Volleyball Cards best North Dakota State

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE COVERS:

-Cardinal Volleyball defeats NDSU

-Women's soccer upsets South Carolina

-Atlanta Dream sweeps the Mystics

The University of Louisville volleyball team defended the Cardinal Arena home court with a 15-25, 25-19, 25-17 25-19 win over visiting North Dakota State last night in the season opener for the Cards. Despite losing the first match, the Cards roared back to sweep the final three games and got the win over the Bisons. A good crowd on hand to watch Louisville led Lola Arsanbeckova conquer the Bisons...the Cards won the battle of the kill shots 46-39. Louisville will take to the floor again on Sunday against Ohio in Cardinal Arena.

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Louisville women's soccer pulled a major upset in downing South Carolina 1-0 in the Gamecock Courtyard Cup. The Cards (2-0) got a second half penalty kick score from Assumption High School's Jennifer Jones to provide the win against the 13th ranked Gamecocks. Louisville's defense stood strong in the final minutes of the contest...keeping USC out of the net.

A great win for Karen Ferguson Dayes young team against a quality opponent yesterday on the road. Dayes predicted early on that this year's version of the Soccer Cards would be much improved over last year's team and so far, she's looking like a prophet.

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Angel's McCoughtry's first half heroics led the Atlanta Dream to a 101-77 win over #1 Eastern Conference seed Washington last night in Atlanta. Angel pumped in 17 points by halftime to give the Dream a lead that the Mystics could not overcome. McCoughtry totaled 21 points in the victory despite sitting out most of the second half.

Atlanta used a 26-0 run in front of the home crowd to pull away from Washington. Iziane Castro Marquez added 21 points for the Dream...who advance to the Eastern Conference finals. They await the winner of the New York vs. Indiana series...New York has a 1-0 lead in the semifinal series and those two teams face off tonight.

Atlanta seems to have shaken off the late season slump that had them losing 6 out of their final 8 regular season games. They're back to the run and gun, get the ball down the court style that propelled them to the top of the division early in the season and Marquez seems to be playing with a lot more confidence and aggression now that her face mask protecting a broken nose has been removed. McCoughtry's determination and leadership have the Dream flying high when it counts...crunch time, win or go home time. Would you expect anything else from #35?

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Five stakes races highlight the Saratoga card today...including the $1 million dollar Travers Stakes. Kentucky Derby winner SUPER SAVER, with Calvin Borel on board will face ten contenders...including Derby participants ICE BOX, FIRST DUDE and FLY DOWN. The early 7-2 favorite in the race is Saratoga's Jim Dandy Stakes winner A LITTLE WARM.

Todd Pletcher, trainer of SUPER SAVER has to be praying for the skies to open up and create a sloppy track for his horse. SUPER SAVER won the Derby in wet conditions and hasn't won on a dry, fast track since his Derby score.

We're looking for big things from FIRST DUDE in the Travers. He adds blinkers for today's race and the mile and a fourth distance could test his early running style. The DUDE finished a close second in the Preakness earlier this spring and third in the Belmont Stakes. He's also got a nice and profitable early morning line attached to him at 8-1.

Yo, DUDE...let's party today! Veteran jockey Ramon Dominguez rides again on the three year old that is 1 for 9 in lifetime wins with four second place and four third place finishes. 9 for 9 in the money...could make for a nice across the board venture.