Volleyball wrap-up

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(CARDINAL COUPLE staff columnist Jeff McAdams takes us to the net with a UofL VolleyCards wrap-up and a preview of ACC volleyball.) 

 

Volleyball finishes for the year

*** Three named to All NorthEast Region team***

*** ACC Volleyball***

*** Random Trivia***

Three named to All NorthEast Region team

Lola Arslanbekova, Gwen Rucker and Caitlin Welch have been named to the AVCA's All NorthEast Region team.  This great honor makes the three eligible for to be named All American's, which would be a tremendous honor, indeed.

Lola was selected for the All NorthEast Region team all 4 years of her play at UofL, while this is the second year for Gwen Rucker to be selected.  This is the first selection for Caitlin Welch.

ACC Volleyball

Sandy started us off with a look at ACC Softball yesterday, so let's take a look at the competition in the ACC for Volleyball.  Overall I believe its a step up from Big East volleyball, but it is not a powerhouse conference.  No teams from the ACC have made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA volleyball tournament, so let's consider the final standings.

At the top of the conference standings is Florida State (28-4, 18-2), Miami (FL) (25-6, 17-3), and North Carolina (26-6, 16-4).  The middle of the pack is NC State (22-10, 12-8), Clemson (21-10, 12-8), Georgia Tech (19-12, 10-10), and Virginia Tech (16-4, 9-11).  The remaining teams (excluding Maryland who's place we're taking) are Duke (15-7, 6-14), Wake Forest (11-21, 5-15), Boston College (10-22, 4-16) and lastly Virginia (9-22, 3-17).

All-time against the teams (in their ACC standings order), UofL's record is: Florida State 5-9, Miami (FL) 2-0, North Carolina 3-4, NC State 1-0, Clemson 2-0, Georgia Tech 2-1, Virginia Tech 16-2, Duke 2-3, Wake Forest 4-0, Boston College 0-0, and Virginia 3-0.

The ACC got 4 teams into the NCAA tournament.  Florida State was the 9 seed, just above us and lost a 5 set match to Purdue (We feel your pain, FSU fans).  North Carolina lost in a 5 set match to 15 seed Iowa State.  Miami (FL) lost - what I feel can only be considered an upset - in a 5 set match to College of Charleston.  And NC State lost 3-1 to Texas A&M.

So, when you consider that Volleyball is, like so many of the programs at UofL, a rapidly improving program, I rather like where we stack up against these teams.  Several of the teams are well regarded in Volleyball overall.

Random Trivia

If I can remember this right, I believe there are five schools that compete in Division 1 athletics that do not have the word "University" in their official school name.  Two of them are ACC schools, Georgia Tech (officially, "The Georgia Institute of Technology"), and Boston College.  The other three are the service academies, Army, Navy, and Air Force.

EDITORIAL COMMENTARY:

We take a brief step away from Louisville women's sports here to weigh in on a matter that has many Louisville fans talking:

Charlie Strong.

And, there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Tom Jurich has offered to change UofL's name to Charlie's College in order to entice the current UofL football head coach Charlie Strong into staying. The Louisville athletic program is getting more attention these days than Barack Obama would if he dressed in a nightgown and sang showtunes to Mitt Romney. Big East to ACC, Bowl bid to New Orleans and the Allstate Sugar Bowl, coaching rumors and drama.

What is important to remember here is that Louisville has many good and successful men and women's athletic programs on campus. Football may be an economic engine, but UofL was a powerhouse in basketball way before football caught fire. WE like the fact that Tom Jurich has already let the coaches know he wants plans and strategy ideas on how Louisville sports team can duplicate the success they've had in the BIG EAST in the ACC. That's forward thinking and we love it.  Louisville has the best athletic director in the nation and he proves it day after day.

As far as the continuing soap opera surrounding Charlie and job opportunities go, to us it's very simple. IF he wants to be here and be a part of it...stay. If not, he certainly wouldn't be the first high profile coach to leave. The program will survive. We remember when Tom Collen left the WBB program to go to Arkansas. We were shocked and surprised. Then, a young assistant at Maryland named Jeff Walz took the job. Turned out pretty well, don't you think?

The Louisville football program has a saying that has grown popular amongst the fans. "Get On The Train". It's time for Charlie to do that. Whether it's a local train or outbound...the speculation and drama concerning this football team, the athletic program...at a time when Cardinal fans should be rejoicing the entry into the ACC and a major BCS bowl game...is ridiculous.

Que sera, sera.

 

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