The Next NCAA Sport? FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

New NCAA Sport?

The NCAA recently added Beach Volleyball as a varsity sport.  Is Mud Volleyball next?

Last weekend, rising UofL Volleyball senior Gabbie Wiley, with her vicious lefty serve and excellent defensive specialist skills, competed in a long tradition in her hometown Hannibal, MO.  WGEM had a small piece about Wiley's participating in the Mud Volleyball tournament, helping to defend the "Wallaby's" championship again.

The Mud Volleyball tournament is part of the National Tom Sawyer Days festivities in Hannibal, MO.  Mark Twain, the author of the novel Tom Sawyer, upon which the festival is based, was raised in Hannibal, and the festival has long been a staple of summer society in the area.

Unfortunately, WGEM arrived at the festival early in the tournament when the Wallaby's had drawn a bye as the defending champions, so there is no video or pictures of Wiley actually playing in the mud.  She did, however, send us this post-competition picture.

Other Tom Sawyer and Mark Twain themed events at the Tom Sawyer Days festival include fence painting and frog jumping contests.

Wiley will be a senior this fall on the UofL Volleyball team and plays as a defensive specialist, with some matches chalking up dig number that rival Libero Molly Sauer's numbers in about half of the rotations.  She also has a powerful jump serve that, combined with the opposite spin put on it from her being a left-hander, frequently stymies the opposition.  She has been named to the Athletic Director Honor Roll for the past two years while majoring in exercise science as a pre-med course of study.

Look for Gabbie in number 4 on the court this fall, where we're expecting she'll get quite a bit of playing time in the back row.

Season Ticket Selection for Volleyball Underway

Season ticket selection for their move back to the newly renovated Cardinal Arena (still a work in progress, but expected to be done before the season starts, of course), have begun for previous season ticket holders.

The selection process is handled through a Ticketmaster website and shows the typical 6 side sections that Cardinal Arena has sported since it was built, although with, perhaps, a few extra rows added, along with 8 "Terrace" seating sections.  The Terrace seating sections are the most visible changes to Cardinal Arena in the pictures being posted by the UofLVolleyball Twitter account most Tuesdays.  There will only be two or three rows of seats in the Terrace sections, but they should provide some fantastic views of the court, and if you really want to have the best view to see play develop and watch the tactics and strategy of play, they will likely be the best seats in the house.

Season tickets are $84, while Terrace seats will have a $150 donation to the Cardinal Athletic Fund attached to them.

ASIA TAYLOR on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

You won't want to miss this Saturday's radio show. 

Paulie has an interview with Louisville WBB and Washington Mystics WNBA player Asia Taylor that we'll be playing as part of our catching up with former Cards WBB greats. 

Last week's interview with Sara Hammond was excellent and we expect no less than that with #31! 

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

-- JMcA