Cards Still Idle; Transfer Portal Isn't -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

In Paulie's absence, you may get a bit of whiplash as the writing schedule bounces around a touch. We had hoped to introduce our fill-in writer today, but we haven't quite been able to nail that down, so it will wait for a little longer. We're still wishing Paulie the best in his recovery and hoping you all get the chance to hear from him soon.

Volleyball Transfers Galore

Louisville volleyball hasn't landed any major transfers in the portal since the season wrapped up, but they have seen a player depart. Nina Moorer will transfer from the University of Louisville to Texas State University to continue her college career. Moorer's transfer comes after her first season following a redshirt saw her play just two sets in one match. Moorer had three kills on three attempts and added two digs on September 22nd against Syracuse. While Louisville ultimately turned out to not necessarily be the right fit for Moorer, we hope for her success in a return home. Moorer is from Missouri City, Texas (a suburb of Houston), and Texas State is in San Marcos, about 2.5 hours away between Austin and San Antonio.

In other Texas news, a few players have decided to jump on the Burnt Orange Bandwagon as they work to try to three-peat. Last week, the Longhorns got a commitment from Nebraska transfer Whitney Lauenstein. Lauenstein sat out in 2023 to focus on her family after losing her father. She has two years of eligibility remaining. Yesterday saw Jerritt Elliott pick up a couple of more big names, one that Louisville fans are likely to recognize: Reagan Rutherford and Averi Carlson. Rutherford leaves UK after four seasons, and Louisville fans will likely be glad to not see the outside hitter across the net from the Cards in blue again. Rutherford was slowed by injury a bit this past season, playing in just 78 sets after eclipsing 100 sets in the last two seasons, but she still put up 271 kills and hit .315 on the season. Not too shabby. Averi Carlson is a setter from Baylor who transfers after two seasons with the Bears. Carlson had 1188 assists in 2023 after putting up 1258 as a freshman in 2022. Her season high came when she had 60 against SMU. Carlson will likely be excited to set to Rutherford after watching Reagan smash 14 kills on 19 attempts against the Bears in the NCAA tournament. 

Louisville will certainly have their work cut out for them if they run up against the Longhorns in 2024, and it seems everyone will be chasing Texas to prevent back-to-back-to-back championships. We'll be on the lookout to see who the Cards may add now that the floodgates of the transfer portal appear to have opened. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Nina Moorer verbals to Louisville Volleyball -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 2022 PROSPECT SAYS "YES" TO LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL

When you think of Louisville Volleyball, the cadre of opposite and outside hitters that have channeled through the Cardinals program are an impressive lot, to say the least. A scan of the Cards 2020 roster reveals the names Anna DeBeer, Aiko Jones, Claire Chaussee and Nena Mbonu all putting up impressive numbers for the VolleyCards.  

Add another to that impressive list. 

Nina Moorer, a 6'0" opposite/right  side hitter out of Houston, TX has given her verbal to the 2022 Louisville Volleyball squad. This, of course creates the delightful dilemma of "Nina" compared to "Nena" on the roster.  One of you two leapers is going to need to have a nickname bestowed upon you -- to keep our Cardinal Couple Volleyball expert Jeff McAdams from falling into the net of confusion. 

Moorer knocks the ball over the net for Ridge Point High School in Missouri City, TX. and also toils for Houston Skyline 18 Royal Volleyball on the club circuit. 

She broke the exciting news Saturday on Twitter: 

So blessed to say I've verbally committed to continue my academic and athletic career at the University of Louisville! GO Cards ! 

Be sure to drop her a congratulatory message on Twitter, her handle is @NinaMoorer

She'll be the second Texan on the 2022 roster, joining (you guessed it) Nena Mbonu, who played for Klein High School in Spring, TX. In case you wondered, Missouri City and Spring Texas are a mere 45 minutes apart -- Spring being north of Houston and Missouri City south of the home of the Astros. 

Moorer was previously in Lutz, FL -- playing for Steinbrenner High School -- before the family moved to Missouri City. 

Pat Moorer at Louisville

Athletics run in the family, it would appear. Her dad (Pat Moorer) is a strength and conditioning coach for the Houston Texans of the NFL.

If the name Pat Moorer sounds familiar to any Cardinal Football fans, Pat spent four years right here in Louisville (2010-13) on Charlie Strong's football staff -- so Nina definitely knows the Louisville area from her childhood days. 

Pat followed Strong to Texas when the former Cardinal head football coach took the job for the Longhorns and also went with Strong to South Florida. As is the life of an assistant football coach, Pat and family have seen quite a few cities -- he was also at Florida, South Carolina and Illinois. He was a walk-on for the Florida Gators football team in the late 1980's but proved his mettle with 177 tackles in two seasons. (That's A LOT of tackles, friends..) 

Good ol' Charlie at Louisville

Whatever happened to Charlie Strong, while were digging up old bones? After Strong was terminated from the Bulls in 2019, he went to work for his old buddy Nick Saban at Alabama for a year and was part of that National Championship team, . When Urban Meyer decided to leave the college ranks to take over the Jacksonville Jaguars as a head coach, he contacted Charlie (who had coached with him at UF) and Strong is now a part of Meyer's staff at the Jags. 

Now that I've gone completely off the rails from the original intent of today's article, I'll stop the train and end with: 

We'll be watching Nina's senior season with interest before she gets to the 'Ville and welcome her to the Cardinal family! 

Have a marvelous Monday!

paulie