Sunday Cardinal Couple - Field Hockey falls to #1 Syracuse

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey defeated by Syracuse

-Shine advances in womens' tennis

-Sunday schedule

-Your favorite Cardinal womens' athlete?

Undefeated Syracuse shuts out Cardinals

The University of Louisville field hockey squad suffered a defeat against #1 Syracuse yesterday...dropping to 7-4 on the season. The #25 Cards, now 1-1 in Big East play, failed to score on a Syracuse squad allowing less than one goal per game.

Syracuse goes to 10-0 with the shutout. They scored their first goal six minutes into the contest and added another with two minutes left in the first half to take a 2-0 lead to the dressing room.

Erin Conrad with eight saves at goalkeeper against a Syracuse team that has won 33 straight at home.

A short turn-around for Justine Sowry's team...they travel to Albany today for a match against the #23 Great Danes.

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Rebecca Shine advances in Riviera ITA

Louisville womens' tennis star Rebecca Shine advances to the sweet sixteen with a win in the Rivieria/ITA Women's All-American Championships in Palisades Park, CA.

Shine defeated Mia Vriens of Florida State 6-2, 6-4 to get her second win of the tournament.

She and Julia Fellerhoff teamed up in the doubles bracket of the event but were knocked out by Florida State 9-7. Fellerhoff lost in the singles competition 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to USC.

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Sunday Schedule for Cardinal womens' contests

Women's Soccer @ USF  1 p.m.
Volleyball @ Pitt 1 p.m.
Field Hockey @ Albany 1 p.m.
Softball vs Murray State. 2 p.m. (Ulmer Stadium)

Good luck to all Cardinal athletes today!

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CARDINAL COUPLE presents pick your favorite player

We're proudly announcing our PICK YOUR FAVORITE CARDINAL WOMENS SPORTS ATHLETE CONTEST! We've selected a "sweet sixteen" of student-athletes for you to choose from and you can vote for your favorite over on the infamous left side of the site under the Poll section.

We've got to do something to keep Timmy the Intern busy. His prank phone calls to UofL coaches and ponzi schemes are getting a bit out of hand.

Here are your first round matchups:

Gwen Rucker  vs.  Nikki Boltja
Erin Bennett   vs.  Michelle Molodynia
Katie Keller    vs.  Rebecca Shine
Krissie Brandenburg  vs.  Shoni Schimmel
Caralisa Connell  vs.  Christine Exeter
Lola Arslanbekova  vs.  Patrice Gates
Chloe Kiefer  vs.  Erin Conrad
Monique Reid  vs.  Emily Haas

We'll provide you with a brief profile of each athlete as they appear in the poll. Your first contest features Volleyball middle blocker Gwen Rucker pitted against Lacrosse's leading scorer Nikki Boltja.

Rucker, a senior from Lexington, KY. came to Louisville as a two-sport star (basketball and volleyball) before deciding to concentrate on volleyball after her sophomore year. She's the net-stuffer for the Volleyball squad and has been a valuable asset for Anne Kordes' squad this year.

Boltja, a junior from Medina, OH. jumped into the starting line last season as a mid-fielder and led the Cards with 53 goals in 15 games. She was an All-Region pick and will be counted on this spring to head up the offensive attack for the Lacrosse squad.

BE ADVISED THAT WE'RE ONLY GOING TO LEAVE THESE DUELS UP FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE NEXT MATCH...SO MAKE SURE AND GET YOUR VOTE IN EARLY!!!

WE see this as a way to have a little friendly site-competition and as a chance to give you a little information on the movers and shakers in UofL women's sports. Will their be major upsets? You have the power...organize your friends, family and strangers on the street to get your favorite player to the title!  

Good luck to all participants and let the games begin!
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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Softball hosts Georgetown for final regular season home series starting Saturday. 


-Shine, Fellerhoff get tennis awards


-Jeff Walz Lady Cards Camps and Clinics info


-Louisville WBB tidbits.


The University of Louisville softball team (44-2, 14-2) will host Georgetown (19-29, 3-12) in the final regular season home-stand of the season for the Cards. Two games...beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday...and one game Sunday. 

Louisville sits atop the BIG EAST leaderboard by one game with six BIG EAST games remaining. USF is 13-3 in BIG EAST play, Notre Dame 10-3 and Syracuse 12-4.


Georgetown comes to Louisville after hosting and dropping a double-header to Villanova on Wednesday 4-1 and 4-3. 


After the Georgetown series, the Cards will play a non-conference game in Knoxville against Tennessee next week on Wednesday and then conclude the regular season with three games at St. John's over Derby weekend. 

The BIG EAST Tournament is a single elimination affair that will begin on Thursday, May 10th at Notre Dame. The top eight teams in the regular season standings participate. If it were starting tomorrow, here's how the seeds and games would match up: 


#1 Louisville vs. #8 St. John's
#2 USF vs. #7 Connecticut
#3 Notre Dame vs. #6 Rutgers
#4 Syracuse vs. #5 DePaul


DePaul is the only team to beat Louisville this year...taking two out of three in Chicago back on March 31st. and April 1st. Syracuse is last year's tournament champion and returns All-Big East pitcher Jenna Caira.


We'll have full coverage of Cardinal softball action this weekend and throughout the BIG EAST tournament and NCAA Tournament here at CARDINAL COUPLE.


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Congratulations to women's tennis team sophomores Becca Shine and Julia Fellerhoff on being named to the All-BIG EAST Team. 


Coach Mark Beckham has this to say about the honors bestowed on the duo:

"It's good to see that the other coaches in the conference have a lot of respect for Julia and Becca's games. This is a great reward for Julia, since she missed the beginning of the year with a broken foot. She worked really hard to get back and had a successful season. This will definitely motivate her for next year. Hopefully, she'll stay injury-free and push for player of the year. She definitely has the ability to do it. Becca is unbelievable. She came to us from Augusta, GA. and nobody really knew who she was but I thought she could be really good in time. She is way ahead of schedule, for her to have already been ranked nationally in singles and doubles. To only be a sophomore is a quick progression. Now that she has been named BIG EAST All-Conference, I can't say enough good things about her. She is a special player, for sure." 


UofL finished tied for third in the BIG EAST Tournament...going in as a #6 seed. They upset #3 seed Syracuse but were defeated by #2 seed Notre Dame in the semi-finals. 


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"OK! Hustle that firewood in here
and someone start making S'mores!"

So...who wants to go camping with Jeff Walz? Mind you, this won't be a  tents, campfire, roasting weenies and marshmallows type of camping...it's three women's basketball skills camps for individuals and teams. 


The fun begins June 4th. with a Day Camp for grades 3-8. It goes thru June 7th. 


Two other camps will also be offered...a team camp June 8-10 with JV and Varsity Divisions and a Elite Skills Session for grades 7-12 on June 14th. 


You can contact Mary Beth Whitaker at 852-8355 or mbwhit08@Louisville.edu for pricing and more information. 


Also, here's a link for additional info:


Lady Cards Camps and Clinics

Sonja laughing about the whirlpool
and how much "Ben-Gay"
she'll need tomorrow.

We hope Walz will also have a 'past their prime' refresher camp someday for ex-high school players over 35 who still think they 'got it' and thought they were 'all that'. Sonja would dominate in that one. Unless A.J. or Valerie Owens Combs showed up to play. And, we're not saying either of them are over 35. I learned a long time ago, when it comes to things not to bring up...


Never reveal or ask about a woman's age.


Charlie Strong holds a day long women's football skills and learning camp each year. We're thinking a day- long WBB camp just might draw a few ladies. 


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UofL WBB fans will be glad to know that Monique Reid has received her notice from the NCAA that she can officially play in the upcoming season...we're hearing from a very credible source. 

We knew she would. We think it's great! Watch Mo & Co. lead the Cards past the Elite Eight! 


We also have fielded a few e-mails about Jeff Walz's sudden interest in players from overseas. 


Talent is talent, no matter if it comes from your backyard over overseas. Both Monny and Amanda got serious experience playing for their national teams while in high school. Experience is good, folks. 

We remember a few years ago when Tom Collen had Yuliya Tokova, Valeriya Musina and Tatjana Boston on the roster...all foreign players in high school. They were valuable contributors to the Cards during their stays and just because foreign players are being recruited doesn't mean that state-side talent isn't available. 


Good basketball player are good basketball players...whether they're from Russia or Russellville. 




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Busy weekend for UofL women's sports

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Women's tennis wins in first round of BIG EAST Championships


-Lacrosse faces #2 Syracuse today 


-Louisville track host Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational


-WBB visitor? 


-Notinrwildestdremz to race


The #6 seed Louisville women's tennis team advanced out of first round action in Tampa, FL. Thursday by defeating #11 seed Pittsburgh 4-0. The Cards will advance to play #3 seed Syracuse today at noon. 


Mark Beckham was pleased with the Cardinal effort. 

"A great way to start the tournament. We were very efficient with how we played. We didn't spend any time on the court that wasn't necessary. It was a perfect preparation for Syracuse. Now we can concentrate on a very good Syracuse team." 


Julia Fellerhoff, Rebecca Shine, Mandy Brown, Manuela Velasquez, Sarah Miller and Amelia Harris all won their singles matches. In doubles, Fellerhoff/Brown, Shine/Velasquez and Harris/Miller swept the Panthers.


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Lacrosse hosts #2 Pitt today at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium at 5 p.m. The match will be shown on WHAS-TV (11.2, Insight 432, Comcast 207). It is the final weekend of regular season lacrosse before BIG EAST Tournament play begins. Louisville will also play Connecticut on Sunday. 

The Cards (3-10, 1-5) have their work cut out for them against the Orange. Syracuse (11-2, 4-0) is on a ten-game winning streak and is fourth in the nation in scoring offense and tenth in scoring defense. 


Louisville's Nikki Boltja is third in the nation in goals per game (3.54). Last time out, Louisville lost a close one at Villanova 9-8 in overtime....the Wildcats scoring the winner as time ran out in the extra session. 


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Louisville will host the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood track and field invitational Friday at Cardinal Park. Field events begin at 10:30 a.m. and running events scheduled to start at 3 p.m. A total of 33 Cardinal track and field women will participate in 16 events tomorrow...many of them taking part in multiple track and field contest. 


Look for the Cardinals to do well in the throwing events and  relays. 


You can follow live results at the UofL official sports website. www.UofLsports.com


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David Hein of HeinNews is reporting that 6'3" Swedish basketball star Amanda Zahui has listed Louisville as one of her three potential schools for the 2012-2013 season. Hein reports that she is going to be visiting Louisville over the weekend as well. You can read his article at the link below. 


Amanda Zahui to visit three schools, decision soon

CARDINAL COUPLE'S Jenny O' Bryan has been all over this story since we discovered that Coach Walz was making a recruiting trip to Sweden and her research led to a random e-mail by us to Hein...who e-mailed back, followed up on our questions and wrote an article about the tall Swede. 


Hein writes about international basketball and other topics. He's worth a read. Good coverage on the international hoops scene.


We've dropped a teaser or two about this over the past few days but wanted to wait for some actual confirmation before breaking the news. 


6'3" isn't bad. Take it when you can get it if there's talent there, Coach. 


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Finally, we bring you this heart-warming and touching story of a horse overcoming the worst of it to get to the track and run. Horse-racing fan or not, we think you'll like this story about Notinrwildestdremz...who is a winner no matter how the race goes at Aqueduct. Link below.


Horse overcomes odds to make it to the track


( Update on NOTINRWILDESTDREMZ...got scratched before the 2nd at Aqueduct Sunday after getting out of control in the gate at post time. The owners will try her at Belmont next.) 


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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE...Golf, Tennis, Softball and Mercedes

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Women's golf finishes 16th in North Carolina


-Women's tennis falls to Tulsa


-Softball in the BIG EAST


-Mercedes narrows list


-Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic needs a overhaul


-"Rally around Bobby" planned


The Louisville women's golf team finished their three-day meet in Browns Summit, NC with a 16th place finish in the Bryan National Collegiate tournament. They posted a team score of 941 for the 54 hole event. Tennessee won with a score of 882, defeating Duke in a playoff. 

Emily Haas is from West Jessamine HS

Senior Candice Wiley led the Cards with a 73 in the final round. Her three-day total of 232 matched that of Louisville freshman Emily Haas, who fired a 77 Sunday.  


Red shirt freshman Katie Petrino carded a 81 on the final day and finished three strokes back of Haas and Wiley for the three days with a 235. Freshman Sara Karlsson's 80 on Sunday gave her a 245 total. Maria Castallanos toured the final round with a 78...good for a 247. 


A lot of youth contributing on this year's team. Last year's leader Anna-Karin Llungstrom should be back from thumb surgery to compete in the BIG EAST Championship April 23-25 in Orlando, FL.


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Rough outing for Louisville tennis yesterday in the Bass-Rudd Center, falling to #26 Tulsa 7-0. 


"We ran into a very good team today. Sometimes you just have to give credit to your opponent for playing so well." --UofL head women's tennis coach Mark Beckham. 

Fellerhoff lost 6-3,1-6,6-3 Sunday

Julia Fellerhoff took her singles opponent to three sets before falling. The rest the Cardinal singles participants went down in straight sets. The loss snapped a five-match UofL winning streak. Louisville is 10-8 for the season. The BIG EAST Championships are three weeks away and Beckham indicated that the Cards might be a squad no one wants to face because of their improvement since the season began.


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Louisville softball is among the statistical leaders in quite a few categories in BIG EAST softball this season. Here are some of the categories that Sandy Pearsall's squad (33-2) top the league in and the BIG EAST standings as of 4/7/12. 


TEAM HITTING


Batting average..............1. Louisville (.318)
Slugging percentage........1. Louisville (.484)
Doubles........................1. Louisville (52)
Triples..........................1. Louisville (13)
Hits..............................2. Louisville (291)


TEAM PITCHING


Opp. batting average.......1. Louisville (.171)
Strikeouts......................2. Louisville (249)
ERA..............................2. Louisville (1.26)


INDIVIDUAL HITTING


Batting average...............1. Kristin Austin (.407)
                                        10. Taner Fowler (.359)
Hits...............................1. Kristin Austin (44)
Runs.............................1.Kristin Austin (30)
Triples...........................1.Kristin Austin (7)


INDIVIDUAL PITCHING


ERA...............................2. Chelsea Leonard (1.06)
                                         5. Tori Collins (1.25)
                                         7. Caralisa Connell (1.55)


BIG EAST STANDINGS


USF  8-0, 35-5                      Providence 4-4, 13-21
Notre Dame 3-0, 19-10         Pittsburgh 3-6, 20-17
Syracuse 5-1, 24-9               St. John's 2-5, 14-21
DePaul 5-1, 21-12                 Villanova 0-6, 25-12
Louisville 6-2, 33-2               Seton Hall 0-6, 18-21
Connecticut 6-3, 17-14          Georgetown 0-6, 15-23
Rutgers 5-5, 15-20


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2013 UofL women's basketball target Mercedes Russell has named the ten school that are in the running for her services. An impressive list, for sure. 
The Springfield, OR star is the #1 ranked recruit for the 2013 class and from what we've seen of her on video, it's a just and fair assessment. Click the link below to see who "made her cut". 


Top 10 for Russell


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 The announced crowd for the Derby Festival Classic in the KFC YUM! Center Friday night was slightly over 6500. This is a far cry from the glory days of the event back in Freedom Hall when over 16,000+ attended. 

Quite frankly, the Kentucky Derby Festival committee has dropped the ball on this event. Other high school Classic events have become more popular and the festival's inability to land UK future stars has killed the attendance. 


Also, moving the event to Thurs-Fri hasn't helped. Pulling the Night of the Future Stars from Bellarmine University and sending it to New Albany High School was disappointing as well. We understand the reasoning, since several future IU ballers were taking part in the slam dunk, three point shooting and 2 on 2 competitions...but it isn't the "New Albany/IU Night of Future Stars" and more than a few probably chose not to cross the Sherman Minton bridge and watch. 

Add a girls game to the event. 

Maybe having just one UofL future star hurt attendance. Maybe they need to ADD A WOMEN'S GAME to the activities -- like the top Classics do. Maybe they need new leadership, organizational staffing and a hook-up with a major sponsor. Maybe they're tired of our advice...but the numbers don't lie.


WE didn't attend this year. It's the first time we've missed this annual event in over 20 years. And, honestly...besides not getting together with friends we usually attend with...we didn't miss it.


Also, we used to receive several e-mails each year from the marketing folks who promote the Classic...some well in advance of the two-day event...with news, features and stories. Those disappeared this year, too. 


Get a new strategy, KDF. This used to be one of the top two post-season high school basketball classics. 


It isn't anymore. 


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Finally, supporters of embattled University of Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino have planned a support rally Monday night at 7 p.m. in front of the university administration building. We couldn't pass on this. 


Here's the "Top 10" on the rally. 


10. Supporters leave notes taped to the steps explaining why they didn't show up


9. Everyone shows up on motorcycles with 25 yr. old blondes riding on the back.


8. Bobby shows up nailed to a cross and wearing a crown of hog tusks.


7. The movie Pinocchio is shown immediately after the support rally.


6. Louisville and Atlanta Falcons fans hold a counter-rally at the Fayetteville airport. (In secrecy, of course)


5. John L. Smith is flown in from Weber State just in case things get out of control.


4. A blonde, vestal virgin from the football staff is sacrificed at the rally. 


3. Feeling slighted, the University of Arkansas basketball team schedules a "Support Mike Anderson" rally at the same time over at the basketball arena.


2. Former UofL women's basketball coach Tom Collen shows up on a moped not wearing a helmet. 


1. It's a hoax...designed to draw attention away from Petrino's secret decision to become the new head coach at UK. 
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Women's Tennis falls to Ohio State...Softball Friday at Ulmer!

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CARDINAL COUPLE THURSDAY


-Tennis falls 4-3 to Buckeyes


-Softball at home hosting the Jays


-Thank you


-A great story


Louisville's women's tennis team lost narrowly to the Ohio State Buckeyes yesterday in the Bass-Rudd Center. The Cards are now 4-5 on the season. 

"This was a disappointing loss - another tight one. We're getting so close with these really good teams. I felt like we weren't quite as sharp as we could have been today. If we can clean up a few things and execute a little bit better, we can come out on the right side of these tough 4-3 matches." -- Mark Beckham, UofL head women's tennis coach. 


Julie Fellerhoff, Manuela Velazquez, Sarah Miller won singles matches against the Buckeyes. The Cards lost in the doubles events. 


Next up, Toledo on Saturday in the Bass-Rudd Center. 


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Louisville Softball is riding a 9-0 start to the season and will host the Creighton Jays this weekend at Ulmer Stadium. One game Friday and a double-header beginning at noon on Saturday. 

Louisville's has gotten strong pitching from Tori Collins (5-0), Chelsea Leonard (2-0) and Caralisa Collins (2-0) in their perfect start. The girls have allowed just 21 runs and 38 hits in 64 innings pitched, which is a remarkable and impressive statistic. 


When at bat, the Louisville Sluggers are smashing the orb at a .315 batting average, with nine home runs and have amassed 42 runs on 82 hits. 

Saw coach Sandy Pearsall at a recent UofL women's basketball game and she revealed that she was very happy with the efforts of the team, commenting that opponents would probably resort to "pitching around" hot-hitter Taner Fowler and that Jordy Trimble had come back from last year's season-ending broken ankle quite well.  

Louisville has multiple weapons available to Coach P when the Cards dig in at the plate. Alicja Wolny is back from an earlier injury. Kristin Austin, Jennifer Esteban, Hannah Kiyohara, Katelyn Mann, Katie Keller and Whitney Arion are just several of the other softball stars that have Louisville averaging almost five runs per contest. Maggie Ruckenbrod, one of the best Cardinal hitters, should be back from injury in a couple of weeks and will bolster this group of talented "hit 'em where they ain't" stars. 


The Creighton game is at 2 p.m. Friday. WE suggest you attend and cheer on the team. Creighton comes into Ulmer undefeated also, so it should be a good test for Pearsall's players. 


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And...a big "THANK YOU" to all that sent birthday wishes to me yesterday (and today). Remember, it's Sonja's birthday Friday and this is always a fun and busy week for us each year. 


Your kind words and remembrances were touching, funny and brought up some things that made me smile, reflect and realize just how lucky I am to have great friends, a wonderful family and loving wife. 


A salute and tip of the hat to you all. I'm a lucky guy.


Paul 


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(From CARDINAL COUPLE Reader Nick O.)


Hey Cardinal Couple,

Just wanted to share a story with you. Went to see our local high school girls basketball team compete in district play last night. We're not that great a team but we upset a higher ranked team the other night to get to the district finals. Our opponent last night is one of the top teams in the state and it was rough going for our girls from the opening tip. By the end of the 3rd quarter, the opposing coach had emptied the bench and our coach started subbing in the 4th quarter. We got a chant up for "Kelly". 


Kelly is a senior who never plays much. Our coach didn't cut her from the roster because of player depth. She isn't a great player, obviously, and rarely sees the court unless it's a blow-out game. She's a good student, though and very popular with her classmates. 


She's also dying.


She has final stages lymphoma and has probably a couple of months left. She rarely participates in practices anymore but attends to watch, give encouragement and be a part of the team. 


With a minute to go, Coach went down the bench and talked to her briefly. We broke into a cheer when she removed her warm-up jersey and went to the scorer's table. She got in with 37 seconds left. 


Our players on the court started talking to the opposition. The opponents missed a shot and didn't go for the rebound. Kelly tracked the ball down and got it to one of our girls to bring up court. She posted down on the baseline and the ball was tossed to her. The opposing players backed off. Kelly took a couple of dribbles to the hoop and shot. Missed it. Another of our girls grabbed the rebound and tossed it to her again. She shot again but it rolled around the rim and fell off. This time, she got her own rebound and instead of shooting, tossed it to another player. The player fed it right back to her and the whole place seemed to be yelling "Shoot, Kelly, Shoot!" 


She did. High over the rim, bouncing off the square on the backboard and right through the net. You would have thought we'd just won the state championship by the roar of the crowd. 


It was her first goal of the season. 


To all of you out there that read this - the story is clear. Don't give up, don't ever give up. If Kelly can do it, so can you.   


( A beautiful story, Nick. Thank you for sharing it with us and, now...our readers!)
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Catching up...on swimming, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis and softball

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Swimmers lead in BIG EAST Championships

-Volleyball's Katie George gets national honor

-Lacrosse ready for 2012 season

-Softball to travel to East Carolina for Pirate Clash.

-Tennis heads to Akron, Bowling Green

Time to play a little "catch up" with UofL women's sports. Jump in, buckle up and hang on...we're off!


Louisville's men's and women's swimming teams are competing in the BIG EAST Championships in Pittsburgh, PA. on the University of Pittsburgh campus. The women's team  qualified swimmers for four different finals events that took place Thursday night.

--Lindsay LaPorte battled in the 500 freestyle. She finished eighth amongst the finalist. 

--Tanja Kyllianen (2nd) and Stephanie Juncker (7th) went for placing in the finals of the 200-yard individual medley. Tanja's time of 1:59.21 was the fastest in preliminaries. 

--Four Lady Cards made it to the finals of the 50-yard freestyle. Aileen Cole (t-3rd) Krissie Brandenburg (6th) Lacey Bobo (7th) and Danielle Barbiea (t-3rd) consisted of half the field. 

--The same four that competed in the 50-yard freestyle above won the 200-yard relay.

Louisville's women lead the championships with 309 points. Notre Dame is in second at 212. The Lady Cards won the BIG EAST Championships in 2011and look to be in great shape to repeat.  


Also, kudos to the swim team for showing up to watch the WBB team play Pitt Tuesday night. Walz made mention of his appreciation and you could hear cheering for Louisville in the background of the radio broadcast

And we figured it was just disgruntled Duquense fans booing the Panthers....

No word whether the WBB team made it over to the pool to cheer on the Lady Cards swimmers in the pre-lims. Or if Shoni, Becky, Asia and Shelby jumped in the water to help out in a relay medley or play defense against the opposing swimmers... 



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Louisville Volleyball signee Katie George, from Louisville Assumption High School has been named National Volleyball Player of the Year. Her team was the #3 ranked high school squad nationally, with a record of 43-1.  

"She was the cement, the driver of our bus. I don't think people realize how important a kid like that is. She has everyone's respect. There were times I turned the huddle over to her. You'd see it in the kids eyes when she talked. They believed in her" --Ron Kordes, Assumption head volleyball coach.  


Katie was also Kentucky 2011 Miss Volleyball and Gatorade Player of the Year. She'll be in good hands for four years under Ron's daughter, Anne, the Louisville head volleyball coach. Keepin' it in the family...

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Louisville women's lacrosse is preparing for the 2012 opener Feb. 19th. at Ohio State. Captains for this year's team are Katie Oliverio, Monica Negron and Janaye Dzikewich.

-Oliverio has been a top scorer and assist leader for Kellie Young's team the past three years. She was second team All-BIG EAST last season and had 94 assists and 146 points during her career.

Negron bolsters the "D"

-Negron is a defensive stopper who stepped up big as a freshman last season. She received IWLCA All-Region honors -- the first Cardinal in history to get the honor as a freshman -- and caused 23 turnovers in 17 games.

-Dzikewich,  a redshirt senior, missed most of last year with an injury but has been a competitive defender for three year before that for the Cards.

The Cards were picked to finish seventh in the BIG EAST. A heavy senior class graduation has left Kellie Young with a rebuilding year and the roster has a lot of freshmen and sophomores that will compete for playing time. A team that could use your support during the home games. Try lacrosse, you'll like it.

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Sandy Pearsall takes the 5-0 Louisville softball team to Greenville, NC for the East Carolina hosted Pirate Clash this weekend.

Arrrghhhh, matey!

The Cards are going without two of their best, though. Injuries to Alicja Wolny and Maggie Ruckenbrod during the FIU Combat Clash have Pearsall scrambling a bit to re-format the starting lineup.


Can Taner catch and play
first for UofL this weekend?



We wondered what was up when we didn't see Maggie's name in the box score against UMass. Turns out she's got a broken bone in her hand that may sideline her several weeks. Wolny is doubtful for the ECU Clash but expected back after that. Hurts to have two of your best out -- getting them back for BIG EAST play is of prime importance, though and it'll give Pearsall a chance to test some of her freshmen and reserves against some very good competiton.

Expect Taner Fowler to fill in at the catcher spot for the slugger Ruckenbrod. Who's on first for Wolny? Seems like she's been manning the bag for 10 years for the Cards. Our guess is freshman Trista Cox covers the "putout" bag.

One thing Pearsall won't lose any sleep over is the strong pitching that the Softball Cards are taking to Pirate country. Tori Collins, Caralisa Connell and Chelsea Leonard combined to allow just 10 runs in five games in Florida.

The Cards will face Virginia at 11 a.m. Friday and ECU at 1 p.m. Saturday the Cards draw against Hofstra and 9 a.m. and UNC-Greensboro at 11 a.m. Sunday concludes the clash with a 9 a.m. tilt against Fordham.

As Milt Wagner would have said...a lot of academic schools to play.

Let's hope the weather is better than here in Louisville for Pearsall's players.

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Julia Fellerhoff won in singles
and doubles.

Women's tennis drilled Furman 7-0 in tennis last match out and heads to Ohio this weekend for matches against Akron tomorrow and Bowling Green Saturday.

Is it proper to use the term "drilled" in tennis?

Julia Fellerhoff, Rebecca Shine, Mandy Brown, Manuela Velaquez, Sarah Miller and Amelia Harris won in singles and Harris/Velaquez, Fellerhoff/Shine and Miller/Brown took doubles matches.

I know. That adds up to nine wins. It's on my bucket list to learn about tennis scoring.

Coach Mark Beckham was pleased. He talks about the win below.

"Furman has been ranked but that is irrelevant because just the fact that we beat a high quality team and beat them convincingly can do nothing but help everyone's individual confidence."

Yep. 7-0 will do that for you. Or 9-0. Either way, it's a "W". Go get 14 or 18 more this weekend, Mark! 
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Lady Cards at practice...Jenny reports

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Jenny O'Bryan gives her report on Lady Cards practice

-Volleyball falls to Lipscomb 3-1

-Velasquez & Harris lose in semi-finals to Tennessee

(CARDINAL COUPLE writer Jenny O'Bryan attended the Lady Cards practice Tuesday. Here is what she saw)

The women's basketball team hosted a trivia challenge on their FACEBOOK page this summer. The contest asked all kinds of fun questions about the girls stats, hobbies, career highs, recruiting questions, etc. The winner, or in this case, winners got to attend practice as a reward. Today, I cashed in on my reward. 

In thinking about the team and anticipating the upcoming season, my biggest questions were: 1) How do the freshmen look? 2) What will be the contribution from last year's redshirt players? 3) How have the returning players grown from last season?

Our freshmen. One word. Fast. On any running of laps, suicides or sprints...they led the pack. On Tuesday, Sara Hammond stole the show. She was fast, strong, went hard to the basket, fought for rebounds and finished near the basket. Sara has a big, broad body. She is going to be an enormous asset to this team - especially in BIG EAST play. Bria and Jude showed their defensive prowess. Their quickness in traps and their fast, quick hands knocked down a lot of passes and created havoc in the passing lanes. They will contribute to the Lady Cards defensive arsenal. While Coach Walz was quick to say that today's practice was not a great one...I see great potential in all of them.

The red shirts. I have been very excited to see Cierra and Shawnta on the hardwood. They did not disappoint. Cierra fought for rebounds, took an especially hard charge from one of the practice guys and had some strong moves underneath the basket. Shawnta has a really pretty shot. She is going to be another offensive weapon for us. She was connecting on pull-up jumpers and behind the arc.

Our returning roster looks strong and improved. Shoni and Mo were consistent and smooth. Sherrone looks to have added some muscle. I look forward to see how her added strength plays out during game time situations. Antonita seemed to be the most improved player on this day I was at practice. With season tickets behind the bench, I have heard Coach Walz's critiques of Nita's defense. Last year, it was not uncommon for her to hit back-to-back threes...only to be benched because of her defensive breakdown. Today, she defended hard. If today had been a game day, she would have not been benched. I was duly impressed. And, her shots were falling today, too.

The biggest thing I took from my sneak peek at the team was the depth. Plenty of depth and options are available at each position. With the speed and defensive efforts the team is showing, it is going to be a fun and exciting season.

I walked into today's practice excited about the potential of this team. I have been ecstatic about the McDonald's All-Americans. The hype of back-to-back ranked recruiting classed has set the bar high. I have been optimistic about a deep run into tournament play.
I left practice today with my questions answered and one prevailing thought on my mind...

L Yeah!

(Thanks to Jenny for a great report on the Lady Cards preparing for their Oct. 30th.scrimmage against Lindsey Wilson and the rest of the season. From the sound of it...we're going to be saying "L Yeah!" a lot this year...)

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Volleyball took a surprising lost last night to Lipscomb University in Nashville last night 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21. Lola's 16 kills weren't enough to down the Atlantic Sun foe...Louisville held a 14-7 advantage in blocks but lost the kill battle 64-45.

The Cards fell behind 13-5 in the first set but rallied to make it a 20-18 deficit. They couldn't get any closer, though and lost by three. Louisville came back strong in the second game and jumped out to an early 7-2 lead. It held, although the Bison did get within one at 18-17. The Cards went on a 7-1 game ending run to even the match at 1-1.

Louisville could not gain an advantage in game three...but did get close, coming from a 24-20 deficit to get to 24-23. The Bison got the final point of the match, though for a two point win. In game four, Louisville (15-5, 7-0) once again fell behind early...down 10-5. A rally got the Cards within two at 23-21 but Lipscomb (14-6, 7-0) closed out game, set and match with the final two points.

Maybe an off night for the Louisville spikers...losing to an Atlantic Sun opponent won't improve the Cards national ranking any...hopefully they'll get it back together for a busy weekend against WVU Saturday in Cardinal Arena and Pittsburgh in the KFC YUM! Center.

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Louisville women's tennis doubles team of Manuela Velasquez and Amelia Harris bowed out in the semi-finals of the Ohio Valley regionals Monday in Memphis...falling to Tennessee's Natalie Pluskota and Kata Szeleky 8-2.

They are the first Cardinal doubles team in history to reach the semi-finals in this event in history. 

Coach Mark Beckham was philosophical about the loss:

" While I am disappointed they lost, it will be a big help in their development. It is good to see other names emerging to a national level. Within our little tennis community it is always about Julia Fellerhoff and Becca Shine. Now we have Manuela, who's a freshman and Amelia Harris, who has been working hard throughout her time here to get to this point. I am proud of them and we have this program headed in the right direction."
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