YELIN RETIRES...KORDES NEW VOLLEYBALL COACH

LEONID YELIN RETIRES AS UofL VOLLEYBALL
COACH...ANNE KORDES HIRED.


We had heard the news a couple of weeks back that changes could be in store for University of Louisville Volleyball. Today, it was announced that long time coach Leonid Yelin has retired as the head coach of the CARDS and St. Louis head coach Anne Kordes has accepted the job as Louisville's new skipper.
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If you're familiar with local volleyball in the Louisville area...the name Kordes is familiar to you. Anne's father, Ron, has coached on the high school and club level for several decades and is the coach at Assumption High School in Louisville. (Photo from slu.com)
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Anne played for her dad at the club and high school level before accepting a scholarship to Cincinnati. She was the Great Midwest Conference Newcomer of the Year in 1994 and was named second team All-Conference USA as a sophomore. She transferred to the University of Louisville after two years as a Bearcat.
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At Louisville, she led the Cards to the C-USA Tournament championship and NCAA Sweet Sixteen her senior year. She was also a three time C-USA All-Conference selection. After graduation, Anne began her coaching career in 1999 as an assistant at Indiana. A better opportunity quickly came along, though...and she accepted the top assistant job at Illinois. In six years at Illinois...they qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times and Sweet Sixteen twice.
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Anne accepted the head coaching job at St. Louis in 2004. In seven years there, her Billikens made three NCAA Tournament appearances, won four A-10 championships and she was selected A-10 Coach of the Year three times. Her teams has a combined league record of 59-1 over the last five years. Her lifetime record as a head coach is 146-75 (.661).
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The Louisville high school volleyball circuit is considered one of the most talented and competitive in the nation. Anne's experience with this area, the Kordes name recognition and her success and skill at developing young players will continue to create growth in the Cardinal Volleyball program for many years. Her work with youth national, select and high performance teams over the last ten years makes her an easily recognizable figure among the elite national high school programs also.
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Louisville has become a recognized power in Big East volleyball and has won the Big East Conference tournament three years in a row. They've come in second to Cincinnati in regular season play twice in a row. The 2010 Cards were a young team that improved greatly as the season progressed. Kordes will have stars Lola Arsanbeckova, Anastasia Artemeva, Emily Juhl, Taylor Brauneis, Gwen Rucker and Caitlin Welch among those in the returning class for 2011. Cardinal Arena is a great home advantage venue for Cardinal Volleyball and the 2012 NCAA Final Four Volleyball Championships will be held at the KFC YUM Center.
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Once again, Tom Jurich and Julie Hermann come through with a grand slam in a coaching hire. Or, in this case, should we say a game winning service ace...

CARDS WIN BIG EAST VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

LOUISVILLE WINS BIG EAST VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT

-#2 seed Louisville sweeps #1 Cincinnati in 3 sets.

-Men's soccer advances in NCAA

-Swimming results from Purdue

-Angel update in Hungary



The University of Louisville Volleyball team won the BIG EAST Tournament for the third straight year in a row Sunday afternoon...taking down top seed Cincinnati 25-20, 25-20, 25-15 in Pittsburgh. (Photo courtesy of http://www.bigeast.org/ )

Louisville freshman Emily Juhl was named the MVP of the tournament, nailing a team high 13 kills in the final match. The Cards jumped out early in the first game and led 14-10 before Cincy rallied to tie it at 15. The match stayed close until Louisville, up 22-20, scored the final three points to win game one.

The Bearcats roared back in game two and led Louisville 10-6 behind some strong kills by Stephanie Niemer and Becca Refenes. But the Cards took off on a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 13-10 and although UC would climb within one point, the Cards never trailed again and won by five. Juhl had five kills in the game and two service aces late that put Louisville ahead 20-14.

Louisville went to the attack early in game three and ripped out to a 12-4 lead. Louisville, thanks to Lola Arslanbeckova's four kills, never relinquished the advantage and won going away 25-15. It is the first time since 2007 that the championship game has not gone to five sets.
Joining Juhl on the All-Tournament team were Louisville teammates Arslanbeckova and blocker Gwen Rucker. The Cards win the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with the conference championship and will know their fate on November 28th...when the selection show will air on ESPNews.

It's been an incredible season so far for Louisville...a team that started off slowly to begin the year and dropped matches to Kentucky, Arizona, Purdue and Illinois before entering BIG EAST Conference play. After dropping a 3-2 match to Seton Hall in Cardinal Arena, the young team began to mature and jell. They went on a eight game winning streak before falling to Tennessee in Knoxville but swept four out of their final five to gain the #2 seed in the tourney.

Led by kill specialists Arslanbeckova, Juhl, Anastasia Artemeva...and the strong blocking skills of Rucker, Taylor Brauneis and Amanda Simmons...the Cards are playing their best volleyball of the season right now and should fare well in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. All but Simmons return next year for the Cards.

Cincinnati's Niemer and Jordanne Scott were also selected to the all-tournament team along with Notre Dame's Kristen Dealy, and Marquette's Nikki Klingsporn.

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Before a record attendance for a soccer match in the state of Kentucky, Louisville advances in the NCAA Tournament with a 3-1 win over College of Charleston on Sunday night. The Cards improve to 17-0-3 in front of 5.197 in Cardinal Park with two late goals to secure the lead and seal the victory.

After a 1-1 first half, Louisvlle got a goal from Colin Rolfe to tale a 2-1 lead in the 84th. minute of action. Five minutes later, the Cards tacked on a 3rd goal from Charlie Campbell.

The Cards play Ohio State next...Sunday, Nov. 28th at 7 p.m. back at Cardinal Park.

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Louisville's women's swimming and diving finished 2nd in the Purdue Invitational in the final day of competition after leading at the end of Day 2. Krissie Brandenburg took the 200 backstroke and Therese Bergstrom captured the 200 breaststroke...setting a school record in the process. The University of Arkansas's women took the title.

The UofL men finished 3rd in the event. Wins for Pedro Oliveria, Carlos Almeida and Charlie Bolgan.

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After a brief stateside visit to see her jersey hung in the KFC YUM! Center before the Tennessee game, Angel McCoughtry has returned to Hungary to play for MKB Euroleasing Sopron in the EuroLeagues and is averaging 17 points and 7 rebounds. Teamed with former Middle Tennessee State and WNBA star Amber Holt, MKB is 10-1 this season.

Cards get #2 seed in BIG EAST Volleyball Tournament

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:


-Volleyball #2 seed in BIG EAST Tournament

-UConn vs. Baylor tonight

-We catch up with Tise...

-Preview of Houston Baptist

The University of Louisville Volley Cards will open BIG EAST Tournament play against #7 seed Seton Hall (13-17, 7-7) on Friday at 3:30 p.m. in Pittsburgh at the Peterson Event Center. A dangerous first round opponent for the Cards...Seton Hall defeated Louisville during regular season play in Cardinal Arena in five games back on Sept. 26th. Emily Juhl, pictured here played one of her best games of the year against Seton Hall in the defeat.

Louisville has improved dramatically since that early season match up but cannot take the Pirates lightly. The Cards (16-7, 12-2) would advance to play the winner of the #3 Marquette vs. #6 Pittsburgh match on Saturday if they can defeat the pesky Pirates. The final will take place on Sunday and will be shown on ESPNU. All other matches will be available on BIG EAST TV and streamed free of charge. You can find BIG EAST TV online at http://www.bigeast.tv/

The rest of the first round action:

#1 Cincinnati vs. #8 South Florida

#4 Villanova vs. #5 Notre Dame

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ESPN has started their 25 straight hours of college basketball. As I write this Central Michigan is in a dogfight with home standing Hawaii. Both ESPN and ESPN 2 are showing games. A hoop junkie's dream if I ever did see one. What WE don't like about this is that in the 25 hours of action there is only one women's game. It's a goodie, though. UConn vs. Baylor. It'll show on "the deuce" at 6 p.m. Tuesday night. Should make for a good night of hoops, since the UofL men's team plays Butler at 8 p.m. on ESPN.



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WE ran into former Lady Cards center and one of the most popular Lady Cards of all time...that being Tise Wright...at the Tennessee game Friday night. Still has the big smile and hug for everyone. Tise is still living here and working. She was excited to be there for Angel's big night and excited about the prospects of this team. She plans on trying to get back into some kind of competitive basketball once her knee fully heals. She's working on getting back in shape and still talks with her former teammates quite a bit...in addition to the current crop of Cards.


It was good to see Tise again. In her prime, she was an unstoppable force in the paint. She led the BIG EAST in shooting percentage during the 2007-08 season and is second all-time in Cardinal shooting percentage at .579. She led Louisville in shooting percentage in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

She also led the Cards in blocked shots in 2007-08. Tise sat out the 2008-09 season with knee problems and returned briefly to play in the 2009-10 season but continued knee problems forced her to hang up the jersey for good.



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The University of Louisville women's basketball team will face Houston Baptist on Wednesday night in the KFC YUM Center at 7 p.m. The Huskies come to town 0-1 after losing to #23 TCU 96-38 in Fort Worth, TX. Destini Texada led the way for HBU with nine points and eleven boards. Brittany Maxey, Mele Leasau, Joselyn Pugh and Tia Jackson are the other starters for Houston Baptist...who went 1-10 from three point range and shot 27.5% for the game.

This game should be a good chance for coach Walz to do some further on-court experimentation with his lineup combinations and develop the transition game. The Cards need to show a strong performance on the boards Weds. night as well. Despite the weak opponent and weeknight game, try to get out for this one if you can. The players always appreciate the fans packing the stands and it should be fun to watch the Cards in this probable rout of HBU.

Arslanbeckova, Youman earn BIG EAST honors

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Nicole Youman named BIG EAST Player of the Week

-Lola Arslanbeckova named BIG EAST Player of the Week

-UofL Women's basketball season ticket plan

Two UofL women's sports athletes have been selected for top honors for their performances last week. Here's the details...

Nicole Youman, senior forward from Black Mountain, Austrailia, has been named the BIG EAST Player of the Week in Field Hockey for her efforts last week in the TEAM CARDINAL wins against Villanova and Iowa. She ended up with eleven points...scoring three times and dishing out five assists in the 6-0 whitewash of Villanova and 4-1 win over Iowa. Youman leads the BIG EAST with 15 goals and 18 assists on the season...good for 48 points.

This is her third BIG EAST Player of the Week honor this season. The Cards (11-5, 4-1) travel to Providence (4-11, 0-4) for a Saturday match against the Lady Friars (sounds strange, right) and a non-conference Sunday tussle with New Hampshire. The Providence game will end the conference schedule for Pam Bustin's squad. They are second in the BIG EAST standings currently.

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Lola Arsanbeckova, a sophomore outside hitter for the UofL volleyball team was named BIG EAST player of the week in Volleyball for her fine performance in the upset win over Cincinnati Saturday in Cardinal Arena. It's the first such award for Lola or any of the Volley Cards this season.

Lola was spectacular in the Bearcats vs. Cardinals showdown. She had 24 kills and seven digs in the 3-2 win for Louisville. She hit for an awesome .419 in the match. Currently she is fifth in the conference in hitting percentage and third in kills per set.

Louisville is tied for first place in the BIG EAST with the Bearcats at 6-1. They have the next three games at home, beginning with Lipscomb on Wednesday night. BIG EAST foe Georgetown
visits Friday night and the home stand ends with USF on Sunday afternoon. After that, the next five out of six are on the road and the BIG EAST tournament is in Pittsburgh this year. Louisville is 11-5 on the season and currently riding a five match win streak.

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UofL has announced a special women's season ticket basketball package for UofL Alumni and it is quite a deal. This new package includes 4 Women's Basketball season tickets for $160 total. If you purchase the package, you also get 4 additional tickets to the UofL vs. Tennessee game on November 12th. and 4 additional tickets to the UofL vs. UK game on December 5th.

All the UofL women's basketball home games will be played in the state of the art KFC - YUM! Center. The sections available for this special deal are all lower level.

Call Eric Clouse, director of ticket sales, at (502) 852-7254 to get in on the action.

Think about it. 16 home games. 4 tickets each, plus an additional 4 tickets each for two of the biggest games of the year. I didn't major in math but I come up with 72 total tickets here for slightly over $2 a seat. The best entertainment value in town, folks.

Make that call to Eric today and he'll be happy to fill you in on which sections and seats are open. Last I heard, the offer applied to Sections 101-104, 108-114 and 118-120. I've been to the new arena a couple of times now and there are no bad views from anywhere on the lower level.

You might even run into the co-owners of CARDINAL COUPLE during a contest...but don't let that hold you back from getting in the game. WE promise to be nice. Jeff Walz insists. Otherwise we have to run the steps in the arena and try to guard Asia Taylor.

Volleyball, Field Hockey, Golf successful on Saturday

SUNDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Volleyball snaps Notre Dame win streak

-Field Hockey wins at Rutgers

-Women's Golf second round action

-Soccer today on TV

-How about that Charlie Strong?

A great day for many UofL sports contests yesterday!

Emily Juhl had a career high 16 kills in Louisville's win over Notre Dame 3-1 in CARDINAL ARENA yesterday morning. With the win, the Cards improved to 9-5 on the season and 4-1 in the BIG EAST.

The Cards won the first game behind the strong arm of Juhl and Anastasia Artemeva...overcoming an early Irish lead with a 8-2 run late in the contest to post a 25-21 victory. Notre Dame jumped on Louisville early in the second game, going up 9-4 and although the Cards rallied back to get with two at 22-20 they could get no closer and fell 25-23.

After the intermission, both team battled back and forth in the third game of the match but a key Louisville 7-2 stretch put the Cards ahead 21-15 and went on to score the 25-19 victory. In the final game, the Cards steadily built the lead to hold a 19-11 advantage and finished out to take game and match 25-17.

Volleyball fan Jack Wimsett was in attendance and told CARDINAL COUPLE:

"Juhl was out of this world. She and Anastasia just kept blasting rockets over the net against Notre Dame and Simmons dominated the net with some great blocks. It was a great morning!"

Louisville returns to the court Sunday afternoon to face DePaul. Action begins at 2 p.m.

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Field Hockey pitched a shutout in Piscataway, N.J. Saturday afternoon, blanking the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 2-0 in BIG EAST action. Amber Thomas broke open a defensive battle in the first half when she scooped up a Nicole Youman (WOO HOO! for Nicole!) and sent the ball sailing past Rutgers goalie Sarah Stuby for a one point Cardinal lead. TEAM CARDINAL took the advantage into the half-tine break and continued to hold Rutgers scoreless in the final frame. They added a second goal midway thru the second half when Jenna Ahern knocked a missed Youman attempt (WOO HOO! for Nicole! ) past Stuby for the final goal of the match. Did we mention how much we like Nicole Youman?

With the win, Louisville improves to 9-4 and 3-1 in the BIG EAST. Goalie Erin Conrad had five saves in the game and the Cards outshot the Scarlet Knights 15-10. Louisville travels to Princeton next for a Sunday match in the Garden State against the #3 Tigers. Thanks to Louisville assistant S.I.D. for keeping CARDINAL COUPLE in the loop on the womens' East Coast swing.

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Sara-Maude Juneau continues to find the sweet spot in Carolina, firing a 69 in the second round of the Tar Heel Invitational. Her great round moved her up to 5th place after two days and only five shots off the lead as the teams wrap up play on Sunday. Juneau had a 70 yesterday.

Laura Anderson, pictured above, had a 71 Saturday, her best effort of the season so far, and has a two day total of 147. Anna-Karin Ljungstorm carded a 78 in day two and Maria Castellanos toured the 18 in 80 strokes. Sophomore Candice Wiley impressed with a 73 yesterday, seven strokes better than her opening round 80.

Louisville climbed the ranks to 16th. place after second round action with a 592 total. Alabama leads the pack with 551.

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Louisville Women's Soccer will play on local television today with a 1 p.m. game at Cardinal Park against Georgetown. WHAS-11 TV will show the match live. It is Senior Day for the Cards. While we're on the subject of "futbol"...congrats to UofL men's soccer team...still undefeated after yesterday's 2-1 win over host Rutgers. Bad day to be a Rutgers' fan yesterday...

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What in the world has gotten into this Charlie Strong football team? Paul and I sat there yesterday in the baking sun and watched touchdown after touchdown and surmised that either Memphis really was that pitiful or Charlie Strong has fined tuned these guys to success. Friday night will be a much more true test of how far Strong has taken these Kragthorpe leftovers when the CardStrong Nation welcomes those dreaded Cincinnati Bearcats to PJCS. The Bearcats did some growling of their own yesterday, smacking around Miami of Ohio 45-3.

The Cards did better with their 56-0 whitewash of the Memphis Kittens. I sure wouldn't wanted to have been in that feline locker room when the sun set to the west of the Pizza Palace.

UofL Volleyball around the corner

The "hump day" edition of CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Volleyball starts next Friday


-Atlanta drops to the Sky


-Apple Tournament rolls on



Sophomore Lola Arsenbeckova leads a University of Louisville volleyball team that won the BIG EAST TOURNAMENT last year and returns several key components for 2010 season. Arsenbeckova was the only Cardinal named to the preseason all BIG EAST first team and the Cards were picked to finish second in the league...behind last year's regular season champs Cincinnati.


Joining Lola on the hardwood are returning starters Gwen Rucker, Lindsay Mango and several new additions to the team. Although the loss of graduates Lecia Brown, Kimi Hohi and Justine Landi leave the Cards searching for replacements in several key positions...Louisville has experience and depth with the combination of returning players and highly heralded freshmen on the roster.

The Cards truly have an international flavor to them again this year. Arsenbeckova and Tanya Lukyanenko hail from Uzbekistan, Anastasia Artemeva from Russia and Gosia Lech from Poland. Locally, Louisville area prospects freshmen Catlin Welch (Mercy), Emily Juhl (Sacred Heart) and returning starter Maci Wachtel (Assumption) suit up for coach Leonard Yelin.

An interesting sidebar will be how Gwen Rucker improves with only volleyball to concentrate on this year. The 6'2" Rucker has split her time between basketball and volleyball the last two seasons and will participate in only the wide net activity in 2010.

Louisville begins the season with a round robin event against NDSU and Ohio. They'll face NDSU at 7 p.m. Friday Night and Ohio at 2 p.m. Sunday...both games in Cardinal Arena. Kentucky hosts the Cards on Sept. 1st and Louisville will also participate in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN CHALLENGE against Purdue and Illinois at Cardinal Arena. BIG EAST begins Saturday, Sept. 25th. with 2 p.m. match against visiting Rutgers. For bonus points...what does NDSU stand for...Northern Delaware Sailor University, North Dakota State University or Nebraska DesMoines Southwest University?

Schedule disparity is another question involving the young Cardinal team. Although they have a home stretch of games lasting nearly a month in October...they'll finish the regular season with five straight road appearances in the first two weeks of November. By then, hopefully...the team will have jelled and they'll be ready for the BIG EAST tournament in Pittsburgh that begins on November 19th.

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The Atlanta Dream waved goodbye to a late 4th quarter lead and lost to the visiting Chicago Sky 84-79 in Atlanta last night. Once again, a former Rutgers player did the most significant damage...as Epiphany Prince laid eight 4th quarter points on Angel and company. Although the Dream have clinched a playoff berth, the 3rd loss at home to Chicago has to be a point of
concern to the Dream and head coach Marynell Meadows. 'Big Syl'...Sylvia Fowles held doom the Dream also with a game high 18 points for the Sky

At times it looked like the 2nd string for Atlanta seemed to be the best option on the court. When Angel and the rest of the starters retook the hardwood with around 4 minutes to go...Atlanta enjoyed a four point lead. They ended up losing by five. McCoughtry couldn't find the mark on several shot attempts late in the game that could have drawn the Dream closer and they fall to a season record of 19-14...2 1/2 games out of first place with just one game remaining in the regular season. New York defeated Indiana to draw within 1/2 game of the Division lead and Washington handled San Antonio to remain in third place in the East. Angel had 16 points for Atlanta.

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Ballard won a close one against Assumption in the Apple field hockey quarterfinals at Sacred Heart and advanced to the semifinals with Kentucky Country Day...who sent Manual packing with a 3-1 victory. A consolation match saw Presentation romp Christian Academy 7-1.

Sacred Heart and Male are the other two teams to advance to the semifinals. Mercy Academy easily won 9-0 against Holy Cross in the consolation bracket on Monday.

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Finally, to answer the e-mail question from Tommy B....No, Jeff Walz was not an assistant on Tom Collen's staff when Collen coached the Cards. Walz came to Louisville from Maryland...where he was an assistant. Walz did play his high school and college ball in Kentucky, though and his sister Donna is one of the all-time leading scorers in Kentucky High School basketball.

Cardinal Volleyball picked 2nd in BIG EAST

FRIDAY'S CARDINAL COUPLE LOOKS AT:

Louisville Volleyball: A repeat happening?
Local high school sports: A busy weekend!
A fly in UConn's ointment?
A brief word with someone "in the know"

(Just a reminder...today is Friday the 13th. If you are a believer in trypanophobia...take care out there today.)

Leonard Yelin's University of Louisville women's volleyball team won the BIG EAST tournament last year and went to the NCAA Tournament. That success made an impression on the league coaches...as the Cards are picked to finish second behind Cincinnati in the preseason coaches poll.

The Bearcats received all but one vote to finish first...and since coaches couldn't vote for their own team...it looks like the Bearcats are the prohibitive favorite for the conference title. Louisville garnered second place honors...followed by Notre Dame and Marquette.

Cards' sophomore outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova was selected for the preseason All BIG EAST
team unanimously.

Louisville defeated the Bearcats in the BIG EAST tournament last year here in Louisville.

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A busy weekend for high school girls sports here in Louisville. The Shively Sporting Goods/Chase Marketing Jefferson County Public Schools Volleyball Championships will be held Friday and Saturday at the Basketball Academy. 19 area high schools will participate...including four top 25 teams...#11 DuPont Manual, #14 Eastern, #15 Butler and #24 Male.

Manual has won the event the last three years. It might be considered a rebuilding year for them since they lost three top seniors to graduation. Expected to lead the Crimson are senior Mechael Guess and sophomore Maya McClendon.

In the preseason poll, Louisville Catholic schools hold the top three ranking...#1 Mercy, #2 Sacred Heart and #3 Assumption.

The Apple Tournament for high school girls field hockey kicks off Saturday. All action will take place at Sacred Heart. The home standing Valkyries have won the Apple six years in a row.
Also participating is Assumption...last year's state champions. Mercy, Eastern, Butler, Collegiate, Presentation, Manual, KCD, Holy Cross, Christian Academy and Male round out the field of 12.

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News out of Connecticut that starting UConn womens' basketball guard Caroline Doty is out for the season with a torn ACL in her left knee. The junior is scheduled for surgery in the next week or so. UConn has won their last 78 games...but with Tina Charles graduated and Doty on the shelf...the Huskies suddenly look vulnerable. How much game have you got, Maya Moore?

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Our "person in the know" down at Ellis Park tells us that MYHEART'SRESERVED is a lock in the first race today at the Henderson, KY track. We love hearing good news about our favorite trainer Paul McGee's horses...and lights out apprentice jockey Orlandi Rossi is on board for the ride. We're also hearing great things about TWILIGHT BOY in the 2nd race at Ellis. Daily Double, anyone?

The track with the soybeans in the infield continues to hang in there, despite racing only three days a week. Ellis manages to offer high purses for claiming, maiden special weight and allowance races despite not having the financial windfall of casino money. Track owner Ron Geary continues to defy the trends and odds by making Ellis a viable summer racing option for horses and trainers who ran at Churchill's Spring Meet.

Congratulations go out to our buddies Richard and Patricia Lenihan, part owners of SEA ROAD. The 3 year old filly beat the competition Saturday at Saratoga in the $70,000 Hattie Moseley States...and paid a sweet $25.00 to win as a 12-1 longshot. Rich and Patty were in attendance for the race and both looked good in the winner's circle for the presentation. Seeing Rich in a three piece black suit seemed a little weird, though. I prefer to remember him in a t-shirt and shorts, struggling vainly to keep up with me in high school cross country. Rich is one of the good guys in horse racing...and a fervent supporter of saving racing-finished thoroughbreds from mistreatment and slaughter. Keep it up, buddy...and I bet I could still beat you on the two mile course at Seneca Park. (Walking...not running.)

Cardinal Volleyball faces tough 2010 schedule

The Volley Cards have a tough road ahead of them if they are looking to duplicate their 21-10 season from 2009. Louisville will travel to Kentucky for a match on September 1st and to Knoxville to face the Vols on November 2nd. They'll also square off against Illinois and Purdue in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge.

The Cards will travel to Tempe to take part in a round robin tournament against Cal-Bakersfield, Arizona and Butler beginning September 3rd. Other out of conference opponents are Ohio, North Datoka State, Wright State and Lipscomb.

Conference foes will include Rutgers, Seton Hall, Notre Dame, DePaul, Cincinnati, Georgetown, South Florida, and Villanova at home. Leonard Yelin's crew will travel to UConn, St. John's, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marquette and Syracuse for matches.

The BIG EAST tournament takes place in Pittsburgh beginning November 19th and the NCAA Selections will be November 28th...with 1st round play beginning December 3rd.

Louisville loses seniors Lecia Brown, Kimi Hohl and Justine Landi from the 2009 squad but does return Lola Arslanbekova and Gwen Rucker.

A young team for Coach Yelin...but a team full of promise and a definite spikemaster in Arslanbekova.

The schedule includes 13 home game...all on weekends except the Lipscomb match. The Kentucky game is on Wednesday and the game in Knoxville on a Tuesday.

The Cards went 11-6 on their home court last year and 11-4 in the BIG EAST. They won the BIG EAST Tournament in Louisville as a #4 seed...knocking off #2 Cincinnati 3-1.

We'll be providing full coverage of Cardinal Voleyball and hope to be providing you with some preseason quotes and previews of the team in the near future here at CARDINAL COUPLE.