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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