Seven Nations...one goal and University...Louisville swimming press conference -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WORRELL, CARDS READY FOR RIO

The first thing apparent at the University of Louisville swimming press conference yesterday was the striking difference between the six swimmers on hand to answer media questions. 



Joao De Lucca, he of Brazil and the most physically impressive of the six...looking like he could suit up for Bobby Petrino's Football Cards and smash a few unsuspecting running backs. Kelsi Worrell, the tallest of the Louisville women's swimmers, broad shoulders and a smile from ear to ear. You could easily picture her leaping to block one at the net for Anne Kordes. A bit hoarse but always charming. Carlos Claverie, tall, tanned and strikingly handsome...could pass as the leading man in a epic cinema detective story. Andrea Kneppers, fair-haired and almost a bit shy at first...tall and willowy and an intense stare. Not finding out until Tuesday that she would be representing the Netherlands. 

Tanja Kylliainen, "Mighty Mouse" the smallest of the group and seated next to Worrell...hanging intently on each of the group's words...choosing her own words with thought and care. Grigory Tarasevich, the Russian backstroke specialist, tall, lanky and looking maybe the least athletic of the group...boyish smile and a guy who you might expect to be bagging your groceries or delivering your paper instead of being ranked eighth in the world.

These are your UofL Swimming Olympians. Only Marcelo Acosta was absent. The Netherlands, Finland, Venezuela, Brazil, El Salvador, Russia and the USA...all represented, all sharing one thing...past performers in the red and black of Louisville swimming. Seven student-athletes, seven different backgrounds all sharing the same dream. Gold. 

They are not afraid of the potential crises in Rio. They are focused on their final training and their success. They will cheer for each other when they are in the water. None are pitted against each other in the events and have no idea how often they'll get to see each other in the Olympic Village. 

They have their mosquito netting and will soak their clothing in mosquito and bug repellent. Some of them spent January in Rio during qualifying and came back no worse for the wear. As Joao De Lucca so simply put it: 

"Look at me. It is my home country. Do I look sick?" 

We have the words of these six and head coach Arthur Albiero audio for you on the Saturday edition of THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR tomorrow. We also went a little more in-depth with Tanja Kylliainen. Some teasers:

-- What's a girl from Baltimore doing swimming for Finland?

-- Who were her role models and inspiration at UofL? 

-- What will be her training process in the days before Rio?

-- How did she get the nickname "Mighty Mouse?"   

Make sure and catch THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR tomorrow at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM for the answers to this questions and the entire interviews.

LINK: WCHQ 100.9 - CRESCENT HILL RADIO


paulie
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Christmahanakwanzika Wishes -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

Christmahanakwanzika Wish Lists

It's that time again, when we write down our Christmahanakwanzika Wish List for various UofL Women's Sports teams.

Hey, last year I asked for a press box for Lacrosse and now we've got a spiffy new structure next to the railroad track beside Little Yum, so wishes do come true sometimes.

Volleyball

A sweet 16 (or beyond) appearance.  I've been to every UofL NCAA tournament volleyball in person since 2008, I believe, and I've never been to a volleyball sweet 16 (well, other than when it was hosted at the KFC Yum! Center, but I'm not counting that because UofL wasn't playing in it).  The program narrowly missed it this year, and I hope next year to see an even more improved team and further success in tournament play.

A 6-2 offense.  I've heard talk that this is being considered for next year.  6-2 offenses are, in my opinion, a lot of fun to watch.  We've got 3 good setters on the roster in Kali Eaken, Lindsey Palmer, and Morgan Miller.  When this was first mentioned to me, I was thinking Kali Eaken and Morgan Miller as the two setters, but a few days ago, I realized that Lindsey Palmer could have a major role as a setter in a 6-2.  We haven't seen Palmer running the offense as setter because, at 5'8", she's not a very effective blocker and with a traditional 5-1 offense, the setter needs to be able to block when they're in the front row.  With a 6-2, however, the setter is always playing out of the back row, so they don't need to be able to block.  We lose the setter dump that Katie George so loved, but that's a small price to pay for always having three attackers available in the front row.

Lacrosse

We've got a press box now, how about some concessions for the fans?  Or perhaps a permanent structure with a locker room for the visiting team.  Like Volleyball, a deeper run in the NCAA tournament beyond the second round would be great.

Tennis

For the both the men and women on this one.  More courts!  I've heard that this one might already be in the works as well.  It would likely take the form of adding more outdoor courts in front of the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center where the old soccer practice field is.  With the spiffy new Lynn Soccer Stadium, the practice field isn't really needed anymore, and the Tennis programs would benefit by being able to host full tournaments rather than just competitions against individual opponents.

Swimming and Diving

While it's not directly for the program, I wish for a successful Olympics in Rio for various current and former members of the Swimming and Diving squad.  This, also, is for both the men and the women.  We've talked a lot about Kelsi Worrell's success, but perhaps alumna Tanja Kyliannen could be representing her native Finland.  Joao de Lucca, for the men, will likely be representing Brazil and is a proud UofL alum.  On the current squad on the men's side, Sophomore Carlos Claverie could be making an appearance for Venezuela.

Basketball

I think our wish lists here probably all look a lot alike.

Let's call better rebounding a stocking stuffer as it has already improved considerably over the beginning of the season, but could still use some tightening up.

Lay-ups.

Lethargy-B-Gone for the defense.

Softball

Success in post-season play.  Ulmer recently got an upgrade, so there's not a whole lot to ask for from a facilities point of view.  Well, there are some things we could ask for, but that would be a bit greedy, so we'll skip those.

I'd like to see the UofL Softball team advance to a Super-Regional.  Softball hasn't had a great deal of NCAA tournament success in the past couple of years, not having won a game at all since the first game of the 2014 Regional against IPFW.  They have not advanced to a Super-Regional since I've been going to games at all.  Hopefully they'll do well enough that we would be hosting these events this spring, but if not, I'll certainly be looking to make an effort to road-trip for them.

I haven't put together lists for all of the women's sports teams, feel free to add some lists for other teams, or even add items for these teams in the comments.  I'd love to hear what you would like to see out of these programs. Our biggest wish of all, though...is that all our readers have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

-- JMcA

Better than par...Louisville women's Golf -- Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Golf Academic Honors

Academic honors are becoming par for the course for the Women's Golf team, with four being named Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-Academic Scholars.

Graduating seniors Emily Haas and Katie Petrino picked up two of the spots, with rising senior Laura Restrepo and rising junior Louise Oxner picked up the other two spots.  In just 3 years, head coach Courtney Trimble now can claim 13 players collecting this academic honor.  The four this year tops all of the 11 ACC schools with women's golf teams.

Collectively, the team sported a 3.72 GPA, which may be the highest of any sport at UofL (no details on that, yet, but that's a pretty impressive team score!)

And lest you think these folks are taking underwater basket weaving as a major, Haas graduated with a degree in Biology, Petrino in Business, and Restrepo and Oxner are working towards degrees in Finance.

Swimming The WUGs

Several UofL athletes are competing in the World University Games, and I'm doing my best to piece together ongoing results.

The US went 1-2 in the 200meter breast stroke prelims with UofL's Andrea Cottrell claiming the second spot.  The two US swimmers were in the same heat, so that bodes well for tomorrow's final in the event.

Meanwhile, Tanja Kylliainen finished in 10th in the finals for the 400meter Individual Medley, and 9th in the 200meter IM.  Tanja, always a Cardinal, is the WUGs representing Finland.

DREAM v TULSA

The Atlanta Dream look to keep the winning ways going when they host the Tulsa Shock tonight at 8 p.m. It'll be an ESPN2 game.

Tulsa is 8-4 but has lost Skylar Diggins for the rest of the reason. The Dream looks to get back to .500 (5-6) with a win tonight.

Anyone want to surmise on a over/under for Shoni playing time?
  

JMcA
xxxxx

Sunday Quick Hits, Scores, and Splits - Sunday Cardinal Couple

(Sorry for the late update this morning, Paulie and I had a bit of a miscommunication and both of us have travels going on the next couple of days.  In the meantime, let's all wish Paulie a joyous Happy Birthday in the comments!)

Quick Splits for Swim and Dive

Someone needs to check Tanja Kylliainen for gills, as she won three golds in the ACC Swimming Championship, setting three ACC records in the process, as well as pulling in the MVP award for the meet.  While she hasn't quite hit the mark yet, some of her records are putting her into overall American record setting territory.  Tanja isn't out there alone, however, teammate Kelsi Worrell picked up an individual ACC championship with a record setting pace in the 100 free.  She also picked up the win in the 100 fly, and claimed a silver in the 50 free.

Other finishers of note in the meet include Andrea Cottrell with a bronze in the 200 breaststroke, and the team took a bronze in the 400 free relay.

Lacrosse Chills Canisius

The scoring came fast and furious for the Cardinal Lacrosse team as they tried to stay warm in the sloppy cold weather on Floyd Street.

Cortnee Daley and Faye Brust both found the back of the net four times in the victory over the New Yorkers, who, by reports, insisted on playing the game on the outdoors Lacrosse field rather than taking it indoors to the warmer and drier confines of the Trager practice facility by Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium.  I wonder if they thought the cold, rainy, sleety weather would be an advantage to the northerners, but the tricks on them as Cortnee Daley hails from not much further south in Pennsylvania, and, of course, our draw control expert, Kaylin Morissette, comes to use from Canada and merely laughs at New York's cold weather resume.

Suffice it to say that this game was never in too much doubt.  While its still early in the season and there are plenty of lessons to be learned to improve the Cardinals' play, they jumped on the board in the first half, scoring three times before Canisius was able to get one between the pipes.  The Cards and and The Golden Griffins would trade a couple of goals apiece to go into halftime 5-3.

The second half was all Cards, though.  While shutting out The Griffs...I wonder if they stopped in at Griff's on Cardinal Boulevard for dinner after the game...in the second half by turning up the defensive intensity, the net got a workout as ten shots managed to find their way between the pipes before the final buzzer sounded and the teams were able to go dry off and warm up with a final score of 15-3.

Sophomore Ashley Peacock stopped four shots in goal, while the GK for The Griffs, Rebecca VanLaeken got in front of six to help keep the score from getting even more out of hand.

Lacrosse takes their first road trip, heading out to Colorado to take on Denver in a 3pm Saturday game.

Team USA Volleyball Tryouts

A quick hit, actually, probably a lot of quick hits in Colorado Springs this weekend as the US National Volleyball program holds their annual tryouts for the various US Collegiate teams that will play this summer.

The Cards have seven, a veritable invasion of the Rocky Mountain State, taking part in tryouts.  Libero Roxanne McVey; our pair of starting middles, Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong; both setters, Katie George...because she doesn't already have enough to do this summer...and Lyndsey Palmer; outside hitter and transfer from USF, Erin Fairs; as well as the play-her-everywhere-but-mostly-outside-hitter, Janelle Jenkins; are all taking part.

We here at the Cardinal Couple wish them all the best and look forward to hearing of summer travels to come.

- JMcA

#9 Cards Women's Swimming splashing past FSU -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

Two Cards Mulitple Race Winners Friday

Cards Volleyball shed clothes to support swim team

The University of Louisville swimming teams are in the middle of a two-day battle against ACC foe Florida State at the Ralph Wright Natatorium and Day One went swimmingly well for both the UofL men and women.

The #5 ranked men lead 110.5 - 56.5. Arthur Albiero's women are up 109-58 after Friday competition.

Albiero discusses the event an results:

"It's been a while since we raced and I think it showed a little bit tonight here and there. We have done a lot of training since we last raced...so that is not unusual. We just have to continue to make little adjustments. I liked our effort and there were some great races."

Louisville women's soccer supporting swimming

Kelsi Worrell won two events...the 200 free relay and 100 free. Tanja Kylliainen finished first in the 200 IM and 200 fly. Other winners for the slashing Louisville ladies:

--  Marah Pugh took the 500 free. Abby Chin got third.

--  Andrea Cottrell won the 100 - breast.

--  LOUISVILLE swept the 200 back. Erica Belcher touched first...followed by Ashley Le Clair and Hannah Magnuson.

The squads return to action this morning at 10 a.m. Requests to do our Saturday morning CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO SHOW from the pool wearing floaties and water-wings were denied. 

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It may be frigid in Louisville this morning...but WBB and other Cardinal women's athletics are heating up and we'll talk about it this morning at 11 a.m. on the weekly edition of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR on 100.9 FM WCHQ and also streaming live on the internet at crescenthillradio.com

Hoops, softball, lacrosse, swimming and more to cover. We'll have a Worldwide Quiz and you just never know who will stop by the basement on a hill and chime in.

Marconi probably would have ceased transmission if he
knew his efforts were leading to the CARDINAL COUPLE
Radio Hour broadcasts...

It's radio in a way Marconi never envisioned it. Of course, he probably never envisioned marconi and cheese, either.

(What's that you say? Macaroni and Cheese? OK!! Serve it up. Today's CARDINAL COUPLE will be cut dramatically short if a good baked (not box mix) mac and cheese shows up at the studio. Or we'll do a food-based show).  

C'mom along if you dare...linkie below:

MAMA !! THOSE MEN ARE ON THE ELECTRIC RADIO AGAIN !!


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You only have four days left to enter the January Cardinal Couple Contest and win a designer-like CARDINAL COUPLE T-Shirt. Stylish folk on the left bank in Paris would pay huge euros for something like this and we're giving you one if you are the "winner, winner...chicken dinner"!! Thanks to all that have entered and keep those e-mails coming...

Don't forget to e-mail us your pick in our January CARDINAL COUPLE CONTEST. This month the contest is...

How many points will Mariya Moore score in January? Your prize is a CARDINAL COUPLE T-SHIRT!!! (and the respect and admiration of the staff chimps here at CC). Regular reader The Real Joe Hill is going with 110. 

E-mail to: 

cardinalcouple@twc.com  

REMEMBER WE NEED YOUR SELECTION IN BY JANUARY 14TH 1:00 PM


Our erstwhile and lackadaisical operations manager Sonja (ineligible for the contest -- she received poor grades last semester in potato chip procurement and already has a shirt...obtained by methods we're still investigating) says the Ms. Moore will toss in 88 points for the month of January. Remind me to dock her pay...

paulie

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Tennis continues to shine

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Jenny O'Bryan with the "hump day" recap...tennis 'shines' on, Cards getting into 'the swim' of things and volleyball raids the Blue Raiders!)


FELLERHOFF AND SHINE WIN THE TITLE

Women’s tennis is the newest U of L Athletic program to take a step in to elite status.  On Tuesday morning the doubles team of Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine took the championship in the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Tennis Tournament in Memphis.   

The duo dispatched of the second Memphis team in as many days to win.  Fellerhoff and Shine defeated Alyssa Hibberd and Caroline Wegner 8-5 to earn a spot in the ITA National Indoor Tourney at Flushing Meadows, NY November 7-9.

Coach Mark Beckham had this to say about the accomplishment of the duo:

"Wow, what an amazing accomplishment! Winning an event like this puts Louisville Women's Tennis on an elite level.  Julia and Becca will be competing with the best of the best at the National Indoor. I couldn't have scripted it any better. These two girls have raised Louisville tennis to where it is respected throughout the college tennis world. They have worked very hard to get to this level and are very deserving of this championship! They played absolutely amazing and now it's time to see if they can make some noise at the National Indoor. Our Louisville tennis fans should be very proud of them."

What an outstanding accomplishment for Shine and Fellerhoff.  We look forward to their debut in the tournament and wish them continued success. 

(thanks to Nancy Worley, Assistant Director, Sports information for the quote from Coach Beckham.)
 

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TANYA TAKES THE AAC MVP
 

Tanja Kylliainen (junior) won the first American Athletic Conference swimming and diving award handed out by the conference being named female Swimmer of the Week. 

Kylliainen won 5 individual events and a relay event in the first two meets of the season.   She won the 200 Butterfly and took the 200IM in the opening meet as well as a relay win in the butterfly leg 200 medley relay.   The following meet she was named Swimmer of the meet after winning 3 events and setting 2 meet records. 

Congratulations to Kylliainen on the award and a great start to the season. 

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JENKINS JINXS THE MTSU "PINK OUT" NIGHT
 

 

Janelle Jenkins led a balanced UofL Volleyball effort Tuesday night in Murfreesboro, TN...Louisville sweeping the Blue Raiders 25-21, 25-17, 25-20. The game was available on-line at the MTSU website and was an entertaining production by their student staff. WE now have three head coaches of the Cards Volleyball squad..."Annie, Anna and Anne" Kordes. Jenkins wasn't concerned who was carrying the clipboard on the Cardinal sidelines....delivering 10 kills and two blocks in the win.

Coach Kordes:

"Brooke Mattingly was huge! She personified senior leadership out there on the block and then hitting around a double block all night. Emily Juhl's serving let us go on runs that bought us some breathing room and the passing of Caitlin Welch and Haley Pouliezos got our hitters going."

The Cards led early in the first set until a MTSU rally tied the game 13-13. MTSU held a 17-16 advantage until UofL went on a 7-2 final run that saw two Maya McClendon kills. She had six total kills in the first game. 25-21 Cards win!

In set two...the Cards volleyed to an opening 6-0 start and were never seriously challenged by the Blue Raiders. A .154 hitting % by MTSU proved costly in the 25-17 defeat.

After the break, Louisville controlled for most the match until a spirited run by Middle Tennessee cut the Cardinal advantage to 23-20. A Louisville timeout got the Cards back in focus and they captured the final two plays for a 25-20 victory,

Louisville returns to action against Rutgers in Piscataway for a 7 p.m. Friday tilt and then to Storrs, CT to face the Huskies on ESPNU at 1 p.m. Sunday.

-Jenny O Bryan

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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Field Hockey wins in 2 O.T.'s -- Swimming in 3rd place

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Schniedtmiller scores for Cardinal win

- Kylliainen wins three in Dallas


Today is "bet you can't spell it correctly" day at CC, as we go over the exciting Field Hockey win at Trager and swimming's impressive show in Dallas. Congratulations to both squads and Erin and Tanja...much easier to type than their last names...


CARDS RULE RUT-GALS

Erin scored after a set up from Mallory Mason and Shannon Sloss (who we'll refer to as MM and SS the rest of the article) and drove one in with 5:49 left in the second overtime to give #17 Louisville a 2-1 win on senior weekend at Trager Stadium. The Cards go to 11-4 with the win over the Scarlet Knights and 4-1 in THE BIG EAST conference with the "W".

Rutgers hit the scoreboard first...stunning Louisville with a goal less than two minutes into action...when Alicia Stever sent a long pass to a driving Rachel Yaney...who deflected it by Cardinal goalie Sydney King.

It would be the 8-6, 2-3 Scarlet Knights only tally of the afternoon.

For a long time, it looked like it might be enough for the Piscataway players. With less than five minutes to go in regulation, though, SS tracked down a feed from Elisa Garcia and flipped it past the Rutgers goal defender to tie the contest.

Neither team could produce a goal in the 15 minute, 7-on-7 first overtime. Louisville survived three penalty corner attempts by Rutgers in the final overtime before going on the winning drive.

The Cards outshot RU 24-11. Sydney King had seven saves...Rutgers goalie Sarah Stuby produced 10.

The Cards conclude the weekend with a 1 p.m. game versus Northwestern at Trager.

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Tanja splashes past foes in SMU CLASSIC

Nice performance in setting two school records in Louisville's third place finish in the prestigious event that features national powerhouses UNC, UCLA and University of Miami...plus UofL, IU and SMU.

Tanja scored first in the 200-fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.

Other successful ladies-in-the-water were Katie Worrell winning the 100-fly. Louisville also had several third place finishes against competition that all finished in the top 25 of the NCAA Tournament last season. 

-Paulie

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