Friday Cardinal Couple - Teams in Action...Coach Crum

Volleyball Preview

Just about all of the fall sports teams are in action this evening, with most on the road as Paulie covered yesterday.  Volleyball has a particularly busy weekend ahead, however, with three matches in two days.  A quick rundown on the opponents.

Western Kentucky University

When the ranking for the week in volleyball came out, WKU, who was in the "Receiving Votes" grouping in the preseason, had climbed into the top 25 ranking at 24.  This means that the first three matches of UofL's volleyball schedule this year will all be against top 25 teams.  Nothing like starting off with a bang.

In the opening weekend, The Hilltoppers traveled to the Miami (OH) Best Western Sycamore Inn Invitational...Longest. Tournament. Name. Evar...where they dominated the weekend.  Honestly, none of the other teams at the tournament were national powerhouses, with host Miami (OH), and other guests Northern Arizona, and Southern Illinois...though Southern Illinois does do well in the cool mascot championship, as the Salukis.  Only Miami (OH) was able to take a single set off of The HillToppers during the weekend.

WKU also had a mid-week game, on Tuesday for their home opener, this week, sweeping the Tennessee State Tigers...who do well in the nicest fans championship after a visit to Cardinal Arena in 2014.

The takeaway here is that WKU looks to have a good team, but they haven't really been tested, yet.

Kent State

Durango...the UNO mascot. A bull on ice...fascinating.

Saturday afternoon brings the Kent State Golden Flashes into the Arena.  They come into the
weekend with a 1-2 record.  The opening weekend in Iowa, they took two losses, first to the hosting Iowa State Cyclones, and then to the New Mexico Lobos...so many great mascots in this article, I love it...before finally winning one against the University of Nebraska Omaha Mavericks...ok, they can't all be great mascots.  All three of these matches were sweeps.

Take away here is that Kent State is an average team, they beat a let's-be-honest-they're-not-very-good Omaha team, but lost to a couple of decent, though not national powerhouse, teams in Iowa State and New Mexico.

Let's hope this match gives the Cards a chance to catch their breathe after such an intense start to the season, but they need to be sure not to overlook this team.

Illinois

Illinois is not ranked, and not even receiving votes.  A little surprising, perhaps Illinois is in for a bit of an off season, at least for their standards.

Chief Illiniwek...the Illinois mascot. Great leg extension! 

Typically in top 25 rankings, or at least in the discussions for them, Illinois is a team to always watch out for.  They are coming into this weekend undefeated at 3-0 after a weekend in Bozeman Montana, but they, like WKU, haven't really been tested, yet.  Only host Montana State was able to take a set off of the Illini, while Gonzaga, and Air Force could not. I don't care what their mascot is (The Falcons), as a tech geek and a plane and flying buff, Air Force is always cool in my mind, in any context.

This weekend will be the first real chance for Illinois to see how they match up with those that aren't almost completely ignored in the national volleyball conversation.  They'll be trying to tune their play for the rip-roaring Big 10 conference season coming up later in the season.  You can never overlook Illinois, but The Cards will be looking for some revenge after Illinois ended their season, in Cardinal Arena, in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament.

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Matches in The Cardinal Classic get started today at 4pm with Kent State and Illinois, the Cards should play around 6:30pm depending on the length of the first match.  Saturday, Illinois and WKU start us off at 10:30am, with UofL starting around 12:30.  The evening session on Saturday will start at 5:30 between Kent State and WKU, with the UofL match starting around 7:30.

Don't forget the new security theatre limitations on carrying bags into Cardinal Arena, because UofL cares about you feeling safe, even if their processes don't actually make you any safer.

-- JMcA


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EDITOR NOTE:

 Our thoughts and concerns go out for Denny Crum and his family. Coach, who recently turned 80, suffered a mild stroke while on a fishing trip in Alaska. Fortunately, he received very prompt medical care and treatment and there is a chance he could be released this weekend. Fortunately, he was on the fishing trip with a doctor. 

The guy who gave us several near heart-attacks and strokes during his coaching career was reported to be alert, in good spirits, having conversations with his wife Susan who is at bedside with him and hoping the Cards will win their football game tomorrow night against Purdue. 

From all of us at Cardinal Couple....hang in there Coach and we wish you a full, complete and speedy recovery. They referred to you as "former" coach in a few media releases....but you'll always be "The Coach" of the University of Louisville basketball program to me and one of the reasons that I love being a Cardinal fan. I'll carry a rolled up racing form to honor you the rest of today....just like you had the rolled up program on the sidelines with you for so many years.

Two National Championships and still one of the coolest guys around. You got this.


Do you know the warning signs of a stroke? Or what to do if you or someone you are with has one? I urge you to refresh your knowledge on this issue. Minutes save lives and serious damage. Being able to check the signs is vital. 

Paulie

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Basketball Wins, Volleyball Exits

Basketball Romps Over Valpo

In the second game of a Cardinal triple header, the Women's Basketball team put it to an, honestly, not very good Valparaiso team 75-42.



The Cards had five in double digits with the M&M's (Myisha Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore) both at 12 and three of the freshmen, Erin DeGrate, Sam Fuerhing, and Asia Durr all tallying 10. This one was great fun to watch, with great passing, and a full on Attack Yorkie defense. We saw Dakota Weatherford and Briahanna Jackson both on the court at one time and watched them wreak havoc. Of course, Taja Cole also is a well-deserved owner of the Yorkie tag as well after yoinking three steals along with Jackson. Otherwise, nearly everyone got in on the pilfering, with Mariya Moore, Cortnee Walton, DeGrate, Fuerhing, Arica Carter, and Brianna Jones all coming up with their own burglaries.

Lots of the stats that we've been watching this year were improved, with 19 points off of 22 Valpo turnovers, and 13 points off of 19 offensive rebounds. There is still room for improvement on those, but they are much better than we in some of the earlier outings. Shooting percentages weren't spectacular. 66% from the charity stripe falls short of the 70% benchmark that we use here at CC, 44% for field goals isn't great, but it's in tolerable territory. The one bright spot was the 39% from behind the arc where Mariya Moore led the charge with 4 out of all 5 of the shots she took in the game finding the bottom of the net. Asia Durr also popped a couple from the corner.

The Cards basketball team next head down the road to Rupp Arena to take on Kentucky. This also could be a good opportunity to see what's going on down in Lexington after hearing the news of four players transferring out of the program in six weeks. This leaves Mitchell with a pretty severely depleted roster, though Makayla Epps is still there and will always be a threat. The only team of any real consequence that the Cats have played this year was Arizona State, a game they won 68-64 in Arizona.

Volleyball Season Ends

The Volleyball squad saw their season come to a close after a loss to Illinois in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Cardinal Arena (15-25, 25-22, 25-18, 27-25). Illinois' height was probably the on-the-court difference, as the Illini tallied 11 blocks compared to UofL's 6.

The Cards came out of the locker room hot and heavy, cruising to an easy 25-15 win. Illinois looked rattled, made a number of unforced errors, and only hit .097 for the set. Meanwhile, everything was going UofL's way, and the Cards ended the first set with a .333 hitting percentage. After the first set, the adrenaline wore off, both for the team and the fans, and things were more balanced, though the hitting percentages flip-flopped, with UofL dropping to .182 and UI swinging for .311. After the set break, both teams were able to play cleaner with the Cards climbing back to a still-not-stellar .238, but Illinois ran out to a very impressive .361 hitting.

The fourth set was the dramatic one. The Illini were able to continue with the momentum, climbing out to a 21-15 lead, when UofL Coach Anne Kordes called her last timeout after a controversial touch call. The UofL fans, sensing the do or die moment, stood, cheered, and encouraged the team coming out of the timeout. In the close confines of Cardinal Arena, the difference was clear. The Cards roared back to tie the game at 24-24, and then against at 25-25. During the run, Coach Kevin Hambly used both of Illinois' timeouts and finally UI was able to put the game and match away.

The player of the match was probably Illinois' Jocelynn Birks with a staggering 26 kills for a torrid .426 hitting percentage. Only one other UI player, Naya Crittenden, even reached double digits, with 11 for a pretty efficient .318.

The Cards were led by the spark of Maya McClendon with 17 for .317, and Erin Fairs with 14 on 43 attempts for .140. Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong had solid games out of the middle with 7 kills each, but were hampered by long stretches where the Illinois attack kept the Cards just out of system and thus taking the middles out of the game. Defensively, Janelle Jenkins was out in front with 12 digs, with Katie George getting 11, and Molly Sauer, fighting a mild stomach bug, also coming up with 11. There were three big solo blocks by Erin Fairs, Maggie DeJong, and Maya McClendon.

Where do the Cards go from here? Katie George has been the face of this team for four years, losing her to graduation will hurt in the departure of the leadership. It also is going to have an impact by losing one of the better setters in college volleyball, however, I think, in Kali Eaken, UofL has a good replacement in the wings, so I think this team will be OK in that area. Erin Fairs takes a lot of offensive firepower away with her graduation. While we've only had her for a year, she made a major impact on this team and losing that offensive weapon will be hard to fully recover from, though we do have 3 hitters coming in as freshmen next year, whether they'll be able to replace Fairs' firepower is an open question. Roxanne McVey will be going to LSU to play sand volleyball and she was a solid defensive presense, and a competent backup setter when George had to take the dig. We have other defensive players already on the roster that can fill that gap. Look, perhaps to see Lindsay Palmer or Gabbie Wiley to expand their roles from just serving specialists to play more defense.

If I may be allowed to editorialize, for a moment, however, I think the biggest lesson that UofL fans should learn from this match is the power of an engaged and loud crowd. I would encourage all UofL fans to go back and rewatch the fourth set of that match...I know it's hard, knowing the outcome...but pay attention to what happened coming out of the timeout at 15-21. Before that, in the set, we were largely passive and sitting, but coming out of that timeout, the UofL crowd (mostly) got to their feet, yelled, screamed, and cheered. The response in the play of the team was immediate and dramatic, putting together one of the most impressive rallies I've seen in college volleyball. Next year, I don't want to see the seats of the KFC Yum! Center filled for UofL volleyball, I want to see people standing and cheering. The fourth set last night was an object lesson in the importance of fans, let's learn it.

RADIO

Our broadcast from yesterday is now up on the Soundcloud at Crescent Hill Radio. We had a lively discussion about Volleyball and also Women's Basketball.

Link below:

THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

-- JMcA

Louisville Volleyball defeats Belmont in four sets in First Round NCAA contest...Louisville WBB plays Valparaiso today -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

VOLLEYBALL ELIMINATES PESKY BRUINS TO ADVANCE IN NCAA TOURNAMENT

They were the team that would not go away..but Louisville Volleyball finally showed Belmont University the exit door from Cardinal Arena last night -- winning 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21 in front of almost 1100 people in first round NCAA Volleyball Tournament action.

"We're happy to be able to walk out of here with a win....Hats off to Belmont for being such a tough opponent and we're excited about facing Illinois tomorrow." -- Anne Kordes, on the match.

Louisville started well against the Bruins..jumping out to a 12-4 lead in the first set...but four straight Belmont points drew them within four. The Cards held a tenuous 21-18 advantage but a Belmont service error, Tess Clark kill and Erin Fairs kill got the Cards to game point. A Katie George dump ended the first set at 25-20. The Cards got four kills from Clark and hit .259 for the game.

Belmont roared back in the second set and grabbed a 8-3 lead before a Fairs kill drew the Cards within four. Louisville never could quite get the lead but tied it at 20 before the Bruins went on a game-ending 5-2 run to even the match at one game apiece. Arianna Person had six kills in the set and Brie Lewis added seven for the OVC Tournament champions.

The Cards and Bruins engaged in a back and forth set after halftime...neither team managing more than a three-point lead and the match was tied at 23-23 before the Cards forced Belmont into a hitting error and Maya McClendon delivered a game-ending kill to give the Cards a two-point triumph and 2-1 lead in the match. 

The Cards gained and early 5-3 lead in the final set but the Bruins roared back to take a 14-13 advantage. Tied at 21-21, the Cards used two Clark kills and two timely blocks at the net to take the final four points and complete the game and match. 

Fairs led the Cards with 15 kills, followed closely by Clark's 14 and Janelle Jenkins 10. Clark had a phenomenal .700 hitting average (14-20) for the Cards out of the middle. 

POST GAME INTERVIEWS FROM BELMONT GAME 

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** 

Illinois will be the Cards opponent tonight at 7 p.m. The Illini defeated Southern Illinois 25-19, 25-15, 26-24 in the opening match...getting 12 kills from Katie Stadick and 11 from Jocelynn Birks. The Illini held the Salukies to .137 hitting for the match and forced SIU into 35 errors. 

The Cards will face a big challenge from the taller Illinois squad on the front line. The Illini go 6'3", 6'3" and 6'2" across the front line and Stadick hit an impressive .632 (12-19) in the match against SIU.  

Louisville lost in straight sets to the Illini to start the season but the Cards have improved since then. The Illini have as well...so it should be a great match. ESPN 3 will have the broadcast.

VALPARAISO NEXT FOR LOUISVILLE WBB. 

Fresh off the win Thursday night at Michigan State, the Louisville women's basketball team brings in 0-5 Valparaiso for Saturday afternoon basketball in the KFC YUM! Center at 4 p.m. 

Valparaiso started the season with a 72-53 loss to Butler and was romped 110-54 at Notre Dame. Double digit losses to San Diego and Northern Colorado followed before the Crusaders returned home to narrowly lose to Miami (OH) 75-72 Thursday night. 

Jasmine Walker leads Valpo in scoring with 11.2 a game. Meredith Hamlet averages 10.6 a contest and Dani Franklin contributes 9.0 per outing. 

For Louisville, it'll be a guessing game on who Walz will start and have available. Hopefully, Asia Durr and Briahanna Jackson are healthy and ready to go. Myisha Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore continues to provide solid minutes for the Cardinals and Taja Cole and Cortnee Walton both had impressive outings against Spartie. 

Hopefully Walz will be able to go deep into the bench today and give everyone significant minutes against the win-less Horizon League member.  

As a side note, there was an impressive showing of Louisville WBB players in attendance at the Volleyball match last night. From my end zone vantage view I saw Myisha Hines-Allen, Cortnee Walton, Asia Durr, Sam Fuehring definitely and a couple more that were blocked from my full view. Let's hope they got some tips on blocking by watching the wide-netters go at it. 

This one may or may not be on Cards TV tomorrow...we hear there have been some problems with those broadcasts this year...you can always listen to the dependable Matt Andrews and Adrienne Johnson call it on WKRD 790 AM. 

RADIO TODAY

Another Saturday where Worldwide and I will be in the studio at the same time to discuss the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports on The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour.

Volleyball and hoops will be on the docket and we have great clips from Volleyball to air from the recent media day and first round win over Belmont. 

Join us at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM or live on the internet at www.crescenthillradio.com 

paulie
xxxxx

Volleyball headed for a Champaign Jam -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

Three games in two days for the Wide Net Cards in Illinois Classic Tournament.

The southern rockers Atlanta Rhythm Section had a minor hit in 1978 with the song Champagne Jam. 37 years later, Anne Kordes and her Volleyball squad are headed to Champaign, IL to do a little jamming, setting and passing of their own in the Illinois Classic that starts Friday on the Illinois campus .

The Cards will start off with the Illini on Friday at 8 p.m. They'll have a bird battle with the Bluejays of Creighton Saturday at 1:30 and finished the birdfest later in the day against the RedHawks from Miami, OH at 5:30 p.m. 

The Illini are ranked #8 in the nation, coming off a 3rd place Big 10 finish and 26-8 record. They advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Tournament and return 13 letter winners. The Cards last saw Illinois in 2012 in the Big East/Big Ten Challenge and won a 3-2 match. 

Creighton was picked unanimously to win the Big East this season after winning the Big East Tournament and going 25-9. They bowed out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Oregon State. It'll be the first time Louisville and Creighton have ever met in Volleyball. 

Miami (OH) had a successful MAC season in 2014, going 12-4 in conference and 21-10 overall. They didn't make the NCAA last season...but return five starters and four players who had over 200 kills each. Louisville faced the RedHawks in 2008 and took a 3-2 match. 

All matches at the Illini Classic will have free video, courtesy of Illinois Athletics. Links will be set up at www.fightingillini.com/watch to watch the webcasts.


The Friday match against Illinois will also air on WDWS in Champaign. To access that stream, visit www.fightingillini.com, then click on "Tunein Stream" under the "Watch/Listen" tab at the top of the page. 

It looks like three very good tests for the Cards. Let's hope we can hoist a champagne toast to their Champaign successes Saturday night! 

Click here to hear Atlanta Rhythm Section's Champagne Jam

paulie
xxxxx

Sunday Cardinal Couple - Spring Volleyball, Softball, and Track and Field

(Laptop Down!  I'm pinch-writing for Paulie as his laptop has decided to call it quits.  So now is the time to give him a hard time in the comments, while he'll have a very difficult time responding from his phone.  Paulie hopes to be back in the driver's seat tomorrow.  Updates to come.)

Softball Takes Down the Seminoles

Two of the three games of this weekend's series in Softball against Florida State are being televised by ESPNU.  The Cards fielding probably made ESPNU regret not covering last night's game.

The score, 1-0 might make you think this one was a pitcher's duel, and there was some pretty good pitching, with Maryssa Becker going the full game in the circle for The Cards, but the real story of this game was the fielding.  From the speedster Jordan McNary running down a fly ball in left field; to Allison Szydlowski catching the strike-out pitch and picking off the runner trying to steal second; to Brittany Sims with a sliding catch at second, popping up, turning, and getting the throw to first; to Tiarra Sanabria with a very athletic jump to catch a hard hit ball that was headed to the right field fence, and getting the fly out; to Whitney Arion catching a one hop, stepping on second, and getting the throw over to 1st for a double play to end the game; this was a game with some spectacular fielding.  Florida State had their share of plays that made you say, "Wow" as well.

The fielding combined with generally good pitching contributed to the combined 16 runners left on the bases during the game, 9 of them for FSU, and 7 for UofL, making it hard to get strings of hits together.  Louisville was helped out by a couple of errors by FSU at critical times, including one that got the only scorer of the game, Hailey Smith, on base.  A pair of fielder's choice plays advanced her to third, and a solid bouncer out to center by Brittany Sims brought her home.

The series continues this evening at 7 at Ulmer Stadium.  This one will be on ESPNU.  While all of the normal camera setup will be there, the commentators and play-by-play will be done out of Connecticut from the video feeds, so come out to Ulmer to get the full experience, or watch @CardCoupleRadio for my live tweeting to help fill in what they're not getting.

Volleyball Beats The Illini

Illinois came to town for a spring match in volleyball at Cardinal Arena on campus and ran into a rejuvenated Cardinal Wide-net squad.

In front of a crowd of around 700, many of which were club volleyballers in town for a huge Junior Volleyball Association (JVA) tournament at The Fairgrounds, the UofL Volleyball squad beat Illinois 3-1.  The 3:30 start time was picked to fit into the afternoon break between sessions of the JVA tournament.

During the regular season play in the fall, defense had been the real bugaboo for this Cards team with defensive coverage being lacking, and passing and digging being erratic and frequently off-target.  For the most part, those woes were gone, with the passing being crisp and on-target and no major openings being exploited by a good Illinois team, a team that ended the fall season ranked 11th.  Impressively, the defensive revival occurred with a short-handed defense on the Cards squad.  Courtney Robison, the graduating senior who played at DS was not playing with the team.  Gabbie Wiley, who came on in the late season and surprised nearly everyone with her excellent play in the Libero position after Roxanne McVey came down with mono, was also not present as she was back home attending a funeral.  That left the defense mostly consisting of Roxanne McVey playing Libero, and full rotation play from Maya McClendon, Janelle Jenkins, and Erin Fairs.  We did see some time at Defensive Specialist by Eleni Georgiafandis, who acquitted herself quite well, with several good digs and critical passes.

On offense, the freshmen middle hitting duo dynamos of Tess Clark and Maggie DeJong continued to show why they quickly became some of the favorite players of the Cards fans in the fall.  The Cards haven't had a great deal of blocking since Gwen Rucker and Lola Arslanbekova graduated a couple of years ago, but the middles, combined with the do-everything Katie George and the all-arounds mentioned above, put some ferocious blocks on a quite tall and powerful Illinois team.

Perhaps the most clutch performance of the afternoon came from the PA announcer, though.  Yours truly got pressed into service at the last minute to announce the game, and I must say, I may have found my new calling.  In all seriousness, though, while I think I did an acceptable job, Sean Moth's job is not in any sort of jeopardy.

The Volleyball team finishes spring play this afternoon at 3:30 against in-state rival Kentucky.  This one is again at Cardinal Arena, and admission is free.

Speaking of Gwen and Lola...

The pair have been playing professional volleyball on the same team for Targoviste in Romania.  They have reached the championships of their league.  They will have matches on the 16th, 17th and 25th for the championship series.

Shot Put Victory by One of Our Favorites

A quick congratulations to Emmonnie Henderson in winning the shot put at the ACC/Big Ten Track and Field Challenge at Cardinal Park with a throw of 51' 6 1/4".  E also placed second in the discus by hurling it 171' 4".

Also winning in T&F was Maggie Gilbertson in the High Jump, clearing 5' 5 3/4" 

JMcA/Worldwide/PA Announce Extraordinaire

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Let's call this upset weekend in volleyball

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( We're pleased to give you a "twin spin" on articles today...first up, you'll find JEFF McADAMS very good review and commentary on the weekend Volleyball triumphs . Following this, Paulie's piece on volleyball, field hockey and football. Two for the price of one today...and we don't even charge you for the one! )

What a weekend for volleyball

A quick look around the NCAA

#14 Minnesota beats #4 Texas

Unranked Western Kentucky beats #10 Dayton

Unranked Oregon State beats #2 Penn State

Unranked Marquette beats #23 Michigan

Unranked Miami (Fla.) beats #6 Florida State

And of course, why we're here:

#24 Louisville beats #11 Purdue

#24 Louisville beats #20 Illinois

Big East, meet one of the powerhouse conferences

Of the 12 Big 10 teams in volleyball, half of them are ranked, with Michigan State also receiving votes. That makes them the conference with the most ranked teams (6, compared to also-perennial-powerhouse the PAC-10...er PAC-12...with 5).  The Big East only has one...we managed to make it in at 24 (sorry, Paulie, it was a nice turn of phrase, but we're not unranked).

You can imagine, then, that in the Big East/Big Ten challenge, the Big Ten tends to be rather heavily favored.  This year was no different with Louisville and Cincinnati representing the Big East, and #11 Purdue and #20 Illinois representing the Big Ten.  Also remember that UofL was a combined 3-18 against these teams all time with all of those wins coming against Illinois (0-10 vs Purdue, although Purdue's media guide calls it 0-11, apparently they beat us in 1977, the first season of UofL play which is only listed as "no records kept" in the media guide, regardless of who's records you believe, Louisville has never prevailed over the Boilermakers before this weekend).

Friday evening

With spirits high, the Cards take the floor and decide that they aren't going to take "no" for an answer and not only beat Purdue, they did so in solid fashion with a 3-0 sweep. I don't think I can do justice to the feeling of the UofL fans in attendance.  Most were family and good friends of players on the team, with a leavening of us "unaffiliated" fans (I had several family members ask who I was related to on the team over the course of the evening), but the small number didn't dampen the spirits and enough decibels were produced to fill Fifth Third Arena with C-A-R-D-S when Purdue took a timeout.

This was a true team effort, with no one player completely dominating.  Lola put up her typical, quite impressive, stats (20 kills, 11 digs). Tanya Lukyanenko hit a quite impressive .500 with 5 kills on 10 attempts and no errors.  Gwen Rucker and Brooke Mattingly continued to play solidly in the middle. Alas Brooke apparently didn't get credited with the assist off of her head that Lola killed to seal the match.

Emily Juhl is probably the most noteworthy of players in this match as she is working her way back into playing form after off-season surgery.  With 7 of 12 hitting with no mistakes (for a very good .583), I'd say she's well on her way back to being a great weapon.

In the first two sets, Louisville pulled out solid leads and then held on as Purdue started to claw their way back into the games, but ran out of time in both sets.  The third set was a back and forth affair, but the Cards were able finish out the match for a huge win.

This wasn't a huge win just because it was an upset over a higher ranked team.  It was a huge win because there seemed to be such a mental block in playing against Purdue...an 0-10 (or 0-11) record will do that to you.  There were smiles all around after the match (and via Twitter) as players, family, friends, (and alumnae) almost unanimously exclaimed, "Finally!"

Saturday evening

Let down?  Not this time.  Facing #20 Illinois, the VolleyCards came out strong and needed that strength and determination to take the win in 5 sets.

In winning the first, third, and fifth sets, the Cards looked the better team. In losing the second and fourth sets, Illinois showed they could match, just barely, the Louisville play.

Illinois is a good blocking team, but their digging and passing is a bit suspect. That sounds a lot like a traditional Louisville team.

Again, a roll call of individual efforts; Lola, Tanya, Gwen, Brooke, Emily with good hitting and blocking numbers, Katie and Hannah evenly splitting setting duties, and a committee of players, (led by Lola in this case) hoovering up many shots otherwise headed to the hardwood.

Conclusions

I said after the Penn State match that this was a team that at the end of the season might be able to beat the Nittany Lions.  If you had told me, though, that we'd be 3-1 against Top 20 teams just two weeks later, I would've said, "You're crazy." and yet, here we are.  This team has come together to play as a unit much faster than I ever would have expected.  Credit to the determination and cohesive spirit of the team, as well as to the coaching staff, for getting this group of women settled in to playing together so quickly.

The team that played this weekend against Purdue and Illinois could play competitively with any team in the country.  Now the challenge will be to maintain this level of play for the rest of the season.  And, of course, there's always room for improvement.

Coming up next is the Louisville Invitational, another 3-matches-in-2-days affair at the KFC Yum! Center this weekend.  Middle Tennessee, UNLV, and Miami (Fla.) come to visit.  Miami is getting votes for rankings, but not enough to make it into the Top 25 yet.  Though with that win over #6 Florida State, might they crack their way into the rankings tomorrow?  We'll see.  After that, the Cards launch the conference slate.

With so many fall sports doing so well at UofL, its hard to support them all, spread the love around, if you like.  I'm going to try to make it out to the women's soccer game against Toledo this afternoon, but you can count on me being in my seat in row K come Friday and Saturday.

(Update: I'm not sure why I kept thinking Purdue was 10th ranked...they are 11th...until tomorrow)