BIG EAST Volleyball to be a war in 2011

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Top teams from last year look to contend for title

-Smackdown of Samaki

The top five finishers in BIG EAST Women's Volleyball in 2010 may need to clear out a corner of the room or re-arrange the furniture...because competition this year in the regular season could add a few new names in the top spots. Pittsburgh and South Florida, coming off disappointing season, have recruited well for the 2011 season and look to breath the rarefied air that belonged to Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, Villanova and Notre Dame last season. 

The Cincinnati Bearcats look to defend their regular season title against the 15 other schools that consist of BIG EAST Volleyball. Despite the loss of All-Conference Stephanie Niemer to the pros, UC returns Jordanne Scott, Becca Refenes and Louisville Assumption's Emily Hayden as point producers. One of two team (with Louisville) to make the NCAA Tournament in 2010.

Louisville may have a new coach in Anne Kordes but the Cardinals still have a deep and talented roster returning that won the BIG EAST tournament last year. Emily Juhl, Gwen Rucker, Taylor Braunies are just a few of the Cardinals that come back to the squad. Six games in the KFC YUM Center can't hurt Louisville's chances either. Sluggers Lola Arslanbeckova and Anastasia Artemeva are two of the best hitters in the nation.

Marquette gets the BIG EAST Tournament for 2011 and looks to improve on last year's third place finish in the regular season standings. Clara Jones has been named to COBRA's pre-season All-American team and Nikki Klingsporn and Rabbecka Gonro should be even more of a force after spending the summer playing volleyball in the highly competitive European leagues.

Valerie El Houssine will be a impact player at USF

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and Villanova rounded out the top five in the BIG EAST last season and both schools return veteran front lines and are very dangerous on their home courts. Be on the look out for Pittsburgh to climb the ladder in 2011, three high school All-Americans join the roster...including Louisville's Mecheal Guess. South Florida should benefit greatly from the addition of Belgian Junior World Championship star Valerie El Houssine.

It all gets started for the Cardinals with an alumni game on August 20th. in Cardinal Arena.

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Sad to see that former UofL men's basketball star and current Syrian professional player Samaki Walker has run afoul of the law . The ex-NBAer got popped by Department of Public Safety Officials in Kingman, AZ. with 10 grams of marijuana and liquid steroids. To add insult to embarrassment, Walker was caught trying to "eat the evidence" in his 2002 Mercedes after being pulled over. (The weed, not the roids...) Walker claims the steroid are legal in Syria. Call US crazy, but Kingman, AZ. and the middle east don't exactly share the same
continent.

We're no experts in things like this...but we've been told that smoking that stuff gives you a little better buzz, Samaki. Paul once read that the translation of "samaki" in Ijuma is "beautiful running river". In Swalhili, "samaki" stands for "fish".They may want to change it to "he who eats his stash."  Wasn't there a Cardinal football player who tried something similar a few years ago? Sad, sad, sad.  

We'll never forget the triple-double he laid down on UK during his brief stay at UofL. We'd just as soon forget this incident and hope that he wises up and becomes a positive role model for kids. Steroids and arrests don't cut it, fish.