MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- Stalled
- Volleyball starts against Marquette
DeNesha Stallworth's 15 second half points, CARDS cold shooting lead to loss in Lexington.
The Cards looked in control after 20 minutes...leading 36-27 and outrebounding UK 23-13 in the first half. Asia Taylor had 10 points for Jeff Walz's squad and the Cards were shooting 50% against a tight UK defensive effort.
Enter Stallworth and Jennifer O'Neill for the Wildcats. A combined 1 point between the two in the first half ended up with the duo totaling 27 in the final stanza and UK took advantage of 14 whistles against Louisville to take the lead for good when Bernisha Pinkett nailed a three with 10:45 remaining to grab the advantage at 46-45. Pinkett would sink another trey and UK had turned the tables...up 51-45 with 9:32 left in the contest. 
Yet, the Cards fought back and after Nita Slaughter and Sara Hammond scored to narrow the Cats advantage to 64-62 with 2:08 left...it looked to be a fight to the finish.
A questionable foul on Sara Hammond sent her to the bench with five infractions just 13 seconds later. From that point on, the Cats went on a 5-0 run to seal the win. Shoni got a putback with five seconds left to make the final 69-64. Shoni had 17 to lead Louisville in scoring...15 in the second half. Sara Hammond ended with 12 in 23 minutes and Asia Taylor completed the Cards in double figures with 10...all in the first half. 24 fouls and 24 turnovers. 22 made field goals.
A disappointing loss. Fuel for the fire for those who claim the Cards have no legit "big" inside. Louisville had no answer for Stallworth inside in the second half. It's not the end of the world. Louisville takes to the Denny Crum Court Tuesday to face Missouri State for a 7 p.m. tip.
Hopefully without referees Michael Price, Mark Zentz and Maj Forsberg in attendance.
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THE FINAL WORD
Jeff Walz described it best in the post-game presser when he said the Cards gave this one away. Actually, he used a different term, but he asked the media to use discretion...so I am.
UofL was up 14 in the first half. Up nine at half. UK wanted it more today and they got it. It's one game, one loss but losing to your in-state rival always stings.
Hopefully it was a loss that will lead to a finish like the Cards had last year. I'll take wins over Baylor and the Vols over a loss to UK anyday.
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The NCAA had their Volleyball tournament selection show Sunday evening an Louisville will travel to Champaign, IL and face Marquette in opening action. Jeff McAdams will have more on this, in comment and article form, later this week. Below is the UofL SID release:
The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Committee announced today the 64-team field for the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship and the University of Louisville will face Marquette in the first round of the tournament Friday at 5:30 ET in Champaign, Ill. The winner will advance to play the winner of the No. 13 seed Illinois versus Morehead State match.
“This puts us in a familiar spot,” said U of L head coach Anne Kordes. “We played Marquette three times last year and we have a lot of respect for the team and their coaching staff. It is a tough first round matchup but it helps that we have played in Champaign so it is a familiar area. The whole point of playing a tough schedule and winning the conference is to get a good matchup in the tournament. We are fired up and ready to go.”
Thirty-two conferences were awarded automatic qualification, and the remaining 32 slots were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket. Louisville earned the automatic qualifier after sweeping The American Athletic Conference.
The match with Marquette will be a rematch of the 2012 BIG EAST Conference Tournament Championship with the Cards prevailing 25-19, 25-23, 26-24. U of L also beat the Golden Eagles 3-0 at home and 3-1 in Milwaukee during the regular season. This year, Marquette is currently ranked No. 24. U of L has a 24-8 series edge on the Golden Eagles.
The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and placed within four regions. The teams tabbed as the top four seeds were No. 1 University of Texas at Austin; No. 2 Pennsylvania State University; No. 3 University of Washington; and No. 4 University of Missouri, Columbia.
Per the established bracketing principles the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host. In addition, first- and second-round conference matchups were avoided and team pairings were determined by geographical proximity.
The Pacific-12 Conference led all conferences with nine teams. The Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference were next with eight teams in the tournament. Two teams, Penn State and Stanford have earned bids to all 32 championships. Four teams are making their initial appearances in the tournament: Alabama State University, Duquesne University, Hampton University and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.
In the 32-year history of the championship, 10 schools have been crowned champion, seven of which are in this year’s bracket, including defending champion, Texas.
Past winners making the field are Stanford (1992, 94, 96, 97, 2001, 04), University of Hawaii, Manoa (1982, 83, 87), University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1995, 2000, and 06), University of Southern California (1981, 2002, 03), Penn State (1999, 2007, 08, 09 and 10), Texas (1988, 2012) and Washington (2005).
First- and second-round matches will be played at 16 campus sites. Teams winning both matches will move on to regional play December 13 and 14. The pre-determined regional sites are Lexington, Kentucky; Los Angeles, California; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Champaign, Illinois. All regional semifinal games will be shown on ESPN3. Regional final games will air on ESPNU.
The regional winners will advance to the semifinals and final hosted by Washington and at KeyArena in Seattle, Washington, on December 19 and 21. Both national semifinal games as well as the championship game will be broadcast by ESPN2.
-paulie
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