Monday CARDINAL COUPLE -- Volleyball... the Big East Champs...Again...This Season

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( The VolleyCards have captured the BIG EAST Tournament title in convincing fashion...not giving up a single game against three opponents during their march through the brackets. CARDINAL COUPLE columnist Jeff McAdams breaks it down for us. )




UofL Volleyball got the job done in a solid fashion.  In Milwaukee WI for the Big East Championship Tournament, Louisville swept through the competition, though Marquette mounted a challenge.

Big East Dominance

Louisville has been dominant in the Big East since joining the conference, winning either the regular season title or a conference tournament just about every year, though this is the first time the Cards have managed to bring home both trophies in the same year.

Much of the run through the conference, and all of the tournament run was sweeps of their opponents.  The Cards haven't dropped a set in 8 matches now, going back to the first matchup against Marquette when they took a set off of us in Milwaukee, through Marquette visiting Louisville, and through all three tournament matches.

Championship Match

The coverage on ESPNU focused heavily on Lola Arslanbeckova and Gwen Rucker...which is certainly understandable in their effort to make it good for TV...but the Cards weapons just don't stop there, and that's a big part of the UofL success.  Marquette tried to shut down Lola by putting double blocks on her as many teams have, but all that does is leave Gwen and Brooke Mattingly open in the middle, along with Emily Juhl and Tanya Lukyanenko on the opposite side.  You could see this in action during the match a number of times, when Lola struggled to get through the double blocks, you started to see sets going to some of the other offensive weapons.

Gwen had another absolutely fantastic match.  She hit "only" .400 vs Marquette...compared to her hitting percentage for the whole tournament where she was hitting in the .800 range, that is a pretty big drop, but still ridiculously strong.  Add to that, 5 blocks, and you have a player that gets awarded the tournament MVP honors.

I made the oversight of not mentioning Caitlin Welch in yesterday's article.  I won't make that mistake twice. Welch tallied 21 digs...an impressive total in a 3 set match...keeping the team in the action and with great passing allowing Katie George and Hannah Kvitle to have all of the offensive options available to them on the sets.  The primary goal of digging and passing is to get the ball up in the air to let the play progress, but ideally you want the pass to go just to the right side of the center of the net where the setter should be waiting.  The more the setter has to run to get the pass, the fewer options they have to set up the hitters, and particularly middle hitters like Gwen and Brooke.  The good passing from Caitlin and others let Katie and Hannah distribute the sets out to multiple offensive options, keeping the Marquette team guessing.

Credit to Marquette, they played well, especially in the 3rd set, forcing the extra point for the win.  The ESPNU crew described them as a scrappy team, and I can't think of a better term.  Great defense and digging kept many volleys alive that most everyone thought was a Cards point, and several ended up being points for Marquette.  Playing scrappy, though, is a far cry from running a strong offense to reliably score points.  About the best you can hope for is to be able to keep the ball in play and wait for the other team to make a mistake.  Honestly, that probably works pretty well when playing most of the Big East, but as the competition gets stronger in the post-season, that style of play just doesn't hold up as well.

Next up

Belmont won the OVC tournament, upsetting Morehead State in the finals, so they will be our opponents on Friday November 23 at Cardinal Arena.  The NCAA tournament selection show is Sunday, November 25th at 4pm and will be televised on ESPNU.  As has been covered already, expect Louisville to be a first and second round host.  Looking at the schedule for the KFC Yum! Center, those matches would almost certainly be in the November 29th and 30th slots as there are basketball games scheduled for December 1st and 2nd.  Presumably tickets will be able to be purchased through the UofL Ticket Office.

Late Breaking News...around the league

#1 Stanford lost to #8 Southern California

but that's unlikely to affect our ranking, though it does mean that Penn State should take over the #1 ranking again.

#4 Oregan lost to #6 Washington in an epic battle that I mentioned the other day, but again, probably won't affect our ranking.

However, #9 Nebraska, one spot in front of us, lost to #14 Minnesota.  Minnesota dropped two matches last week to allow us to move up into the top 10, and now we'll probably reap the benefits of Minnesota's victory over Nebraska.

I would expect a #9 ranking for the Cards when the new poll is released later today.

In the RPI last week, we got a 2 spot bump from #7 to #5, largely on the strength of our win over Marquette at the KFC Yum! Center.  Will another win over them on their home floor help bump us another spot?  It's possible, but much harder to predict in my experience.

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RUCKER, ARSLANBEKOVA KEY IN STRAIGHT SET SWEEP OF MARQUETTE

Tournament MVP Gwen Rucker recorded 10 kills, six digs and five blocks on Sunday and Lola Arslanbekova, named to the All-Tournament team, led the way with 13 kills and 11 digs for her 20th double-double of the season.

The Cards used a 10-1 run to break open a close first game...benefitted by three Rucker kills. They also held Marquette to .050 hitting in the contest. Leading 17-10, they withstood a brief Golden Eagles rally which cut the lead to 20-17. Louisville won five of the final seven points, though, to take a 25-19 first game.

The Golden Eagles started strong in Game 2 and jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Down 9-5, the Cards relied on Arslanbekova and Tanya Lukyanenko to rally them and went on a 11-3 spree to hold a 16-12 advantage. Marquette answered with a 4-0 run to tie the contest. After that, it was Louisville's turn with a 4-0 run. After the Golden Eagles pulled within one at 24-23, Brooke Mattingly produced her sixth kill of the contest and the VolleyCards held a 2-0 advantage going to the half-time break.

It looked like Louisville had demoralized the M.U. squad and roared out to an early 8-4 lead in the third game. The Golden Eagles rallied, however, and went on a 5-1 run to tie the contest at 9-9. Back and forth it went from there...neither team gaining a clear advantage. Marquette held a 18-16 lead...but Emily Juhl's three kills and a Mattingly block helped the Cards knot it at 20-20. The Cards were at match-point at 24-21...but Marquette held off the final match point temporarily and tied it back up at 24-24. Lola put the Cards at match point again with a kill to make it 25-24 Cards.

At 25-24, Marquette's Holly Mertens hit a kill attempt out of bounds and Louisville was the BIG EAST TOURNAMENT champs. 

Caitlin Welch sparked the Cards with 21 digs and was also selected to the tournament team. 

One more chance to see the Lady Cards before NCAA Tournament play begins. They'll play OVC champ Belmont in Cardinal Arena at 5 p.m. Friday. Louisville seniors Rucker, Arslanbekova, Lukyanenko and Kaitlynn James will be honored before the contest.

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Volleyball rolling through the Big East

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

***********SPECIAL REPORT**************

LOUISVIILE VOLLEYBALL WINS THE BIG EAST TOURNAMENT!!!!

The Cards are the 2012 BIG EAST Volleyball Tournament Champions with a straight set defeat of Marquette 25-19, 25-23, 26-24. Both Lola Arlansbekova and Gwen Rucker with double-digits kills in the win! The NCAA Selection Show is next Sunday at 4 p.m. on ESPNU . We'll have a full recap of the action later here at CARDINAL COUPLE.

CONGRATULATIONS to the 2012 BIG EAST Regular Season and Tournament champs....your UofL VOLLEYBALL TEAM!

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( Jeff McAdams gives us the who,what,where,how and why of Cardinal Volleyball as they roll through the BIG EAST Tournament)

 

Big East Tournament recap

The Louisville Volleyball team has shown no signs of weakness to speak of in the Big East tournament so far.  With sweeps of first St. Johns and now Cincinnati in dominant performances, they have advanced to the Big East title match to be played Sunday at the Al McGuire center in Milwaukee, WI.

Cincinnati defeated UConn in the 4 seed vs 5 seed match to meet up with the Cards in the semifinals.

The Cards will now match up against Marquette University who handled the USF Bulls in the other semifinal match to make also make it the Big East Championship.  South Florida provided the only upset of the tournament so far as they overcame Notre Dame in their quarter-final matchup.  Marquette beat 7th seeded Pitt in their opening match.

So, the stage is set for UofL to achieve the double Big East championship...both regular season and tournament...all they have to do is beat Marquette.  They've done so twice in the past, but...of course, there's always that age-old wisdom that its hard to be a reasonably competitive team 3 times in a season.

The match will be televised on ESPNU at 2pm EST.

Quarterfinals

The match against St. Johns was never really in any doubt.  When the score hit 7-1 in the first set, and UofL already had 4 blocks, I figured it wasn't going to be too much of a match.  Paul already mentioned Gwen Rucker's hitting percentage in his recap yesterday, but she also had an amazing 9 blocks...almost a double-double with blocks.  That's kind of like getting a double-double in basketball with one of the stats being steals.  It happens occasionally, but its pretty rare, and if you see it happen, you've usually watched a really amazing match...or really amazingly awful match if you're cheering for the other team.

On the other side of the semi-final bracket...played before the UofL match...Cincinnati and UConn engaged in a great struggle, taking the match to 5 sets before Cincinnati was able to pull out the win over the Huskies. It's always great to have your opponent go to 5 sets in the match before they play you as the compressed tournament format of a match played every day, leaves little recovery time from a long, hard-fought match like that.

Semifinals

One of the classic matchups of teams in the Big East Tournament is UofL vs Cincinnati.  These two teams are usually among the class of the conference, and frequently meet in the Final match.  Cincinnati has been off their game this season, however and only came up with the 4 seed, putting them on the same side of the bracket with us.

Again, the match wasn't terribly competitive, with the first two sets coming in at 25-16.  Gwen Rucker continued her impressive play, hitting .765 (15 of 17, with 2 errors) with good contributions from others.  This UofL team just has so many weapons, it can be any player that steps up to have a good match, and sometimes several do.

Cincinnati started to pull it together a bit towards the end, making a real competition of the last set, forcing the Cards to come from behind to take the set and match at 25-23.

Finals

So its down to Marquette and UofL.  This will, of course, be the third matchup of these teams this season, with UofL coming out victorious in both previous meetings.

Marquette is a team to be reckoned with an RPI ranking of 33.  While UofL has demonstrated that they are the better team in general, you still have to play the game to see who comes out victorious on this particular day.

Around the NCAA

An epic battle occurred this week between Oregon and Washington.  #6 Washington won a slight upset over #4 Oregon, with a fifth set score of 25-23!  The normal 5th set winning score is 15.  It doesn't really have much implications for rankings, but I would've loved to have seen that match.

We'll likely have a change in the #1 position this week as #1 Stanford lost to #8 Southern Cal.

Otherwise no upsets yet that would give Louisville the opportunity to move up another spot in the coaches poll.  There's still another day of play in this week, though, so its still possible.

At this point, I don't know all of the details of the math behind the RPI, but it seems very unlikely that we could drop enough with the remaining two matches to not host 1st and 2nd rounds.  Losing to Marquette wouldn't hurt us much in the RPI, but losing to Belmont...who upset Morehead State to claim the OVC's automatic NCAA bid, as well as the opportunity to play Louisville next weekend at Cardinal Arena...would hurt, I don't think it would do so enough to drop us out of hosting range.

It does torpedo my idea of having a sub-regional of all Kentucky teams at the KFC Yum! Center for the first and second rounds, though.  I was kind of hoping for first round matches to be Louisville vs Morehead, and Western Kentucky vs Kentucky.  With Morehead not getting the bid, its quite possible that Belmont will get sent to Knoxville and the land of orange, and another team would get brought in to Louisville, likely from further north...like Purdue.  The selection committee can do just about anything, of course, but Louisville vs WKU, and Purdue vs Kentucky, for first round matchups could be what happens.  I suppose it would be better to play Purdue on our home turf in the sub-regionals, than to advance and play them on their home turf in the regionals, though.

All this ultimately just amounts to speculation, of course, and we'll just have to wait and see what transpires...there could be other shakeups, yet.

( Best of luck to the VolleyCards...as they look for the BIG EAST Tournament title today against the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee! As mentioned, the Cards are on ESPNU at 2:00 )

Finally, today we leave you with the "Three Stooges Moment" in college football this year video. Watch at the 45 second mark, as Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville pulls a "Moe" on an unsuspecting assistant coach following a botched attempted play. Anger management issues? Yeah, you betcha...

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Cards defeat Texas A&M 47-45 in WBB

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Jude Schimmel's layup the difference maker in defensive battle

-Volleyball straight set win over Marquette

Sara Hammond celebrates Cardinal win

It is only fitting that a defensive play was the difference Friday night in a defensive struggle between #9 Louisville and #12 Texas A&M in women's college basketball in the KFC YUM! Center.

Jude Schimmel's steal of Courtney Walker's inbounds pass and subsequent layup gave the Cards a 47-45 lead with 24 seconds and UofL took the contest after leading most of the way but surrendering the advantage with four minutes to go.

Enough can't be said about the effort from Sara Hammond tonight...with 20 points and 13 rebounds...for Louisville, who saw an early 14 point second half lead vanish to the aggressive Aggies.

The Cards jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the first half after a Shoni Schimmel three with 12:53 left in the first half and back-to-back baskets by Monique Reid gave Louisville a 27-13 advantage with 5:50 remaining in the first half. The Cards would take a 31-21 lead into the locker room at halftime...Hammond with 15 points and eight rebounds...one of only four Cards to score in the first twenty minutes. 

Louisville began the second half on a 6-2 run and looked to be in control of the contest...and led 37-23 after a Bria Smith basket at the 15:30 mark. A&M rallied but the Cards still led 41-33 after a Reid score halfway through the second half. The inside duo of Kelsey Bone and Karla Gilbert went to war against the Cards in the paint and a Bone score had it narrowed down to 41-37 with 7:05 to go.

Alexia Standish nailed a three a minute later to cut the Louisville lead to one...necessitating a Jeff Walz timeout. A&M extended the run to 11-0, though, and led the Cards 44-41 after a Gilbert inside score with 4:07 remaining. It would be the last Aggie basket of the game. The Cards rallying to tie it 45-45 after a Bria Smith free throw with 2:10 remaining. 

That set the stage for Jude's heroics...Louisville missing out on an opportunity to increase the lead to four with 8.8 seconds left when Hammond missed two from the free throw line.

A desperation heave at the buzzer from Standish at the buzzer missed the mark for A&M and Louisville prevailed in a hard-fought battle. 


Hammond led all scorers with 20 points and Reid finished with 10 for Louisville. Shoni Schimmel ended up with eight points, sister Jude with four, Bria Smith with three and Shawnta Dyer added two. 

A&M outrebounded the Cards 44-33...Bone grabbing 12 and Gilbert 11 and the Aggies shot  for the game while Louisville was 21-53 for 39.6%.

Coach Gary Blair was philisophical about the loss in the post game presser, pointing out that a freshman error in front of almost 11,000 fans was basically the deciding factor in a game that could have gone either way. Gotta love the affable Blair and his passion for the game. He even debated the inclusion of UofL in the SEC with me in the presser. Not gonna happen, Gary...but thanks for your "take" on it.

Shoni Schimmel noted that she knew her sister had the deciding layup "all the way, even though it was a right-handed layup...Jude likes them better from the left side."

The Cards return to action Sunday at noon against Portland in the KFC YUM! Center. 

FIVE THINGS WE LIKED

-- The "Hammer". It may be a new nickname for Sara Hammond, who stepped up huge in a big-time game. 9-18 from the field, 8 defensive rebounds and three steals. Also, going the final four minutes with four fouls and not fouling out.

-- Meet "the other Schimmel". Jude continues to impress with her confidence and play-making abilities. The Cards had only eight assists in the game, the Schimmel sisters with six of them. And, what we'll refer to from now on as "The Steal" by Jude. Top notch game!

-- Fighting back. After the 11-0 A&M run in the second half, the Cards of last year might have folded up the tent and packed it in. Not this bunch. They left it all on the court in the final four minutes and won. Speaks volumes about this squad's heart.

-- Capitalizing. Louisville scored 18 points off 24 Aggie turnovers. The Cards also stayed close in the 2nd Chance category, scoring 16 points to A&M 18. 

-- Auto "Mo" tic. Monique Reid. Enters the game with 8:46 left in the first half. Scores six points in the next four minutes. Scoring...it's what she does. Scorer...it's what she is. We can dig it...

FIVE THINGS TO WORK ON

--Free throws. Louisville a sub-par 3-9 from the line. Crucial misses late by Smith and Hammond. Gotta convert on the unguarded free ones.

--Three-point shooting. Shoni Schimmel went 2-6. The rest of the team 0-6. 0-5 in the second half. We're not sure if Sara Hammond is trying to become a threat from outside, but her 0-3 performance from behind the line had us scratching our heads.

--Offensive rebounding. A&M 19-Louisville 10. Sure, the Aggies had a decided height advantage when Gilbert and Bone were in the game together...but the Cards managed just 4 offensive rebounds in the final 20 minutes. That must get better...

--Interior defense. Once again, the combo of Gilbert and Bone proved hard to stop with the height edge...but they were 8-14. Add starting forward Kristi Bellock's 3-5 shooting and the front line goes well over 50% against the Cards "bigs". 

--Finishing the deal. Louisville led 37-23 with 15:34 to go. They had the Aggies on the run. Ten minutes later, the game is tied at 41-41 and Walz needs a timeout. Killer instinct. It's the mark on a championship team. Louisville needs to find it.

FINAL ANALYSIS

A gritty, hard-fought win by the Cards against a top 15 opponent can't draw too much criticism. We love the way sophomores Hammond and Jude Schimmel stepped up tonight. Even a bit of swagger at the end of the game.

They won't face many tougher opponents the rest of the year than the Aggies they ran into Friday night...and they got the "W". This team is going to be fun to watch and if they can develop another three-point bomber beside Shoni...(would Ms. Deines and Slaughter report to the three-point arc please?) they could be a very dangerous team to play. Well done, Cards!

Walz's remarks in the post-game presser (at least some of them) at the link below:

Walz postgame




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Louisville Volleyball also won Friday in straight sets against Marquette in Cardinal Arena. Lola with 15 kills in the 25-22, 25-16, 25-18 sweep of the Golden Eagles.

The Cards jumped out to a first game 10-2 run that gave them an 11-5 lead and held on to win, despite Marquette getting within one at 22-21. Gwen Rucker with the game-winning kill at 24-21.

Louisville led early in the second game and pushed that advantage to 15-9, sparking a Marquette timeout. The strategy backfired...the Cards getting the next six points and winning by nine.

Louisville had the Golden Eagles where they wanted them in the final game...leading 18-11 and holding on for the seven point victory.

With the win, the Cards and Notre Dame are now tied for the conference lead at 13-1. Marquette falls to 12-2. The Golden Eagles can help Louisville get the regular season title by defeating Notre Dame on Sunday in Milwaukee. Louisville closes out the regular season in Cardinal Arena against Cincinnati.
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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball and Basketball today

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Volleyball set for rematch with Marquette in Cardinal Arena

-Women's basketball opens regular season vs. Texas A&M

Exciting Friday for University of Louisville women's sports enthusiasts...with volleyball against league leading Marquette and women's basketball taking on the Texas A&M Aggies. Here's the breakdown:

First Place On The Line in Friday Afternoon game against the Golden Eagles

Louisville, Marquette and Notre Dame are tied at the top of the conference standings with 12-1 records. The Cards dealt Marquette their only conference loss back on Oct. 21st. in Milwaukee...winning 3-1.

Lola Arslanbekova had 24 kills and Emily Juhl contributed 13 in the 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 25-19 four-game win over the Golden Eagles. Louisville will need to be wary of Lindsay Gosh and Holly Mertens this afternoon in Cardinal Arena...the two combined for 29 kills against the Cards in the previous matchup.

Game time is 4:30 p.m. Let's hope the VolleyCards can eliminate Marquette in three games...to give fans plenty of time to make the drive from campus to downtown for the basketball game!

#12 Aggies to Test Cards in Friday Night Showdown

In the season opener for both squads, it'll be the third time in history the two storied programs. Texas A&M defeated the Cards last season at College Station an Louisville won in the Illini Classic back in 1992.

A&M bowed out of the NCAA Tournament last year in the Sweet Sixteen...losing to the same Maryland team that sent UofL to the sidelines...81-74.

Probable starters for Gary Blair's squad:

#23 Adrienne Pratcher ( Senior 5'7" G Memphis, TN) She distributed 102 assists for the Aggies last season and averaged 4.5 points and 19 minutes per game.

#33 Courtney Walker ( Freshman 5'8" G Edmond, OK) 2012 McDonald's All-American will test the Cards back court with her excellent shooting and playmaking skills.

#15 Tori Scott ( Sophomore 5'10" G Marrero, LA)
Played in 23 games last year with 0.7 pts. and 4.9 minutes per game. 2011 McDonald's All-American nominee.

#5 Kristi Bellock ( Senior 6'1" F St. Rose, LA)
Started last year against Cards. Played in 28 games with 0.9 points and 6.1 minutes per contest.

#3 Kelsey Bone ( Junior 6'4" C Houston, TX)
Named 2012 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Started career at South Carolina where she was 2009 SEC leading rebounder and 2010 Second Team SEC. 11.9 points and 6.9 rebounds last year for A&M.

Head coach Gary Blair begins his 28th. season as a head coach, 11 of them at Texas A&M. Like Louisville, the Aggies will be tested early in the non-conference schedule...with games against Penn State, UConn and Marquette in November and TCU, USC and Kansas State in December. 

Sydney Brackemyer

Now a member of the SEC, Texas A&M also plays Kentucky twice this year. The Aggies can "go big" if needed...with 6'7" Rachel Mitchell and 6'5" Karla Gilbert on the roster. A&M is 8-3 all-time in openers on the road.

Kelsey Mitchell

CARDINAL COUPLE recruiting expert Jenny O'Bryan tells me that 2014 prospects Sydney Brackemyer and Kelsey Mitchell will be attending tonight's game as well...so say "Hi!" to them if you see them and welcome them to the 'Ville!

Should be an action-packed affair in the KFC YUM! Center tonight. Tickets still available for the game and showing a Kroger Plus card will get you in for $2. 

Let's pack the YUM! tonight for this tough contest and give the Cards a full house for their opener. Tip-off is 7 p.m. and it'll be broadcast on 790 WKRD AM radio in Louisville and WHAS TV 11-2 Digital...as well as on Insight-432, Comcast-207 and CARDS TV. For $2 bucks, though...we suggest you see this one live and in person. Gonna be a good one. UofL has designated tonight's game as a "red out"...so put the leisure suit and polyester dress shirt back in the closet (unless they're red...and I want a picture for the site if they are...)

We'll be back later tonight with a recap of both volleyball and basketball...

GO CARDS! 

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