Volleyball Sweeps, FH Drops Home Match -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke on the Road

Following a tough week at home last weekend, the Wide-Net Cards hit the road to take on a pair of teams in North Carolina. That started last night with a victory over the Duke Blue Devils, which Louisville took down in three sets despite some surprising fight from the home team. The hosts, who fell to just 5-15 (2-7) this season, pushed Louisville to the brink in sets one and three, though the Cards took care of business in a big way in the second. The final score was 25-23, 25-13, 25-22. 

The match was also not without its worrisome moments for Louisville. After taking a 16-15 lead in the first, Louisville gave up a five-point run to Duke to trail 20-16. The Cards worked back a 6-1 run of their own to make it 22-21, and the two teams traded a couple of points before the Cards used back-to-back kills to win the set. 

The third set also saw Louisville facing a moderate deficit, though this one came much earlier. Duke came out of the halftime break with a vengeance and jumped out to a 9-3 lead over the Cards. Louisville didn't respond with a major run right away, but instead methodically chunked down that lead to get back in touching distance. After a Duke kill made it 13-11, Louisville used a quick 7-2 burst to take an 18-15 lead. While three points doesn't seem like much, a lead like that late in a set against a very good team like Louisville would have been a bit demoralizing for Duke, especially after squandering a big advantage early. The Cards played with their food a bit, allowing the Blue Devils to stick around, but Duke never got closer than two en route to the final score. 

Louisville's offense spread the love last night, with no player finishing with more than ten kills. Chloe Chicoine and Payton Petersen had 10 apiece, while Kalyssa Blackshear and Nayelis Cabello each finished with seven. Apparently Duke learned nothing from Cabello's offensive performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday, leaving her mostly undefended. Cabello's seven kills came on 13 attempts and she had no errors. Cara Cresse continued to be in a bit of a slump, finishing with three kills and two errors on 12 attempts for an 0.083 hitting percentage. Not ideal for the star middle. 

Cresse did make up for the hitting woes a bit with a strong defensive presence, as she had a solo block and four assists. She was one of two Cardinals with a solo block, as Cabello had the other to go along with three assists. Louisville finished with ten total team blocks, heavily winning that battle as Duke had just three. Louisville hit only .327 in the match, but they held the Blue Devils to .142. 

Louisville also narrowly won the serving battle with two fewer service errors than Duke. Each team finished with six aces, and Kamden Schrand led the way for the Cards in that category with three. Louisville was even on the night from the line, as they also had six errors. Interestingly, the Cards' advantage at the service line was erased by a very whistle-happy referee on the set game. Four total bad sets were called in the match, and Louisville was on the wrong side of three of them. Cabello was called for just one of those. 

Louisville's win keeps them level with SMU at 7-2 in conference play. Both teams are also 15-4 overall and are tied for fourth in the league. The Cards will have a difficult test in their next match, facing the current conference leaders in Chapel Hill. UNC is 16-2 overall and have won ten straight matches to keep them undefeated in conference play. Like Louisville, all of UNC's losses have come in five sets. Unlike Louisville, UNC's were not to top-ten teams. UNC has losses to South Carolina and Kansas State this season, and they have played just one ranked team. The Tar Heels swept then-#11 Florida in Chapel Hill on September 9th. 

The Cards will be a bit fresher, as UNC went five sets with Notre Dame last night. The Heels pulled off a reverse sweep to beat the Irish 19-25, 15-25, 25-17, 25-20, 15-13. The win came in UNC's first match on their new Taraflex court. Unfortunately for Louisville, they won't get to spoil the new floor debut like they did at Creighton, but they can hand UNC their first loss on the new surface. Tomorrow's match between #8 Louisville and #21 UNC will be on ESPN at 3PM. 

FH Offense Falters vs #3 Virginia

Louisville field hockey brought in another ranked team to Trager Stadium yesterday afternoon, but they couldn't repeat the magic of last week's win over California. The Cards' offense wasn't able to break down the stout Cavalier defense and Virginia went on to beat Louisville 2-0. The loss pushed the Cards back below .500 (7-8) and ensured they will finish the conference season below .500 as well. Louisville is still ahead of Boston College in the ACC standings and will have a head-to-head opportunity to lock up their spot in the ACC tournament tomorrow. 

Make no mistake: Virginia is very good. The 12-1 Cavaliers have scored 29 goals this season and they have given up just six. Their defense allows only 7.85 shots per game and has given up just 55 shots on goal for the entire season. On the other side of the ball, the Cavs can create opportunities in a multitude of ways. They've got 82 shots on goal this season and they have only earned 62 corners. All that is to say that Louisville put up a pretty tough fight in this one, but moral victories only go so far. 

Virginia scored early in both the first and second quarters, with a goal in the fifth minute of the match and another in the third minute of the second quarter. Each goal was the scorer's second of the season, which isn't super surprising as the 29 goals scored by the Cavaliers this season have come from 14 different players. The Cards were held fairly quiet in the first half, earning just one shot in each quarter, with both forcing a Virginia save. 

Louisville was able to put the pressure on in the second half, but Virginia's goalie was too much for the Cards to handle. Louisville came out with a clear intent to cut the deficit and try to equalize, as they put up eight shots in the second half. None of their three shots in the third quarter found the target, but they were stymied on four shots on goal in the final stanza. Louisville made use of five penalty corners in the second half but were unable to find the back of the cage. Meanwhile, Virginia kept the Cards honest by taking three second half shots and forcing an Emily Young save on each one. 

The Cards get a very quick turnaround this weekend as they follow a Friday afternoon home match with a Sunday afternoon clash in Chestnut Hill. Louisville will face Boston College tomorrow at noon. If Louisville wins, they'll be guaranteed a spot in the ACC tournament. A loss means they'd need a win over Syracuse or they'd be out on head-to-head tiebreaker. With Trager hosting the event, being left out would be extremely unfortunate. Tomorrow's match will be on ACC Network Extra. 

No Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're out this week due to various hosts being unavailable. We should return with the show next week. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Wins; FH Drops Stunner -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Snap Blue Jays Streak in 3-1 Win

Louisville walked into Sokol Arena in Omaha and did something that opposing teams have struggled to do against the Creighton Blue Jays: win a set. Entering last night, Creighton had dropped just two sets in the previous 91. When Louisville bounced back to win the second set last night, they made it three out of the previous 93. After the Cards completed the victory in four sets, they accomplished an even tougher task: beating the Blue Jays at home. The win snapped Creighton's program-record 32-match home winning streak, which stood as the nation's third-longest active streak. 

Coming off the heels of their first loss of the season to Texas on Wednesday night, Louisville got off to a rocky start in Omaha. Creighton hit .364 in the first set and used a quick 5-1 mid-set run to take a strong lead at 15-11. Louisville fought back to keep the set close, but after the Cards made it 18-20, Creighton rattled off three straight points to put Louisville at a significant disadvantage. Louisville could only win one more point and the final score in the first set was 25-19. 

The Cards got their feet under them a bit more in the second and held a 12-9 lead before the home crowd empowered the Jays to take another swipe at Louisville. Creighton used a 9-1 run to turn Louisville's lead into a precarious deficit. At 18-14, the Cards were staring down a 2-0 set score on the road heading into the halftime break. The two teams edged toward the 25-point marker for the end of the set, but Louisville used a short burst to tie it at 21, and things got awfully nervy from there. Louisville was the first to find a set-point opportunity at 24-23, but Creighton fought it off to earn their own at 26-25. The Blue Jays missed their golden opportunity with a service error to put the Cards level. From there, Creighton wouldn't earn another set-point chance, but they fought off three more from Louisville before the Cards ultimately evened the match with a 31-29 second set win. 

The third saw Creighton build another moderate lead toward the middle of the set with the score at 12-6, but Louisville used a run from Chloe Chicoine at the service line, including an ace, to pull the set level at 12-all. Creighton continued their strong play at home by leading through the latter parts of the set, but a late service error gave Louisville the opportunity for another boom. A Nayelis Cabello (playing on her birthday) serving run pushed Louisville to a 23-19 lead. The teams traded points, putting Louisville in the driver's seat with four set-point opportunities. The Cards needed three of those, but another service error by Creighton gave Louisville the 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win. 

The fourth set was fairly tight for the majority, but it ultimately played out similarly to the first with the teams reversed. Louisville held the lead for most of the set, but never by more than a couple of points. Once the Cards stretched their lead to 20-16, it took the wind out of the Blue Jays' wings a bit. Creighton couldn't overcome the deficit, with the crowd becoming a bit more resigned with each passing point, and Louisville flipped the set one score with a 25-19 victory to win the match 3-1. 

Creighton was christening their new Taraflex floor in Sokol Arena with the Blue Jay Invitational, so the Cards spoiled that party a bit. While the FS1 announcers praised it, and I certainly appreciated the detailing and concepts, I thought it was a bit distracting as a television viewer. Perhaps it was less so in person, but I digress. A few reviews last night also displayed the disparity between different facilities in collegiate volleyball. The fact that we can have high-definition line and net cameras for one match and be limited to three television camera views for reviews in the next is rough. It makes it difficult for coaches to make consistent challenge decisions and it's frustrating as a viewer. 

Louisville was led offensively last night by Payton Petersen. Petersen finished with 18 kills on .318 hitting and nearly had her second straight double-double with nine digs. Chloe Chicoine did pick up a double-double with 17 digs (led the team) to go alone with her 11 kills. Chicoine struggled early and had to dig herself out of a negative hitting percentage midway through the second set, but she finished with .111, so not terrible. Kalyssa Blackshear also had 11 kills and Cara Cresse had 14. 

Nayelis Cabello finished with three kills and two errors to go along with her 42 assists. She had two of Louisville's five aces (including one to win the second set) and picked up seven digs. Cabello also had a block assist and an incredible solo block against the Creighton middle blocker after a Louisville over pass. The birthday girl was everywhere, and the sophomore is showing that she is well-deserving of all the praise she has received and more. 

Defensively, Louisville wasn't able to be as effective on the block as Wednesday night. The Cards finished with just six total team blocks and were out-blocked by the Blue Jays (10). Creighton did a good job of tooling blocks, with a large number of their kills coming off of Louisville hands. The Jays actually outhit Louisville .279-.258. Kamden Schrand had 12 digs and Hannah Sherman led the team with three block assists. 

For Creighton, it's a tough result at home that moves the Jays to an unfortunate 3-4 record on the year. If there's any consolation for them, it's that all four losses have come against top-25 teams and they have picked up a win against a ranked opponent (Kansas). If they can pick up wins over UNI and Rice to finish the weekend, they'll likely remain ranked. Louisville moves to 5-1 on the season, and Creighton marks their first ranked victory of the year. Louisville is back in action against UNI at 7:30PM tonight. The match will be streamed on the Creighton Athletics YouTube channel. 

FH Falls Late to Northwestern

Louisville forced the #1 team in the country to concede their first goal of the season, but they were ultimately unable to close out the win against Northwestern in an overtime heartbreaker. The Cards withstood relentless pressure from the Wildcats and needed just 153 more seconds of scoreless hockey to notch a massive win. Louisville got a huge boost from an overturned goal by Northwestern late in the fourth, but they couldn't keep the NU offense at bay when they pulled the goalie with four minutes remaining. A goal at 57:27 tied the game, and the golden goal rule sealed Louisville's fate when Northwestern scored two minutes into overtime. 

Gigi Edwards took the honor of marring Northwestern's perfect clean sheet record when she scored an unassisted goal early in the second quarter. The goal came at Louisville's third time of asking in a flurry of shots. NU goalie Juliana Boon saved a shot from Lauren Masters and a rebound from Edwards before Edwards's second rebound attempt found the back of the cage. Those three shots on goal, which came in a span of seven seconds, were Louisville's only shots on target in the match. The Cards managed eight total shots, with six coming in that second quarter.

NU also had six shots in the second quarter, which followed four shots in the first and which they matched in the third. The Wildcats ended with 19 total shots and put 11 of them on target. Their fewest shots came in the fourth quarter. They tallied just one, it was on target, and it was the equalizing goal. Field hockey can be a brutal game. Emily Young was incredible for Louisville, as the defense faced seven penalty corners and she finished with nine saves. 

Northwestern is an incredible team, and a 2-1 result would be encouraging in other circumstances. It will likely still be viewed positively when it comes time to review resumes, but being less than three minutes away from a 1-0 win over the top-ranked squad takes just about all of the shine off of a quality loss. 

The Cards get no respite from tough competition as they'll face the 15th-ranked Hawkeyes of Iowa at 1:30 tomorrow. The match in Trager Stadium will be streamed on ACC Network Extra. 

No CCRHP This Week

With hosts scattered about, we're taking the week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast. We should be back next week, but we'll let you know if that changes. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Take Care of Business in Openers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Auburn

Louisville volleyball brought the Auburn Tigers in as part of the 2025 Cardinal Classic and opened the season with a close but convincing win. It was a great way to get the Dan Meske Era underway, as the Cards dazzled a capacity crowd (including Charitie Luper, Anna DeBeer, and Elena Scott) with a sweep of Auburn, winning all three sets with a matching 25-21 score. 

It was a... less than stellar hitting day for both teams, as Auburn managed to break .100 in just the third set and finished with an .084 hitting percentage for the match. While Louisville had nearly double that (.162), that's not saying a whole lot. The big problem for the Cards was one that Jared mentioned could be an issue for this team: they have a fairly low point of attack. Here's a statement we haven't said about Louisville volleyball after many matches in recent years: the Cards were outblocked. Auburn picked up 11 compared to Louisville's six. That mean's nearly half of Louisville's 23 errors came off the block, and they were very dependent on self inflicted wounds from Auburn, who finished with 22 errors. 

Don't get me wrong, the Cards still got the hammer down on offense. Louisville finished with 45 kills, and 43 of those were assisted. They also had a decent serving day, finishing with five aces and just five errors. Auburn finished with just one ace and three errors, giving the Cards a +2 day at the service line. 

Offensively, and this may shock you, Louisville was paced by Cara Cresse and Chloe Chicoine, who each finished with 11 kills. Where it might actually get surprising is that those two were joined on 11 kills by freshman Kalyssa Blackshear. We have mentioned Blackshear a few times as a player to watch out for on the opposite side. Blackshear's 11 kills came on 22 attempts, and she, like Cresse, had just two errors. Those two paced the team in hitting percentage with a .409 from Blackshear and a .474 from Cresse. 

It looks like Louisville is set to run with one setter, as Nayelis Cabello finished with 31 assists, but Cabello will need to be careful not to depend too much on Chicoine. Blackshear's 22 attack attempts were second on the team in yesterday's match, but it wasn't close: Chicoine took 42 swings. She finished with 11 kills and nine errors. The next highest outside hitter was Payton Petersen, who hit 5/5 on 20 attempts. Ava Utterback was 0/1 on one attempt. Not ideal. Interestingly, we didn't see Alanna Bankston or Reese Robins at the outside or opposite hitter positions, respectively. We also didn't see Molly Wilson spell Cabello in any rotations. 

Defensively, I've already mentioned the blocks, but everyone for Louisville had to hit the floor. The Cards had no solo blocks, so it was good team play at the net, but they finished with 70 digs, making up for those balls that got past the block. Petersen led the way, playing strong out of the back row in full rotation despite not having the best offensive day, as she had 16 digs. Kamden Schrand finished with 15, and Hannah Kenny, who also cycled through as a libero had ten. Cabello showed why she only had 31 of Louisville's 43 assists as she had three block assists and 13 digs. Chicoine wrapped up the high numbers with nine digs, narrowly missing the double-double. Cabello (2), Petersen (2), and Kenny also had the aces for the Cards. 

As you might suspect based on the final scores, Louisville never really ran away with a set, somewhat missing that "boom" we've gotten used to. At the same time, they never really had a scare outside of the second set when they faced a 17-12 deficit. Though they would go on to outscore Auburn 13-4 over the remainder of the set, they had to do it largely through consistent pressure, not seeing a run of more than three points until taking the score from 20-20 to 24-20. 

Meske will surely have plenty to cover with the team regarding the net play, but at the end of the day, it's a sweep of a Power 4 team. The Cards have today off while Auburn and Morehead State play, but they'll be back in action on Sunday against the Eagles. The Cards get St. John's on Labor Day. 

Field Hockey Thumps Michigan State

Louisville field hockey opened their season with a fairly tough matchup against a Big Ten opponent in the Michigan State Spartans. In the run-up to the season, we talked a fair amount about how similar these two teams were last season. This didn't look like it would be a straightforward season opener for the Cards, but Justine Sowry's 2025 squad showed that they have been working on a few things since last year. One of the major hiccups in 2024 was an inability to score. Louisville showed no signs of that being an issue, at least early in the season, as they scored early and often against MSU on their way to a 6-1 victory. 

The Cards scored first, nearly ten minutes into the game, with senior Chloe Cuzzupe picking up her first goal of the season. She was assisted by Gigi Edwards. Two minutes later, Lauren Masters doubled Louisville's advantage with an unassisted goal, which would stand as the final goal of the first quarter. The second was similarly uneventful early, but Louisville earned a penalty corner with six minutes remaining in the half. Gracie Potter took the honors and sent the ball to Annabel Sep, who became Louisville's third goal scorer of the half. The Cards went into the break with a 3-0 lead. 

At halftime, Louisville's returning goal leader, Rylie Wollerton, must have decided that she was disappointed to not have gotten in on the action. Wollerton scored four minutes into the second half on an assist by Luciana Carpenter, who had just entered the game 30 seconds earlier. A minute later, Louisville conceded their second penalty corner of the half. The Michigan State shot attempt was blocked but corners breed corners and the Spartans converted on their next attempt. The onslaught continued, as MSU earned another corner a couple of minutes later, but Emily Young picked up a save to end the threat. 

Louisville returned the favor with five minutes left in the half, as Potter took Louisville's fourth corner attempt of the match. An earlier corner had seen Izzy Bianco have her shot blocked, so she worked the play a little differently this time. Bianco received the corner and touched it off to Wollerton, who fired in her second goal of the quarter. A minute and a half later, she completed her first career collegiate hat trick on an assist by Emily Eaton. The quarter ended 6-1, which was the final score of the game. Michigan State threatened with a pair of shots in the fourth, both saved by Young, and Wollerton missed out on her chance for a fourth by firing a penalty corner shot high. By the end of 60 minutes, I think both teams were ready to close this one out. 

Louisville opens the season with a big win, and they largely dominated Michigan State in every facet. The Cards had more shots in every quarter but the fourth, and even that was only 2-1. Louisville had 13 shots to MSU's six and put nine on frame compared to just four for MSU. Both teams had three saves and five corners, but Louisville converted two of their five while MSU could convert just one. We'd like to see that corner conversion rate move north of 50%, but 40% is a good starting spot. 

JUSTINE SOWRY POSTGAME

RYLIE WOLLERTON POSTGAME

You can see interviews with both Justine Sowry and Rylie Wollerton at the links above. As you might expect, they were pretty excited with the win. Louisville is back in action tomorrow against Ohio University at 1PM. If you don't make it out to Trager, the match will be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

With Louisville football getting their season underway today, we'll be without Jared for the show, but Paulie, Daryl, and I will have plenty of joy and excitement to cover with all the fall sports now in action and rolling. You can check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Hosts Red/Black Scrimmage -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Red Defeats Black 3-2

Though I'm not sure a final score truly matters, the Red Squad of the Louisville Cardinals volleyball team defeated the Black Squad in last night's intra-team scrimmage. The annual Red and Black Scrimmage represented the first time for most of CardNation to get their eyes on the 2025 edition of the Cards, their first season under Dan Meske. In addition to the end of the Dani Busboom Kelly era, the Anna DeBeer/Elena Scott reign came to an end at the close of last season as well, so there will be some new names for Louisville fans to become acquainted with. 

One of the players that rotated between the teams was a player that many fans are already well familiar with in Cara Cresse. According to reports from Jared on the floor, Cresse looks like she is already in All-American form, living up to much of the hype that has been thrown her way in the preseason. She had 11 kills and three blocks last night. Cresse will shore up a middle-blocking position that looks to anchor a blocking effort that could, if you believe it, be better than last season. Kalyssa Blackshear will play the second MB position, and she led the black team with 13 kills last night. 

Chloe Chicoine is the other player drawing a lot of attention in preseason, and she also came to play last night. Per Jared, she looked "phenomenal" playing the full rotation, and she amassed nine kills and 15 digs for the red team. Alanna Bankston led the red team with 14 kills and nine digs. Also hitting well for the black team was Payton Petersen, who finished with nine kills and led all players with 19 digs. 

Despite all of that, Jared mentioned that the hitting may be an aspect of Louisville's game that still needs some work. A lot of shots were coming out low, leading to unforced errors in the net and prime blocking material. Perhaps the best indication of that is setter Nayelis Cabello coming up with five blocks. 

Cabello set for the victorious red team last night, and she is part of one of the two major position battles on the floor. Her primary competition for the setter position is transfer Molly Wilson, who led the black team. In addition to the blocks, Cabello finished with two kills, 10 digs, and 38 assists. Wilson had 33 assists and 16 digs. For his part, Jared noted that he believes the edge goes to Cabello due to her ability to chase down errant passes. With two strong options, though, don't be surprised to see a 6-2 employed by Dan Meske. It's not as if he's unfamiliar with it. 

The other position battle is for the newly vacant libero position. While two liberos can be dressed, and Meske may very well choose to do so, it sounds like Kamden Schrand is not particularly interested in sharing the position. The junior had 17 digs last night and Jared notes that her competition (junior Molly Urban and freshman Hannah Kenny) were pretty far back. Kenny is listed as a setter on the roster, so she's an interesting conversion candidate if the defensive skills continue to be a focus. 

All in all, it should be an exciting season regardless, especially as the new players continue to gel with the returners. The next chance to see the Cards in action will be the alumnae match next Saturday. We don't have any confirmed players just yet (rumored are Scott, Claire Chaussee, and Charitie Luper, at least), but we do know some players who won't be playing. DeBeer is continuing to bring her ankle all the way to full for the next professional season, so she's rehabbing in a more controlled environment. Anna Stevenson Hall and Tori Dilfer Stringer are both expecting to be unavailable. Amaya Tillman is an assistant coach at UK, so that would be a competitive advantage issue, and Alexa Hendricks is traveling. Similar to Tillman, Aiko Jones may be precluded from playing due to her role as the Bellarmine head coach, but we'll see on that one. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board today, which is good since there is plenty to discuss. We'll talk actual game action, past and future, and any other news and notes from the week that was. Check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Preseason Poll -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Receive Preseason Love in ACC 

Earlier this week, Jared wrote about the potential breakout candidates for the Louisville volleyball team. Coincidentally, the ACC preseason polls were announced a few hours later, and the coaches have their own opinions on Louisville's potential stars. 

Three Cardinals were named to the Preseason All-ACC Team: Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, and Nayelis Cabello. None of these players should come as a major shock. Cresse was one of four Cardinals to be named to an AVCA All-American team last season (honorable mention) and Chicoine was on an All-Region First Team. Chicoine was also on the All-Big Ten second team last year. Cabello was named as the ACC Freshman of the Year, so her inclusion on the list is also fairly straightforward. 

What the Cards will be looking for is more players to work their way onto the list. Louisville is second in players named, behind Pittsburgh with four. SMU and Stanford are also tied with Louisville at three. Miami has two, while Georgia Tech, UNC, and Notre Dame have one player each to round out the list. 

The preseason team also fairly well aligns with the Preseason Coaches Poll. Louisville finds themselves in second in the league with 271 points. Louisville trails Pitt, who had 279 points, and narrowly beat out Stanford (264) and SMU (243). Notre Dame is the lowest team with a player named to the preseason team, as the Irish were picked to finish just 12th. At the top, Louisville gathered four of the first-place votes, with Pitt picking up 10. Stanford had the two outstanding votes. 

It's sure to be a tight race in the ACC. Louisville may have hoped that the recent lack of form from Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and FSU meant that they could focus on the Panthers, but Stanford and SMU have kept it a multi-horse race at the top of the league. With no conference tournament, every match will be critical to determine a champion. We'll see what Dan Meske can do in his first season at the helm. 

No CCRHP This Week

Hosts are scattered this week for various reasons, so we'll have the week off from the show. Next week will mark the last season before competition, so we'll work to bring you an episode looking at the specific upcoming games. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball Falls; Volleyball Beats UK -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Can't Repeat Upset at UVA

After the big win on Thursday evening, Louisville looked to sneak the series from Virginia last night, but they'll have to wait until today if they want to finish the job. The Cavaliers scored first and poured it on late to break away and ultimately take an 8-2 victory. Louisville will get another chance at noon today. 

Louisville ran a bit of a different lineup yesterday, with Easton Lotus leading off but Char Lorenz following her instead of Chelsea Mack. Lotus bunted out before Lorenz had an infield single. Madison Pickens was next, and the box score gives her a single with Lorenz out at second, so I'm not quite sure what happened there. Sounds like a fielder's choice to me, but so it goes. Pickens stole second but Bri Despines ended the inning with another infield ground ball. Hey... at least the Cards were putting the bat on the ball. 

Brooke Gray got the start and UVA jumped on her quickly. A double down the left field line opened the inning and a sac bunt turned into a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. A steal put two in scoring position and a ground ball back to Gray allowed both runners to advance, scoring a run. The trail runner taking the base was what haunted, as the next ball was a sacrifice fly to center. A ground out ended the inning but the Cavs led 2-0. 

Louisville got those runs back in the third. Chelsea Mack, batting ninth, singled up the middle and advanced to second on a Lotus sacrifice bunt. Lorenz got her second infield single and Mack moved up to third. Lorenz then ran herself off the base paths with a caught stealing, which is an interesting choice in the situation. Either way, Pickens singled to score Mack and Despines singled to keep the two-out rally alive. Camryn Lookadoo then hit a sharp grounder to short, but the shortstop missed the throw to second, allowing Despines and Lookadoo to reach safely and allowing Pickens to score, unearned. The defense recovered, with the shortstop herself refielding the ball and throwing Despines out at third. Inning over, but the score was tied again. 

The tie remained to the bottom of the fourth when UVA again grabbed a leadoff double. Instead of a sac bunt turning into a single this time, it turned into an error when the ball wasn't caught cleanly at first. The unearned run was returned, and UVA regained the lead. A fielder's choice erased the lead runner (and the second potential unearned run), but a two-run homer made it 5-2. Gray recovered for a line out to make it two outs, but a single and a walk ended her day. Zabala came on in relief needing to just get one out, but a single to center was booted and two more unearned runs came in to score. A flyout ended the inning, but the lead had grown to 7-2. 

The Cards stranded six runners on base over the final three innings and were unable to cut into the lead. UVA added an insurance run they didn't need to set the final score at 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth. With two on and nobody out in the seventh, Louisville's chances ended on a strikeout, an infield fly, and a flyball to straightaway center. Ballgame. 

With Zabala having only thrown 1.1 innings yesterday and Sam Booe having come in to throw one of her own, it's anyone's guess who will take the start in the rubber match this afternoon. Louisville will need another strong offensive showing if they want to get a series upset. The game will air on ACC Network Extra. 

Meske Wins First Battle of the Bluegrass

Does a spring exhibition count as a true rivalry game? You bet it does. At least when we win. If we lose it doesn't count. Makes sense, right? Either way, the Cards took on the Cats in L&N Federal Credit Union Arena last night in their fourth and final spring match in the first season of the Dan Meske Era. Over 1,000 fans were on hand to watch the Cards take the 3-1 victory. We're still selling out the L&N FCU Arena in spring ball. I think the volleyball support is doing just fine. 

The Cards won 25-17, 20-25, 25-16, and 25-14 and were led by Payton Petersen and Reese Robins who each had eight kills. Defensively, the Cards were on fire. Kamden Schrand, officially wearing the libero jersey full time, finished with 22 digs, and Nayelis Cabello was close behind with 18. Cabello also contributed three blocks and six kills to go with her 24 assists. Petersen added four blocks and Robins had two. Those four will certainly be names we'll get used to hearing throughout the season. 

Other players that earned shoutouts from the official gocards writeup were Cara Cresse, Chloe Chicoine, Hannah Sherman, Kalyssa Blackshear, Ava Utterback, Hannah Kenny, and Alanna Bankston. There will be a lot of new names to get acquainted with after a fair amount of turnover from last season, but things appear to be just fine after Louisville went 4-0 during their spring season. Last night, the Cards also honored Elle Glock with a special senior day ceremony of her own after Glock decided to forego her final season of eligibility to graduate and depart UofL in May. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on hand today, as house projects keep Daryl away. Given the updates from last time she was on the show, we'll definitely let that slide. Join us as we talk softball, lacrosse, volleyball, and a little WBB. Check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

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Overcast (free account required): Link

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RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case 

Taj Roberts Named ACC Rookie of the Week -- ACC Volleyball Awards -- Volleyball Tournament Reaction -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Roberts Named ACC Rookie of the Week

For the second time this season, freshman Tajianna Roberts was named ACC Rookie of the Week. Although Louisville only played one game over the last week, Roberts played a crucial role in the road win against Colorado.

Roberts scored 13 points while shooting 50% from the field. She added four steals as well as a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists. This is the sixth time this season where the freshman guard finished in the double figures in scoring. Roberts used a 5-0 run to help spark the Louisville 16-0 run in the fourth quarter.

Louisville returns home tomorrow night to host #11 Oklahoma. Tip-off is a bit earlier than normal, slated for 5:00pm. This game also features the return of former Louisville player Payton Verhulst, who is now with the Sooners.

ACC Volleyball Awards Features Multiple Cardinals

The ACC announced the annual ACC Volleyball awards yesterday. Elena Scott and Nayelis Cabello earned accolades.

Elena Scott was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight time. It is her fourth All-ACC award in her career. This season, the Louisville native averaged 4.43 digs per set played with a total of 456 digs on the year. She also had 110 assists and led the Cards with 33 service aces. Scott's career tallies include 1,861 digs, 419 assists, and 137 aces. The digs and aces both rank in the top-10 in program history.

Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Year. Cabello played a major role in Louisville's 6-2 offense, where she rotated with Elle Glock. The newcomer averaged 5.32 assists per set with a total of 554 this season. She also added 162 digs and 15 blocks. She was named ACC Freshman of the Week six times this season.

Scott was named to the All-ACC First Team alongside Anna DeBeer and Charitie Luper. Care Cresse was named to the All-ACC Second Team while Cabello was named to the All-ACC Freshmen Team.

ACC Player of the Year was awarded to Pitt's Olivia Babcock. ACC Setter of the Year went to Stanford's Kami Miner. Dan Fisher was named ACC Coach of the Year as Pitt won the ACC and was named the top overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Louisville opens up play in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at approximately 7:00pm against Chicago State.

Volleyball Tournament Reaction

With the release of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Sunday night, the biggest question for Louisville fans was answered. What seed would Louisville get? They earned the final 1-seed.

Pittsburgh earned the top overall seed. The Panthers lost one match all season and won the ACC. Nebraska and Penn State each earned 1-seeds, both with two losses.

Louisville beat out Stanford and Creighton, both of whom the Cards beat this season. Stanford did turn around and even the season series against Louisville this past weekend. The Committee seemed to weigh Louisville's wins over Stanford, Creighton, SMU, Wisconsin, and Kentucky pretty heavily. Kentucky earned a 3-seed while the other four on that list are 2-seeds. UofL went 5-1 against 2-seeds and 3-seeds, but went 0-4 against 1-seeds. 

Stanford went 5-3 against teams 3-seed or higher. The Cardinal (singular) won three sets against the Cardinals (plural) but Louisville won four sets, which might have helped been the deciding factor.

While Creighton went 29-2, they went 1-2 against teams 3-seed or higher. The Blue Jays fell to Louisville and Nebraska, but did sweep Kansas. The weakness of the Big East most likely played a factor in the seeding.

The ACC saw much love from the selection committee. Four of the top eight seeds are ACC schools: 2-seed Pitt, 1-seed Louisville, 2-seed Stanford, and 2-seed SMU. Nine ACC schools made the NCAA Tournament, The other five include 7-seed Florida State, 7-seed Georgia Tech, 8-seed North Carolina, 8-seed Miami, and NC State.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky also saw a fair amount of love with four schools dancing: 1-seed Louisville, 3-seed Kentucky, Morehead State, and Western Kentucky. The three non-Louisville schools were placed in the Pitt Region, highlighted by top seeds Pitt and SMU. I don't see any of the three surviving to the Final Four.

Louisville played a lot of matches against teams in the NCAA Tournament this year. Those opponents include Wisconsin, Tennessee, Penn State, South Dakota, Missouri, Northern Iowa, Creighton, Kentucky, Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami, NC State, SMU, North Carolina, Stanford (2x), and Pitt (2x). 19 matches out of 30 opponents this season in the NCAA Tournament shows that this Louisville team is battle tested. Are the Cards ready for the challenge? Playing at home the entire tournament plays in their favor, but the Cards did lose at home to both Nebraska and Pitt this season.

Keys to Winning the NCAA Tournament:

-Limit unforced errors. This includes service errors and attack errors. Louisville likes to serve aggressively, but taking a little off the serve to keep the ball in gives your defense a chance to make a stop. Attack errors seemed to be more plentiful than kills a few times this season. That's more of a mentality or lack of focus.

-Strong blocking. Louisville is one of the top blocking teams in the country. They averaged 3.0 blocks per set this season. The Cards have established their identity under Dani Busboom Kelly through their blocking.

-Feed the hot hand. This might be an underrated key point. Louisville is not short on playmakers by any means. Different players have stepped up in various matches. Whether it's Anna DeBeer, Charitie Luper, Sofia Maldonado Diaz, Payton Petersen, Reese Robins, Cara Cresse, Phekran Kong, or Hannah Sherman, find the hot hand and feed them. It's no different than feeding the hot shooter in basketball.

Cardinal Couple plans to have in person coverage for all Louisville matches in the NCAA Tournament.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards Remain #3 -- Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Stays Put at #3 in AVCA Rankings

To no surprise, Louisville volleyball retained their #3 ranking in the latest AVCA poll, sitting behind Pitt and Nebraska. The Cards easily swept Duke and North Carolina at home over the weekend, the latter of whom has lost four of their last five matches as they have reached the tougher part of the ACC slate.

Louisville has improved their record to 23-3 on the season and 15-1 in conference play. The only loss for the Cards in the ACC came on the road against Pitt in five sets. The Cards have had six straight sweeps and 12 overall since the ACC portion of the schedule began.

Pitt swept Florida State and Miami to improve to 25-1 and 15-1. The Panthers have won 10 straight since falling to SMU. 

Nebraska is 26-1 on the year and 16-0 in Big 10 play following victories against Indiana and Minnesota. The Huskers were swept by SMU over Labor Day Weekend and have surrendered just seven sets since then.

A rare black & white photo from Jared

Behind Louisville sits a Penn State team who defeated the Cards early in the season. The rest of the top 10 remained unchanged too- Creighton, Wisconsin, Stanford, Purdue, Arizona State, and SMU. Other Louisville opponents in the rankings include #12 Kentucky, #15 Georgia Tech, and #23 Florida State. North Carolina and Miami both received votes in the latest AVCA poll.

Next on the schedule is a trip to the Commonwealth of Virginia with matches against Virginia and Virginia Tech. They will follow that with a home match against Pitt Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and a trip to Stanford on Black Friday.

Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week

For the fifth time this season, Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week for Louisville volleyball. The freshman setter tallied 33 assists, eight digs, one ace, and one block over the weekend.

Cabello has placed herself as one of the frontrunners for ACC Freshman of the Year. Her case for ACC Setter of the Year is not as strong as Cabello has split time in that role with Elle Glock. Louisville has run a 6-2 offense this season, which affords a team to work with two setters in a rotation.

Women's Basketball Road Trip Thoughts

While we are now three days removed from Louisville women's basketball's trip down I-64 to Lexington, I haven't said much regarding the trip. Instead of digging into the game any more than we already have, I'll spend some time recapping our trip instead.

I met up with Paulie and Sonyain mid-afternoon to make the trip to Wildcat Country. Lexington traffic was heavier than normal due to their football team and women's basketball team both playing at home. While we normally park in the lot adjacent to Memorial Coliseum in past trips, we were declined a spot to park... despite being media and having a handicapped parking pass. 

Paulie, Sonya, and I ventured down the road to the true media parking lot, roughly 2.5 blocks from the arena. We were told that there was no transportation to the arena from the lot so I turned around and dropped our Cardinal Couple "OG's" off at the front door before driving back to the media lot.

Upon meeting back up with Paulie and Sonya, we were informed that the media entrance was in a different spot due to construction and had to walk to the far side of the arena. Once we checked in, we were informed that the elevator for us to use was then at the opposite side of the arena from us, which would take us down to the floor. We get down to the floor and... the media room is the far side of the court.

By now, we've certainly gotten our steps in. Poor Paulie and Sonya, though. While the KFC Yum! Center offers plenty of floor media seating, all media seating at Memorial Coliseum was up a flight of stairs. Talk about a workout with all of the walking back-and-forth and up-and-down. Paulie wryly commented that he hadn't done as much walking since there had been a Carter in the White House. A special "thank you" to UK WBB SID  Cami Moore Williams, who assigned a student to show Paulie and Sonya how to get from the media break room to their seats. in the confusing labyrinth that is the new Memorial Coliseum  All this, after a huge renovatuon...it was much easier to get from the media room to sideline press seats in the old facility. UK has basically snubbed their nose at the independent media who provide them coverage.  

I was a bit more fortunate as I was on the floor in the end zone with the rest of the Louisville photographers. It was nice to have some friendly faces around me. I still felt the effect of being on the road as the Kentucky fans sitting courtside behind us didn't understand that you wave pom-poms in the air and not in a spot that hits photographers in the back of the head. They also really didn't like the way Dee Kanter and her crew officiated the game. While the stripes may not have heard their yelling, my ringing ears caught every word and spit.

Oy vey. The things we do as media to cover the school we love... Rain or shine, red or blue, we will continue to cover our beloved Cardinals.

POST GAME

On a side note, don't try to bait an opposing team's coach into commenting on the officiating. Props to Jeff Walz on handling that situation with aplomb and deference concerning the reporter who tried to bait him over the weekend. Walz saw Cards' free throws woes as the deciding factor in the game, the Cards were 9-15 (60%), UK was 13-18 (72%). As Donovan Clingan's mom Stacy told hom years ago.."Make your free throws, win games.."  It's the easiest shot you'll get on the court....next to a uncontsted layup.  

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

VolleyCards #4 in Committee Rankings -- Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Earns #4 Spot in First Committee Rankings

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released their first Top 16 over the weekend. Louisville came in at the #4 spot, positioning themselves to play host in the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament if everything holds.

Pitt has commanded the top spot in the AVCA Rankings for a few weeks, but the NCAA Committee disagreed, putting Nebraska at #1. They put Pitt at #2. The Huskers are 18-1 and the Panthers are 17-1. Penn State, also 18-1, came in at #3 in the NCAA Committee's eyes. Louisville, 16-2, rounds out the top four.

The rest of the NCAA Committee's current rankings are as follows:

#5 Stanford (14-3)

#6 Creighton (17-2)

#7 SMU (14-5)

#8 Texas (12-3)

#9 Wisconsin (13-4)

#10 Oregon (14-3)

#11 Kansas (16-1)

#12 Purdue (15-4)

#13 Utah (15-3)

#14 TCU (14-4)

#15 USC (14-4)

#16 Minnesota (12-6)

The Committee will come out with more rankings in the future with the true NCAA Selection Show happening on Sunday, December 1.

Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week

For the third time this season, Louisville setter Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week. Over the weekend against Wake Forest and NC State, Cabello recorded 31 assists, 10 digs, two blocks, and two aces. She is up to 334 assists, 90 digs, and eight aces on the year.

Cabello has split time with Elle Glock in the 6-2 rotation Louisville has been running this year. The 6-2 rotation allows a team to utilize two setters in a set through normal rotation, but can then limit number of substitutions for other positions such as back row defense.

Cabello is the only player to earn ACC FOTW honors three times this year. Duke's Breonna Goss has received the accolade twice and no other player has earned the honor more than once.

Louisville's schedule becomes much tougher this weekend as they hit the road for Pitt on Friday night and SMU on Sunday. The Panthers have only lost four sets all year, with three of those coming in a five-set loss to SMU. The Mustangs have played giant killer by sweeping Nebraska and Georgia Tech, and defeating Pitt and Baylor.

Women's Soccer Alumnae Game

Louisville Women's Soccer held their annual Alumnae Game when they defeated ranked Cal over the weekend. Here are some photos of a few alums we got to see and catch up with.

Kiana Klein, Morgan Everett, Ravin Alexander, and Delaney Snyder

Kennadi Carbin and Sanela Hodzic

Maisie Whitsett and Taylor Kerwin

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared