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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- Volleyball dispatches of Samford in evening session
-Field Hockey waits out rain delay, wins 3-2 over Davidson
-Annual gridiron clash may have to dodge a few puddles
Louisville Volleyball followed their morning win over Marshall win a Saturday evening triumph over Samford in the KFC YUM! Center in four games...winning 25-22, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15.
A sluggish start for the Cards to open the match, falling behind 5-1 early and trailing by scores of 7-3, 12-7 and 14-10 in the first game before mounting a rally that tied it at 15-15 on a block from Tanya Lukyanenko. The Cards were still deadlocked with Samford at 20-20 and proceeded to lose two of the next three volleys before scoring the final four points of the game on a kill from Kaitlynn James and blocks from Gwen Rucker and Lukyanenko.
Louisville came out much more aggressively in the second game and jumped out to a 4-1 lead after a kill from Lola Arslanbekova. A brief Samford rally pulled them to within one at 8-7, but after that...the Cards steadily pulled away and led 15-12 after a Samford service error. Louisville went on a 9-2 run after that to lead 24-14 following a kill from Carly Sahagian and ended the match with another kill from Sahagian to win 25-16.
After the halftime break, Samford showed they had some fight left in them by playing the Cards close throughout all of game three...neither team able to gain an advantage of more than three points and Louisville found itself holding a 22-21 late in the action. Samford got four straight points, though on two kills from Katie Murphy and then two from Elizabeth Neisler to win game three 25-22.
The Cards got the wake-up call and jumped out early in the final game. Lukyanenko's kill made it 5-1 Louisville. Kaitlynn James made it 10-5 with a kill. Lola got in the action with a kill to make it 15-8 Cards. It was 20-13 after a Sahagian kill and another from Lukyanenko had Louisville ahead 24-14. Lola put the Bulldogs out of their misery with a kill that ended the game at 25-15.
Lola led the Cards with 22 kills. She was also named MVP of the tournament and made the all-tournament team along with Gwen Rucker and Brooke Mattingly for the Cards.
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Field Hockey beat Davidson 3-2 and also outlasted the weather that caused nearly a two-hour delay in the Saturday afternoon game at Trager Stadium. Lightning and heavy downpours stopped the match with the Cards up 3-2 with about 17 minutes left in the game.
The Wildcats scored first but the Cards responded quickly with goals from Mallory Mason and Erin Schneidtmiller in a four-minute stretch to regain the lead at 2-1. That's the way the first half ended...the Cards holding an 8-4 shot advantage.
Becca Maddock pushed the Cards ahead 3-1 when she scored about eight minutes into the second half. A couple of minutes after the Wildcats cut the lead to 3-2, the skies opened and the flash of lightning sent both team to the sidelines.
After play resumed, Davidson and the Cards battled scoreless the rest of the way. 
"It wasn't a pretty one, that's for sure. The delay in the game made for a very long day under difficult conditions. We got a win and that's a great thing, but a lot of lessons need to be taken away from this game. Davidson didn't allow us to play the game we wanted to. Some positives to take away were definitely our attack play - that was an area we really wanted to work on. We generated some pretty good scoring opportunities but overall we do need to take a lot of lessons from today and continue to grow and move forward." -- Louisville field hockey head coach Justine Sowry.
The Cards (2-1) return to action Monday when they play Ball State at 2 p.m.
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Finally, the Battle for the Bluegrass takes place in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. when Louisville and Kentucky put on the helmets and duke it out in front of 57,000+ rabid fans in football.
You've seen the staff picks. Our informal poll revealed that 70% of you think UofL will win by 10 points or more. Louisville picked preseason to win the BIG EAST, UK picked to secure the basement in the SEC East Division. The chance of stormy weather and soggy conditions for these young men as Red and Blue clash in front of a sold out stadium and national television audience. Ponchos as important as tailgate food today, it appears.
CARDINAL COUPLE will be there, but not in reporting or game coverage mode. May the best team win. If you go, remember to be "good" Cardinal (or Cat) fans and act responsibly. Be gracious in victory and complimentary in defeat. The eyes of the nation are watching, don't act like idiots. Cheer heartily for your team but don't be an obnoxious loudmouth. Enjoy the game and allow others around you to do the same.
And, GO CARDS! ......
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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
-Volleyball hosts the Cardinal Classic
-Soccer heads to Lexington for UK Invitational
-Field Hockey faces Davidson & Ball State @ Trager
-Did someone say Football?
And you thought this weekend was just about the Louisville vs. Kentucky football game, Labor Day picnics and getting Monday off work. Although the annual clash on the gridiron is grabbing the majority of sports coverage...the Belknap Campus and KFC YUM! Center will be sites for women's sports from Friday to Monday. Pack your ponchos and grab your umbrellas...we're singing in the rain the next three days with Louie the Cardinal Bird.
VOLLEYBALL HOSTS CARDINAL CLASSIC
Anne's Kordes' VolleyCards get ready for three games over the next two days at the KFC YUM! Center when Duke, Samford and Marshall invade the downtown arena for the Cardinal Classic.
Louisville starts the weekend blitz against the Blue Devils Friday night at 7:30 p.m. The Dookies are 3-0 on the season...winning their own invitational tournament recently with wins over UW-Milwaukee, William & Mary and Fairfield.
Will there be a slight letdown after the thrilling win over Kentucky on Wednesday? We can't see that happening. Lola and company know that a strong showing could boost the Cards into a top 25 ranking and a win over an ACC opponent is always good for the RPI.
Emilky Sklar one to watch for the Cameron Crazies...the 6'3" outside hitter is just a freshman but recorded 33 kills and hit for .333 last weekend in the Blue Devils' wins.
Next for Louisville, on Saturday at 11 a.m. will be equally impressive Marshall, also 3-0 after winning the Thunder Invitational. They dispatched Wright State, IUPUI and Miami (OH).
Picked to contend for the Conference USA title, the Thundering Herd has a top-notch setter in Sammie Bane and a tall front line capable of blocks and spikes.
Finally, the Cards will face Samford, who is 0-3 but faced tough competition in the Hurricane Classic in Miami (FL). Losses to Miami (FL), Rutgers and Ole Miss non-withstanding, the Bulldogs are still the pre-season favorite to win the Southern Conference. They return three starters in Elizabeth Neisler, Lauren Hutchinson and Katie Murphy who were All-Conference last season.
SOCCER WELCOMES BACK EXETER, MELHADO & TRAVELS TO LEXINGTON
Back from their participation in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup for Canada in Japan, Christine Exeter and Rachel Melhado will need to shake off the jet lag pretty quickly for the two games in Lexington this weekend.
Louisville faces Southeast Missouri Friday at 5 p.m. on the UK campus. SEMO (1-2-1) split last weekend at home...downing Drake but losing to UMKC. It will be the first time the two have met in soccer.
The Cards take the field again Sunday @ noon against UNC-Greensboro (2-1-0). No lightweight here, the Spartans traveled to Wake Forest last weekend and won 1-0 before returning home and downing UNC-Asheville 7-0. Due to the format of the UK Tropical Smoothie Tournament, the hosting UK Wildcats and Louisville won't meet over the weekend.
Louisville (2-0-0) comes off an exciting double-overtime 4-3 win over Purdue at Cardinal Park last Friday night. The Cards moved up four spots in the Soccer America Top 25 poll and are now #14.
Junior Angelika Uremovich was named to the BIG EAST Honor roll on Monday for her two goal scoring performance against the Boilermakers. She leads Louisville with three on the season.
FIELD HOCKEY TAKES ON DAVIDSON & BALL STATE
Trager Stadium will be the place to be Saturday afternoon as the Louisville Field Hockey squad hosts Davidson (1-1) at 2 p.m. The #23 Cards (1-1) come off a 3-1 win against Miami (OH) after losing to #21 Northwestern.
Louisville is 1-7 lifetime against Wildcats, getting their lone win last year 5-3 on the Davidson campus.
Louisville will face Ball State (1-1) on Monday at 2 p.m. It's a Cardinal vs. Cardinal matchup...the Indiana birds defeated Lehigh last time out after dropping their season opener to Lafayette. Ball State holds a 15-10 lifetime advantage over Louisville, UofL winning the last meeting in 2007 1-0. 
Haley Jurich leads the Louisville squad with two goals on the season and goalie Erin Conrad has produced six saves in the Cards' first two contests.
Plenty of UofL women's sports to take in the next four days and CARDINAL COUPLE will have the highlights, results and coverage for you.
BATTLE OF THE BLUEGRASS
We'll also break from the Louisville women's sports scene briefly Saturday and offer our columnist picks on the Sunday UofL vs. UK football game.
Feel free to join in the fun and leave your prediction in our comments section over the next couple of days. No prize or reward for closest to the final (Bread Boy has been sitting pretty tightly on PANERA Gift Cards these days) just the satisfaction of competition and the pride in your prognostication.
These predictions should be Pulitzer Prize commentary. We thought of initializing the first annual Cardinal Couple Challenge and invited a UK website to travel to Louisville (more specifically...the Drunken Amish farm in Goshen) and play our staff in a game of touch football or volleyball...but they balked at the idea of our using the staff chimps and Bill the Goat.
Whatever...we woulda (banana) creamed them in either...according to Jenny and Timmy the Intern. ......
