VolleyCards Remain #3 -- Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Volleyball Stays Put at #3 in AVCA Rankings

To no surprise, Louisville volleyball retained their #3 ranking in the latest AVCA poll, sitting behind Pitt and Nebraska. The Cards easily swept Duke and North Carolina at home over the weekend, the latter of whom has lost four of their last five matches as they have reached the tougher part of the ACC slate.

Louisville has improved their record to 23-3 on the season and 15-1 in conference play. The only loss for the Cards in the ACC came on the road against Pitt in five sets. The Cards have had six straight sweeps and 12 overall since the ACC portion of the schedule began.

Pitt swept Florida State and Miami to improve to 25-1 and 15-1. The Panthers have won 10 straight since falling to SMU. 

Nebraska is 26-1 on the year and 16-0 in Big 10 play following victories against Indiana and Minnesota. The Huskers were swept by SMU over Labor Day Weekend and have surrendered just seven sets since then.

A rare black & white photo from Jared

Behind Louisville sits a Penn State team who defeated the Cards early in the season. The rest of the top 10 remained unchanged too- Creighton, Wisconsin, Stanford, Purdue, Arizona State, and SMU. Other Louisville opponents in the rankings include #12 Kentucky, #15 Georgia Tech, and #23 Florida State. North Carolina and Miami both received votes in the latest AVCA poll.

Next on the schedule is a trip to the Commonwealth of Virginia with matches against Virginia and Virginia Tech. They will follow that with a home match against Pitt Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving and a trip to Stanford on Black Friday.

Cabello Named ACC Freshman of the Week

For the fifth time this season, Nayelis Cabello was named ACC Freshman of the Week for Louisville volleyball. The freshman setter tallied 33 assists, eight digs, one ace, and one block over the weekend.

Cabello has placed herself as one of the frontrunners for ACC Freshman of the Year. Her case for ACC Setter of the Year is not as strong as Cabello has split time in that role with Elle Glock. Louisville has run a 6-2 offense this season, which affords a team to work with two setters in a rotation.

Women's Basketball Road Trip Thoughts

While we are now three days removed from Louisville women's basketball's trip down I-64 to Lexington, I haven't said much regarding the trip. Instead of digging into the game any more than we already have, I'll spend some time recapping our trip instead.

I met up with Paulie and Sonyain mid-afternoon to make the trip to Wildcat Country. Lexington traffic was heavier than normal due to their football team and women's basketball team both playing at home. While we normally park in the lot adjacent to Memorial Coliseum in past trips, we were declined a spot to park... despite being media and having a handicapped parking pass. 

Paulie, Sonya, and I ventured down the road to the true media parking lot, roughly 2.5 blocks from the arena. We were told that there was no transportation to the arena from the lot so I turned around and dropped our Cardinal Couple "OG's" off at the front door before driving back to the media lot.

Upon meeting back up with Paulie and Sonya, we were informed that the media entrance was in a different spot due to construction and had to walk to the far side of the arena. Once we checked in, we were informed that the elevator for us to use was then at the opposite side of the arena from us, which would take us down to the floor. We get down to the floor and... the media room is the far side of the court.

By now, we've certainly gotten our steps in. Poor Paulie and Sonya, though. While the KFC Yum! Center offers plenty of floor media seating, all media seating at Memorial Coliseum was up a flight of stairs. Talk about a workout with all of the walking back-and-forth and up-and-down. Paulie wryly commented that he hadn't done as much walking since there had been a Carter in the White House. A special "thank you" to UK WBB SID  Cami Moore Williams, who assigned a student to show Paulie and Sonya how to get from the media break room to their seats. in the confusing labyrinth that is the new Memorial Coliseum  All this, after a huge renovatuon...it was much easier to get from the media room to sideline press seats in the old facility. UK has basically snubbed their nose at the independent media who provide them coverage.  

I was a bit more fortunate as I was on the floor in the end zone with the rest of the Louisville photographers. It was nice to have some friendly faces around me. I still felt the effect of being on the road as the Kentucky fans sitting courtside behind us didn't understand that you wave pom-poms in the air and not in a spot that hits photographers in the back of the head. They also really didn't like the way Dee Kanter and her crew officiated the game. While the stripes may not have heard their yelling, my ringing ears caught every word and spit.

Oy vey. The things we do as media to cover the school we love... Rain or shine, red or blue, we will continue to cover our beloved Cardinals.

POST GAME

On a side note, don't try to bait an opposing team's coach into commenting on the officiating. Props to Jeff Walz on handling that situation with aplomb and deference concerning the reporter who tried to bait him over the weekend. Walz saw Cards' free throws woes as the deciding factor in the game, the Cards were 9-15 (60%), UK was 13-18 (72%). As Donovan Clingan's mom Stacy told hom years ago.."Make your free throws, win games.."  It's the easiest shot you'll get on the court....next to a uncontsted layup.  

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared