Volleyball sweeps Lipscomb

THURSDAY @ C.C.

-Volleyball downs Lipscomb in straight sets

-Louisville WBB update

-We look into the WBB schedule

Lola Arslanbeckova (pictured here) led the Cards with 14 kills as UofL took down Lipscomb 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 in volleyball action Wednesday night in Cardinal Arena. The Cards (12-5) had a surprisingly tough match against the visiting Bison in the first of four straight home matches. Lola was recently named BIG EAST Player of the Week in volleyball and came through in the clutch for the Cards last night.

Louisville battled in the first game in a defensive struggle and did not acquire the lead until Anastasia Artemova smashed a service ace to put the Cards up 24-23. Arslanbeckova then blocked a Lambuth spike to give the Cards the two point win in the opener.

Louisville jumped out early in game two behind the strong serving of Maci Wachtel and took a 6-1 advantage over Lipscomb. The game advanced to a 17-16 Cardinal lead when Artemeva and Gwen Rucker got busy...Anastasia delivering four kills and Rucker three timely blocks to give the Cards a four point victory.

The Cards motored to a 10-6 advantage in the third contest but saw Lipscomb go on a 10-3 run to grab a three point lead at 16-13. Louisville got the next three points, though, and took over to win by two.

Next up for the Cards is Georgetown on Friday night. South Florida visits on Sunday and the home stand ends on the 29th. with a match against Villanova. The Louisville win streak now stands at six straight games.

******************************************************************************************

Jeff Walz reports to CARDINAL COUPLE that practice is going great for the team in preparation for the October 30th. exhibition game against Indiana Wesleyan in the KFC YUM (no exclamation point) Center. Walz feels that the team will have many good choices for contributions this year and it's hard to believe that in just 10 short days the Lady Cards will be hooping it up.

Walz also tells us that it's way too early for him to have decided on a starting lineup for the exhibition opener. The battle continues and it will be interesting to see which five survive and advance.

The starting role, although prestigious and an honor, may not mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things for this Lady Cards basketball team. Walz likes to wear opponents down with defensive pressure and transition basketball and he's got 14 bodies to accomplish this with for the upcoming season. Just a feeling here...but WE feel that we will see a lot of different combinations in the exhibition game as Walz gives the girls equal opportunities to show what they've got when the lights come on and Sean Moth grabs the public address microphone.

Also, the WBB preseason tipoff luncheon on Tuesday, October 26th. is sold out.

********************************************************************************************

A little further delving into the women's basketball schedule for 2010-11. The Cards will have

16 home games and will play 15 games on the road. The longest home stand for Louisville will consist of (3) games twice...in November against Mississippi Valley State, Kentucky and Dayton and in late December-early January when Tennessee-Martin, St. John's and Pitt come to town.

Louisville will play three straight in three days in the Dual in the Desert in Vegas in mid,-December, facing Marist, Houston and Nebraska in a row. Another 3 game road trip happens in late Novemer when Louisville travels to Xavier, Old Dominion and IPFW. The Cards will have (2) times where they play two in a row on the road. Notre Dame and Cincinnati in January and Syracuse and USF in Feburary.

Eight of the home games will start at 7 p.m. this year. The Kentucky, Cincinnati and Seton Hall games are set for a 2 p.m. tip. Rutgers is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, West Virginia 5 p.m. The exhibition against Indiana Wesleyan for 4:30. Dayton tip off is 4 p.m. UofL faces Pitt at noon.

The Cards will play (5) Saturday home games. On Sundays, they'll tip it up (3) times. Tuesday gets (3) appearances also. Wednesday (2), Friday (2) and Thursday (1) complete the days of the week designations. No Monday home games. Good. Won't interfere with my watching HOUSE on Monday Nights.

Louisville will travel to Ohio three times this year...facing Cincinnati, Xavier and Ohio U. They have three in a row in Nevada. Indiana gets the Cards twice (Notre Dame and IPFW). Once each to Virginia (Old Dominion), Connecticut (UConn), Wisconsin (Marquette), Pennsylvania (Villanova), New York (Syracuse), Rhode Island (Providence) and Florida (USF). Road trips to Ohio and Indiana, anyone?

Louisville will play 15 straight BIG EAST Conference games in a row. They'll begin BIG EAST play on 12/15/10 at Cincinnati...take a trip to Vegas and then host Tennessee-Martin and pick up the BIG EAST schedule again on Jan. 4th. against visiting St. John's

Going home. Out of the 16 players listed on the Louisville roster, four are from Kentucky (Harper, Slaughter, Reid and Gibbs). Two hail from Ohio (Dyer and Taylor). Two are from Missouri (Harrington and Johnson).

Then it's "onesies" for the other eight players. Those getting the chance to play in their home state are Dyer and Taylor, (from Ohio...at Cincinnati, Xavier, and Ohio U.), Burke (from Pennsylvania...at Villanova) and Story (from Wisconsin...at Marquette).

No home state appearances for Vails (Maryland), Tay (New Jersey), Johnson and Harrington (Missouri), Burton (North Carolina), Schimmel (Oregon), Robertson-Warren (California) or Hines (Michigan).

No trip to the "Big Apple" or anywhere near it this year for the travelling Cards. The games against St. John's. Seton Hall and Rutgers are all in the YUM Center.

Now, repeat all that back to me. Quiz at 11.