Arslanbekova, Turner get BIG EAST Player of the Week recognition...Dealing with the grief at FAMU

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TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Lola Arslanbekova named BIG EAST Volleyball Player of the Week

-Hayley Turner named BIG EAST Field Hockey Player of the Week

-FAMU grieves the murder of Shannon Washington

-Another 2012 commit in the works for WBB?

Junior Lola Arslanbekova racked up a couple of honors over the weekend for the University of Louisville Volleyball team...being named MVP of the Crowne Plaza Cardinal Classic and BIG EAST Player of the Week. The Cards went 3-0 in the tournament...downing Wichita State, Mississippi and Eastern Illinois.

Arslanbekova was dominating in the matches...recording 63 kills...and she also set a new, single game personal best with 26 against Wichita State. She is the quickest player to ever reach 1000 career kills in Cardinal history.

The pre-season BIG EAST Player of the Year, Lola has received the prestigious Player of the Week honor three times in her career at UofL. Louisville travels to Lexington Wednesday night to face rival UK in Memorial Coliseum.

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Senior Hayley Turner has been selected as BIG EAST Field Hockey Player of the Week for her weekend efforts for the Cards. Turner scored four goals in two games while in North Carolina...as Louisville defeated Davidson 5-3 and lost to Wake Forest in overtime 3-2.

Turner is a midfielder from Sydney, Australia and currently tied for fifth for Louisville's career goals (38) and points (89) record.

In field hockey, a player gets two points in the statistics line if they score a goal and one point for an assist. Goals are the only points that count in the official scoring of the match, though. Turner has nine points this season...on four goals (8 points) and one assist.

The 16th. ranked Field Hockey Cards return to the friendly confines of Trager Stadium for two matches this week. They'll square off against Missouri State on Friday, Sept. 9th. at 3 p.m. and entertain Appalachian State Sunday, Sept 11th at 2 p.m.

Cardinal fans have a great opportunity to take in a sports double-header on Friday...since the football game against FIU starts at 7 p.m.

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Shock, disbelief and mourning on the Florida A&M campus as the Rattlers and students come to grips with the stabbing and death of Florida A&M women's basketball player Shannon Washington on Sunday morning.

Washington was a shooting guard expected
to start for FAMU.

According to police reports, Starquineshia Palmer has been charged with first degree murder. The two were involved in a domestic relationship and got into an argument early Sunday morning. Palmer stabbed Washington several times in the neck and back around 2 a.m. Washington was rushed to a Tallahassee hospital but died several hours later.

Washington had transferred to FAMU after a highly successful two years at Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Illinois. While there, she earned National Junior College All-American honors and was expected to become the Rattlers shooting guard this fall.

A memorial service was held Monday for Washington with students and coaches from the school attending. FAMU head coach LeDawn Gibson spoke of Washington's impressive pre-season practice and conditioning drill earlier in the day and that despite just arriving on campus this fall...she had achieved a leadership status among the players and was well-liked.

The University of Louisville women's basketball team will travel to Tallahassee to play FAMU on November 26th....after playing Florida State on the 25th.

OUR hearts, thoughts and prayers go out to the Rattlers over this senseless and tragic murder of an up and coming star and WE hope that a swift death penalty will be metered out to this cold-hearted killer.

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No official word...but we're getting indicators here at Cardinal Couple that Jeff Walz may have landed another verbal for 2012. Seems a certain 6'1" combo guard/forward may have caught his eye. We'll do some legwork and let you know. If it's true, he's gotten a verbal out of a highly talented and sought after player who was all All-State her junior year and averaged 20 points a game. More as we get it...

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