Cards Nearly Sweep Friday -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Upsets Denver in Opener

Louisville lacrosse, which we discussed a lot last week after Paulie and Jared's interview with Scott Teeter, opened their season yesterday with a midday game against the 15th-ranked Denver Pioneers. As Teeter  mentioned in that interview, the team was ready to play someone other than themselves. That showed when Louisville opened with a 5-1 first quarter. Louisville weathered storm after storm, ultimately holding on through a 1-4 fourth quarter to win the game 10-8. 

Denver opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Olivia Ripple scored from Raegan Wilson. Louisville was undeterred, though. Lauren Figas scored her first, an unassisted goal, just 35 seconds later to tie the match. With both teams back on level footing, they settled into a rhythm or, if you rather, a game of cat and mouse. Neither team could score for about ten minutes before Reese Whiteman, a sophomore set to see more time, scored from Negai Nakazawa with just under four to play in the quarter. That goal was the start of a 4-0 run to close the quarter with Ella Berg and Erin Nicholson scoring unassisted goals and Figas scoring her second on Nakazawa's second assist. 

The second quarter started basically the exact same way, with Olivia Ripple scoring her second goal just 1:22 into the quarter. This one was unassisted, but Raegan Wilson would add another point to her tally by scoring herself with 1:08 remaining in the first half. They were the only two scorers in the quarter, and Louisville held on to a 5-3 lead heading into the locker room. 

I think Teeter may have mentioned Olivia Ripple's trend during the break, because she didn't score the third goal of her hat trick until there was only 5:50 remaining in the third quarter. By that time, Nakazawa had extended Louisville's advantage by two, once unassisted and once from Berg. Figas matched the Ripple hat trick less than a minute later and Rian Adkins got on the board to push Louisville's advantage to five with 2:34 remaining in the third. 

The fourth returned to form for Denver in more ways than one. They scored less than a minute into the quarter, but this time it was Caroline Colimore. Adkins scored a minute and a half later to push Louisville's lead back to five, but it would be the last time they scored in the game. Fortunately, the defense was able to bear down. The Pioneers scored three more goals (including a fourth by Ripple), but their last goal came with 6:27 remaining. The Cards were able to keep them at bay for the remainder of the game and hold on for the huge season-opening upset. 

Louisville's defensive was aided by a player advantage, as Lindsey Wilmot of Denver was shown a red card with 4:18 to go. The penalties were certainly fewer than last season, as Teeter alluded to when discussing the rule changes, but there were still five yellows and a green to go along with the red. Louisville picked up three of the yellows, while Denver had the remaining penalties. 

Louisville's win was impressive, and a lot of the credit goes to the defense. Denver outshot Louisville by 16 overall (37-21), but the Cards were strong and forced a ton of uncomfortable shots. In the end, the teams finished with the same number of attempts on goal: 17. Louisville may not have had as many opportunities, but they were clinically efficient. J Pleck started in goal, as the senior inherited the position from the graduating Sara Addeche, and finished with a career high in saves with nine. Pleck also helped hold the Pioneers to 3-10 on free position shots while Louisville matched the goals with three on seven attempts.

In addition to the overall shots battle, Louisville had to weather being disadvantaged in turnovers (18-13) and ground balls (16-5). Denver just had the ball more often, which is why I give so much credit to the defense. The Cards did win the draw control battle 11-10. 

All in all, it was a great start to the season for Louisville. As expected, Teeter was spot on when he name dropped some of his expected standouts, and we'll surely see more from them and others as the season rolls on. Louisville is next in action when they host Cincinnati on Tuesday at 3PM. 

POST GAME SCOTT TEETER AND PLAYERS

Softball Goes 1-1 on Opening Day

Louisville softball one-upped the lacrosse team by playing two games on their opening day. Unfortunately for Holly Aprile's squad, they could only come up with the same number of wins. The Cards opened the evening with an 11-3 stomping of Middle Tennessee (who have officially changed their logo from MTSU to MT) but closed with a 9-4 loss against Liberty. 

Sam Booe got the start in the first game and pitched six strong innings. She struck out seven, walked two, and gave up five hits. Her three earned runs came on a three-run homer in the third inning. Booe was relieved by Brooke Gray in the seventh to keep Gray warm for game two. Gray snagged two ground outs and a strikeout in a quick inning. 

The real show in game one was Louisville's offense. Louisville was the away team in this one, and Easton Lotus (who has moved into the leadoff spot as we welcome the R-Jr back from injury) opened the game with a triple. After Char Lorenz, the R-Fr utility player, coaxed a walk, Lotus stole home to get the Cards on the board. Bri Despines, Louisville's new transfer catcher from Kent State, drew a catcher's interference call (savvy) to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Unfortunately, Louisville could add no more runs as the next three batters went down on a pair of flyouts and a strikeout. 

Louisville got back on the board in the second when a bases loaded error on a Lorenz grounder to short scored Chelsea Mack and Taylor Monroe. Despines scored Lotus on a sac fly to give Louisville a 4-0 lead. In the third, Mack drew a bases loaded walk to score Riley Janda and Lotus hit a productive groundout to score Thatcher. Middle Tennessee would break the shutout in the bottom of the third with the aforementioned homer to make the score 6-3. 

Louisville was held scoreless for the first time in the fourth inning, but they scored one run each in the fifth and sixth. Jordan Williams singled for Thatcher to score her second run of the day and Madison Pickens scored in the sixth on a bases loaded wild pitch. In the seventh, the top of the order got back to work, with Lorenz doubling in Lotus and then scoring herself on an error that saw Despines go from the batter's box to third base. Despines came home for the 11th and final run on a Pickens sac fly.

It was an exciting game for new Cards, as Despines was joined by freshmen Lorenz, Pickens, Janda, Monroe, and Williams in having a hit and/or RBI. It was also a great return to the field for Easton Lotus, who scored all three times she reached base (two hits and a walk) and earned an RBI. 

The second game was much tighter, but ultimately saw the away team take the victory again. Unfortunately, Louisville was the home team in this one. Alyssa Zabala took to the circle for the start of this one and held Liberty scoreless for the first two innings. A freshman connection scored the Cards first run when Taylor Monroe singled in Riley Janda in the second. The Cards lead was short-lived, though, as a two-run homer gave Liberty the lead in the third. Though the homer came with two outs, Zabala wasn't missing many bats in the inning. A double preceded a pair of line drives before the home run and a triple followed. Fortunately a ground out ended the threat. 

Louisville couldn't answer in the bottom half, unfortunately seeing Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz go down in order. Lorenz watched strike three on a full count, so it's hard to blame her but it stings a bit. After a fly out opened the fourth, Liberty put runners on first and second with a walk and a single. Another single scored a runner and advancement saw runners at second and third with one out. Zabala played with fire by giving up three straight foul balls to the next batter, but she ultimately picked up the swinging strikeout. Aprile still decided that it was time to give her a break and Gray came in to take over. A flyout ended the inning. 

The two teams exchanged 1-2-3 innings after that and headed to the bottom of the fifth with the score still 3-1. Katie Thatcher took a plunking to open the inning and we saw Aprile employ some of her traditional small-ball. A pinch runner moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and Ally Alexander followed with a single. Unfortunately, the single was to left center, meaning Williams couldn't advance and making the prior sacrifice functionally a free out. Aprile put a lot of faith in her contact hitters after that, trusting Chelsea Mack to lay down another sacrifice to bring the top of the order up with runners on second and third and two outs. Lotus delivered with a single to score Williams, and the catcher missed the catch on the throw in, allowing Alexander to come in and tie the game. A pop up ended the inning but Louisville had reset things going into the sixth. 

Liberty responded with small ball of their own. A single and a sac bunt put a runner in scoring position and another single scored the go-ahead run. Unfortunately, Louisville had an error of their own on the throw in, keeping a runner in scoring position. Liberty took advantage, singling for the third time in four batters to make it 5-3. A caught stealing by Despines and a pop up ended the inning. Louisville was unable to answer in the bottom half and the game moved to the final frame with the Cards down two. 

After some shuffling in the bottom of the sixth, Louisville was forced into an interesting substitution pattern in the seventh. Gray gave up a double to open the inning and Katie Thatcher moved into the circle in a change that put Despines back behind the plate and Pickens in right field. Thatcher wasn't listed as a pitcher on last year's roster and I really question the move to test her out in the circle given the situation. Liberty's leadoff runner stole third, and Thatcher threw four straight balls to follow. That runner stole second while Thatcher walked the bases loaded. I'm not sure if either walk was intended to get force outs on base, but a leadoff double while you're down only two is recoverable, so I don't understand what appeared to be giving up defensively. A sac fly scored a runner and a pinch runner stole second to keep runners on second and third with one out. A swinging bunt caught Despines off guard and her errant throw kept runners on second and third and allowed another run. Another walk to load the bases saw freshman Ryann Sanders called into the circle. A single up the middle scored two more before a double play ended the inning. From 5-3 to 9-3 just like that. Gross.

Louisville showed life with a leadoff double of their own in the bottom half. It was followed by a fielder's choice that failed to secure an out and gave Louisville runners on the corners with nobody out and the turn of the order coming up. Unfortunately, Mack, Lotus, and Lorenz weren't quite up to the task this time. Mack popped out, Lotus picked up a consolation RBI on a ground out, and Lorenz lined out to end the game. 9-4 final. 

After the encouraging start to the day and the comeback bid in the second game, I'm still scratching my head about the choices in the end. However, there's a long season ahead and Liberty isn't a bad team. We'll have plenty more chances to see the Cards succeed, starting with two games today against Rutgers (1PM) and Radford (3:30). Both are available (at a cost) on the FastPitch Network. 

Tennis Opens Season 4-1

I wanted to give a shoutout to tennis, who we haven't covered much yet this season, as they're doing well to open the year. Their latest victory was a sweep over Austin Peay. While that may not sound like much, it included a doubles win by Alice Otis and Elisabeth Iila over the 25th-ranked doubles pair in the country. The latest win the Cards' second sweep of the year is added to their victories over UNC Greensboro, UT Chattanooga, and Dayton. Their loss came on the road at Middle Tennessee. Louisville gets a week off before heading to Indiana next week. Conference play begins the week after with a trip to SMU on 2/23. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have three on board today as Jared cruises and Daryl tries to fight off illness. There's plenty to cover, to be sure, so be sure to tune in. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB secures victory over California 70-63 --SB and LAX open spring seasons -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

Welcome back to the weekend, readers.   I had planned on making it out to Yum! last night for the Cardinals WBB vs California however, our house went under the weather and I didn't wanna risk spreading germs to my peers so I am covering the game from the couch and also covering the house in Lysol.   

Jared is also taking a vacation for the next few games so we will be using some photos from previous games and Mike DeZarn is allowing us to share his pictures!  With Sonya at work , it was just Paulie out there holding down the fort for the Cardinal Couple crew..

We're full steam into the basketball season so lets get right into it.  

WBB

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

The Cardinals secured a solid victory against a ranked California squad 70-63.  Olivia Cochran had 18 points and 9 rebounds on the evening.   It was a physical match with the Golden Bears and the Cardinals freshman got a lot of minutes and are starting to blossom just in time for spring.    Imari Berry was the second leading scorer with 14 on 4-5 shooting 2-3 from beyond 3 point range.  

UofL moves to 16-7 on the season and 9-3 in the ACC.  


End of 1Q 21-18 Cards
FG %
9-20 45% Cards
8-15 53.3% Cal
Reb. 10-7 Cards
3-pt %
1-4 25% Cards
2-7 28.6% Cal

(photo bY Mike De Zarn)

California got off to a 7-0 lead to start the game before Taj Roberts finally put the Cards on the board about 2 minutes into it.  Cal had 8 of their 11 points come in the paint to start the game.

Jayda Curry lost the ball in the lane and California made the Cards pay with a 3 pointer in Walz' face to make it 14-9. Imari Brrry hit a three pointer to make it a 14-12 lead Bears.  Berry tried to bury another one and it gets wedged into the corner of the rim making the Cards 5-15 to start the game

Cards hit a 2... stealing it on the inbounds and tie it 16 all.

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

UofL took the lead when Randolph goes long for the layup on Cal's 4th turnover of the game.

UofL got the ball for the last possession when they get their rebound on the missed jumper by Curry but that's when Berry gets fouled and goes 1-2 at the line.


End of 2Q 16-9 Cards


FG %
8-16 50% Cards
2-11 18.2% Cal
Reb. 13-6 Cal
3-pt %
0-1 0% Cards
1-6 16.7% Cal 

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

California called a timeout when the Cards extend the lead 25-19 with 2:30 minutes hone in the second quarter. 

Cardinals got 8 second chance and 12 bench points to start the game 25-19.  Cal's leading scorer, Ioanna Krimili went 0-2 to start the game. 5:25 in the second quarter and the Bears had only scored 1 point.

By this point, California had 8 field goals and 9 turnovers.   Cardinals had 13 field goals and just 2 turnovers.  

With the Cards up 33-20 and on a 14-3 run in the quarter. Louisville 5-7 over that time frame,  Krimili hits her first 3 to make it 27-37.  

California went 4-9 at the free throw line in the quarter. By comparison, JaLeah Williams went 0-1 for the Cards.  

HALF 37-27

End of 3Q  Cards 18-17


FG %
5-12 41.7% Cards
6-14 42.9%  Cal
Reb.   7-8 Cal
3-pt %

2-2 100% Cards
2-8 25%   Cal 

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

A Jayda Curry steal and finish at the rim opened the second half, Olivia Cochran secured a jump ball for UofL on the next possession.  The score is 39-30. Louisville in the lead when Marta Suarez hit a 3 pointer for the Golden Bears. 

Cal found a backdoor cut to make it 32-39 before Curry put up an acrobatic shot and made it an and one to extend it back to a 10 point lead for Louisville. 

Lulu Twidale got her 7th and 8th points in the game with a second left on the shot clock.  Her and Suarez were responsible for the 7 points for California in the quarter. 

Berry broke a 2:30 UofL scoring drought for Louisville and Curry got a steal, Berry hit a 3 to push the lead back to 13 at 47-34 after 30 minutes. .    

 
End of 4Q  19-15 Cal

FG %
5-14 35.7% Cards
6-14 42.9%  Cal
Reb.  11-8 Cards
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
1-7 14.3% Cal 

(photo by Mike DeZarn)

The Cards opened the 4th quarter on a 7-2 run.   With 4 minutes left in the game, the Cards had a 64-48 lead.  But as we have seen time and time again, the scoring struggle continued for the Cardinals in the final few minutes.  

With 1:30 left the Cards were up 66-57.  With about 70 seconds left in the game, the Bears stole the ball and got a chance at the free throw line where they went 2-2 to make it 66-58... Louisville head coach Jeff Walz called a timeout. 

(photo bt Mike DeZarn)

Cal again tried to make some sort of last minute magic when they made it 68-60 with about 39 seconds to go.    They sent the Cards to the line where Arenas went 1-2.   Cal's Williams hit a jumper and got sent to the line when Curry fouled her and that made it a 2 possession game with 30 seconds to go.    UofL didn't score a bucket for the final 3:15 in the game.  

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Stanford

Sunday 2/9 12pm

ESPN2

FRED REPORT


Fred Mertz 


FREE THROWS --  The Cardinals went 13-20 at the free throw line.  Jayda and Olivia made both of their attempts but overall the squad was 65% at the line which does not meet the 70% mark required - no letter  

REBOUNDING --   UofL was outrebounded 36-34.  Cochran led the rebounding category with 9 on the night.  It was a balanced effort but the further this team wants to go in March, they will have to secure more than the opponent.  lower case r

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  After a blank start in the first two minutes of the game from Louisville, they were able to put their foot on the gas and secure the lead and never really look back, even though they did once again go on scoreless stretches in the final quarter of the game.  i give it a CAPITAL E

DEFENSE --   The defense turned it up a notch against California when they had 12 steals and forced 23 turnovers holding the Bears' leading scorers to a total of 23 points.  It was a solid effort from the Cardinals - CAPITAL D

FINAL FRED TALLY:  _r_E_D

Lacrosse

LAX opens the season at home at 12 pm Friday afternoon when they welcome #15 Denver to town.

Denver owns an 8-3 record in the series with a 3-2 edge at Louisville Lacrosse Stadium.  Denver ranked 15th in the country in scoring defense after the 2024 season with 9.20 goals per game.  Last year, the Pioneers finished the season ranked fourth in the country with 11.45 caused turnovers per game.

ACCNX for this one f you can't go. 

Softball

The University of Louisville softball team opens its 2025 season at The Spring Games, taking place from Feb. 7-9 in Leesburg, Fla.

Louisville will play 5 games over the weekend with matchups scheduled against Middle Tennessee, Liberty, Rutgers, Radford, and Cleveland State.

The Cards will begin on Friday with a 4 p.m. game against Middle Tennessee followed by a 6:30 p.m. game against Liberty. The Lady Flames ended the 2024 season with a 38-25 record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.  UofL is 5-3 against MTSU and the Blue Raiders went 21-31 in their 2024 campaign.  

A LINK for the broadcast.

As always
Go Cards!

~Daryl

 

Cards Host Cal for Late Night Tip -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Are in Middle of Three-Game Homestand

Photo by Jared

Louisville women's basketball has a prime opportunity to earn a ranked win when they host #21 California tonight. The Cards and Bears are slated for a later-than-normal tip-off time of 8:00pm and will be aired on tv on the ACC Network.

Last week, Louisville fell at home to #3 Notre Dame after having a first half lead. It snapped a two-game win streak that featured wins over Virginia and SMU. The Cards now carry a 15-7 record and sit in fifth place in the ACC at 8-3.

California, in their first year in the ACC, has been red hot this year. The Bears are 19-4 on the year highlighted by ranked wins over NC State and Alabama. They did suffer an early season loss to Michigan State, but their other three losses came to ACC foes Clemson, Duke, and North Carolina. 

Photo by Jared

In their last outing, Cal defeated Pitt 84-53. Their offense is averaging 74.4 points per game while their defense has been stifling and has limited opponents to 61.8 ppg. Part of the offensive success comes from the Bears shooting .461 from the field and .707 from the free throw line. They are turnover prone at just over 18 turnovers per game. Defensively, Cal limits opponents to shooting .376 and forcing 16 turnovers per game.

Five Cal players are scoring in double figures: Ioanna Krimili (15.4 ppg), Lulu Twidale (13.3 ppg), Marta Suarez (13.0 ppg), Kayla Williams (11.0 ppg), and Ugonne Michelle Onyiah (10.5 ppg). Eight different players average over three rebounds per game. Onyiah has logged 29 blocks. William and Krimili have combined for 58 steals.

Louisville leads the current series 2-1. The Bears earned a 75-71 in Louisville back in 2015 while the Cards took a win in Berkeley the season before 70-57. Most famously, Louisville used a monstrous second half rally to defeat Cal 64-57 in the 2013 Final Four in New Orleans. The Cards' final five points of that game came at the free throw line.

Photo by USA Today / 2013

Paulie and Daryl will be in attendance to cover this game. By the time this post goes live, I will already be on a plane to Florida and will be enjoying some warm weather for a few days. Our friend Mike DeZarn has kindly offered to send some pictures in my absence.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

NOTRE DAME atop ACC WBB standings --WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 IRISH LEAD ACC WBB...CARDS TIED FOR FOURTH 

With all 18 ACC schools that participate in WBB  now having at least 10 conference games played, it seems as good a time as any to look at the conference standings...

Atop the league, and 10-0 in  conference play is Notre Dame. The Irish get five of their final eight conference games at home...and their next two are in South Bend when they bring in the west coast contingent...Stanford and Cal . Overall, UND is 19-2, their only two defeats coming in the Cayman Island after Thanksgiving...to Hailey Van Lith and TCU and Utah.

RIght behind them is NC State at 10-1 in conference.  Wes Moore's squad hs just fallen to California, in Berkley on 1/9/25 and doesn't play Notre Dame until 2/23...and gets them in Raleigh. NCST has faced Louisville, and we won't go into that one again...it wasn't pretty for the Cards. 

Tied for third in the conference are FSU and Duke.at 8-2 . The Cards haven't played either yet..and have to go on the road to face both...on Feb.13th and 20th. 

Louisville and UNC are tied for fourth with 8-3 conference records.  The Cards conference losses have come to NCST, Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.

Right behind the Cards and TarHeels is California, who is Louisville's next opponent on Thursday, Feb. 6th,

Georgia Tech is 6-4 and Virginia Tech is 6-5.to round out the teams with over .500 conference records. 

A three-way tie occurs between Boston College, Virginia and Clemson at 4-7 in conference play, right behind them is Stanford at 3-7. Also with three wins, at 3-8 is Miami. 

Syracuse is 2-8 and SMU is 2-9...With one win is Pitt at 1-9 and Wake Forest at 1-10. 

Looking ahead to the ACC WBB Tournament, despite the addition of three schools to the conference, only 15 schools will participate. And, the top four teams will still get a double bye. The tournament moves from Greensboro to Charlotte this year...One would have thought a 16 or 18 team format for the tournament would have been considered. But the conference officials still wanted to award the top four finishers in regular season play with an additional bye. Right now, the top four would be Notre Dame, NC State, FSU and Duke...and SMU, Pitt and Wake Forest would be staying home.

The order and standings in conference are probably going to change, with most teams having eight conference games left to play. Notre Dame still has NC State, Duke ,FSU and another game with the Cards left on their schedule and that NC State game in Raleigh looks to be the most likely one to put a "L" on the Irish's record. if anyone can at all. Jared seems to thnk UND will be out next National Champion. Based o what i saw when the Irish came to town and played and beat the  Cars, he may not be wrong. They are deep an talented and Hildago and Miles may be the best 1-2 scoring punch in the DI realm. . 

The Cards still have three of the top four on their schedule (Notre Dame, FSU and Duke) and could create a few ripples in the standings should they pull off wins. it's way too early for speculation, but, that never stopped me before, i am going to predict Louisville is one of the top for teams in the league at the end of regular season ACC WBB play and gets a double bye for the CC #BB tournament. 

We'll have more on the standings as we get closer to tournament time...

paulie

 

Jeff and Jared Visit Pro VolleyCards in Indy -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Visiting the Pro VolleyCards in Indy

Fishers Event Center

Jeff and I ventured outside of Louisville following the Cards’ loss to Notre Dame on Sunday in women’s basketball. Our destination was the Fishers Event Center in Indiana to catch some professional volleyball as fans. Cardinal Couple has been denied media credentials multiple times this season for the Ignite since we are not local media and do not actively cover their team. Four former Cardinals were on the combined rosters for the match. Wilma Rivera and Tori Dilfer Stringer dressed for the Columbus Fury while Elena Scott and Anna DeBeer were on the other side with the Indy Ignite.

The host Ignite took the 3-0 sweep in front of approximately 5,000 fans. Members of the crowd included the DeBeer family, the Scott family, and the Rush (Ceci is a Louisville volleyball alum) family. The current Purdue head coach was sitting court side along the baseline to watch a couple former Boilermakers play.

Tori Dilfer Stringer

We had a chance to talk to Stringer, DeBeer, and Scott after the match. Rivera had some family in town visiting from presumably Puerto Rico and did not get to swing over to chit chat. Stringer showed some sign of frustration as she felt her team had an off night. DeBeer was not dressed in uniform, but was still on the bench with the rest of the team. Scott had an unfamiliar look as she did not wear the libero jersey for the first time since high school. Kylie Murr, who is in her second pro season, is the current libero on the team and has given Scott some competition.

While we did not conduct an official interview with the players, nor did we do any video, our former Cards were happy to talk with us and answer a few questions.

All of them seemed to be excited for both Dani Busboom Kelly on taking the Nebraska job and for Dan Meske being promoted to the Louisville job. Anna mentioned how she predicted this was going to happen this season while many of us thought this personnel change was still a few years away. We did learn that both the Louisville and Nebraska players were informed at the exact same time and found out less than an hour before the official announcement. This was to help limit the chances of information being leaked in advance.

Anna DeBeer

Tori, who has a few professional years under her belt now, has been adjusting to her new team and new roster. She and Wilma Rivera have split time at setter and both of them are playing more of a veteran and leadership role. She did mention the fun she had with helping run some of the volleyball podcasts and videos for Floyd Street Media and is hopeful to do so again next fall.

Anna is not quite healthy yet but assured us that things are trending in the right direction for her. A timeline of returning wasn’t given but she indicated that she plans to actively participate in the matches by the end of the season. We did not ask the extent of her injuries but Jeff and I both were under the impression that it was a bit worse than we thought back during the Final Four. Either way, she has a bright career ahead of her.

Elena Scott

Anna and Elena are currently roommates in an apartment not far from the arena. That’s not too bad seeing as both practice and workout together on the same team and have each other to lean on. Both players are Louisville natives and are playing outside of their hometown for the first time ever, albeit being just a couple hours away.

It was certainly good to catch up with some of our former Cards and to hear that each one is doing well. We hope to head back north for another match later this season.

Back in Louisville, Dan Meske was officially introduced as the next Louisville volleyball head coach. Jeff and I both hit this promotion over the last few days, but you can find his introductory presser below.

Dan Meske Introductory Press Conference

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards WBB falls to Notre Dame 89-71 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Irish's strong second half sinks Cards. 

For 20 minutes Sunday afternoon, the Louisville women's basketball squad looked perfectly capable of defeating Notre Dame. Even though the Irish's Hannah Hildago was doing everything but driving the Irish team bus to Dizzy Whiz to go get burgers and a shake, Louisville was only one point behind the Irish at 39-38 at the half...and UofL had led for three minutes in the second quarter. 

Then, they played the second half.

Whatever ND head coach Ivey said to her squad during the halftime break needs to be bottled and sold to college basketball. The Irish outscored the Cards by ten in the third quarter and led by 23 with 3:40 left in the game before settling for the 18-point win.

It was 45-44 UND with four minutes gone in the third quarter. Notre Dame then proceeded to go on a 15-6 run over the next five minutes...take 60-50 lead... and the nearly 12,000 in the YUM (except for the Irish fans) had gotten deathly silent. Hidalgo had 12 points in the quarter and the Cards were on the short end of a 65-54 score. 

the Irish would continue the out-scoring of the Cards, despite 10 second half turnovers, and coast to a 50-33 second half edge and 89-71 win. 

70 points scored usually is good enough for the Cards to win a game, especially in the KFC YUM! Center..but the #3 Irish weren't seeing it. Thank goodness the visitors were only 6-20 from three point range...they could have stuck triple digits on the Cards. 

Hildago was the story, with her 34 points...I now believe all the hype about her being the best player in college basketball right now...she and her teammates shot 55% against the Cards.

 The Louisville defense chose a bad time to take an afternoon off. 

 

So, the Cards go to 15-7 on the season and 9-3 in the ACC. Notre Dame improves to 19-2 and is undefeated in ACC played at 10-0. What had promise at the start of the game turned into a disappointing drubbing by a team that just may be your impending National Champions...only UCLA and South Carolina are ranked higher...and nether have faced Notre dame yet.  

Taj Roberts finished with 17 for the Cards...she's outplaying the experienced players on the Louisville roster right now.

Freddy Fazbear 

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards went 16-21 from the line, Jayda Curry going 8-10, and the 76.2% is good enough to get them a CAPITAL "F".  

REBOUNDS -- The Cards got their "you know what" handed to them on the boards losing 44-29 to the the taller Irish. Mackenly Randolph had 10 for UofL, in just 23 minutes. NO LETTER

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 17 turnovers for the Cards, they shot 35.9% fort he game and got another huge effort from Taj Roberts, but Harris and Cochran combined for only 21 points on a night where they needed to double that total. A 46-30 drubbing in the paint scoring told the story, NO LETTER. 

DEFENSE -- 89 points is the highest point total UofL has surrendered this year, and 55% Irish shooting and losing the second half 50-33 to Notre Dame indicate the defensive woes the Cards had . NO LETTER.

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-_-_-_.

The Cards remain home for their next one...California visits for a 8 p,m, tipoff Thursday the 5th. 

Today's photos by Jared Anderson

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

POST GAME NOTRE DAME

paulie

 

Notre Dame Visits - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Gameday vs Notre Dame

Kick off your sports day today with Notre Dame coming to the KFC Yum! Center to visit the Cards at noon.

Usually a marquee matchup, these two teams have a long history of high caliber competition, and consequently, the TV coverage for this one has been elevated to ESPN2.  Consequently, we get the high power commentary crew with Ryan Ruocco for play by play, Rebecca Lobo as Analyst, and Holly Rowe for roving reporter.

The Irish come to Louisville sporting a ranking of number three in the nation based on an 18-2 record, undefeated, 9-0, in conference.  The losses came to TCU (with Ms. Van Lith), and Utah.

Signature wins on Notre Dame's resume (not that they really need them) include an overtime win over Texas, an 11 point margin over UConn, 10 points over UNC, and 15 over Georgia Tech.

Many of you, our dear readers, are likely already familiar with the big names at ND.  Hannah Hidalgo, Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, Liatu King, and Maddy Westbeld.

There are no obvious weaknesses in this ND team.  Niele Ivey has them firing on all cylinders, and besting their opponents in every statistical category on the stat sheet.

The Cards will have their work cut out for them.  This is the crucible that will help discover how this Cards team is made of.  In the past the team has crumpled under pressure, particularly in 4th quarters, even if they were able to ride out the damage and still get a victory at the end of the game sometimes.

That won't be an option today.  Louisville will need to come out the tunnel ready and raring to go and not make any mistakes in order to be able to handle this Irish team.  We'll need inspired play from multiple players to be able to stand up to the Miles and Hidalgo attack.

As mentioned, noon, on ESPN2, or come out to the KFC Yum! Center to catch the action.

Volleyball Commentary

It was mentioned earlier in the week that I would contribute my commentary about the volleyball coaching changes announced this week, and honestly, what is there say other than it was a great hire.  Erin Fairs, UofL alumna, will make a great assistant coach at Rice.

Oh, not that coaching change?

Of course, the really big news of the week,  and not just for the individual programs involved, is the retirement of John Cook at Nebraska, the subsequent announcement that Dani Busboom Kelly would be taking the reins as their new head coach, the complementary announcement that she was stepping down as Louisville's Head Coach, and then the promotion of Dan Meske to the helm here at Louisville.

Those came out as four individual announcements, obviously related, but each individually posted.  But the time lapse from the first to the last was a whopping 32 minutes.  Clearly this was well coordinated between the Nebraska and Louisville programs, and kudos to both as this minimizes the disruption, angst, and worry of both fan communities, as well as the players on each team.

Maybe the only surprising part of this whole change was the timing of John Cook's retirement, as most in the volleyball community expected him to coach for another year or two before hanging up the clipboard, but even that surprise was minimal.  Nebraska tabbing DBK as the next Head Coach was not surprising in the least, with Nebraska' Athletic Director suggesting that he would have been run out of town by fans if he had picked anyone else.

It's also not in the slightest bit surprising that DBK took the offer.  Nebraska is her home, she grew up nearby, in Cortland, NE, her husband Lane grew up Lincoln, and both of their families still live in the area.  DBK negotiated in her recently renewed contract that there would be no buyout if she left to coach Nebraska (the buyout would have been $300,000 otherwise), and it was clear to any that interacted with her that her heart was still in Lincoln.

DBK has been, unquestionably, a huge asset for Louisville and we should be forever grateful for her work here and wish her the best in the Big10.

But don't weep for Louisville volleyball.  The only other point of even slight uncertainty of how this would all go down when Cook decided to retire, was whether Louisville would put on a national coaching search, or just promote from within.  My preference and general expectation, was to promote from within as they did, and I think it's a fantastic decision.

Dan Meske is a great next Head Coach for the Cards.  He has been a huge part of the growth and development of this team over the eight years that he worked with DBK, and is one of the architects of the great culture that exists within the program.  He is a super well respected coach and apparently turned down several offers over the past few years to helm other programs with a preference to stay in Louisville.

And that's one of the things that I want to emphasize.  More than Xs and Os, more than recruiting, and even more than his hand in the incredible culture...Meske wants to be in Louisville.  I've heard him comment about really thinking about Louisville as home at this point, noting that Louisville is the only home is three sons have ever known.

For the better part of eight years we've all but known for sure that DBK would someday be leaving for Lincoln, with the only real uncertainty being "When does John Cook retire."  To be clear, I don't blame her, I've even said that if she didn't take that position when it opened up I would be marching into her office asking, "What on earth are you doing?!"  But its good to have a coach that at least feels like he's in it for the long haul.  I wouldn't be surprised if he borrows the idea from Jeff Walz, "I'll either retire here, or be fired here."

So great things are ahead for Louisville volleyball with Meske at the helm.  I don't expect this program to miss a beat.  Nearly all of the current players, and many recruits, have expressed their excitement for years to come and expectation of continuing in their current or future enrollment plans.  Oh, and this is the case for both Louisville and Nebraska from the sounds of things.

I don't think I have ever seen such a smooth coaching transition, particularly considering the coordination needed between two difference schools on the announcements, and that speaks to the care, thought, and investment from both schools in the programs involved.

I can't wait for spring play, and the season to start in late August.

 

Oh, and for what it's worth, the comment about Rice hiring Erin Fairs as an assistant coach is true!  And I do expect she will make a great assistant coach for them as she embarks on her coaching career.  Well wishes to the Cardinal alumna.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP wasn't live on Youtube yesterday as I was battling with some audio issues with my headset after upgrading the OS version on my computer during the week.  I did join a few minutes after the start of the recording, and had a great discussion with Case, Daryl, and Paul about the new coaching changes in volleyball as well as some recap and preview for basketball.

Check it out:

https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/cardinal-couple/episodes/Change-in-the-Air-for-Volleyball-e2u9c0p

-- 

JMcA

An Interview with Scott Teeter -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Lacrosse Opens Season Next Week

With Louisville lacrosse set to start their season on February 7th at home against Denver, what better time than now to check in with head coach Scott Teeter? Yesterday, Paulie and Jared did just that, heading down to the Planet Fitness Kueber Center for a preseason chat. The guys got Teeter going and turned their conversation into a 20-minute experience. I encourage you to listen to the full interview at the link below, but here are some of my key takeaways.

Here is the listening link:  2025 Season Preview with Scott Teeter

On the Season Opener

Teeter opened with how excited the team is to get going. According to him, they've reached the point in the offseason where they just need to play another team. They're excited to play and practicing hard, but there's only so much you can do when every practice is running offensive sets that the defense already knows are coming. 

Denver graduated a lot of players, much like Louisville. Denver's pride is defense and they lost a number of All-American defenders. 

Denver does well with one year transfers and a number of players will step up, including some Canadians they know quite well. 

With the changes, Louisville still knows they will be quite defensive focused. The scout is very different with a number of new players and a new offensive coordinator from Ohio State.

On This Year's Team

Louisville graduated a ton of minutes from last season, including, per Teeter, over 50% of their scoring offense. They'll look for experienced players to step up and fill the roles left open by Nicole Perroni, Kokoro Nakazawa, Allegra Catalano, and Kylie Dobson, but it will largely be by committee. 

Players he expects to be a big part in stepping up include Lauren Figas, Rian Adkins, Negai Nakazawa, Izzy Seikel, and Maggie McMahon. 

When asked for players that would be names that would grow in Louisville fans' consciousnesses, Teeter went back to the same well: McMahon, Nakazawa, Seikel, Figas, and Adkins.

The freshmen to watch include Ella Berg, who Teeter thinks is a top-ten freshman in the country. Berg scored the most goals for Louisville in fall ball. He also mentioned new attackers in Issy Leech and Kate Daniels. 

Defensively, names that came up as standing out were Ashley Osborne (a 6th year player returning after losing her senior year in 2023 to injury. Osborne was a 4-time team MVP for Ballard and was Miss KY Lacrosse) and senior Ava Coyle. Young defenders may not start but will contribute significant minutes. 

On the Weather

It's been unfortunate to not have the practices outside, with that making them unable to use one of the only dedicated women's lacrosse facilities in the country, but the UofL facilities made it easy to move indoors without missing much of a beat. Teeter chose to take the positives from the experience, noting it helps them with the difference in playing surfaces and should give some of the girls more of an opportunity to get inside playing experience before they go play at Marquette. 

On the ACC

Excited about the new look ACC and playing Stanford and Cal for the first time, with Cal on the road to open the ACC conference season. Working on what the logistics of playing all the way in California will look like. 

The ACC schedule will be difficult with UNC and BC among the top favorites to win the national championship. He also name checked Virginia, Syracuse, and Notre Dame, and believes the ACC is the top conference in the country. 

Happy to see the expansion of lacrosse as more programs like FSU add a team and is looking forward to the return of lacrosse to the Olympics in 2028. 

On Rule Changes

This is largely a non-change year as the rules are on a two-year cycle. One change to note is that midfield charges will now just be a common foul with change of possession rather than a green card penalty. 

It was a three-pronged approach to adjustment last season. Coaches had to change their systematic approach, players had to change the way they play, and officials adjusted the way they called the game.

A Surprise for Paulie

As we look ahead to the new season, Paulie was curious about how Negai is adjusting to life in the US and on the team without Kokoro. Always happy to get one over on Paulie, Teeter was glad to say that they haven't needed to address that as Kokoro hasn't gone anywhere: she's the student assistant for UofL this season. 

Kokoro has largely served as a personal coach for Negai, but is also focused on helping the other attackers. Negai is playing very confidently after the gold medal for Japan and Teeter expects her to fill the role largely left by Kokoro.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four on board this week, and gee, I wonder what we'll talk about. We're in the thick of the conference season for basketball, volleyball had major news, and we're less than a week away from the spring sports season. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Spotify: Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case