BIG EAST recognizes Volleyball, Red and Black Saturday

TUESDAY AT CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Volleyball's Emily Juhl named Freshman of the Week

-Red and Black Day for Rowing Saturday

-Ben is a little upset...

Laura Aubrey, pictured right, would like to invite Cardinal fans to the Red and Black Day for rowing on Saturday. The event features several intra-squad races followed by a cookout with Cardinal rowing team and staff members.

Things kick off on the Ohio River at 11 a.m. with a welcome and introduction. Six rowing contests follow, beginning at noon, including a varsity vs. alumni race and International vs. USA contest.

The Cardinal Boathouse is located on River Road at Waterfront Park. They are directly across from Stop Light Liquors and near the Tumbleweed on River Road. It's a chance to meet your 2010-11 UofL rowing team, see the Cardinal Bird and UofL Pep Band (under the direction of Al Greener) and chow down. Louisville rowing gear and merchandise will also be available for purchase.

Rowing on the River. Sounds like a fun few hours. Load up the kids, that cranky neighbor next door and that guy that says you never call him to do stuff with you and hit the Park for great times!

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We knew Emily Juhl could spike a volleyball through a concrete wall. The BIG EAST has recognized her talents and named her Freshman of the Week. Juhl helped lead the Cards to a victory Saturday with 16 kills and 12 digs against Notre Dame. She also had 11 kills and seven digs against DePaul on Sunday. Juhl leads BIG EAST freshmen with 3.86 kills per set.

Also, Lola Arsenbeckova has been named to the BIG EAST honor roll for her double-double performance against UND and huge game against the Blue Demons. Lola knows a thing or two about Volleyball and, in the words of Emil Faber:

"Knowledge is good."

The Volley Cards defend Cardinal Arena Saturday when perennial BIG EAST power Cincinnati (17-3, 6-0) comes calling. Louisville (10-5, 5-1) defeated the Bearcats for the BIG EAST tournament title last year. These 'Cats are coming in looking for a little revenge and this is one match that you don't wanna miss. The volleying starts at 2 p.m.

Hmmm...Cardinal Football Friday Night vs. the Bearcats. Saturday Volleyball vs. the Bearcats. Sounds like the perfect time to get out the broom and sweep the weekend games against the UC invaders.

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WE review mail occasionally here at CARDINAL COUPLE...if we can get to it before Bill the goat recycles it...but decided we needed to address this rather terse communication we got right away, instead of waiting for the normal "We Read your Mail" segment.

CARDINAL COUPLE:

I like your site and I check it almost every day. I'm writing about a rather unpleasant incident I had recently while attending a UofL sporting event. I took my young daughter to this event and she was treated rather harshly by one of those Yellow Shirted people that monitor and assist at UofL sporting events. We were their (sic) way before game time and she was trying to get the attention of the players warming up so she could get an item signed. She was approached by this Yellow Shirt and told that she could not be in this area and had to go sit down. She came running back to me in tears and it traumatized her so much that we had to leave. Is this the way that Cardinal Athletics usually treats fans? I won't be back.

Ben (last name withheld by request)

DEAR BEN:

The CARDS CARE personnel (the Yellow Shirts) are voluntary fans who are there to provide information, seating help and assist fans during UofL sporting events. I know several of these volunteers and can only tell you that they are fine people, dedicated to making your Cardinal sporting event experience as enjoyable as possible. Even Jack Wimsett. They also have responsibilities to ensure the safety of all Cardinal fans. Without knowing all the details here, perhaps it was a case of where your daughter might have potentially been in harm's way or there was a concern about her being unattended.

That being said, I am sure that the University of Louisville is definitely not in the business of driving fans away or terrorizing them at athletic events. If you'll get me some more details, I'd be happy to contact the S.I.D. that covers that particular sport and see if I can arrange for your daughter to meet the players and get her autographs.

I'm not an autograph seeker...but I'm pretty sure that at most Cardinal sporting events, there is a time where fans can approach the players and get autographs. I've seen it at UofL women's basketball games...for example...the Lady Cards basketball players absolutely love to talk to the young fans after a game and sign, pose for pictures and such. Chauntise Wright really looked forward to and loved this aspect of being a Cardinal and she was great with the kids.

Let me know if I can help.

Paul
cardinalcouple@insightbb.com


I can understand Ben's frustration here but have to wonder if it might be a case of over-reaction to a possible safety issue. I also remember years ago when I tried to get Wesley Cox's autograph after a UofL men's basketball game and was denied access. Maybe it was because I was trying to get him to sign a UK poster. Go figure.

Soccer headlines a full weekend of UofL women's sports

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE COVERS :

-Soccer vs. Villanova and Georgetown

-Softball ends fall season against Morehead State

-The Irish and DePaul come to volley vs. Cards

-Field Hockey hits the East Coast

-Keeneland opens today

-Football in PJCS vs. Memphis

A full weekend of Cardinal athletics on tap. Chelsea Bemis, pictured here, might describe it as a "grand slam" of activity surrounding Floyd Street. Grab your mitts, sticks, shoes and some Gatorade...it's game time!

Women's soccer has their final home schedule games, starting with a match vs. Villanova (6-7, 1-4) on Friday night, 7 p.m. in Cardinal Park and Georgetown (9-4, 3-2) on Sunday, 1 p.m. The Georgetown match will be televised locally on WHAS-TV. The Cards (8-4, 2-3) are looking to end a two game losing streak against the Wildcats...who are also on a two game skid. 'Nova leads the all-time series against the "Ville" 4-1 and defeated the Cards in their last meeting 2-0 in Philadelphia.

Georgetown went 1-1 last week and trails in the all-time series with Louisville 2-3. They beat Louisville last year 2-1 in our nation's capitol. The Cards head out of town next weekend for matches at USF on Friday and Marquette Sunday.

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Field Hockey travels this weekend for a couple of Garden State games...Rutgers on Saturday and #3 Princeton on Sunday. The #8 Cards are coming off a heartbreaking loss to IU 3-2 on Tuesday and will find tough competition against both opponents. Pam Bustin's squad seems to force overtime just about every time they take the turf and it would be nice to see them sweep the Jersey jaunt without having to go to the extra 15 minute sessions.

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Volleyball welcomes Notre Dame and DePaul this weekend to Cardinal Arena. The Saturday game against the Irish is an early one...first volley scheduled for 10 a.m....to avoid a conflict with the 2 p.m. football game against Memphis. It's also a "Dig for the Cure" event...both teams will wear specially designed pink uniforms in this event designed to support the fight against breast cancer. The Cards ride a two game winning streak into the Notre Dame match...but it won't be easy for Leonid Yelin's spikers. Notre Dame has won their last three meetings vs. the Cards in the regular season...but Louisville succeeded in knocking them out of the BIG EAST Tournament last year. Freshman Sam Brown is the leading kill artist for the Irish. This one is a huge rivalry, get there if you can...plenty of time to football tailgate after this one.

DePaul takes to the Cardinal Arena court on Sunday...looking for their first BIG EAST win. Louisville has a 20-2 record vs. the Blue Demons and will try to shut down senior Kate Letcher who has 146 killls on the season. Game time is 2 p.m.

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Softball ends the short fall season with a game Friday Night 7 p.m. in Ulmer Stadium against Morehead. The Cards have had a successful "fall training" so far...sweeping Bellarmine 4-0, 1-0 and recently knocking off WKU 3-1 and Lindsey Wilson 5-0 in the Lady Topper Fall Classic in Bowling Green. The Cards still have eight starters on board from last years 41-18 squad...including sluggers Chelsea Bemis, Kristin Austin, Colby Wherry, and Alicja Wolny. Tori Collins looks to be the pitching ace for Sandy Pearsall's squad and a total of 14 letterwinners will return for the spring softball season.

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Keeneland opens their fall meet Friday at the historic Lexington track and the several weeks of racing will feature some of the finest horses, trainers and jockeys in the nation. There are multiple stakes races lined up for each weekend and several "Football and horses" Saturdays ahead. I'm still not convinced that the polytrack artificial surface installed there is the wave of the future...I prefer the dirt...but the scenic beauty of Keeneland and the challenging fields are
reason enough to make the short drive from Louisville and spend a fun afternoon watching the nation's most talented run for the wire.

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Oh, yeah. they're playing football Saturday in Papa John's. Seems like forever since Charlie Strong has had a home game...there are three of them in a row coming up, though...and Memphis kicks off the homestand. The Tigers are 1-4 so far this season and haven't exactly been a team to strike fear in an opponent's heart. Tigers? Hardly....more like kittens. The Cards should roll past the boys from Elvis's town and go to 3-2.

Volleyball shuts out Wright State in Dayton

IT'S THE WEEKEND @ CARDINAL COUPLE !!

(and probably where you are too...)

-Volleyball win on road against Wright State

-Women's Soccer honorees

-UofL announces the EKU game a sell out

The University of Louisville volleyball team took their show on the road last night and defeated Wright State in straight sets 26-24, 25-21 and 25-20. Stepping up big for the Wide Net Cards was sophomore Lola Arslanbekova (pictured above) who continues her killing spree.

Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the first game but saw Wright State erase a 22-19 lead and tie it at 22-22 and 24-24 before Arslanbekova got a clutch slam and Louisville scored the final two points. Game two saw the Cards jump out early again and withstand a Wright State rally that cut a 4 point UofL advantage to one at 21-20. The Cards finished with a 4-1 run, though to take a 2 game advantage. Wright State jumped out to the early lead in the final game and Louisville had to battle back to tie the contest at 16-16 before Lola got untracked again and led Louisville to a game winning 9-3 run to end the game and match.

Arslanbekova had 14 kills for the Cards and Louisville also got great net play from Gwen Rucker and Anastasia Artemeva to improve their record to 5-2. Caitlin Welch picked up the defense with 15 digs. The Cards return to action next Friday in Cardinal Arena hosting Purdue.

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Christine Exeter and Angelika Uremovich have been named in the top 100 freshmen by Top Drawer Soccer. Exeter was ranked 70th and Uremovich 84th. Uremovich leads the women's soccer team with 4 goals this season. The #18 Cards also got goalie Taylor Vancil listed #12 in the National division of the BIG EAST and Emily Cardell is ranked 20th. Vancil has had three shutouts for Louisville this season. Louisville is 5-0 this year, ranked #18th nationally and heads to St. Louis Sunday for a game against the Billikins.

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UofL has announced the football game against EKU on Saturday is sold out. Charlie's getting them in the seats, let's hope the rain holds off.

Boos to a certain blue kool aid drinking sports host who predicts the Cards only win by 7. This guy would eliminate the color red from the rainbow spectrum if he had any say in the matter. WE here at CARDINAL COUPLE like Louisville by at least 20 points. Sonja says 35-14 Cards and I'll go with a 33-7 win for the Red and Black.

Is it too early to worry about 2012?

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-2012: Too far off to worry about?

-A rundown of fall women's sports

-WNBA scenarios

CARDINAL COUPLE co-owner Paul Sykes (pictured left) is busy at work trying to qualify for the USA 2012 Bean Bag (or Cornhole) team that will compete in the World Championships in Havana, Cuba. (OK, I made that up..but wouldn't it be a blast to go to Cuba and get comped for throwing a bag full of dry corn kernels?)

The point is this...the class of 2012 in girls high school basketball is already starting to verbal to colleges and universities. Case in point...Louisville Manual High School star April Wilson decided over the weekend that Purdue University is the place to be. Louisville was on her short list but a weekend visit to West Lafayette convinced her that Boilermaker country was where she wants to spend her four years of matriculation and basketball.

A lot can happen from one's junior year in high school to college. Coaches can leave. Injuries can happen. Interests may change. UofL Lady Card shooting guard Becky Burke was South Carolina bound until a coaching change in Columbia, SC made her re-evaluate her previous decision. Incoming Cardinal wing Antonita Slaughter knew as as freshman that Cardinal Red and Black were her colors...before Jeff Walz got there. Former Cardinal great Candyce Bingham grew up and attended high school in the shadow of the north side UofL dormitories near Manual but headed off to Xavier to begin college. Finally, she got it right and returned to Louisville for two outstanding years.

Verbal commitments are just that...saying out loud that you like one place the most of all. Doesn't mean a thing until the contract is signed and the papers are received. We, in the sports world....though, are obsessed about recruiting and who is leaning where, who is on the short list, who is visiting where and when and why isn't this college the favorite of that player. Remember the drama that surrounded Shoni Schimmel and whether she would show up at Louisville or not? We're glad to say she is on the Belknap Campus and probably worrying about reading assignments and science labs like the other 4,000 freshmen on campus.

The talented trio of girl's basketball players at Marion County are sophomores and juniors this year...but they are a top topic of discussion and speculation already in the recruiting pundits around the state. Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, Makalya Epps and Bre Edler may very well win three state championships in a row but many out there will be more concerned about where they are visiting over the Labor Day weekend.

Let's get the class of 2011 out of the way and safely tucked into the bastions of higher learning first before we get too wrapped up about 2012. After all, the current hype about all the signs pointing to catastrophe and calamity scheduled for that year may just make recruiting a moot point...conspiracy theorists unite!

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We got an e-mail asking which women's sports at UofL take place in the fall. Actually, all participants in the 12 women's sports programs at Louisville are hard at work defining and practicing their skills, but actual events include field hockey, soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country, rowing, swimming and tennis. The field hockey, soccer and volleyball teams have already had either exhibitions or actual games. Cross country kicks off Sept. 4th. and Rowing on Sept 8th. Tennis begins Sept 25th., and Swimming on October 21st. Basketball in October, too.

Lacrosse, golf, softball and track begin in the spring.

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The Eastern Conference of the WNBA begins their playoffs Wednesday. Atlanta travels to Washington and New York hosts Indiana. Over in the Western Conference, division leader Seattle hosts Los Angeles and Phoenix greets San Antonio.

Diana Taursi led the league in scoring during the regular season with 22.6 ppg. for Phoenix. Cappie Poindexter (New York) was second with 21.4 ppg. and Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry fancied 3rd with 21.1 ppg. Tina Charles (Connecticut) showed the way in rebounding, grabbing 11.7 per game and Ticha Penicherio (Los Angeles) dished out 6.9 assists per contest.

Several Atlanta Dream players cracked the top ten in the above categories. Iziane Castro Marques was seventh in scoring at 16.9 a game, Sancho Lyttle fourth in rebounding (9.9) and Erika deSouza sixth (8.3). Shalee Lehning finished seventh in assists (4.8). A pretty good nucleus for the Dream in 2011 and the upcoming playoff run.

Cardinal Volleyball faces tough 2010 schedule

The Volley Cards have a tough road ahead of them if they are looking to duplicate their 21-10 season from 2009. Louisville will travel to Kentucky for a match on September 1st and to Knoxville to face the Vols on November 2nd. They'll also square off against Illinois and Purdue in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge.

The Cards will travel to Tempe to take part in a round robin tournament against Cal-Bakersfield, Arizona and Butler beginning September 3rd. Other out of conference opponents are Ohio, North Datoka State, Wright State and Lipscomb.

Conference foes will include Rutgers, Seton Hall, Notre Dame, DePaul, Cincinnati, Georgetown, South Florida, and Villanova at home. Leonard Yelin's crew will travel to UConn, St. John's, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marquette and Syracuse for matches.

The BIG EAST tournament takes place in Pittsburgh beginning November 19th and the NCAA Selections will be November 28th...with 1st round play beginning December 3rd.

Louisville loses seniors Lecia Brown, Kimi Hohl and Justine Landi from the 2009 squad but does return Lola Arslanbekova and Gwen Rucker.

A young team for Coach Yelin...but a team full of promise and a definite spikemaster in Arslanbekova.

The schedule includes 13 home game...all on weekends except the Lipscomb match. The Kentucky game is on Wednesday and the game in Knoxville on a Tuesday.

The Cards went 11-6 on their home court last year and 11-4 in the BIG EAST. They won the BIG EAST Tournament in Louisville as a #4 seed...knocking off #2 Cincinnati 3-1.

We'll be providing full coverage of Cardinal Voleyball and hope to be providing you with some preseason quotes and previews of the team in the near future here at CARDINAL COUPLE.