Volleyball, Field Hockey pick up wins

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE :

-Field Hockey handles Kent State

-Volleyball defeats the alumnae

-Some potential 2011 Lady Card hoops recruits?

-Nothing but BLIND LUCK

The University of Louisville field hockey team handled Kent State yesterday at Trager Field 3-0. Rachel Hollenbach, pictured to the left, scored one of the Card goals against the Golden Flashes. The Cards looked good against the MAC opponent...playing them to a scoreless tie in the first half and then erupting in the final stanza.

Amber Thomas began the scoring for the 'Ville in the second half with a nice putback into the nets after Kent State blocked a shot on goal. Pam Bustin's squad increased the margin to 2-0 when senior Simone Attles slapped in a rebound shot off of a penalty corner a few minutes later.

Hollenbach finished the exhibition game scoring late in the match on a nice feed from Karen Nall.

The teams played a sudden death scrimmage and penalty shot contest after the game and Louisville won both of those events also.

Things get officially started for The Flock on Saturday, August 28th when they travel to Michigan State to face off against Duke in the Champion's Challenge.

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Leonard Yelin's Volleyball Cards swept the alumnae in exhibition matched yesterday in Cardinal Arena behind the solid spiking of sophomore Lola Arslankova. Yelin used the exhibition to experiment with several different lineup combinations and the Cards swept the former Cards 25-15, 25-20 and 28-26.

Lola had 10 kills in the matches and Lena Ustymenko, now playing professionally on the west coast beach circuit had nine for the alumnae. The season opens Friday night, August 17th against North Dakota State in Cardinal Arena.

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Louisville is going after some excellent recruits for the 2011 basketball season. Quaneisha McCurty, a 6'5" post for Dalton (GA) High School has already verballed to the Cards. Cierra Warren, a powerful 6'4" front liner is on campus after transferring from UNC. Rockcastle County (KY) forward and probable 2010 Miss Basketball Sara Hammond lists Louisville as her front runner and Cardinal fans who saw her play in the recent AAU tournament here in Louisville are absolutely in love with her game...as are the Cardinal coaches and current players.

Here's a few that are still out there on the radar for Louisville in 2011:

Raven Ferguson, a 5'11" small forward at Columbus (OH) Africentric High School lists Louisville along with Ohio State, Miami (FL), Michigan State and Xavier as possibles. She helped lead her team to a state title last year and is a certified scoring machine.

Sheila Boykin, a 6'2" power forward out of Long Beach (CA) Poly Tech is considering the Ville along with several west coast schools, Arizona and Arizona State. She's hard to handle in the paint and has the BIG EAST body size that would make her quite effective at Louisville.

Erika Johnson, a 6'1" power forward from Seattle (WA) has Louisville listed with UNC, Washington and California as her favorites. She's a contender for player of the year in Washington and scores well from all over the court.

All three of these potentials are ESPN Top 50 prospects and would give the Cards a wealth of front line participants to go with the ample and deep back court players already on campus.

Get 'em in here, Jeff! We all know Louisville in the place to be!

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Jerry Hollendorfer's BLIND LUCK came storming down the stretch in the $500,ooo Alabama Stakes at Saratoga to catch front runner ACTING HAPPY and win with Joel Rosario on board. Sent off as the 9-5 second favorite she hung back in the pack until they hit the stretch and then unleashed a powerful run to catch and pass the leader and hold off hard charging HAVRE DE GRACE by a neck to win. 3-5 favorite DEVIL MAY CARE finished fourth in the field of six.

Rider John Velazquez won five races yesterday on the Saratoga card and was aboard DEVIL MAY CARE in the feature...but finished three lengths behind third place runner ACTING HAPPY in the Alabama. The exacta was a good one paying $29.60 for a $2 wager but the trifecta was much more pleasing...putting $147 into the pockets of those who had the $2 combination of 4-6-1.

BLIND LUCK ran earlier in Kentucky this spring...winning the Kentucky Oaks. She's a legit three year old filly who has already earned over $1 million dollars in her young career.

Several upsets in other high profile races yesterday around the nation. DEBUSSY slipped by turf champion GIO PONTI in the Arlington Million and DUKE OF MISCHIEF knocked off I WANT REVENGE in the Iselin Stakes at Monmouth. Favorite PADDY O' PRADO captured the Secretariat Stakes at Arlington and Victor Espinoza guided top betting choice EVENING JEWEL

to an easy win at Del Mar in the Del Mar Oaks.

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Last day to get in your entries for this week's PANERA BREAD gift card giveaway. I had the opportunity to sit down with PANERA executive and managing partner Archie Karel earlier this week at one of his local restaurants and found a new favorite for breakfast...the tasty sausage, egg and cheese on toasted ciabatta bread. MMM..MMMM..GOOD!