Monday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball sweeps against Big East foes

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Volleyball vs Seton Hall and Rutgers, Texas on deck

- Field Hockey upsets #11 Iowa

- Soccer battles to tie with #11 Georgetown

**BREAKING NEWS**BREAKING NEWS**BREAKING NEWS**

2013 Cardinal WBB prospect Brianna Ruiz announced this afternoon that she's committed to University of Washington and head coach Kevin McGuff. Oh, well...go get the next one Jeff...


VOLLEYBALL ROLLING OVER BIG EAST FOES

Let's talk about Seton Hall and Rutgers now, so we can focus on a big match against Texas on Monday night.

Seton Hall at Cardinal Arena

Floyd Street, on campus, was a busy place Saturday as the Cardinal Volleyball team returned to their old digs in Cardinal Arena for a noon first-serve match, while Softball and Field Hockey were having contests of their own in the same block.

Katie George got things off on the right foot with 2 service aces to start the match, but then things started to get a little rough...fortunately for us, Seton Hall hit the same rough patch.  Our Cards only hit a .104 hitting percentage in the first set...definitely not a number to be proud of...but Seton Hall only managed .047.  Fortunately, the second set looked better...of course the Pirates also seemed to pick it up a bit as well, keeping the game close.  The third set was not nearly as close as the score would suggest. The Cards got out to and early lead and Coach Anne Kordes took the opportunity to get spread some playing time around.

In the 3rd set, we saw Courtney Robison come back and showed no ill effects from her time off with the cast on her hitting hand.  Davionna Holmes came in and showed athleticism, but maybe is still struggling to come up to the playing speed of college ball.  She has a lot of very real potential in the middle and I suspect will be a lot of fun to watch once she gets adjusted to the level of play.

Caitlin Welch...I'm running out of interesting ways to say it...is amazing on defense.  She seems to have developed a sixth sense to know where to be on the court to get digs.

Kaitlynn James continues to play well and really seemed to lift the level of the play of the whole team when she was on the court.

Carly Sahagian did have a higher hitting percentage than James...albeit on fewer attempts...but just doesn't seem to bring as much of the spark with her off the bench.  Good play is very appreciated, to be sure, but it sure is nice when it comes with so much of a lift to the rest of the team.

Rutgers at the KFC

Lola Arslanbekova became the all-time kill leader at the University of Louisville on Sunday, leading the Cards with 20 kills and 14 digs in a straight set sinking of the Scarlet Knights 25-20, 25-13, 25-18.

The Cards used a 7-2 run in the first set to take a 12-7 lead in the first game. Although Rutgers rallied to get within two at 16-14, Louisville allowed them to climb no closer and took the game 25-20.

Louisville continued the hot-hitting and, using a 9-1 run, broke open the contest to go up 19-12. The Cards extended that run to 15-2 in defeating the the Scarlet Knights by eleven in the second game.

The Cards closed out the match by keeping Rutgers at bay and scoring the final four points of the game to win by seven.

Tonight, #9 Texas visits the KFC YUM! Center at 7 p.m.

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FIELD HOCKEY DEFEATS #11 Iowa 2-1

Victoria Stratton picked a great opportunity to score her first career goal, breaking a 1-1 tie in the 56th minute to give the Cards a 2-1 win over the Hawkeyes.

The teams were tied at the half...Louisville getting their score when Elisa Garcia scored on a penalty corner assisted by Paige Monson and Mallory Mason.

The Hawkeyes out-shot Louisville 15-11 in the contest, but strong goal play by Erin Conrad and the Cards defensive backs in the final 14 minutes preserved the win for UofL.

Field Hockey (8-6) travels to Rutgers Friday for a BIG EAST match and finished the weekend in Winston-Salem, NC with an out-of-conference match against Wake Forest.

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SOCCER TIES GEORGETOWN 1-1

Gutsy effort out of the women's soccer Cards yesterday in Cardinal Park, rallying from a 1-0 deficit in the second half to tie #11 Georgetown and keeping them scoreless through two overtimes to get the draw.

Charlyn Corral got an unassisted goal 16 minutes into the second half to knot the contest up and the Louisville defensive unit did an excellent job of containing the Hoyas the rest of the way to preserve the tie. It was the fifth goal of the season and second of the weekend.

Louisville outshot the Hoyas 20-10 in the contest...Chloe Kiefer had four saves for the Cards to help preserve their third place standing in the BIG EAST National Division. The Cards are now 3-2-3 in BIG EAST play and 8-3-3 overall.

Louisville heads to New Jersey for two BIG EAST contests next week, with stops at Rutgers (Friday, 5:30 p.m.) and Seton Hall (Sunday, 1 p.m.)
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