 

Louisville ends the regular season with a 26-2 record and was 17-1 in ACC play. 

Shortened interview with Dani Busboom Kelly.

Interview with Anna DeBeer.

Interview with Amaya Tillman.

Another commercial break?!

You can see the entire bracket at the link below: 

2022 NCAA Volleyball bracket

(photos by Jared Anderson)

paulie