Cross Country and Volleyball -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

The Cardinal's athletics calendar has been relatively quiet the past week, with only 3 entries for yesterday.

Football we're still not really going to talk about, partly because I didn't watch it, partly because there are plenty of sites and radio shows you can go to hear about it.

Hoops, WBB style is Monday. Our Jared Anderson does the National Anthem at the NCAA Field Hockey Finals today.

There were a couple of women's sports events of interest, however.

Wasike at NCAA Cross Country Championships

First, Dorcas Wasike competed in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.

Cold climate running is certainly not my cup of tea, but Dorcas represented the Cardinals well, with a 14th place overall finish, which makes her, again, an All-American in the sport.  The spread of finish times for the 6K race between first and Dorcas' finish in 14th was only 25 seconds, so this is a very competitive race, as you would expect for the pinnacle of college cross-country competitions.

Congratulations on a great cross-country season for Dorcas Wasike, where she never finished below 15th place.  She'll be in action with the track and field team in the spring, and again next year for her Senior year campaign.

Swim and Dive in Hoosierville

8th ranked Louisville Swim and Dive took 2nd overall behind 7th ranked NC State in Bloomington at the Indiana Invitational.  Mallory Comerford and Grace Oglesby both put up NCAA A cuts (guaranteed qualifications into the NCAA Championships in the spring) in the 100 Free and the 200 Fly, respectively.

Sophie Cattermole went the distance in the 1650 free for an NCAA B cut time (a qualification for the Championships depending on the number of qualifying participants).  Does a 1650 yard race seem like an oddly specific race distance?  "1600 yards just doesn't seem to be enough, let's add that extra 50 yards on, yeah that'll do!"  NCAA living the crazy life.

Plenty of B standard times were set by the Cards, both women and men, as this program continues to excel.  Based on the sheer number of qualifying times, it appears the IU is a fast one.

NCAA Tourney Events in Louisville

Two NCAA tourney events are happening today on Floyd Street.

First up is the Championship game for Field Hockey.  This one will see 2 seed Maryland vs 1 seed UNC, on the turf at Trager Stadium.  UofL isn't in this one, but was selected to host the Field Hockey final four for the past two year thanks to our great facilities and awesome people.

Later in the evening, down the street, Louisville Men's Soccer gets their NCAA tourney path underway, taking on Michigan State, who defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago to advance.  As the 4 seed in the overall tournament, Louisville will hold the home field advantage as long as they continue to win and advance, until they make it to the College Cup, which will be held in Santa Barbara, CA.

The Louisville City FC's latest trophy, the USL Cup, will be in attendance for any USL fans that want to continue to celebrate the success of Louisville professional soccer franchise.  I would be surprised if UofL Soccer Alum, and Lou City team captain, Paulo Del Piccolo were not in attendance as well.  I would guess you would also have an opportunity to see Head Coach John Hackworth, and his new Lou City USL Cup tattoo as well.  Well, the tattoo is on his upper arm, so it may not be visible given the likely cold weather gear that will probably be in use.

Volleyball Signing Class

Lastly today, if you'll indulge me my volleyball enthusiasm a minute, I'd like to share some about the signing class for UofL Volleyball that came in this week.

5 players submitted their NLIs, so let's run through them briefly.

Alexa Hendricks

First up, closest to home, is Alexa Hendricks.  Alexa comes out of the KIVA and Assumption volleyball star factory, and is a 5'7" libero/DS.  Molly Sauer graduates after this season, and with Kelly O'Neil questionable for any return at all, a bit of bolstering of the DS ranks will be good for the Cards.  Mia Stander has stepped up and played extremely well, Alexis Hamilton should be back to full speed by next season and the combination of those makes for a good cadre of defensive players to keep rallys going and in system for the Cards.

Nena Mbonu

Nena will be coming to us from the Houston, TX area, listed as Spring, TX.  Texas has been good to the strong program which is
UofL Volleyball over recent years, which excellent players like Erin Fairs, Roxanne McVey, and Janelle Jenkins joining us from the Lone Star state.

Nena is listed as an even 6 feet tall, and a quote from Coach Busboom Kelly mentions that she can already touch 10'6" jumping.  I'm approximately 6 feet tall, and I have never, at any time in my life, touched higher than an even 10 feet.  Watch for some big hops and big swings in offense from this one.

Shannon Shields and Amber Stivrins

Shannon Shields

We're going to talk about the next two as something of a pair.  Shannon Shields and Amber Stivrins come to us from Chandler, AZ which is a suburb of Phoenix.  Arizona has also been a source of good volleyballers for UofL, albeit in less quantity, with Tess Clark having reported for duty from Phoenix as well.

Shannon and Amber played at different high schools, but played together on their club teams with the Arizona Storm club.  Shannon is a setter (and drop in the reminder here that Wilma Rivera is graduating after this season), and has lots of experience setting to Amber, an outside hitter.

At 5'10" we expect Shannon to be up to the task of setting, and participating effectively in the blocking schemes.

Amber, meanwhile, will be swinging away at the outside hitter position, and at 6'1", there's no doubt that she has the height to be effective.

Both Shannon and Amber have been driving forces in collecting numerous accolades individually, and as part of their respective school teams, and their common club team.

Amaya Tillman

Topeka, KS brings us Amaya Tillman.  If you've been paying attention to the crowd at UofL Volleyball matches in Cardinal Arena these past couple of years Amaya will be a familiar face for you as, despite the 8 hour drive (~560 miles), she has been spotted numerous times at Cardinal Volleyball matches.

We're graduating a very fine middle in Jasmine Bennett, but Coach Busboom Kelly is reloading in that position with Amaya.  At middle, she'll be a 6'3" wall, continuing the tradition of good blocking in Cardinal Arena.

So, there you go, five players signed, defense, setting, a pair of outsides, and a middle, that's a well balanced class and has the looks of helping to elevate UofL volleyball even further.  Volleyball looks set to be a lot of fun in Cardinal Arena for many years go come.


Donation Month

This quote about donations from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.

We have tried to be a good steward in providing a willing and needed service here at Cardinal Couple with a daily report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. Will you help us continue our service here at this non-profit venture in 2019?  Send checks to: 

CARDINAL COUPLE

PO BOX 91521

LOUISVILLE, KY 40291

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Finally, Case and I were in studio yesterday, while Jared was cheering the demise of drive-thrus, and Paulie was probably just shivering.

Given the relatively quiet week, Case and I were able to dive into some depth of UofL Volleyball, and Soccer across the region.  We did talk a bit about the upcoming WBB game at Boise State.

You can check out the Facebook live replay at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/490281824815057/

-- 

JMcA

Rain Rain Go Away - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Volleyball

Volleyball lost an epic match in Purdue's Holloway Gym to the 19th ranked, Boilermakers (25-23, 17-25, 28-26, 13-25, 15-10).

I wasn't able to be there for this one in person, but I did catch most of the Purdue Sports Network broadcast of it, and it was a barn-burner.  Both teams considered this one an important match, with Louisville looking for a big early season signature win over a ranked team, and Purdue facing their first team that's really vying for national attention.  The Boilermakers did come into this one also looking to defend their undefeated record.

I do want to draw some attention to a bit of a pattern in the set scores.  The sets that Purdue won were very close, 25-23, 28-26, and 15-10 being the biggest margin; while the Cards victorious sets were by solid margins, 25-17, 25-13.  A couple of other numbers to look at, hitting percentages with the Cards outhitting Purdue .199 to .152 (neither are numbers to write home about, but more on that below). 63 kills for the Cards to 50 for Purdue, 77 digs for UofL to 61 for the train builders.  All of these stats point to a team that, in the overall, outplayed Purdue.  It's really quite difficult, in the stats sheet, to figure out why and how Purdue won the match.  If I had to give an answer, it would be a question of defense for both teams.  Purdue outblocked the Cards 15-8, which is not a category that UofL typically finds themselves on the short end.  You could probably point to defense beyond the block, even with UofL winning the dig stat, for some credit to Purdue here, though that's much harder to judge from just audio coverage of the game vs seeing it in person.

Stop me if you've heard this one before, the kills leader for UofL was Melanie McHenry, who planted 17, but for efficiency, Megan Sloan was tops out of the hitters with 14 kills for .321.  Wilma Rivera took the absolute top spot in hitting percentage with .500.  I usually don't include her in this discussion because she typically doesn't have enough attempts to be statistically significant, but she swung on 10 last night, landing 6, so we'll give her due credit in this one.  Jasmine Bennett also reached double digits in hitting with 10, for .261.  On the defensive side of things, Molly Sauer dug 30, Melanie McHenry next with 18, which makes a double-double for her.  In blocking defense, the freshman Emily Scott continues to establish her presence in the middle with a solo and 4 shares.  Megan Sloan got in on 4, Jasmine Bennett had a hand in 3, McHenry 2, and Rivera got in on 1 as well.

Louisville really wanted this one, and winning it would've gone a long way towards moving them up into the Top 25 rankings.  It is still a possibility, with many ranked teams taking upset losses this weekend, but don't hold your breath.

Louisville will wrap up non-conference play for the season next weekend.  The schedule starts Friday with the biggest non-conference matchup of the year, and not just because rivalry.  Kentucky is currently ranked 16th in the country with updated rankings to come out tomorrow and while I expect this ranking update to have a lot of movement, I don't expect UK to change their position too much.  They lost this weekend to #6 Texas and beat an unranked Texas State team.  This match and the conference matchup with Pitt will likely be the last chances this team has to get really signature wins against ranked teams for the season.

The atmosphere in Cardinal Arena should be raucous for the Friday night (7 p.m.) match.  The Cards did beat UK in spring play, so the teams should be well matched, if you come to any Volleyball matches this year, you should try to be there for this one.

Football and Rain

3.84.  That was the number of inches of rain that fell on Louisville yesterday according to the official records...with most of that falling during the evening hours.  The official measuring point for the National Weather Service in Louisville is at Louisville International Airport, a stone's throw away from Cardinal Stadium where Louisville was playing Indiana State in a football game that was so long they could've almost played the game twice except for the weather delays.  Some rain gauges in the Louisville area registered over 6 and a half inches of rain for the day.  The game suffered over 2 and a half hours of lightning delay, meaning the first quarter of the game didn't end until almost 3 hours after it began.  Fans that (understandably) left the game early had to walk or drive through approximately 6 inches water on Floyd Street to get away from the stadium.

Louisville would eventually go on to win this one 31-7 after a 7-7 halftime score after a QB switch and plenty of other weeping and gnashing of teeth from fans.  You can find plenty of analysis (that frankly would be far more insightful than anything I could come up with) on plenty of other sites, so I'll leave that to them.

EDITOR NOTE: Sonya and I endured the 5 plus hours of the game, plus over three hours of "wet-gating" before the contest. We left after the Cards scored their final touchdown. There were maybe 12 people left in our section. I've attended some pretty wet and nasty football game in my 46 years of attending Cardinal football. The Florida State and Kentucky games come to mind, but this one, I think, has them beat water-wise. We waded back to our car thoroughly soaked. I think I hit the sack around 1:30 AM. How was your Saturday? 

(Rain photo of Paulie and Sonya courtesy of Jared Anderson. Check his work out at JDA Photography!) 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Jared couldn't be with us yesterday, but Case, Paulie, and I graced the airways with our weekly broadcast originating from the magnificent media mansion on Mellwood.  You can check out the FB live stream of the broadcast at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/502815183520630/

-- 

JMcA

Ireland, Ayeshia Upset USA in World Cup Field Hockey -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Field Hockey In London

The Field Hockey World Cup is underway in London.  We here at Cardinal Couple will be keeping a particular eye on Pool B to start out.

Pool B consists of England, India, Ireland, and the USA.  Cardinals fans may have a couple of interests in the pool, with Ayeisha McFerran having been in goal for the Irish National Team for several years now, and with Nicole Woods joining the US National Team for the World Cup action this year.  Nicole is a mostly an attacker, with some time spent in the mid-field.  She's most often seen on the left side attack.

In the opening day of play, England and India played to a draw, followed by what may have been the marquis matchup for UofL fans with Ireland and USA starting play early afternoon (Eastern time).

Woods came in off the bench (and was wearing a large white headband, making her easy to spot on the field), and contributed some strong attacking, but the Irish defense, and particularly McFerran were too strong to be breached frequently.  Ireland took the 3 points in the standings with the 3-1 victory over the US.

Ireland was a significant underdog in this matchup, but came out and played inspired Field Hockey.

While they only saw limited success in the offensive set, the Irish counter-attack and fast breaks were stunningly impressive, with 2 of their goals coming on counter-attack fast breaks that resulted in effectively 1 on 1 chances against the US GK.

The US squad will be back in action on July 25th at 3 in the afternoon Eastern Time (assuming I've got my timezones right).  Ireland will play the next day at 9am Eastern time (with the same caveat).

The current results in the pool clearly put Ireland in the driver's seat, with the US a bit behind the 8 ball.  England is the 2nd ranked team in the world, so the US (7th) will have their work cut out for them.  It's a little early to talk about end results in pool play due to the large number of permutations possible still.  But the US really needs to at least get a point off of England with a draw to have a good advancement picture.  A subsequent win against India would put them in a reasonable place for advancement.  Of course wins against both will put them in quite good shape.  The Irish (ranked 16th in the world, and one of the worst tanked teams in the World Cup competition) have certainly upset the apple cart winning the 3 points, and put themselves on a path towards advancement that many didn't expect them on.

Swimming in Irvine

A number of UofL (current and past) swimmers are headed west to Irvine California for the US
Nationals Open championship.  This event is a qualifying event for the Pan Pacific Championships that will have in Tokyo August 9-12.  This event, combined with results for the Pan Pacific event, will be qualifiers for selection to the US team for the 2019 FINA World Championships next summer in Gwangju, South Korea.

The US Nationals Open event will occur July 25th-29th.  I'm confident that the UofL Swimming and Diving twitter feed will post UofL relevant results.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It was a depleted set of knuckleheads on the radio yesterday, with just Paulie and I in the studio.  Case gave some lame excuse about wedding planning, and he really needs to get his priorities in order.  Jared was back at the bank making change.

You can check out the Facebook Live link of the broadcast.  Topics were Holly Aprile's hiring as Softball Head Coach, Angel McCoughtry's selection to the WNBA All-Star game, Jeff Walz heading out west to coach youngin's for the US National program, an honoring of passed local music legend and Cardinals fan Mickey Clark, and what I think was one of the most enjoyable segments we've done - and it had nothing to do with sports whatsoever - we were able to get The Monk, Kathy Weisbach, out in front of the FB Live camera for once, and on the mic to talk about the origins and development of our wonderful hosts, WCHQ.

As the program transitions to me doing the engineering for the show, Kathy won't be with us on a regular basis on Saturday mornings anymore, so we wanted to take the opportunity to honor her role in the development of CCHR and thank her for her efforts for Cardinal Couple, and the Louisville community in general.  WCHQ's laser focus on local Louisville music is a rare treasure, and Cardinal Couple has been thrilled to be a tangential part of it.  We're thrilled to continue to have a home at WCHQ where we can bring you a bit of live programming (with flubs and all), so that we can remain as up to date and topical in our radio content.

Thank you, Kathy, for all the hours, dedication, ideas, guidance, support and the opportunity. We won't say "Goodbye". We'll just say "See ya down the road now and then." You are the "H" -- the "heart" of WCHQ.

FACEBOOK LIVE REPLAY LINK: https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2123648084325130/

-- 

JMcA

Joy on Sunday -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It's been a crazy, although remarkably non-sucky, week for CardNation, so let's get back a bit to just some unabashedly joyous things, and steer clear of politics and scandals for a bit.  We can call it a bit of Cardinal Couple self care, if you like.

Madame President

Let's start with Dr. Neeli Bendapudi, though.  No, not that topic, we're steering clear of that, remember?  Dr. Bendapudi made an appearance last night at Forecastle, one of the largest music festivals in the Louisville area.  While we, at Cardinal Couple, are partial to Poorcastle with it benefiting our wonderful radio hosts at WCHQ FM, Forecastle is a cultural touchpoint for Louisville every year.  While I've never attended, I certainly respect and honor the impact it has, both culturally, and financially, on our city.  Many people make appearances at Forecastle for what is, at it's core, a rock music festival, that you wouldn't expect.  Jecorey Arthur, known also by his stage name, 1200, has been a regular Hip-hop performer at the festival.  Perhaps counter-intuitively, Arthur leads to Teddy Abrams, The Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra, who this year, was asked to curate the line-up for the WFPK Port Stage at the festival.  Abrams is slated to perform 3 times on the stage, along with 1200 (not the first time those two have teamed up), the Louisville Leopards (another beneficiary of Poorcastle), The River City Drum Corp, Ben Sollee (another frequent collaborator with Abrams), Houndmouth, Wax Fang, and plenty more local acts.  Many of these performers can also be heard on WCHQ, with its laser focus on local music.

Back to Bendapudi, though.  She appeared there with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who has some background in music promotion and is a regular at numerous music festivals around the city.  While I suspect Bendapudi's appearance was relatively brief, you have to applaud her ongoing efforts to reach out to UofL's core constituency, the students (who, I'm sure, make up a significant demographic at Forecastle).

Thank you, Dr. Bendapudi for bringing some of the joy back to being a UofL fan.

New Cardinals

And a moment to celebrate one of the most joyous moments possible.  Hendricks Lee Meske is the newest arrival to the CardNation family...literally.  Born yesterday afternoon at a whopping 9lbs 1oz, Hendricks is the 3rd child (all boys) of Dan and Laurel Meske.  Dan is the Associate Head Coach of the UofL Volleyball team.

I have had the joy of getting to chat with both Dan and Laurel on several occasions, and both were a delightful pleasure to talk to.

Congratulations to the Meske's and welcome to CardNation Hendricks.  I'll share with the Meskes a bit of wisdom I picked up somewhere along the way..."When you get the 3, you have to switch to zone defense."

Minor Changes for CCRH

If you tuned in yesterday, you noticed a few minor changes for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.  The
show continues, and we'll still have all the normal knuckleheads in the studio whenever possible.

If you watch the Facebook livestream, though, you might have noticed the seating arrangement was a bit different that typical.  Kathy, the station manger, who has graciously engineered the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour from the very beginning, expressed a desire to reclaim her Saturday mornings due to some personal reasons.  Our appreciation for "The Monk" cannot be overstated, she effectively created WCHQ from it's very beginning, and has continued to engineer our show even as the station has grown and other shows switched to other engineers.

We're grateful for her efforts over the years. We'll miss her and Punkin' in the studio and maybe they'll stop in for a visit from time-to-time! 

Going forward, I'll be doing my best to engineer the show.  This is involving learning the systems of WCHQ, including the Facebook Live streaming.  Kathy has done an excellent job of making it all easy to run, but there's still plenty to learn.

If you want to check out the first attempt at this, this is basically how the show was engineered yesterday, with Kathy mostly sitting beside me making sure I flipped all the right switched and clicked all the right buttons.  Overall, I think it went pretty well.

You can check out the results via Facebook Live at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2112430285446910/

Thanks for joining us, as always!

-- 

JMcA

Worldwide Volleyball Update -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Update

Worldwide is writing about Volleyball again?  I'm sure you're shocked.

Jared covered the news the other day that Tess Clark had signed a Pro contract in France to play volleyball, and that news, on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour yesterday, led into a bit of a path down Volleyball news and updates that we had not really covered very well.  So let's do a little catching up with the situation for Volleyball, including a discussion of their schedule for the Fall, as well as a quick rundown of the new folks expected to join the team.

Let's start with a roster update.  With the graduation of Tess Clark, Maggie DeJong, Gabbie Wiley, and Colene Coussens, along with the departures of Kali Eaken, and Alexia Byrnes to other schools, the Cardinals Volleyball roster is depleted in numbers, but really not suffering too badly for talent levels.  If you look at the roster site http://gocards.com/roster.aspx?roster=247&path=wvball, you'll see it has been updated to remove the graduates and transfers, but hasn't yet added incoming Freshmen (and, who knows, we may still get a surprise incoming transfer).  Basically what you see if you look right now is the lineup that the Cardinals had for spring play...a playing schedule that saw a reasonable degree of success.  Almost certainly in the starting lineups you'll see: Molly Sauer and Alexis Hamilton in defensive roles, with Molly almost certainly retaining the Libero jersey.  Wilma Rivera will continue to be lead the team at the setting position, while Jasmine Bennett and Piper Roe will be playing in middle blocker/hitter roles.  So far, these are rather safe predictions.  As for hitting, things get a bit murky.  Melanie McHenry, and Amanda Green are pretty much shoe-ins for the role, and you would expect, with this roster, for both of them to play full rotations and fill in with defensive roles.  Beyond that, Marijke van Dyke, the January transfer from Illinois, should continue to have an offensive role, and Megan Sloan will likely get some time to shine as well.

Now let's shake it up a bit and look at the incoming freshman, and see how they may make some
changes to the above.  The biggest lack is in outside and opposite hitting, though it would be nice to pick up another good asset for the defense.  A backup setter would be nice as well, and if we're filling out a wish list, a middle blocker/hitter to be in development.  Specifically in hitting, we don't really have any hitters who are particularly adept or specialized in right side, or opposite, hitting.  So who are the newcomers?  Let's take a look:

Claire Chaussee - 5'11" Outside Hitter from Wisconsin
Aiko Jones - 6'1" Right side/Opposite Hitter from Jamaica
Emily Scott - 6'2" Middle from Wisconson
Anaya Martin - 5'7" Setter from Georgia
Maggie Mullen - 5'3" Libero/Defensive Specialist from Nebraska
Mia Stander - 5'3" Libero/Defensive Specialist from Georgie

OK, outside hitting, including some emphasis at right side/opposite:  check
Flesh out the defense a bit:  check
Backup setter:  check
Middle to be in development:  check

And now I'm excited for Volleyball season to get started.

What do I know about these players?  Well, as incoming freshmen, there are a lot of question marks.  The hitters are both quite athletic, particularly Aiko Jones as I understand it.  The word about Maggie Mullen is that she is the real deal in defense.  The other three, I'm not terribly familiar with, so we'll have to see how they fare at the Red and Black Scrimmage (August 18th, 6pm, Cardinal Arena, free admission).  So with the pressing needs being hitting and defense...I'd say we're in pretty good shape.

Oh, I've also seen a hint of what's to come for 2019, it just keeps getting better.

Let's move on to scheduling and twitter...oh wait, no, that's our Radio Hour process.  We're just going to talk about the Fall Volleyball schedule here.

The Red and Black Scrimmage, mentioned above, gets things rolling with a sneak peak of what the team is going to look like.  Do keep in mind that this event always happens about halfway through the "Fall Camp" for volleyball.  The team gets about two weeks of 2-a-day practices before school starts, and the Red and Black Scrimmage is after the first typically.  More improvement will happen after the scrimmage and before the schedule gets underway.

The first weekend, August 24th and 25th is the Cardinal Classic, with Tennessee-Martin, Southern Illinois, and IUPUI coming to Cardinal Arena.  This will be a good warmup for the Cards.

Heading south for the next weekend, the University of Florida Tournament will be the destination where the Cards will be meeting up with Central Florida and USC (Southern Cal), in addition to the host Gators.  Nothing like getting into serious matchups early in the season.  USC is a perennial Volleyball powerhouse (shockingly...they're in the PAC-12...Volleyball is the one sport that conference seems to be really good at), and Florida had some barnburners of matchups against a very good Kentucky team in the SEC last year.  This one runs 8/31 through 9/2.

The next weekend, Lipscomb and Xavier, head north with the Cards (ok, well, mostly west for Xavier, but a bit north as well) to be hosted by Purdue.  The Boilermakers have had some good years in Volleyball although they haven't been particularly strong in recent years.  This should all be good competition for the Cards.  9/7 and 9/8 for this one.

Mark your calendars for Kentucky to come back to Cardinal Arena on September 14th for the first time since September 16, 2009.  A 7pm start, this one should be loud and crazy.  In 2009, when UK played in Cardinal Arena, the stated attendance on the stat sheet was 1,270...Cardinal Arena officially seated 840 at the time.  I was there...I'm glad the fire marshal wasn't.

Chattanooga will be the next foe, and let's hope that CardNation doesn't still have a hangover the next day after the UK match for this one.

After that, UofL starts into conference play for the rest of the season with the usual foes.  One note on an ACC foe in Volleyball.  I mentioned, during the CCRH yesterday, that Notre Dame was continuing their rebuilding and was back to being a good team after a complete program implosion 3 years ago.  I specifically mentioned the head coach as being part of the reason for their rebuilding success.  (I didn't mention the name, because it had slipped my mind at the moment).  I did see news last night that, Jim McLaughlin, the head coach, has decided to step down due to health reasons, specifically back pain that has gotten severe enough to start interfering with his coaching duties.  The helm will be taken over, starting July 1st, by current Associate Head Coach Mike Johnson.  So, while we're not talking about a whole program shakeup such as occurred when Debbie Brown stepped down 3 years ago, any coaching change always brings about an extra little question mark.

Much as what transpired (but wasn't predicted) last year, I would expect FSU and Pitt to be at the top of the ACC rankings with UofL as the season progresses.  Only time will tell, of course, and it's extremely early to be making any significant predictions.  Both Pitt and UofL really surprised the conference to be at the top last year, so, as always, there could be a darkhorse that could make a run at it.  UNC has had years of greatness, NC State has occasionally stepped up their level of play, and Syracuse and Miami can both be real threats at times.

All in all, I expect a great year of Volleyball, and everything I see about this team, this coaching staff, and the schedule gets me hyped to get in there and lead the C-A-R-D-S chant again.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Do be sure to check out the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour from yesterday.  You can find it on Facebook live at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/2068421256514480/

It was only Paulie and myself in studio (it's June, everyone is on vacation or working!), but we had a good time and some awesome discussion about various events and updates.  Much of the above discussion on Volleyball is an expansion on what we talked about there, for example.

Check it out, it was fun.  You can challenge yourself against me in your knowledge of mascots around the country.  Be warned, you better bring your A game, because I sure did!

We should be back to a fuller house next week.

-- 

JMcA

UofL Announces Yard Sale -- Women's Golf Leaves for Stillwater -- Days Without a President? ZERO -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UofL Announces Yard Sale

A college having a yard sale?  You heard that right!  Well, sort of.  Athletics has announced that their annual spring cleaning yard sale will be this Saturday.  The event will be hosted from 9:00 a.m., to 2:00 p.m. in the Bronze Lot of the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium football parking lot.

Folks looking to find some nice UofL gear can find them at extremely discounted rates.  There will be also sorts of gear available to purchase ranging from shirts, to shoes, the whole galore.  If you want to look like the players, coaches, or me on a daily basis this is the place to go!

For me, this has always been a good place to go to find my size 15 shoes.  And who can say "no" to an extra shirt repping the Cards?  Swing by before or after the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour to see if they have anything that might suit you.

Women's Golf Departs for Stillwater, Oklahoma

Women's golf at UofL baseball vs Indiana

If you're looking to get away from the allergen-ripe city of Louisville then I suggest you head out west for a little golf action.  After their big day three rally in the San Francisco Regional, Louisville women's golf placed high enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships. Stillwater, OK is the venue.

They will begin action on Friday for a three-day first round.  The Top 15 teams out of the 24-team field will advance to Monday's action and possibly see themselves still playing next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Molly Skapik (senior), Olivia Cason (junior), Lauren Hartlage (sophomore), Delaney Shah (sophomore), and Kristin Engle (freshman) will accompany Coach Courtney Trimble in the program's second NCAA Championships appearance.

We wish the women's golf team a safe travels and good luck! Let's hope the Cards can stay "out of the water" in Stillwater!

Dr. Neeli Bendapudi Starts Day One

Hensley and Bendapudi

Louisville has a president!  Dr. Bendapudi's first day was full of action, starting with quite a crowd at Grawemeyer Hall, awaiting her arrival to work.  She gave a speech in front of the student faculty, and media as she tried to contain her excitement.

Dr. Bendapudi then joined the crowd at the baseball game.  Originally scheduled to throw out the opening pitch, our motivated president was battling a rotator cuff injury from unpacking.  In her stead, Megan Hensley threw a strike in front of the roar crowd.  The duo exchanged laughs and smiles as they walked off the field to see Coach McDonnell.

I had the opportunity Louisville's newest star last week when she found herself walking in the front door at my work.  Believe me when I say that she is going to fix Louisville and make this university one of the best in the country.

Other News and Notes

Worldwide posing for an album cover?

Congratulations to our very own Worldwide.  Mr. Jeff McAdams has accepted a new job and will begin here in a few weeks.  If you follow him on social media you've probably already heard, but if not then you will have to wait on Worldwide to give us his own update. We're lobbying the station we broadcast from (WCHQ FM) to get his smash CD "The Best of Worldwide: Vol. 1" regular air time on the playlist.

It may not be the type of music you hear on WCHQ FM 100.9 , but if you want to hear some local music come check out the Louisville Winds in their spring concert at Iroquois Amphitheater this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.  It'll feature songs from the 1930's and 1940's including songs such as The Wizard of Oz medley, Disney medley, 76 Trombones (from The Music Man), Sing, Sing, Sing, and more!

Today's holidays include loving trees (the do help us breathe) and nickel day (very fitting for us bankers).  It's also a great day to enjoy a mimosa or two without feeling guilty.

Paulie wrote a great article on veteran race horse W.B.Smudge over at his other site...HANDICAPPING HEROES...that is a great read on a horse and his refusal to retire. You should go check it out at

HANDICAPPING HEROES

Go back for his Preakness picks also, they should be available on Thursday. Our misguided leader made you a lot of money on Oaks and Derby if you followed the site.

Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Cardinal Couple Sunday - Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Yesterday, Case admirably laid out the path forward for CardNation.  So today we're going to follow it.

All eyes front.

Follow the yellow brick road.

Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times.

Set Destination: Omaha

College World Series Is Off

Brendan McKay, the junior phenom from Pennsylvania, is set to lead the Cardinals from the mound in their first game in the 2017 College World Series.  The two-way super-star has left no room for questions other than the one question of what position he'll play once he gets to the pros, first base, or pitcher?  The Tampa Bay Rays have said they will be giving him the chance to play in both to see where he settles in, so don't look for that question to be settled anytime soon.  Pretty much the rest of the questions about McKay have been answered, or should be a foregone conclusion.  Most of those questions take the form of, "Will McKay win the _________ award, for the best _____________ in College Baseball?"  Spoiler: The answer is, "Yes."

The Cardinal's foe will be Texas A&M, with first pitch scheduled at 2pm and will be televised on ESPN.  Stick around (if you don't have a 6pm sand volleyball match like your correspondent does) to find out who the Cards will play next.  The CWS is essentially broken into 3 distinct "tournaments", with eight teams participating in total.  It starts with two, four team, double-elimination tournaments, with the winners of those two tournaments meeting up for a best of 3 series (a double-elimination tournament of two teams, if you will) to determine the National Champion.  The other half of this first double-elimination tournament with UofL and the Aggies have Florida and TCU.  So the winners of todays games will meet Tuesday at 7pm, and the losers start their path through the elimination bracket Tuesday at 2pm.

As with the Regionals, and even Super Regionals to a degree, there is a distinct advantage in staying on the winning side of the bracket as it results in fewer games played, and longer rest between each game.  

On paper, this game should be a relatively easy win for the Cards.  The Aggies were a Regional 3 seed, beating hosting Houston, Regional 2 seed Baylor, and Iowa.  They advanced in the Super Regional over Davidson, who advanced to the Supers against all odds as a Regional 4 seed in the North Carolina hosted Regional which also had FGCU and Michigan in attendance.  Beyond this game, the matchups, regardless of which team it is, look tougher, with Florida and TCU holding overall 3 and 6 seeds, respectively.

The other double-elimination bracket in the CWS sees unseeded Florida State, and Cal State Fullerton, both teams that give Cardinal Baseball fans nervous shudders; as well as overall 4 seed LSU, and overall top seed Oregon State, who made the trip without pitcher Luke Heimlich.  Heimlich did not travel with the team to Omaha after The Oregonian reported this week that he pled guilty to felony child molestation as a teenager, stating that he didn't want to be a distraction to the team and direct too much unwanted attention to the victim of his crime.

In action yesterday, Oregon State and and LSU won their respective games, dispatching FSU and CSF to the elimination side of the bracket.  FSU and CSF will see each other tomorrow with a 2pm first pitch, with the loser going home, and the winner waiting around to see who they will play, that being the loser of the OSU and LSU game starting at 7pm.

It is Nebraska, perhaps corn on the cob should be on the menu?  Might go good with a couple of those mail order Omaha Steaks. Go Cards!



THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

Our rebroadcast from yesterday's THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is now up and available on the the Crescent Hill Radio website. We had a great crew on board with Worldwide, Paulie, Case and Jared Anderson. The prime topic of discussion was the sanctions on Louisville basketball, and we also looked at the College World Series and gave the boys a quiz that they aced with flying colors. 

Listen to the replay here: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 6/17/17

-- JMcA

Cardinal Couple Elephant In the Room Edition -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

PACHYDERM PRESENCE 

Those of you that follow Cardinal Couple closely may have noticed that I am a bit more reticent to shift over to coverage of the UofL men's sports than my colleagues, Case and Paulie.  That's not to say I'm not a fan by any stretch of the imagination, and as we enter the slower news season of summer, I'm grateful for the continued success of Baseball, both as a fan, and as a writer and radio co-host.

Today, however, there is no avoiding talking about Men's Basketball.  Even on Cardinal Couple, where we are all about the joy and excitement of UofL Women's Sports, we would be remiss not to take a few minutes to talk about the Men's Basketball program. Many women's sports fans also have been following these procedings.

If you are at all in tune with any UofL sports media over the past 24 hours, you are aware that the NCAA handed down their report on the recruiting scandal in the program.  Most people aware of the situation expected further punishments beyond what UofL had self-imposed, but based on the immense cooperation the Athletic Department, and specifically the Men's Basketball Program provided to the NCAA during the investigation, as well as the significant self-imposed penalties, the expectation was that those further punishments would be relatively minimal.

Boy was everyone wrong on that.

First, though...let's be clear...the events that went on in Minardi Hall were reprehensible and
repugnant.  The NCAA is absolutely correct in that assessment.  Andre McGee demonstrated complete lack of character and class, to say nothing of sound judgement, and discernment.  The sex trade is cause for despair, and the victims are numerous, including those who find themselves in life situations where selling sex becomes the best of bad options.  The Men's Basketball program was involved in this, and absolutely there should be punishment for their involvement.

Quickly, a rundown of the major points of the punishments that the NCAA decreed.  This isn't an exhaustive list, but I think it hits the high points:

1. Loss of some scholarships over the next four years
2. Pay back revenues from tournament appearances, both to the NCAA and conferences, for the relevant time period (2011-2014)
3. Declare ineligible the players (3 of them, apparently) that were involved.
4. Vacating wins during the relevant time period in which the ineligible players play, specifics of the games involved are to be determined, but will likely be all of the wins during the four year period, including the 2012 Final Four appearance and 2013 National Championship
5. Monetary Fines
6. Pitino suspended for 5 ACC games this coming season
7. 10 year "Show Cause" on Andre McGee

OK, I've got issues with some of these.

I'll start by acknowledging some bias.  I despise the NCAA as an organization.  I have no respect for them, or for their leadership, all the way up to, and including the President of the organization, Mark Emmert.  This organization represents the height of hypocrisy and arrogance in nearly every situation they address.  Occasionally, however, they get some things right.

So, the ones I have no problem with.  The "Show Cause" on Andre McGee is warranted, and in my opinion should be lifetime, rather than just 10 years.  I only wish the NCAA had the ability to take more action against him, but since it is unlikely that McGee will ever have another role in an NCAA affiliated organization, he's pretty much out of their reach at this point.  Monetary fines I have no problem with, as well as the repaying the revenues from the tournament appearances.  Frankly, UofL Athletics is profitable enough, the fines should probably be bigger as the fines levied are small enough that they will essentially be lost in the noise of the department budget.  Paying back the tournament revenues is bigger and will be felt.  OK.  Punishment is supposed to hurt.

I can even accept the Pitino suspension.  Some Cardinal fans are up in arms about this one, citing the NCAA acknowledging that there is no evidence that Pitino knew of the events occurring, as well as Pitino pointing out that the NCAA has been unable, or at least unwilling, to point to specific actions that he should have, or even could have, taken to be aware of the problem at the time.  Even the NCAA acknowledged how close the information about these events was held by the recruits, players, and others involved.  Because of all this, I look at this one with a little bit of side-eye, but it is the job of the head coach to direct the program, so ultimately, even if he didn't have knowledge of it, Pitino carries responsibility for this.

How many guys? Three guys? 

The punishments I do have a problem with.  Declaring the (apparently) 3 players ineligible
retroactively.  There should probably be some sort of punishment for the players directly involved.  The problem, here, is that these players are not, by the NCAA's own rhetoric, employees.  They are students, and the NCAA supposedly holds dear the idea that amateurism is paramount (I say "supposedly" because the organization's actions don't really back that up).  Were the actions of the players also reprehensible?  Yes.  Do the actions show a lack of character, judgement, and respect for other humans?  For sure.  But if the NCAA is going to be true to their rhetoric that they are amateur students, then this is a legal matter for law enforcement to deal with, not the NCAA.  If another non-athlete student were to pay for sex in a dorm, that would be a matter for law enforcement, and the school wouldn't face punishment from accreditation groups.  The school might impose some of it's own punishment on those student, including potentially expulsion from the school, and I have no problem with that.  I'm not going to get up in arms about this punishment, but I do think it is out of line with NCAA rhetoric.

The last two are where I think the NCAA has completely swung and missed on their targets based on their stated intentions.  Vacating the wins, and specifically the Final Four appearance and National Championship, as well as eliminating scholarships missed the target.  These punishment target the students, past and future, actual and potential, rather than the organization or individuals involved.  Vacating the wins mostly targets the players that weren't involved in this.  Being unable to claim those victories and accomplishments, at least officially, harms them more than it does the people directly involved.

I think the loss of scholarship punishment is salvageable, with a tweak.  Instead of just preventing the University from funding those scholarships, if they required the school to use those funds to provide those same scholarship opportunities to non-athletes, the NCAA could turn this misstep into a win.  As it is, the punishment most targets future students who will not have that opportunity to get an education (again, this is according to well-established NCAA rhetoric, at least).  By funding non-athlete scholarships with those funds, the organization still takes the hit, but other students still get an opportunity at education.

The NCAA needs to take a long hard look at their amateurism rhetoric and see how it squares with the punitive measures it uses, because they are drastically out-of-step with each other.  Andre McGee screwed up, without a doubt.  I think it's a reasonable argument to say that Pitino screwed up somehow, and even the UofL Athletic Department as a whole, but let's make sure the punishments actually hit the perpetrators, and not the victims or innocent bystanders.

We will discuss these aspects and more on our Saturday morning radio show...The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. It airs at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Jared Anderson will be in studio with us...and we'll have the return of the mending Paulie...along with me and Case Hoskins. We'll talk about a few other items than the NCAA Committee report...but you can expect the majority of the broadcast to be about that.

LINK: www.crescenthillradio.com

-- JMcA

Louisville Lacrosse eliminated from NCAA Tourney by James MAdison -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

5-0 DUKES RUN SENDS CARDS HOME

A 5-0 closing run by the James Madison lacrosse team over the final 15 minutes of the contest propelled them past the Cards and eliminated Louisville from the NCAA Tournament. 

The end of this one was hard to watch...when I did eventually figure out how to watch it...boos and hisses to Penn State for making this a pay-per-view event on my computer but allowing me to watch it free on my diminutive cell phone through the College Sports Network.

Hard to watch in screen size but also in the untimely collapse of the Cards normally strong defense and disappearance of any scoring threats during crunch time. For the fourth straight year, LouLax makes the NCAA Tournament and bows out after the first game. 

The Cards started strong enough...holding a 3-1 lead after 13 minutes of play. Hannah Koloski got the scoring started just two minutes into the match when she connected on a free position attempt. Goals by Jillian Balog and Meghan Siverson followed. JMU did rally with a first half 5-0 run to regain the lead and took a 6-4 lead into halftime. 

The Cards would climb with one in the early part of the second half at 7-6 when Hannah Koloski got her third goal of the game at the 15:48 mark. After that, though, the offense remained silent and the defense fell apart. 

Kellie Young comments: 

"I am super proud of our seniors and what they brought today," said head coach Kellie Young. "They left their hearts on the field and unfortunately the other 23 players did not. The defense played out of their minds to start the game and the attack was playing scared. Our attack then stepped it up in the last eight minutes but you have to play 60 minutes. I am disappointed right now and embarrassed that Louisville lacrosse did not play the level that we played in the ACC Tournament. We will figure it out and attack next year."


A season of ups and downs ends for Louisville LAX. We hope that the disappointment associated with this loss will spur those returning for next year on to do better and go at least one step further in 2018. 


****************************************************


the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO SHOW

I meander back into the studio today to co-host The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour with WorldWide Jeff McAdams. Case is off this week, busy with the arduous process and physical exertion of moving...but we have a very special guest scheduled to join us in studio in Louisville Cardinal sports editor Dalton Ray.

We'll run through the worlds of softball, lacrosse and much, much more this morning at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM and at www.crescenthillradio.com plus get a look at what involves being a sports editor for a college newspaper from Dalton. 

Should be fun. Please join us and stay tuned for Handicapping Heroes following the show. 


paulie
xxxxx

Louisville Lacrosse opens season against Vermont -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

#18 LAX CARDS START 2017 CAMPAIGN AGAINST VERMONT AT 1 P.M. TODAY

Leading scorer Koloski back for UofL

The UofL Lacrosse team takes to the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium pitch today for a 1 p.m. match against northern invader Vermont University. With highs expected to rise to the mid-40's...the Cards begin their 2017 season with a wealth of new faces and a return of a few familiar ones. 

Louisville's leading scorer from 2016 Hannah Koloski is back for her senior season. The Lakeville, MN native had 43 goals for the Cards last year. She'll receive help from returnees Heidi Smith, Jillian Balog, Julia Wood and Madison Hoover...plus a strong freshman attack class.  Louisville also gets defenders Stephanie McNamara, Emily Howell and goalkeeper Brittany Read back from 2016...Read is fully recovered from a season-ending knee injury and McNamara a member of the All-ACC squad. 

The Cards finished 12-6 last season...advancing to the NCAA Tournament but... hindered by the loss of Read...bowed out in the first round against Northwestern. The Cards raced out to a 12-1 start to the 2016 campaign but lost their final five after losing Read. 
Word is from the Cardinal Lacrosse crew is that Read is fully recovered from the ACL injury and eager to get back out between the pipes and defend the net. 

The Cards will look to a talented freshman class and the returnees from 2016 to replace a couple of the greatest LAX players in UofL history in Kaylin Morissette and Cortnee Daley. Kelli Gerding has also graduated...but head Coach Kellie Young is hopeful and optimistic about the new and returning talent on the roster...and is pleased with the competition for the openings in the lineup. 

Vermont faces the Cards for the first time and went 6-10 in 2016. The Catamounts return 27 letter-winners and their leading scorer Alex Bernier.

We'll be in attendance for the contest and will have a full report on the action in Sunday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE...plus a preview on today's THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR today at 11 a.m. 


😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR IS ON THE AIR

We have a great show lined up for you today on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. Reviews and previews of Lacrosse, women's and men's basketball and clips from the Spring Sports Media Day. 

We'll see how Case is prepping for his assignment of learning how to row and Worldwide will fill you in on all the UofL athletic activities coming up in the next seven days. We'll see what technical glitches and malfunctions Monk and Punkin have lined up for us in the basement on a hill and maybe even get in a little curling practice. 

It's live radio and that explains a lot. Join us at www.crescenthillradio.com this morning at 11 a.m. 


paulie
xxxxx