UofL Volleyball around the corner

The "hump day" edition of CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Volleyball starts next Friday


-Atlanta drops to the Sky


-Apple Tournament rolls on



Sophomore Lola Arsenbeckova leads a University of Louisville volleyball team that won the BIG EAST TOURNAMENT last year and returns several key components for 2010 season. Arsenbeckova was the only Cardinal named to the preseason all BIG EAST first team and the Cards were picked to finish second in the league...behind last year's regular season champs Cincinnati.


Joining Lola on the hardwood are returning starters Gwen Rucker, Lindsay Mango and several new additions to the team. Although the loss of graduates Lecia Brown, Kimi Hohi and Justine Landi leave the Cards searching for replacements in several key positions...Louisville has experience and depth with the combination of returning players and highly heralded freshmen on the roster.

The Cards truly have an international flavor to them again this year. Arsenbeckova and Tanya Lukyanenko hail from Uzbekistan, Anastasia Artemeva from Russia and Gosia Lech from Poland. Locally, Louisville area prospects freshmen Catlin Welch (Mercy), Emily Juhl (Sacred Heart) and returning starter Maci Wachtel (Assumption) suit up for coach Leonard Yelin.

An interesting sidebar will be how Gwen Rucker improves with only volleyball to concentrate on this year. The 6'2" Rucker has split her time between basketball and volleyball the last two seasons and will participate in only the wide net activity in 2010.

Louisville begins the season with a round robin event against NDSU and Ohio. They'll face NDSU at 7 p.m. Friday Night and Ohio at 2 p.m. Sunday...both games in Cardinal Arena. Kentucky hosts the Cards on Sept. 1st and Louisville will also participate in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN CHALLENGE against Purdue and Illinois at Cardinal Arena. BIG EAST begins Saturday, Sept. 25th. with 2 p.m. match against visiting Rutgers. For bonus points...what does NDSU stand for...Northern Delaware Sailor University, North Dakota State University or Nebraska DesMoines Southwest University?

Schedule disparity is another question involving the young Cardinal team. Although they have a home stretch of games lasting nearly a month in October...they'll finish the regular season with five straight road appearances in the first two weeks of November. By then, hopefully...the team will have jelled and they'll be ready for the BIG EAST tournament in Pittsburgh that begins on November 19th.

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The Atlanta Dream waved goodbye to a late 4th quarter lead and lost to the visiting Chicago Sky 84-79 in Atlanta last night. Once again, a former Rutgers player did the most significant damage...as Epiphany Prince laid eight 4th quarter points on Angel and company. Although the Dream have clinched a playoff berth, the 3rd loss at home to Chicago has to be a point of
concern to the Dream and head coach Marynell Meadows. 'Big Syl'...Sylvia Fowles held doom the Dream also with a game high 18 points for the Sky

At times it looked like the 2nd string for Atlanta seemed to be the best option on the court. When Angel and the rest of the starters retook the hardwood with around 4 minutes to go...Atlanta enjoyed a four point lead. They ended up losing by five. McCoughtry couldn't find the mark on several shot attempts late in the game that could have drawn the Dream closer and they fall to a season record of 19-14...2 1/2 games out of first place with just one game remaining in the regular season. New York defeated Indiana to draw within 1/2 game of the Division lead and Washington handled San Antonio to remain in third place in the East. Angel had 16 points for Atlanta.

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Ballard won a close one against Assumption in the Apple field hockey quarterfinals at Sacred Heart and advanced to the semifinals with Kentucky Country Day...who sent Manual packing with a 3-1 victory. A consolation match saw Presentation romp Christian Academy 7-1.

Sacred Heart and Male are the other two teams to advance to the semifinals. Mercy Academy easily won 9-0 against Holy Cross in the consolation bracket on Monday.

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Finally, to answer the e-mail question from Tommy B....No, Jeff Walz was not an assistant on Tom Collen's staff when Collen coached the Cards. Walz came to Louisville from Maryland...where he was an assistant. Walz did play his high school and college ball in Kentucky, though and his sister Donna is one of the all-time leading scorers in Kentucky High School basketball.

Cardinal Volleyball picked 2nd in BIG EAST

FRIDAY'S CARDINAL COUPLE LOOKS AT:

Louisville Volleyball: A repeat happening?
Local high school sports: A busy weekend!
A fly in UConn's ointment?
A brief word with someone "in the know"

(Just a reminder...today is Friday the 13th. If you are a believer in trypanophobia...take care out there today.)

Leonard Yelin's University of Louisville women's volleyball team won the BIG EAST tournament last year and went to the NCAA Tournament. That success made an impression on the league coaches...as the Cards are picked to finish second behind Cincinnati in the preseason coaches poll.

The Bearcats received all but one vote to finish first...and since coaches couldn't vote for their own team...it looks like the Bearcats are the prohibitive favorite for the conference title. Louisville garnered second place honors...followed by Notre Dame and Marquette.

Cards' sophomore outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova was selected for the preseason All BIG EAST
team unanimously.

Louisville defeated the Bearcats in the BIG EAST tournament last year here in Louisville.

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A busy weekend for high school girls sports here in Louisville. The Shively Sporting Goods/Chase Marketing Jefferson County Public Schools Volleyball Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at the Basketball Academy. 19 area high schools will participate...including four top 25 teams...#11 DuPont Manual, #14 Eastern, #15 Butler and #24 Male.

Manual has won the event the last three years. It might be considered a rebuilding year for them since they lost three top seniors to graduation. Expected to lead the Crimson are senior Mechael Guess and sophomore Maya McClendon.

In the preseason poll, Louisville Catholic schools hold the top three ranking...#1 Mercy, #2 Sacred Heart and #3 Assumption.

The Apple Tournament for high school girls field hockey kicks off Saturday. All action will take place at Sacred Heart. The home standing Valkyries have won the Apple six years in a row.
Also participating is Assumption...last year's state champions. Mercy, Eastern, Butler, Collegiate, Presentation, Manual, KCD, Holy Cross, Christian Academy and Male round out the field of 12.

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News out of Connecticut that starting UConn womens' basketball guard Caroline Doty is out for the season with a torn ACL in her left knee. The junior is scheduled for surgery in the next week or so. UConn has won their last 78 games...but with Tina Charles graduated and Doty on the shelf...the Huskies suddenly look vulnerable. How much game have you got, Maya Moore?

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Our "person in the know" down at Ellis Park tells us that MYHEART'SRESERVED is a lock in the first race today at the Henderson, KY track. We love hearing good news about our favorite trainer Paul McGee's horses...and lights out apprentice jockey Orlandi Rossi is on board for the ride. We're also hearing great things about TWILIGHT BOY in the 2nd race at Ellis. Daily Double, anyone?

The track with the soybeans in the infield continues to hang in there, despite racing only three days a week. Ellis manages to offer high purses for claiming, maiden special weight and allowance races despite not having the financial windfall of casino money. Track owner Ron Geary continues to defy the trends and odds by making Ellis a viable summer racing option for horses and trainers who ran at Churchill's Spring Meet.

Congratulations go out to our buddies Richard and Patricia Lenihan, part owners of SEA ROAD. The 3 year old filly beat the competition Saturday at Saratoga in the $70,000 Hattie Moseley States...and paid a sweet $25.00 to win as a 12-1 longshot. Rich and Patty were in attendance for the race and both looked good in the winner's circle for the presentation. Seeing Rich in a three piece black suit seemed a little weird, though. I prefer to remember him in a t-shirt and shorts, struggling vainly to keep up with me in high school cross country. Rich is one of the good guys in horse racing...and a fervent supporter of saving racing-finished thoroughbreds from mistreatment and slaughter. Keep it up, buddy...and I bet I could still beat you on the two mile course at Seneca Park. (Walking...not running.)

Bowling next for Kentucky High School sports?

(Excerpts from this article were taken from Jason Frakes article in the Louisville Courier-Journal 5/20/10)


There's a new commissioner for the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and he's ready to start counting strikes. Not the ones that baseball and softball tossers across the Commonwealth fire into catcher's mitts...the ones hurled down wooden lanes in Kentucky bowling alleys that knock down ten pins

Julian Tackett will have bowling installed as the newest sport in the KHSAA since fast pitch softball (1995) within the next two years and is going to make it one of his top priorities during his first few weeks on the job.

What's next? Archery and bass fishing?

Actually, both activities are approaching 20% participation in Kentucky high schools, the benchmark for an athletic activity to be considered for formal sport/championship status

It's not like bowling is anything new around the Louisville area. There's actually been a state high school bowling tournament held since 1992, sponsored by the Kentucky Bowling Proprietors Association. 58 schools have bowling teams and last year Louisville Pleasure Ridge Park won the girls title. 19 of the teams come from the Louisville metro area.

I've known plenty of bowlers who have participated in the high school ranks and several who have parlayed that success into partial college scholarships. Kentucky has several nationally recognized and ranked collegiate teams, including the ones at Bellarmine University, Pikeville University and Morehead State University. The sport teaches many of the same things that other high school sports do...teamwork, practice, competition, good sportsmanship and learning from instruction.

For the KHSAA to consider putting bowling into the official ranks of sports where an official state-championship event is held brings up some interesting possibilities:

-Will there be a class system, like exists in football? Does a large school, like PRP or Manual have an unfair advantage in the sport...compared to a smaller school like Trimble County or Dayton?

-When would the season take place and how would events be scored? Total pins, total games won, handicaps inclusion and transfer rules...will they be included?

-Will schools now need to hire bowling coaches and will they be required to be certified teachers as well?

-Will there be referees and halftime breaks for the participants? And will cheerleading squads be allowed to attend, perform and raise crowd support?

I always figured that lacrosse or field hockey would be the next official sport added to the current list of 19 sports sanctioned by the KHSAA but it looks like bowling may be rolling ahead of it.


A couple of things for sure about the impending sport inclusion in the KHSAA fold...beer frame definitely won't be an option and the rest of the state will do their best to beat and belittle Louisville area schools...like we see in all the other 19 sports. We'll probably have that same sad and sorry debate about creating separate public and private school divisions and there will be official equipment and uniform rules and regulations.

It's enough to make you throw a 7-10 split...but not quite persnickety enough to send me to Bass Pro Shops for my high school approved regulation tackle and reel.

Bowl on, Kentucky...and make sure the oil pattern is uniform for all events.

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Adrienne Johnson has reminded me by e-mail that there is still one more chance to see Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream in the Indianapolis area for this WNBA season. Discounted tickets are available for UofL fans to go see the Dream take on the Fever on Aug. 6th. For more info...you can always shoot A.J. an e-mail at:


adrienne.johnson@louisville.edu

Based on the way the Dream has been playing lately...winless since the All-Star break, Angel could use all the support in the seats she can get. Remember, if you go...watch out for the speed traps on I-65 around Sellersburg...