Showing posts with label
University of Louisville sports.
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Showing posts with label
University of Louisville sports.
Show all posts
UofL has three other sports besides hoops going on currently.
It is the time of year when our thoughts here at CARDINAL COUPLE and most likely with you turn to the orange ball bouncing on wood and double-doubles. Both the Cards WBB contingents are having fine seasons, the men recently joined the top 25 and WBB is #4 in the nation, facing a truly tough challenge Thursday night in Talhassee against FSU.
Speaking of challenges, it's allegedly rumored that Coach Walz got a call from the NCAA about his "shooting" and such. No more details available, but, I guess we can assume there will be no more "catch and shoots" from the Cardinal WBB coach.
There are other activities currently engaged in competition, though...with more to come...so, let's take today and catch up on how tennis, swimming and track & field are doing. Two of the three are currently involved in their "indoor" seasons (imagine trying to serve and volley on slicked surfaces and snow drifts or sprinting down a ice-covered track).
UofL has a couple of Spring Sports Media days planned, the first today with the aforementioned three in the spotlight. Next week, softball, rowing, lacrosse and golf take the stage to discuss their upcoming seasons.
Today, let's look at how those who make serves, sprints and splashes are doing.
TENNIS
The Cards field men and women's sports in this racket, net and ball based sport and this is an activity that features an indoor and outdoor season. Since we primarily cover women's sports here at "the Couple" that's where my focus will be today.
Louisville women's tennis began the spring season on Sunday at the Bass-Rudd Center adjacent to I-65 and brought in two schools from the Buckeye state to kick the schedule off. In the morning session, UofL faced Bowling Green and successfully got a 5-2 win over the Falcons from the MAC. A 2-0 start for the season for Mark Beckham's squad !
As we have covered here before, seven "points" are obtainable in a contest, although nine matches are actually contested (six singles and three doubles). The players are ranked for the contests (#1 thru #6) in singles on each squad and they face off against their counterpart with the objective to win two sets. The Cards fared well in the morning/early afternoon session, getting wins from their #2 thru #5 players and picking up four points. Those that triumphed were #2 Nikolina Jovic, #3 Raven Neely, #4 Diana Wong, #5 Chloe Hamlin.
So the score was 4-2 Cards with (1) point left to decide in doubles competition. Whichever team wins two of the three matches gets that point and the Cards accomplished that with #1 doubles team Sena Suswami and Raven Neely and #3 Diana Wong and Aleksandra Mally getting wins.
Head coach Mark Beckham discusses the win here: BECKHAM DISCUSSES BOWLING GREEN MATCH
In the afternoon, the Cards went against Miami (OH). Once again the Cards found success, downing the RedHawks 6-1. The seeding of the players can change from one match to another, so a slightly different group of Cardinals went to singles competition and picked up five points...all seeds winning except the #1 seed for the Cards. This match it was, in ranking order, Suswam, Jovic, Neely, Wong and Hamlin getting net success.
With five points already in the bag, the Cards doubles units swept the RedHawks in all three contests to pick up the final point and the 6-1 triumph.
Beckham also discussed the Miami win. LINK: CARDS 6-1 over Miami
TRACK AND FIELD
The Cardinal runners, jumpers and throwers have had two meets so far and distance specialist Dorcas Wasike has competed in and additional meet to kick off the spring. Once again, an indoor season and we'll focus on the women's results again.
Wasike went to Boston to compete in the aptly named BU Season Opener and won the 5000 meters, setting a new school record for the event, where she finished sixth after an unfortunate fall at the 4K mark.
The Cards went to Purdue as a team for their season opener in the Gene Edmunds Invitational on January, January 12th. They fared well against the competition, getting six wins on the women's side. Hats off to winners Makenli Forrest (weight throw), Morgan Zacharias (pole vault), Radhida Harris (shot put) and Renate van Tonder (long jump) in field events .
On the track, Brooke Raglin won the 60 meters and Aurilla Wilson took the 3000 meters.
The Cards went to Notre Dame to compete on Saturday, Jan 19th. and the women got three wins in track and three on the field to win the meet. Raglin took both the 60 meters and 200 meters and Wasike captured the mile run. In field events, wins were secured by Gabrielle Leon in the pole vault, von Tonder in the triple jump and Forrest in the weight toss.
The Cards travel to Illinois this Saturday to take part in the Illini Classic.
SWIMMING
Success goes synonymous with swimming and the Dive and Stroke Cards entered January defeating Missouri 163-137.
18 women's wins in the various swim and dive events, a list way too long to list here. Multiple event winners were Sophie Cattermole (500, 1000 free), Mariia Astashkina (100, 200 backstroke), and Alina Kenndzior (100 back, 200 back).
Mallory Comerford ruled in the 200 freestyle and the Cards won numerous "team" events as well.
It appears the #6 ranked Cards are in for a very successful season as they compete with the best in the ACC and in the nation.
Have a great Tuesday!
paulie
xxxxx
.
MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
-USA Womens Olympic Basketball cruises by 52.
-The final Watson column (for awhile)
-Chicken Sandwiches: To eat or not to eat.
Angel with 10 points and three steals as USA rolls past Angola 90-38. After a slow first quarter and only a 22-12 lead, Angel and company kicked it in gear and took a 41-18 lead at the half. 69-29 after three and a balanced scoring attack for Geno's ballers.
Three-point shooting still needs work, but an easy-as-expected romp to go to 2-0 in pool play.
Undefeated Turkey next on Wednesday.
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(David Watson is a special columnist for CARDINAL COUPLE. He'll be taking leave of us for awhile...as he explains in today's column.)
All good things come to an end.
I've had a great time writing for CARDINAL COUPLE over the last couple of years, but other things are calling...so, this will be the last chance you have to shake your head and wonder what this boy is thinking for awhile.
My oldest daughter Abby is enrolling in college this fall. Actually, she's already on campus and taking summer classes -- so she's already technically a freshman.
One down, two to go.
She fortunate enough to be attending on a couple of partial scholarships -- one for academics and one for field hockey. From what side of the family she got these special talents from to earn these honors is still up to debate -- but we're all proud of her.
Since it isn't UofL where she's matriculating, I have decided to follow the university where she's attending.
Might even start a website/blog about the trials and tribulations of her athletic and academic pursuits through the eyes of her father. Her mother and I plan on being active parents in any way we can toward the college and have already met several of the field hockey mom and dads.
If I do start a site, I'll insist Paul put me on the "Sites We Recommend" on the left side of the site. After all, the tremendous growth CARDINAL COUPLE has experienced was certainly spurred by my ground-breaking and thought-provoking articles, right?
I'll leave with a couple of parting comments.
First, I'll still be following the pursuits of the University of Louisville sports teams. Louisville looks to be very strong in quite a few different sports this upcoming season and I expect nothing less than conference titles from them in football, both basketball teams, volleyball and softball.
Tom Jurich has done a great job with facility building, coaching hires and creating excitement for the fans University of Louisville athletics. The University of Louisville seems committed to raising the academic bar as well. I truly hope that the recruits continue to be top-flight for the sports teams at UofL.
I can't help but wish my daughter had been talented enough to receive a scholarship offer from Louisville...but that's the way it goes and she's happy where she is.
Finally, I want to thank Paul and Sonja for letting me be a part of the CARDINAL COUPLE world. I know there have been times when readers have disagreed with me and taken a different viewpoint. The way I see it is that if everyone share the same viewpoint, it would be a pretty boring world. Several people can look at the same event and have a different viewpoint on it. I've tried to express my views with you, the CARDINAL COUPLE readers, and I appreciate the chance to do so.
Not to worry, you've still got quite a few excellent writers here at CARDINAL COUPLE to keep you informed on the joy and excitement that is UofL women's sports. I've enjoyed reading articles by Jenny, Sandy, Mark and the co-owners of the site -- Paul and Sonja. I never got to meet the first three mentioned above, but feel like I know them from their writings.
Paul has encouraged me to pop in from time-to-time with a column and I've promised him I'll try, so maybe this isn't a final farewell, but a "till we meet again" goodbye.
Anyway -- it's been fun and I'll be reading, so keep the bar high in your coverage, comments and details of one of the best sports programs in college athletics.
-- David.
(We wish David all the best and thank him for his coverage these past couple of years! We know he and Cheryl will be great college parents.)
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The Chick-Fil-A drama is heating up on the UofL campus and we've received several e-mails about it so we'll take a little time today to discuss it.
We'll go on record by saying that we like the tasty Chick-Fil-A sandwich and UofL was supplying these to the media earlier this year during the softball tournament. I suppose they were donated by the restuarant or maybe purchased...we're not sure, but they seemed to disappear pretty quickly.
I remember eating mine next to Courier-Journal sports writer C.L. Brown a few innings before Louisville won the game against Valparaiso in dramatic fashion when Alicja Wolny cleared the right-field fence with a base clearer. If I knew she was going to provide such a dramatic ending to the game, I might have asked for two sandwiches and saved one for her.
I don't know if this would have been considered an NCAA violation or whether she likes chicken sandwiches or not. I might have even eaten both sandwiches. I'll ask her at the start of softball season.
The recent statements by the owner of Chick-Fil-A have drawn considerable scrutiny because of the content. Seems he's in favor of traditional marriage and some other situations that have angered the gay and lesbian community. Thus, a boycott has been called and UofL's president James Ramsey and other UofL administration personnel have stated that they'll no longer eat at the campus location.
I'm trying to cut down on fast food, too. It's worked, I'm now at 192 lbs. and two summers ago I tipped the scales at 240.
I don't attribute all the weight loss to cutting back on fast food. But, I've stopped drinking soft drinks also. Switched to a low carb, light beer. Started walking more. Ride my bicycle 3-4 times a week. I can tell you my knees feel a whole lot better without the extra 48 pounds.
I still crave fast food, I just don't indulge in it as much. I'm guessing Teena Murray, Director of Sports Performance at UofL would be proud. I've never talked at length with her, but we did an article on her awhile back and I know she tries to get the players to eat healthy.
I do like the Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, though, so the moral dilemma begins. Do I join the UofL boycott of the restaurant or give in to my taste buds and still occasionally treat myself to one of their sandwiches?
I may still get a sandwich occasionally but I will try not to be happy about it. Until that first bite. Then again, I've heard Zaxby's and Wendy's have a pretty good chicken sandwich also. I may have to investigate.
Maybe one of our sponsors, Panera Bread, will invite me over to sample their chicken offerings. I'm about out of cinnamon raisin bread, so that would work...
We live in a country that gives us religious and social freedoms. We live in a country that protects us from oppression. We live in a country that allows entrepreneurial opportunities. We also live in a country where the media can make a big deal over chicken franchises.
Somewhere, Col. Sanders is rolling over in his grave, clutching his secret spices recipe tightly.
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USA Womens Olympic basketball tonight against Angola. Go, Angel go! 5:15 EDT time. MSNBC with the live action. Rachel Maddow and Larry the Cable guy with the play-by-play. (Just kidding.)
We're pretty sure Angel will see some significant minutes. Unless she and LeBron James have decided to enlist in the French Foreign Legion.
..
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The Cards field men and women's sports in this racket, net and ball based sport and this is an activity that features an indoor and outdoor season. Since we primarily cover women's sports here at "the Couple" that's where my focus will be today. 
The Cardinal runners, jumpers and throwers have had two meets so far and distance specialist Dorcas Wasike has competed in and additional meet to kick off the spring. Once again, an indoor season and we'll focus on the women's results again.
