Cross Country and Volleyball -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

The Cardinal's athletics calendar has been relatively quiet the past week, with only 3 entries for yesterday.

Football we're still not really going to talk about, partly because I didn't watch it, partly because there are plenty of sites and radio shows you can go to hear about it.

Hoops, WBB style is Monday. Our Jared Anderson does the National Anthem at the NCAA Field Hockey Finals today.

There were a couple of women's sports events of interest, however.

Wasike at NCAA Cross Country Championships

First, Dorcas Wasike competed in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.

Cold climate running is certainly not my cup of tea, but Dorcas represented the Cardinals well, with a 14th place overall finish, which makes her, again, an All-American in the sport.  The spread of finish times for the 6K race between first and Dorcas' finish in 14th was only 25 seconds, so this is a very competitive race, as you would expect for the pinnacle of college cross-country competitions.

Congratulations on a great cross-country season for Dorcas Wasike, where she never finished below 15th place.  She'll be in action with the track and field team in the spring, and again next year for her Senior year campaign.

Swim and Dive in Hoosierville

8th ranked Louisville Swim and Dive took 2nd overall behind 7th ranked NC State in Bloomington at the Indiana Invitational.  Mallory Comerford and Grace Oglesby both put up NCAA A cuts (guaranteed qualifications into the NCAA Championships in the spring) in the 100 Free and the 200 Fly, respectively.

Sophie Cattermole went the distance in the 1650 free for an NCAA B cut time (a qualification for the Championships depending on the number of qualifying participants).  Does a 1650 yard race seem like an oddly specific race distance?  "1600 yards just doesn't seem to be enough, let's add that extra 50 yards on, yeah that'll do!"  NCAA living the crazy life.

Plenty of B standard times were set by the Cards, both women and men, as this program continues to excel.  Based on the sheer number of qualifying times, it appears the IU is a fast one.

NCAA Tourney Events in Louisville

Two NCAA tourney events are happening today on Floyd Street.

First up is the Championship game for Field Hockey.  This one will see 2 seed Maryland vs 1 seed UNC, on the turf at Trager Stadium.  UofL isn't in this one, but was selected to host the Field Hockey final four for the past two year thanks to our great facilities and awesome people.

Later in the evening, down the street, Louisville Men's Soccer gets their NCAA tourney path underway, taking on Michigan State, who defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago to advance.  As the 4 seed in the overall tournament, Louisville will hold the home field advantage as long as they continue to win and advance, until they make it to the College Cup, which will be held in Santa Barbara, CA.

The Louisville City FC's latest trophy, the USL Cup, will be in attendance for any USL fans that want to continue to celebrate the success of Louisville professional soccer franchise.  I would be surprised if UofL Soccer Alum, and Lou City team captain, Paulo Del Piccolo were not in attendance as well.  I would guess you would also have an opportunity to see Head Coach John Hackworth, and his new Lou City USL Cup tattoo as well.  Well, the tattoo is on his upper arm, so it may not be visible given the likely cold weather gear that will probably be in use.

Volleyball Signing Class

Lastly today, if you'll indulge me my volleyball enthusiasm a minute, I'd like to share some about the signing class for UofL Volleyball that came in this week.

5 players submitted their NLIs, so let's run through them briefly.

Alexa Hendricks

First up, closest to home, is Alexa Hendricks.  Alexa comes out of the KIVA and Assumption volleyball star factory, and is a 5'7" libero/DS.  Molly Sauer graduates after this season, and with Kelly O'Neil questionable for any return at all, a bit of bolstering of the DS ranks will be good for the Cards.  Mia Stander has stepped up and played extremely well, Alexis Hamilton should be back to full speed by next season and the combination of those makes for a good cadre of defensive players to keep rallys going and in system for the Cards.

Nena Mbonu

Nena will be coming to us from the Houston, TX area, listed as Spring, TX.  Texas has been good to the strong program which is
UofL Volleyball over recent years, which excellent players like Erin Fairs, Roxanne McVey, and Janelle Jenkins joining us from the Lone Star state.

Nena is listed as an even 6 feet tall, and a quote from Coach Busboom Kelly mentions that she can already touch 10'6" jumping.  I'm approximately 6 feet tall, and I have never, at any time in my life, touched higher than an even 10 feet.  Watch for some big hops and big swings in offense from this one.

Shannon Shields and Amber Stivrins

Shannon Shields

We're going to talk about the next two as something of a pair.  Shannon Shields and Amber Stivrins come to us from Chandler, AZ which is a suburb of Phoenix.  Arizona has also been a source of good volleyballers for UofL, albeit in less quantity, with Tess Clark having reported for duty from Phoenix as well.

Shannon and Amber played at different high schools, but played together on their club teams with the Arizona Storm club.  Shannon is a setter (and drop in the reminder here that Wilma Rivera is graduating after this season), and has lots of experience setting to Amber, an outside hitter.

At 5'10" we expect Shannon to be up to the task of setting, and participating effectively in the blocking schemes.

Amber, meanwhile, will be swinging away at the outside hitter position, and at 6'1", there's no doubt that she has the height to be effective.

Both Shannon and Amber have been driving forces in collecting numerous accolades individually, and as part of their respective school teams, and their common club team.

Amaya Tillman

Topeka, KS brings us Amaya Tillman.  If you've been paying attention to the crowd at UofL Volleyball matches in Cardinal Arena these past couple of years Amaya will be a familiar face for you as, despite the 8 hour drive (~560 miles), she has been spotted numerous times at Cardinal Volleyball matches.

We're graduating a very fine middle in Jasmine Bennett, but Coach Busboom Kelly is reloading in that position with Amaya.  At middle, she'll be a 6'3" wall, continuing the tradition of good blocking in Cardinal Arena.

So, there you go, five players signed, defense, setting, a pair of outsides, and a middle, that's a well balanced class and has the looks of helping to elevate UofL volleyball even further.  Volleyball looks set to be a lot of fun in Cardinal Arena for many years go come.


Donation Month

This quote about donations from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service.

We have tried to be a good steward in providing a willing and needed service here at Cardinal Couple with a daily report on the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports. Will you help us continue our service here at this non-profit venture in 2019?  Send checks to: 

CARDINAL COUPLE

PO BOX 91521

LOUISVILLE, KY 40291

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Finally, Case and I were in studio yesterday, while Jared was cheering the demise of drive-thrus, and Paulie was probably just shivering.

Given the relatively quiet week, Case and I were able to dive into some depth of UofL Volleyball, and Soccer across the region.  We did talk a bit about the upcoming WBB game at Boise State.

You can check out the Facebook live replay at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/490281824815057/

-- 

JMcA