Louisville Volleyball to host NCAA first and second rounds...Women's basketball defeated by Dayton in Gulf Coast Showcase -- Monday Cardinal Couple

VOLLEY CARDS TO FACE BELMONT IN FIRST ROUND

In a pleasant Sunday night surprise, the #15 Louisville Volleyball team was selected to host first round action in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The Cards will serve it up against Belmont on Friday night at 7 p.m. and, if successful, would face the winner of the Southern Illinois vs. Illinois game on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The contests will be played on campus at Cardinal Arena. Because of basketball scheduled for the KFC YUM! Center on Saturday (the men play Grand Canyon at noon and the women face Valparaiso at 4 p.m.) the site where the Cards played the vast majority of their home games this season is unavailable...primarily because of practice concerns for the two advancing teams. 

That also means tickets will be at a premium for the event. Cardinal Arena seats less than 900 and with three teams besides Louisville participating and media seating needed...fans would be advised to get tickets without delay.

If you have a MY CARDINALS ACCOUNT, and are a Louisville Volleyball season ticket holder, you can go to the website and request up to six. Reserved seating tickets are $20 per day. You know the routine...credit cards will be charged only if you are allocated tickets. If there are any remaining tickets, they will go on sale beginning at noon on Tuesday Dec. 1st. A limited number of standing room only tickets and any other reserved seats will be sold on game days.

Questions? Go to tickets@gocards.com or call a call to the Ticket Office at 502GOCARDS.

A nice surprise, this hosting. Our resident Volleyball guru Worldwide expressed doubt on our Saturday radio show that the Cards would get a chance to host after the Syracuse loss to end the season. The Duke win over UNC kept the Cards in sole possession of the ACC Conference title, though...and that may have been of benefit to Louisvville and hosting.

We'll have more on this as we get closer to the Tournament matches...

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WOMEN'S HOOPS START HOT, FALTER LATE IN 79-66 LOSS TO DAYTON

Louisville women's basketball got off to a great start Sunday against Dayton Sunday afternoon in the third place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase but could not sustain the momentum late...losing by 13 to the Flyers.

Louisville, who started Erin De Grate, Mariya Moore, Cortnee Walton, Taja Cole and Arica Carter, came out gangbusters early....rolling to a 9-0 lead over Dayton in the first 3:30. Myisha Hines-Allen knocked down a jumper to make it 14-2 Cards with 3:20 left in the first period. Due to a burst bursa sack in her knee suffered against Purdue Saturday...Briahanna Jackson wasn't expected to play but did enter the contest with 2:05 left in the first period.

The Flyers eventually started hitting some shots, though...and climbed back to nine at the end of the quarter at 18-9. Louisville started the second period on a good note and led 24-12 after a Walton free throw three minutes in...but the Flyers responded with a 14-0 run to take the lead on a Amber Deane three with 2:23 left until halftime.

The Cards were able to climb back into a 28-28 tie at the end of 20 minutes...thanks to a couple of Moore free throws and a Hines-Allen jumper with 21 ticks left on the clock. 

Moore was impressive in the first half for the Cards with 16 points in 16 minutes...including 6-6 free throw shooting and two threes...but Louisville already had 15 turnovers and neither Carter or Cole were handling point-guard responsibilities very efficiently. 

Dayton would go up by as many as four in the third period...but the Cards would rally back to tie the contest at 38 all when Moore hit a jumper with 2:30 left. A missed Cole three as time expired gave the Flyers a 46-43 lead after 30 minutes. Hines-Allen kept the Cards in the fray with seven third quarter points.

The Cards climbed back to within one at 48-47 after two Walton free-throws with 8:16 to play...but a 13-4 run by Dayton over the next four minutes had the Cards down by 10 at 61-51 after a Kelly Austria three. Louisville would trail by as many as 16 late in the game. A three by Hines-Allen with 12 seconds remaining set the final tally at 76-63.

Louisville comes home for a few days and then goes to East Lansing for a Thursday night tilt against #21 Michigan State. The game will be televised on ESPN 2 as part of the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. 

WHAT WE LIKED

-- M&M crew back? Myisha (20) and Mariya (23) combined for 43 of the Cards points. The two leading scorers from last season were joined by Taja Cole's 11 points to put three Cards in double figures. 17 for 39 shooting between the three isn't bad...but the missed layups stood out like a sore thumb again for the Cards. 

-- Gotta hit the free ones. The Cards were 24-36 from the free throw line for 66%. Although it isn't the 70% we'd like to see...backing out Sam Fuehring's  2-6 performance makes it look a little better. 

WHAT NEEDS WORK

-- Killer instinct. The Cards could have buried the Flyers early but disappeared instead for a prolonged stretch in the second period. They fought back to within one early in the fourth quarter and then allowed the Flyers to go on a game-closing 31-19 run. Turnovers, poor decision making and missing easy shots continue to plague this squad. The defense died in the final eight minutes. Correctable things, of course but fatal on Sunday to Walz's charges. 

-- To the point...Carter and Cole split point guard duties and had a combined nine turnovers and just six assists. That has to improve against Michigan State and Kentucky. 

paulie
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