WBB vs SMU -- Goodbye DBK -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Hello readers, welcome to the end of the month.

Photo: Jared Anderson

Before we get into any basketball recaps, I have to mention the departing DBK from the Louisville Volleyball program. 

First, I was actually wearing a volleyball shirt all day on Wednesday. The news broke in the evening and I gasped when the Cardinal Couple chat shared the news. I was not ready for this inevitability to come to fruition so soon, but is anyone ever ready for a good coach to move on?

I just wish she could have brought one home for the Cardinals first. The Cards got to the big game twice but did not take all the marbles. I fully believe the Cards could’ve made it happen on their home court had Anna DeBeer been playing in the match. It’s one of those things that’ll sting for a while and now this news… we will see how the look of the program changes over the next few months.

I also will say I'm not surprised DBK said "yes" to the Huskers. It was an opportunity for DBK to return to her alma mater and I imagine she will be there for the long haul. The Husker program usually finds itself in the national conversation. I appreciate DBK for leaving the program better than she found it. It’s been a lot of fun to watch. But I hope the Cards kick their arse!!!!



WBB

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals (9-1, 16-5) pulled out another close one out on the road against the SMU last night...corralling the Mustangs 80-75 to move to 15-6 on the season and 8-2 in the ACC.  Tajianna Roberts lead for UofL with 22 points shooting...going 9-14 from the field.  

End of 1Q 21-15 Cards
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% SMU
Reb. 9-6 SMU
3-pt %
3-7 42.9% Cards
1-2 50% SMU


Jayda Curry hit a 3 to start the game for the Cards. With a sprinkle of scoring from Nyla Harris, Olivia Cochran and Taj Roberts, the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run to push it to a 12-2 lead. It was a 2:30 min scoring drought for SMU. But not to be discouraged, SMU went on a 6-0 run before a Harris layup puts the Cards up 14-8. Jessica Peterson scored 8 of the Mustangs first 10 points. SMU battled back to make it 14-13 before Harris put it up and in for a perfect 3-3 start on the juniors' night.




End of 2Q  20-17 Cardinals 


FG %
7-15 46.7% Cards
5-12 41.7%  SMU
Reb.  9-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-4 50% Cards
2-5 40%  SMU



The Cardinals committed 2 turnovers in the first 2:30 minutes. SMU took its first lead at 23-21.  SMU goes on an 8-0 run to open the 2nd quarter in the first 4 minutes.  A Roberts steal and open layup missed off the bounce but she got her own rebound and put back to secure the lead back for Louisville.  Roberts followed it up with a 3 pointer to make it 28-23.

As the two squads battled,  the Cards cranked up the pressure with a minute and half left in the half with 4 freshman on the floor and took a 38-32 lead.  Arenas hit the 3 pointer with 20 seconds to make it a 41-32 lead. UofL went on a 7-0 run in final minute and 40 seconds... holding SMU scoreless for the final 2:20 in the half.

Roberts had 12 points for UofL on 4-7 shooting, 2-3 from 3 point land 3 assists and 2 rebounds in the half. 



HALF   41-32




End of 3Q

FG %
8-15 53.3% Cards
5-12 41.7%  SMU
Reb.   11-4 SMU
3-pt %
2-4 50% Cards
2-5 40%  SMU 


Curry re-entered the game after sitting out most of the second quarter and hit the jumper to give the Cards their largest lead at 11. She played just 12 minutes of the first half due to some early fouls. Olivia Cochran got some questionable whistles as well.  

The Cards built a 50-39 lead with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. SMU committed 4 turnovers over a two-ish minute period.  Cards had 26 points off 17 SMU turnovers.  Merissah Russell's intentional foul to stop the clock when Curry comes up limping and grabbing her hamstring after making the steal but is unable to put the ball through the hoop.   

Berry hits the jumper in the last 10 seconds and the Cards retake a 10 point lead.



End of 4Q

FG %
6-10 60% Cards
6-11 54.5%  SMU
Reb.  6-3 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
2-4 50%  SMU

Over a minute and a half to start the fourth... Nya Robertson went on a 9-0 run cutting the Cards lead to 65-60 with 7:30 to go.

Jayda Curry hit a 3 with 6:45 left in the game to put Cards back up 8 but SMU hit the 3 to respond and SMU's Robertson hits her 25th point of the game before she comes up huge again on an acrobatic shot and the and 1 to send her to the line.   

Robertson had 13 points at half, 0 in the third and 19 in 4th quarter

She tied it up 68 all with 5:15 to go...four minutes earlier the Cards lead by 14 with 9:15 left in the game.  

Russell air balls a 3 before SMU takes the lead with 3:45 to go, 72-70. 

Curry with the acrobatic drive to the basket and the lucky roll to tie it all up again.

A ridiculous loose ball foul called on Cochran, her fifth, sends her to the bench and sends the Mustangs to the line where they went 1-2.

Taj Roberts with a huge bucket off the glass puts the Cards ahead 76-75 with under a minute to play.  SMU fouls with 20 seconds to go.  SMU fouls Curry with about 17 seconds left where Curry went 2-2 to and put the Cards up 78-75. The Cards add two more free throws fpr the final 80-75 margin

UP NEXT

Louisville vs  Notre Dame

Sunday at 12p.m.

ESPN2 

FRED REPORT


Fred Chopin (1810-1849) wrote 21 noctures. 

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 12-13 with Nyla Harris leading the way with 6-6.  The Mustangs had about twice as many free throw opportunities but the Cards were at least productive when given the opportunity to secure the game at the end.  Capital F

REBOUNDING --  UofL got outrebounded 30-25 in the game.  Olivia Cochran led the rebounding efforts with just 5 due to her foul trouble.  The Cardinals had been establishing a reputation for securing a lot of second chance opportunities but only managed 8 offensive rebounds in the game.  no letter

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cardinals were up by 14 at the start of the 4th quarter before they saw the lead disintegrate when SMU took the lead with just under 4 minutes left in the game.   Kudos to the squad for coming back after letting go of the lead late into the game but ....gollllleeee..... I'm with our site founder Paulie when he says, "let's ditch the 4th quarter of basketball games moving forward."   lower case e

DEFENSE --  The Cards held the Mustangs scoreless for the final 2:30 of the first half and final 2:44 of the game to seal the victory.   SMU was 2-7 in the ACC heading into the game.  Walz and the Cards knew it would be no easy task but they really did give the UofL a huge scare heading into February and a huge Sunday matchup.  lower case d

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-_- e-d

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

As always
Go Cards!


~Daryl

Win one, lose one --MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FIELD HOCKEY WINS AT BALL STATE...VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO NEBRASKA IN SUNDAY CONTESTS

As we tend to do, here at Cardinal Coupe we like to report on the joy and excitement of Louisville women's sports...so let's start with a win that took place Sunday, then we'll get to the loss...

FIELD HOCKEY TRAVELS TO MUNCIE, BEATS BALL STATE

Louisville Field Hockey made the trip to central indiana early Sunday and brought back with them a 4-2 win in a noon match over Ball State University. 

The Cards scored a goal each quarter on the BSU Cardinals, and got the action started with a goal off a penalty corner just 2:46 into the bird battle.  It was Izzy Bianco knocking in the first score, Chloe Plumb and Tatum Kroon were credited with the assists on the corner, as Justine Sowry seems to have mixed up the crew on the penalty corners and teamed up Bianco wih the younger Plumb and Kroon. It worked to start out Sunday, it seems. 

Louisville increased the lead to 2-0 when the the elder Plumb (Aimee) got a feed from Chloe Cuzzupe with 21:26 gone in the match. The visitors went into halftime with UofL holding a 2-0 lead. Louisville had 12 first half shots, and BSU just one.  

The home team got on the scoreboard with just three minutes passed in the third quarter when Emma Van Hal scored off a pass from Paloma Rengifo. Louisville would push the score to 3-1, though,.at the end of the quarter when Rylie Wollerton got an unassisted score. 

Louisville would push the advantage to 4-1 when they scored on a penalty corner about five minutes into the final quarter.with Izzy Bianco got her second score of the contest..this time Mia Duchars and Sophia Parker were responsible for the feed and set. BSU closed out the scoring with four minutes left in the contest...Nadine Loeps doing the honors...to maethe score 4-2. 

The Louisville win pushes them to 5-3 on the season, and drops Ball St. to 1-5. UofL comes  home to face Boston College next...on Friday. 

VOLLEYBALL FALLS TO #5 NEBRASKA IN THE KFC YUM CENTER

About a half hour after Field Hockey got started, we saw a top 5 match between Louisville and Nebraska. The good aspect of the day was I got to talk to Coach Walz and Coach Kelsey at the match. The bad thing was...Nebraska wiped the floor with the Cards. They brought brooms, and swept the Cards

Let's not kid ourselves, this was a beat down that painful to watch.  The straight sets 25-16,25-17, 25-20 Cornhuskers win was on national TV too, on ABC. 

The attendance,aided by more than just a few Nebraska fans, filled the lower bow land the curtains were drawn back in the upper levels for fan seating as well.  Sonya (not Wanda) Sykes and I were on media row, in the end zone, getting bombared by "kills" in pre and regular game and watching a Cornhusker squad hit .305 against the VolleyCards, Louisville hit just .133 

SET ONE

Louisville jumped out to a 5-3 lead on an Anna DeBeer kill, but Nebraska went on a 4-0 run to take a 7-5 lead. It was a lead they would not surrender and a 9-3 run built Nebraska's lead to 16-8 on a Lindsay Krause service ace, The Cornhuskers stretched that to 21-12 on a Cards return miscue and took the win 25-16 on another Krause kill. 

SET TWO

Nebraska jumped out to a 6-2 edge to start the second set and pushed that to 12-3 after a Cards hitting error. It was 15-7 Cornhuskers after a Anna DeBeer kill, but the Cards got a time out when they fell behnd 20-11. The Cornhuskers took the set  25-17, closing the set out with a kill from Harper Murray. 

SET THREE

The Cardinal faithful hoped that a halftime talk and coachng sesion would bring Louisville back into this match...and...for awhile, the Cards did put up a strong effort. Louisville grabbed an early 8-5 lead after a Charitie Luper kill. Nebraska tied it at 11-11 on a block and the teams exchanged the leads...still tied at 16-16 after another Luper kill. Nebraska, though, went on a 4-0 erun to grab a 20-16 lead and UofL could get no closer than three the rest of the way...a Murray kill ending game and match at 25-20.

A demoralizing defeat after all the hype of a top 5 match up...and maybe this Louisvlle squad isn't a top 10 team...time will tell...I suppose, but on Sunday they looked like an also ran in the ACC instead of the #4 squad in D1. 

Time to learn from the beat, and as John L Smoth used to say, tear off the rear view mirror an move forward. 

The Cards (8-2) return to action on Friday, when they'll host California in the on- campus LNFCU arena. 

pauie

( volleyball photos by JARED ANDERSON..THE BIRTHDAY BOY}

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

Louisville and Wisconsin Play Second Match

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

Nebraska

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

Kentucky

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

Wisconsin

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

Louisville

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

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

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Divine in Devaney - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball Victorious in Lincoln

Hop in the ol' CCRHP time machine with me.  We're not going far, and it won't take a second, because it's a time machine, right?

We're just going back to early July of this year, like I said, not far.  The fall sports schedules for UofL Athletics were just released.  Looking at the volleyball schedule and we see a nine day stretch with matches against Purdue on a neutral court, reigning national champs Kentucky, and Nebraska at Lincoln.

There's no way Louisville comes out of that gauntlet with three wins, right?

OK, back in the time machine back towards the present.  Stop!  Not quite all of the way back, yet.  We're now just 24 hours in the past.  Louisville got the wins over Purdue, a sweep in fact.  They also had a barnburner, and rather sweaty, 5-set win over Kentucky.  The final game of that stretch is imminent.  The Cards look good, and have even found themselves the better ranked team than Nebraska.  A win looks like a very real possibility, though not a sure thing.  Surely it'll take at least four sets to do it, right?

No, it didn't take four sets.  The Cards walked into the Devaney Center, with over 8,200 Huskers fans, yet another sell-out crowd, and got down to business.  An hour and 45 minutes later, UofL walks out carrying their broom that has gotten so much use this year.  Sweeping the Huskers 25-17, 25-20, 25-18.

UofL held Nebraska to just .046 hitting in the match.  Much of the credit goes to UofL once again touching the four blocks per set rate that puts the Cards in the upper echelons of blocking teams in the NCAA.  Aiko Jones, Amaya Tillman, and Anna Stevenson led that blocking effort.  Jones got in on seven, while Tillman shared five plus a monster solo.  Stevenson picked up two big solo blocks and shared in another four.

Offensively, Stevenson, Jones, and Anna DeBeer racked up double digit kills, 11, 10, and 10 respectively.  Jones' OH .381 is a good performance, but Stevenson's .588 probably did the most to pull the team hitting up to .255.

The first set opened a bit tentatively by both teams, with some back and forth, until they reached a 4-4 tie.  The Cards then put together a 4-0 run, the biggest run of the set, up to 8-4.  Nebraska's biggest run of the set got them back to within one point at 10-9, but UofL returned the favor to stretch it back to 13-9.  The Cards got settled in and put together another couple of 3-0 runs to continue to slowly expand on that lead.

UofL would get the first point, again, in the second set, and again trade a few points with Nebraska early.  A mini-run would then get the Card's lead to 6-3, but UNL would battle back to tie the set at 9.  The middle of the set would be consumed by lots of back and forth scoring until Nebraska led the set at 17-16.  They would never lead at any point in the match by more than one point, however.  Louisville would get the next point, however, and then rotate into the Tori Dilfer service rotation.  This rotation has proven to be by far the most effective for the Cards.  With a front row of Claire Chaussee, Amaya Tillman, and Aiko Jones, all potent weapons, with an escape hatch of Anna DeBeer's high flying, high power, back row attack.

Louisville would use this rotation in this set to go on a five point run, gaining separation out to 21-17.  Nebraska wasn't really ready to give up, however, continuing to battle to 22-20 before Aiko Jones decided that she wanted to put an end to it.  Two kills by Jones, and a team-up with Stevenson would close out the set for the Cards.

In the third set, Nebraska would battle.  It had become clear that Louisville was overall the better team, at least on this night, but the Husker's dug deep and battled.  Neither team was able to get more than a two point lead for much of the match.  Nebraska held a slim one point margin at 17-16 and then one of those DeBeer back row attacks rotated Tori Dilfer into the service position.  Yes, UofL was back to that same rotation.  UofL would use it for a 7-0 run, mostly on Nebraska hitting errors and with a big Amaya Tillman solo block.  Nebraska would get one last point before the match closed out on Husker hitting errors.

UofL closed out non-conference play in a dominant fashion, with a easily-in-hand win over Purdue, a tougher win over the defending national champs, and a solid win over a perennial powerhouse on their home floor where they enjoy one of the biggest home court advantages of any team in the country.  The Cards will move on to conference play, starting with hosting the Florida contingent of the ACC, Miami and Florida State, this coming weekend.  Conference matches to keep an eye on are against Georgia Tech and Pitt, ranked 18th and 4th respectively.

Field Hockey Eyes the Hawkeyes

Iowa visits UofL in Field Hockey, with a start time of 2pm at Trager Stadium.

The ACC is generally considered the premier conference in Field Hockey, but this year, the Big 10 is making it known that they haven't given up on the sport.  With eight ranked teams, and six of those in the top 10, it's seemingly the Big 10's year in Field Hockey.

Iowa contributes to that Big 10 ranking presence, currently sitting in the 2nd spot in the nation.

Ellie Holley, Lokke Stribos, and Ciara Smith are the goal leaders for Iowa, with six, five, and five.  Expect Grace McGuire in the cage for the Hawkeyes.  McGuire has only four goals against this season, though all of those came at the hands of ACC teams.  Wake Forest was able to get three by her, and UNC got the other.  Iowa has blanked everyone else they've played this year.

You can catch this one on the ACC Network linear channel on your TV at 2pm or come out to Trager where Field Hockey admission is always free.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We always want you to tune in to the CCRHP, but we didn't have a Case for it this week.

Case was attending a morning wedding, so wasn't able to join us, but did get Daryl back with us along with Jared, Paulie, and myself.

Of course, we recapped the latest from Field Hockey, Soccer, and a big rivalry win for Volleyball along with previewing upcoming competitions. We also looked at the UofL WBB ACC Schedule. 

As always the stream is available below, or via the usual podcast locations

JMcA