Volleyball Gets Road Win; Field Hockey Takes Home Loss -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Sweeps Duke

In the first match of a four match road trip, the Louisville volleyball team got off to a pretty good start with an easy sweep of the Duke Blue Devils in Durham. Duke was only 8-9 on the season up until last night and only 1-3 in conference, so a clean win was to be expected. However, it was still the first conference road match of the season for the Cards so it was good to see them put together a solid performance. 

The Cards wins in last night's sets were progressively more lopsided as they completed the match at 25-21, 25-17, and 25-14. Louisville's biggest struggle came obviously in the first set as they worked to get their feet under them. The Cards had only 3 errors in the set, but Duke was able to stay around throughout the first set, even taking a lead past 15. Louisville's only other real trouble came in the third set when the Blue Devils went on a five point run to tie the set at 7. That would be short lived, though, as Louisville ultimately ran away with the set and the match.

Louisville's hitting last night was fantastic, as the Cards finished with a .430 percentage and had just 7 errors in the match. Noting that Duke had 3 blocks, that means the Cards hit the ball out of bounds just 4 times in the match. One of those just barely clipped the antenna. Louisville finished the final set with no errors and hit .630. The Cards were truly dialed in, as the Duke block number could have been much higher, had Louisville not shown excellent recovery ability on numerous block attempts. On the flip side, Duke also had some pretty good recoveries, as Louisville was only able to muster four total blocks. The Blue Devils would go on to finish with 20 errors, though, as they struggled to keep the ball in play.

As you might have guessed by the stats in this one, Louisville's primary standouts were on the offensive side. The Cardinal leading the way yesterday may come as a bit of a surprise, as Anna Stevenson paced the team in kills with 11. Stevenson also finished with just one error on her 17 attempts to finish with a whopping .588 hitting percentage. Other strong offensive performers were the usual suspects, with Melanie McHenry and Aiko Jones combining for 17 kills and 4 errors on 38 attempts. Tori Dilfer also assisted on 34 of the team's 36 assisted kills and had 4 kills on 4 attempts of her own. Claire Chausee returned to the floor in the final set and put down 4 of her 5 attempts with no errors. 

The one blemish for the Cards was one that has been ongoing throughout the year: service errors. Louisville finished with 7 of them, compared to just 3 aces, and they came from unusual servers. Four players had an error and no ace, and they aren't the ones you'd expect. Alexis Hamilton, Mia Stander, Tori Dilfer, and Claire Chausee couldn't put the ball in play, and Dilfer, uncharacteristically, added three assisting errors. These are certainly things to clean up, but in such a dominating match, they're a fairly small portion of the game film to have to correct.

Louisville is back in action tomorrow as they'll travel just up the road from Durham to Wake Forest to take on the Demon Deacons at 1PM. The match will be available on ACC Network Extra and should be another important road match for the Cards.

Field Hockey Falls to Virginia in Rain Adjusted Match

With last night's field hockey match due to start at 6, I thought Jared had made quite the error when he texted the group to say that Louisville had fallen 2-1 at around 6:30. As it turns out, the Cards and Cavs had made the decision to move the match start time to 5PM to try to avoid the worst of the rain. That would have been a great plan for Louisville, had it have worked. Unfortunately, as the rain began to fall in the fourth quarter, so too did Louisville's handle on the game. The Cards gave up two goals in the final period to lose their slim lead and drop the match 2-1 to 9th ranked Virginia.

This one was truly a tale of two halves, as Louisville fairly well dominated in the first half, and the script flipped in the second. The Cards scored their only goal off of a penalty corner in the first quarter as Mercedes Pastor knocked home the goal with assists by Meghan Schneider and Alli Bitting. They'd go on to earn four more corners in the half but would score none of them as their only other "goal" was waved off by the referees. Virginia did pick up two shots on goal in the first half, but both were saved away by Hollyn Barr. Louisville led in overall shots, penalty corners, goals, and, presumably, possession.

The second half, though, saw the Cards fall away. The offense was unable to continue to apply much pressure, earning only 3 shots in the entire second half. While all three were on frame, Virginia was able to keep the Cards out of the cage. The Cavs, on the other hand, put up 8 shots with 5 on frame, only three of which could be saved by Louisville. Hollyn Barr played well, earning four saves and nearly blocking the last goal as it was off of her legs, but she ultimately took the loss. Sam Minrath saw her first action for the first time in awhile as she was called upon early in the fourth quarter to act as the goalie for a penalty stroke. She saved the shot, at the time keeping Louisville ahead 1-0, but was immediately subbed back out for Barr. 

Yesterday's match put the two teams virtually even, as the Cards are now 10-2 (2-2) and Virginia moves to 10-3 (2-2). While a top ten conference win would certainly be nice, it doesn't hurt too badly to lose it. Louisville will likely drop from their fifth spot this week in the rankings, but they should stay in the top 10. The Cards will get their chance to get back on track on Tuesday when they take on the Cardinal of Stanford at 12PM at Trager. The match will be aired on ACC Network Extra.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared and Paulie have left us to our own devices yet again, so Jeff and I will do our best to bring you the show on our own. We'll be as in the dark as everyone else about whether or not Daryl will join us, so tune in to the show for a surprise. We'll talk about the continued strong starts for Louisville's fall sports and preview the next couple of games for the Cards. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour is brought to you each week by the fine folks at WCHQ FM. Tune in at 11AM as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics. WCHQ is available at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com, or on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Split Decisions as Two Cardinal Teams Open Season -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Field Hockey Shuts Out Indiana

After a somewhat disappointing offensive performance against Miami (OH) on Sunday, the Louisville Field Hockey team set out to learn some lessons from that game. The Cards were able to put those lessons learned to good use in their first opportunity, as they took it to Indiana yesterday, finishing the game with a final score of 5-0. Bethany Russ scored three goals for the Cards, her first career hat trick coming in the first game of her senior season. Also scoring for the Cards were Madison Walsh and Mercedes Pastor. Walsh also picked up an assist, while Whena Munn assisted on two goals as well. 

The scoring started early, with Russ getting to the IU goal just over three minutes into the game. It was Louisville's first shot of the season, and it found the back of the cage. Good start. The Cards and Hoosiers would finish the rest of the first quarter without any goals, as Louisville continued to pressure the goal but couldn't get anything else to show for it. Louisville's scoring difficulties were dismissed in the second quarter. The Cards scored their next three goals in the first 5:12 of the second quarter, scoring on all three shots in that time period.

Louisville was stifled for much of the second half. According to Coach Justine Sowry, IU adjusted the pace of play and Louisville was unable to react effectively to continue the relentless pressure from before. Flexibility to play styles in different situations is a portion of their game on which the Cards will need to work. Louisville did finally get a fifth goal late in the game, with Bethany Russ scoring her third with just under three minutes remaining in the game, a nice parallel to her first goal.

Despite the strong overall showing, one glaring question remains: who will be the primary goalie going forward? That question wasn't really answered yesterday. Hollyn Barr and Sam Minrath both played 30 minutes yesterday, with Barr taking the 1st half quarters and Minrath getting the 2nd. Both finished with one save, thus giving no one a positional advantage in the shutout. Coach Sowry has been clear that there is not yet a favorite for the position, and has backed that up by giving the two goalies different opportunities with their playing time. It may be notable that Barr has started in both this game and the scrimmage against Miami, but there may not be a lot there given the way that the playing time has otherwise been split. If they can effectively both play significant minutes and continue to not give up goals, maybe it doesn't even matter if there is a true starter.

The Cards will be back in action on Sunday at 12PM when they host UMASS at Trager Stadium. The two have met just twice previously, most recently in 2015. The Cards have won both games in the history of the matchup, but with such a long time between the games (12 years between games one and two and now four years since the last game), the historical matchup is probably not particularly indicative. The Cards will look to continue the strong offensive showing and clean up some of the missteps against the Hoosiers.

Volleyball Falters in Opener Against Florida

Once again, Louisville volleyball is opening the season with a very tough couple of matchups. Once again, they find themselves in a hole to start the season. In front of a sold out crowd at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena, the Cards stumbled their way through a season opening sweep. Louisville kept it fairly close in the second and third sets, ultimately losing both 21-25, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, neither of which describes the sport of volleyball. 

Louisville's issues from last night aren't hard to find when you open the box score. Louisville was outblocked 14-3 by Florida, and the Cards finished the night with a whopping .107 hitting percentage. While blocks do contribute to the final error number, committing 21 errors while finishing only 32 kills is not an ideal situation. Melanie McHenry led the team with 11 kills, while committing only 5 errors for a final percentage of .222. She was second on the team in hitting, behind Anna Stevenson who finished with a .286 on six kills. The freshman we're all looking for to have a big season as a hitter, Aiko Jones, had a night not worth writing home about, putting in 4 kills but adding 5 errors and finishing with a negative .071. Amaya Tillman was also negative with 2 errors on 8 attempts and no kills. She did contribute with the only solo block on the night and two block assists, however. 

Outside of hitting, Louisville was forced into positions they couldn't quite be fans of. Alexis Hamilton, as expected, led the team with 11 digs, though that number seems rather small. McHenry was forced into defensive action as well, with seven digs herself. The one that stands out as rather unfortunate is 11 total digs between Tori Dilfer and Shannon Shields. Defensive action by a setter is considered a loss on any possession. While it may not guarantee a loss of a point, it certainly puts you in a bad offensive position. Think trying to play an offensive possession in basketball but your point guard is off limits. 

In the setter battle, Dilfer appears to have a lead, as she started all three sets and saw the lion's share of the playing time. She finished with 19 of the Cards 29 assists on the night on 47 attempts. Shields finished with just 5 on 31 attempts, which is not quite as good. However, Shield was not likely playing with the 1s quite as often as Dilfer, giving her a bit of a pass in that particular category. I imagine that the setter battle will continue for at least a bit longer. If nothing else, Shields would be a more than serviceable backup to spell Dilfer for whatever reason. 

All in all, it was an unfortunate way to start the season, but we are talking about taking on a top-ten team in the country. It would have been nice to take a set, but it wasn't like Louisville was beaten by ten in each set of the sweep either. The Cards lost by an average of just over five points per set, which can easily be swung on any given day. Louisville will get a chance at redemption tonight when they take on Texas A&M at 7PM (or following the Florida/Dayton match, whichever comes later). Head on over to the Arena to root on the Cards.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Well, we're in it now. Four games this week have us ready to bring the heat on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. The summer slump is officially over, and it's time to get back into the groove. Tune in as the stars align to allow the A-Team to get back together in the studio this week. The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour begins at 11AM on WCHQ. Find WCHQ at 100.9FM on local radio, the WCHQ App, at wchqfm.com, or watch along on Facebook Live.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Still stopping -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MCFERRAN MAKING THE PLAYS IN IRELAND

So, what does the best goalkeeper in women's Field Hockey do once she's graduated from college? I'll not put the answer in the form of a quiz question...too easy for you. 

She continues to protect the pipes in her home country with the National team. 

Ayeshia McFerran is the starting goalkeeper for the Irish Women's Field Hockey Senior National team. The squad recently competed in the FIH series finals...with implications for the 2020 Olympics... and came in second, losing to Korea 3-1 in the championship game. 

With the second place finish, though, the squad has successfully qualified for the main qualifiers in August. The Irish won three matches in Pool A, including a 4-0 blanking of the Czechs on Friday, to lead to the finals and are ranked eighth in the world currently. 

McFerran discusses the loss and the great goal ahead at the link below: 

LINK:  Ayeshia McFerran


McFerran recently graduated from the University of Louisville, getting her degree in Exercise Science. She was part of Cardinal Field Hockey squads that went 55-27 over the past four years. She was also a four-year NFHCA All-American, the only Cardinal to ever achieve that honor for four years.  

Despite the graduation of McFerran, the UofL Field Hockey squad looks to be a formidable foe for their ACC opponents and beyond in 2019. 10 current, future or former Cardinal are playing in the USA Young Women's National Field Hockey Championships that end tomorrow in Lancaster, PA. 

Returnees Carter Ayars, Hollyn Barr, Alli Bitting, Erica Cooper, Isabella Leeker, Sam Minrath, Meghan Schneider and Katie Schneider...2016 graduate Erin McCrudden and incoming freshman Margot Lawn (Archbishop Spalding High School, MD) are part of the 144-player, eight team championship that began Friday. The Cardinal contingent isn't all on the same squad, they're evenly divided among five of the eight teams. 

2019 Cardinal commit Margot Lawn (left)

On the 2019 recruits...Lawn is a consensus top 10 player in the 2019 class. India Reed, another 2019 Louisville commit, is from Louisville Manual High School and considered to be in the top 25 of the 2019 High School rankings. 

The Cards also return their leading scorer in Bethany Russ, who is from Australia...and Mercedes Pastor, third leading scorer, who hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Whena Munn goes into her senior season and the New Zealand native has participated in all of the Cards 63 games over the past three years...starting in 16 of them. 

Here's a great article on Ayeshia that looks at her past and what's ahead: 

LINK: Ayeshia takes her own path

Who will replace McFerran as the Cardinal goalkeeper in 2019? 

Most feel the battle is between redshirt junior Barr and redshirt freshman Minrath. Barr started five games in 2017 while McFerran was fulfilling Irish National team obligations and Minrath lead Christian Academy to the Kentucky State Championship title as a senior in 2017. Both were on the 2018 roster, Barr played in one contest. 

The Cards will have their work cut out for them in the always-formidable ACC, where North Carolina reigns as the National Champions and Duke was ranked in the top three in 2018. The Cards have 11 home matches this season and start the 2019 campaign with four straight home contests, plus the alumnae, at Trager Stadium. 

Head coach Justine Sowry will miss McFerran, plus graduated seniors  Taylor Stone and Katie Walsh...but Cards return their top three scorers from last season plus experience and depth on the defensive end.  

For Field Hockey news, be sure to check back here at Cardinal Couple...the Cards first action is in 68 days, on Aug 24th. against the Alumnae. 

paulie
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